Page 52 of Hollywood

It was the last thing I wanted to do but arguing with her now would guarantee both of our deaths. “Fine. Get in close to my right side and help me stand. Keep your fucking head down.”

She nodded and did as she was told, acting as my crutch as I stood and emptied my clip at the Jade Devils currently advancing on us. Winter shouted as bullets flew at us, but somehow, she knew when I needed her and plucked another clip from my back pocket.

I kept them off as long as I could, but another bullet hit me tearing across my right shoulder. I stumbled backwards and sent Winter flying to the ground. “Go, Winter! Now!”

“No!”

“I love you and I need you to get the fuck out of here. Please don’t argue, just do as you’re told.”

She gasped. Her eyes rounded as she scrambled to her feet and scurried around the shelf.

Winter was safe and that’s what mattered to me. I could die knowing that I’d kept my promise to Winston and that I’d given the woman who held my heart a second chance at life. It took me longer than it should have to turn and attempt to escape while shooting back but I knew this was it for me.

I tasted freedom. I experienced the love of a good woman and true brotherhood. That was more than most and even though it was too soon, I knew I could die happy.

“JT!” The higher pitched voice belonged to Mark Tamazaki, JT’s younger brother. “You killed my brother asshole!”

I stopped and nodded. “He had it coming.”

“Maybe, but so do you.” He raised the gun and took aim at my chest, a definite kill shot considering all the other holes in my body. His finger wrapped around the trigger and a shot rang out.

But I didn’t feel the pain of another bullet tearing through my body. I felt… relief.

A small spot of blood grew at Mark’s stomach. He dropped the gun and clutched the wound, a look of disbelief on his face.

I looked around for the person who had saved my life, and I was shocked as shit. “Win? What the fuck are you doing here?”

He looked left and then right before he darted over to me and that’s when I realized that he must’ve taken out some of the Jade Devils. “As soon as Slate pinpointed where they were holding Winter, I knew that’s where you were. I couldn’t sit on the sidelines and let you do all the work again. You’re always saving my ass, and I figured it was time I repay the favor.”

“You never have to fucking repay it. We’re friends, Win. Brothers.”

His lips tugged into a straight line, but he nodded, accepting my words. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

I nodded but when I tried to get up, I was dizzy as fuck and my legs crumpled beneath me. “Let’s try that again.” I heard my words slur but I pushed up again using my left hand since my right tricep and shoulder had been hit, but the edges of my vision were black, and Winston’s words sounded likethey were coming from under water. “Winston,” I began but my mouth wouldn’t work, and my eyes slid shut.

This was it, I knew it as consciousness faded. I heard more footsteps and more bullets but no matter what the fuck I did, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Couldn’t keep my fucking wits about me.

The last thing I remembered was lying in the back of the van while Winter held my head, crying and kissing my face as if that act alone could pull me back from the brink of death.

I wasn’t sure it could, but it sure as shit made me want to stick around for another fifty years or so.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Winter

It had been hours that I paced the length of the clubhouse from front door of the bar to the rear exit where everyone went out for a smoke. My heart pounded in my chest and the only thing I heard was the sound of my blood as it rushed through my veins.

Laura and some old doctor that the MC used was inside a clean room digging bullets out of Hollywood. He’d taken three trying to rescue me and Lu and lost a lot of blood before we managed to get him back to the clubhouse. I couldn’t sit still, couldn’t stop moving because I was terrified that the last words I spoke to him might be the last words ever.

Luisa hadn’t left my side since we got back to the clubhouse and Peyton got her settled with a fresh pair of clothes. “You need to eat something, Winter. And have a shower.”

I knew she meant well but I wasn’t in a listening mood. “I will, as soon as I have news on Hollywood.”

“He’ll be fine honey. He’s strong as hell,” my dad offered with a comforting smile. “Trust me. He is the strongest man I know.”

It was true but it also wasn’t saying much because most of the people my dad knew were other computer geeks. “No human is stronger than three bullets, Dad.” And how in the hell did he show up before the Steel Demons.

“Maybe not, but he’s got two professionals working hard on him and I think he’s going to be fine. He has to be.” Dad reached for my arm and tugged me down onto the table he and Lu shared. “Now, is there something you want to tell me?”

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