Page 19 of Bad Like Me

17

Crow

Everything had gone smoothly so far,and the minutes ticked by agonizingly slow. I couldn’t wait to get to Ray, but as soon as she was safe, I was making The Dogs pay. Even if it wouldn’t have been my fault that Ray was in the middle of our MC war, I would still get revenge. The pressing fact was that it was my fault, and I cared about her, so it was personal. I usually tried not to involve my feelings when it came to club shit, it made you a liability. A person’s head didn’t think clearly when emotions were thick and fogged their judgment. I tried to remind myself of all these things as Ghoul, Wily, and I sat quietly, not so patiently waiting for The Dogs to take us back to Ray.

“C’mon, fleabags. Take the money and get us back to the nurse,” Ghoul mumbled in a hushed tone, his impatience spreading as thin as mine. “That’s it,” he coaxed them as a couple of them climbed in the Corvette, no doubt to count the money.

A guy flashed a light to the driver in the unmarked van, and the side door slid open. There she was. We were too far away to make out how much they made her suffer because of us. A guy shoved the barrel of a rifle in the middle of her back and forced her out of the van, urging her to her knees.

A deep, primal growl ripped out of my mouth, and Ghoul’s arm fingertips dug into my upper arm while he held me in place. “Just a few more minutes, brother. Wait for it.”

As soon as the gun was off Ray, Diablo was the first to move, creating a distraction so we could move in for the kill. Diablo raised his gun, and one of his slugs landed in the man’s body who had the rifle. We were quick on our feet and came into the clearing before anyone else could fire another round. I wanted to grab Ray and never let her go, but now more than ever, my brothers needed me.

I ran to her side. “I have you, Ray. It’s all going to be okay,” I assured her, clutching her to my chest and drew my judge, aiming toward the driver and squeezing the trigger. Momentarily, my ears rang from the loudness of the shot, and I could feel Ray’s mouth moving against my body, but had no clue what she was trying to tell me. She lifted on her feet high enough to push her body into mine, and she went limp.

“Fuck,” I screamed, rolling over and hot tears burned my eyes. “Why did you do that you stupid girl? Ray!” I yelled, and my throat instantly suffered from the force. Bullets were zooming and blood was flying all around us, but I couldn’t move.

“Because,” her eyes finally moved, and her chest rose, “Someone has to save your ass.” A corner of her mouth pulled into a half-smirk, and I gathered her hands, pushing them against her stomach where the blood was coming from.

“I fucking love you, Ray. Always have,” I quickly declared, not certain I’d ever get another chance. I lifted her from the ground and laid her in the back of the van. It wasn’t an ideal place, but she should be safe in there.

“I know you do.” She weakly laughed, and her eyes widened in fear as she sucked in a frightened breath. “Crow. Ghoul,” was all she managed to say, but it was all I needed. I turned on my feet as fast as lighting, running, and swiftly grabbed the judge off the ground, pointing it as soon as it was in my clutches. It took a second to find Ghoul, his temple was at the end of a barrel, and I didn’t hesitate. Applying pressure with my index finger, another bullet soared through the air, and the guy’s lifeless body dropped to the ground.

The remaining two cowards took off in the Corvette, but it didn’t matter, Flash would take care of them. It was just a matter of time. He let them get a good hundred feet down the clearing and then fire lifted the car off the ground before it plummeted back down to the earth and continued to burn.

“Damn. He wasn’t kidding.” I whistled and accessed the situation. All my brothers were accounted for, which meant getting Ray to the hospital was the priority right now.

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