Page 74 of Bound by Desire
The walls are stucco, which makes the light shine off them—not conducive to this ambush—but we makeitwork.
Not looking to see if people have a gun or not, we take them out, knowing that if we miss just one, we could be finished. The females from earlier on the cameras are nowhere in sight, only men with guns.JK’sarmy.
I hear shots off in the distance and hope like hellthey’reours.
Cooper leads us down a corridor, and we end up taking out four more men. Ryker and Nox take turns opening doors, while I take their backs and keep a lookoutbehindus.
This, being in the fold with these men, knowing they have my back as much as I have theirs, this is family. Having the cut on my back, being with the guys who will one day be my brothers. Being in the fold, where I wanted to be, only not for thisreason.
Three more men go down by my hand. I don’t give the least bitoffuck.
“Locked!” Cooper calls out, causing the hair on the back of my necktorise.
Ryker doesn’t wait. He kicks the door hard, splintering it as it crashes open. More shots, and then Nox calls outinpain.
“Graze!” he yells, stillshooting.
As I make my way into the room, my stomach twists at the sight before me. Austyn’s arms are tied above her head, and her legs are attached by ropes to pegs in the floor. Her body hangs limply as blood oozes out of her sides. The way the blood is stained, it looks as though she was lying down at one time. Fuck, what did they dotoher?
“Help,” she croaks out. As lethargic as she is, either she lost a fuck lot of blood, or he dopedherup.
Two men off to the side set off shots. Pain slices through my shoulder, the burning fierce, but I aim and take one of the assholes out. Cooper takes the other as Ryker runs up to Austyn, pulling a knife out of his pocket and cutting the rope fromAustyn’sarms.
Moving closer, I see Austyn’s face is torn up. She is covered in cuts, blood, and it looks like her nose is broken. Red and purple marks mar her face. It all causes the anger to burn inside me, especially because there’s no JK insight.
“You got her? I’m goin’ to find that fucker,” I growl, hearing Austyn whimper inRyker’sarms.
“I’m in,” Cooper calls out, just as his phonerings.
He swipes it. “Yeah?” His eyes grow round. “Everyoneout!Bomb!”
Ryker takes off like a shot. Nox is behind him, but limping. Cooper scoops him up in a fireman’s hold as we run with everything we have, going through the same corridors as before, anger pumping through me and wanting toescape.
The sunlight hits us, and everythingexplodes.
ChapterTwenty-Two
“You do realizeyou were shot, right?” Anger bubbles at my man who won’t stay thefuckdown.
“Three days ago, Rylie.I’mgood.”
Even though the doc said he’d be fine, I still don’t like it. Funny how I saw him fight like hell and get busted up, yet a bullet wound to my man … No, not liking that one little bit. Only a few inches over and it would have hit his heart. I’d be visiting his damn grave, just like myparents.
“Need to go talk toAustyn.”
Placing my hand on his shoulder, I gentle my voice. “She’s still not seeing anyone, except her mom and dad. They have her barricaded at their house,recovering.”
The woman had multiple stab wounds; two that punctured organs that needed to be stitched up. She had blood transfusions and had to have the drugs pumped from her body. Surprisingly, they didn’t keep her in the hospital long. Princess and Cruz took her home, and now she refuses to see anyone. It’s been said that Ryker is camped out on their porch, and even with Cruz telling him to go home, he hasn’tbudged.
To me, this is quite interesting. Ryker, the man who talked about getting into my panties the first time we met, didn’t seem to have a soft spot for anyone. But he does her. It’s not my business, but with being around the club the past few days, word getsaroundfast.
“They’ll let meseeher.”
“Why don’t you go see your mom upstairs? She didn’t want to leave until you were feelingbetter.”
That woman comes off as a soft person, but damn, when she heard her boy was shot, she turned into a lioness, ready to rip anyone and everyone apart. Took everything out of her, and she ended up passing out. But damn, it wasfierce.
“Fuck, I hate that she’s doin’ chemo, then hangin’outhere.”
