Page 145 of Beautifully Shattered
“I told you,” JD snaps, “and I’ll happily tell everyone here now. IwantJolene. She’s mine.”
JD’s words have Jols staggering back a step, while Smitty nods and glares down at him.
“And then you ate my fist, right?”
“Yeah, and you had a right to do that.” JD looks up at his President. “But come on, man. I’m claiming her. I’m making her mine.”
“JD, no,” Jols hisses, stumbling as close as Smitty will allow before he throws a hand up, stopping her cold, and just like that, she freezes.
“Yes, Babydoll.” JD keeps his gaze trained on her. “I fucking am. You’re mine. That’s all there is to it.”
“Babydoll,” Smitty snarls, the word like poison on his tongue. “You call my daughter,Babydoll?”
“Stepdaughter,” Jols snaps. “We’re not blood, Smitty. Stop this.”
Smitty shakes his head, eyes burning as he stares JD down. “I’ll give youonechance. Retract your claim and save your life. Otherwise… you die.”
“This has gone far enough!” Ringo roars, thrashing against Spud and Tups, while another big guy steps in to help hold my husband back.
“Hey! Let him go!” I scream, ready to launch myself over there and go crazy bitch on their arses.
“No!” JD yells, breaking through the chaos, getting everyone’s attention. “I won’t retract my claim. I love her. I loved her before she even knew I was interested. I’d doanythingfor her. Even die here today, because I willneverretract my claim on her. She willalwaysbelong to me.Evenin death.”
“Oh my God,” Jols gasps, tears streaming as she stumbles forward a step. “Jimmy, no. He’s going to kill you. I’d rather you were alive than live in a world without you! Even if it means we can’t be together!”
The moment the words leave her lips, Smitty cocks his gun, the cold click loud as gasps ripple through the crowd.
I can’t watch this.
I can’t witness someone else I care about die!
Squeezing my eyes shut, I hold my breath, and flinch when the deafening crack of the gun tears through the air, my heart shattering into a million pieces all over again.
29
Screams rip through the crowd, and in my peripheral, I can see my Angel thrashing against the Doxies, trying to break free to run to Jols, or perhaps to me.
A strangled cough catches in my throat as I stare at my best mate on the ground. His eyes are wide, still locked on Jols, not even flinching when faced with death.
I scan JD’s body, desperate to see where he’s been hit, and it takes a long fucking second for my brain to catch up to what’s actually happening.
Where’s the blood?
My gaze flicks to Smitty, a wide smirk split across his face, his arm raised… above his head.
He… The gun… It’s fucking skyward!
I cough as air rushes from my lungs, finally realising Smitty didn’t shoot JD.
He didn’t fucking shoot him!
Jols lunges forward, a sob tearing from her lips as she skids to her knees in the mud, throwing her arms around JD.
In an instant, his arms are around her too, hugging each other hard before they pull back, cupping each other’s faces to murmur a few words… then they are kissing.
“He’s not dead!” someone yells, and the crowd erupts in cheers as Spud and Tups finally release my arms.
I double over, bracing my hands to my knees as I try to calm the fuck down.
