Page 92 of The Trust We Broke
Unnamed grabs the handle of the door, and Lucy squeals, crawling back to the other door.
I take a step toward her, and Gulch fires a bullet into the ground inches from my feet. A plume of snow and dirt is thrown into the air next to me.
The idea of death is nothing compared to Lucy’s fate, and blood pulses so viciously in my temples that my vision blurs.
“Stay back, Luce,” I yell, racking my brain with how the hell I’m supposed to get the two of us out of this.
Unnamed raises his gun and shatters the window with it. As he does, Pink shakes his head and climbs to his knees. The fucker might be disoriented, but his first lucid thought is to reach for his weapon and hold it outstretched toward me.
Time is slipping through the hourglass so fucking quickly that I’m unable to think through how this ends, beyond the two of us dying together, and that’s my only thought. To get to her. To hold her.
“No,” Lucy screams as he reaches in to unlock the door from the inside. And with a bravery I wasn’t expecting, she leans forward and stabs the knife through his hand.
The man’s harrowing yell echoes through the bitter air as he whips his hand away, the blade still through it. The distraction gives me enough time to dash around the back of the vehicle while everyone is looking in the man’s direction.
“Open the door,” I yell to Lucy.
She jumps into action, unlocking the door and pushing it open, even as I grab for the handle. Once she’s out of the truck and in my arms, I feel inordinately better. Now I know that whatever happens, she’s with me.
Feet planted in the gravel, curls a mess, and mascara down her face, she’s beautiful.
“Always fucking loved you,” I whisper. Because if this is it, that’s the last bit of closure that I need.
“Baby lawyer,” Gulch says, looking at her back, down over her ass. “Looks like you’ve got a weak spot,Prez. That’s useful information.”
There’s no point running. I know Lucy’s athletic abilities, and there is no way we could outrun or outgun them, but I pull my gun out of its holster, hoping the threat of at least one of them going down might alter the odds.
“You’ll stay the fuck away from her. Hurt her and my club will come down on yours until there isn’t a single one of you left. We’ve done it once and we’ll do it again.”
Lucy shudders in my arms but takes a deep breath before she turns to face him. “I called the police. I described each one of you to them and took photographs that have already been sent to people I know,” she says bravely.
Gulch’s face changes and he moves closer.
“Take one more step toward her,” I say, my voice cold and flat, “and you’ll find out just how useful your teeth are when you don’t have a jaw to put them in.”
“If you shoot Grudge,” Lucy says, “you better shoot me, next. Because I swear to God, I will make sure I hunt down, arrest, and try every last damn one of you.”
The air crackles with tension, then Gulch looks directly at my woman. “Little Lucy De Bose. Your father was working on some…things for us. Been hearing through the grapevine he’s going to have some difficulties following through. You’re going to fix it for us.”
“That’s nothing to do with me,” she says.
“Ah, but it is,” Gulch says, as someone pistol whips me from behind but without the force to render me unconscious. I drop to my knees. “We won’t stop until we get what we need. This would be so much easier if you just cooperated. I can be nice to those who play nice with us.”
“I am not responsible for my father’s debts,” Lucy says.
Gulch chuckles. “You don’t get to decide that. Get him.”
Their attack lands, but glances off the side of my head, causing enough of a hit that I slam forward into the truck. In the tussle, I’m forced to let go of Lucy, and Gulch steps in, grabbing her from me.
Nameless, with the knife removed and blood pouring from his hand, and Pink grab both my arms, forcing the gun from my hand and me to remain on my knees.
“No,” Lucy screams. “Don’t hurt him.” She kicks and fights in Gulch’s arms, and I force myself to my feet. They once said Samson’s strength was in his hair. If that’s true, I find and channel it.
I raise my elbows as I stand, tossing Pink and Nameless to the side. “Put. Her. Down.”
A bullet flies by me and hits the side of the truck. But nothing is going to stop me from getting to Lucy.
Gulch’s face changes as I run straight at him. He drops Lucy, stumbling backward as he fumbles his gun. Once he raises it, hefires straight at me, and I dip just in time for the bullet to whizz past my ear.
