Page 36 of Stay With Me
“Thats really very touching. A criminal with a conscience, I see. I’m not sure what that has to do with the situation at hand.” The congressman’s expression is wary, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion.
“See, we just aren’t very convinced of this man’s guilt, sir. And we couldn’t very well hand him over like a fucking lamb to be slaughtered, not knowing if he’s truly culpable of the crimes you’ve accused him of. We can’t very well do business with a man we don’t trust, congressman.” Axel says, kicking to duffle of money back towards Hoffman.
“I don’t honestly care to do business with you fucking sewer rats either, yet here I am. I have no problem taking my money, taking this trash, and being on my way,” Hoffman replies, gesturing towards me. His guards draw closer to him, each of them pushing their suit jackets back to show the guns holstered at their waists. Axel scoffs beside me, unimpressed by their show of muscle.
“We may have a problem here, sir. Because you’re not leaving this building with that boy, congressman.” Owen grates out through clenched teeth. I don’t want to get in to a fucking shootout with these assholes if we don’t have to.
“I paid you for a service, I’m taking this little shitwith me,” Hoffman says, stepping closer to me, grabbing my shirt and pulling me to my feet. Owen and Axel both draw their guns, aiming for the congressman. His security mirrors the action, a standoff quickly unfolding in front of us.
“Let’s all just take it easy. Don’t you know playing with guns got us in to this little predicament in the first place,” I say, smirking up at Hoffman. I never did know when to keep my fucking mouth shut. He pulls a revolver from the small of his back, his face flaming with rage as he levels it between my eyes. He cocks the hammer back, letting his emotions control his actions.
Before he can pull the trigger, I slip the cuffs off my wrists, pushing forward to overpower the man in front of me. The shock in his eyes is evident as his hand grips the revolver tighter. I hear a gunshots ring out to my left, but I don’t take my eyes off Hoffman. Gripping his wrist tightly, I jerk to the right and feel the bone snap easily. He yowls in pain, desperately struggling to keep his hand wrapped around his gun. I turn my body, shoving all of my weight into his chest and knocking the air out of him. His gun clatters to the floor as my elbow comes up to connect with his nose. He grips tightly onto my injured shoulder and my control slips momentarily as we both tumble to the floor. We scramble for the gun, both of us warring for control over the other. I hear a pained shout to the right and see Breaker grabbing his upper arm, blood seeping between his fingers as one ofHoffman’s goons circles him, knife in hand. My momentary distraction gives the congressman time to gain control of his revolver. I sit up just in time for him to turn over, raise his hands, and pull the trigger. The icy sting of the bullet pierces my skin, but it doesn’t really register. Before he can get a second shot off, his head snaps back, and he falls to the floor. Twisting, I see Axel behind me, his pistol still smoking from the shot that ended the congressman’s life.
I survey the room, seeing each of the four guards that came with Hoffman subdued or dead. The edges of my vision blur and darken as a twinge of pain in my abdomen grows into a blazing wildfire of agony. The tips of my fingers tingle as my body slowly drops to the floor. Laying flat on the concrete floor, the ceiling spins over me. I hear my men calling my name around me, but it’s a dull, muffled roar.
“Ev! Everett! Stay with us, bro. You’re gonna be fine. Keep your eyes open.” Elijah’s face floats above mine, my eyes blinking in slow motion. “Break, get over here. Grab the medic kit from the chopper.”
“Kels...” My voice sounds fragile and breathy, even to my own ears. “Tell…”
“I’m not telling her shit, brother. You’re gonna tell her yourself,” Eli says, pressing something tightly to my abdomen. I cringe into myself, the pain throbbing through every cell of my being.
“Ax! Call Doc. Get him here now!” Owen sayssomewhere in the abyss. “We gotta get him up, boys. Get him into the clubhouse. We’ve got the facilities and resources to help him, but we gotta get him out of here.”
The pressure of the floor against my back disappears as I’m lifted. Breaker carries me from under my arms as Eli supports my bottom half.
“Helo, help Iris clean this shit up,” Breaker barks, and the men obey. Several men I don’t recognize trudge through the warehouse, members of the club, I assume. Luckily, they seem comfortable with carnage as they help move bodies and clear the building.
Energy slowly seeps out of my muscles following the trail of blood I leave in my wake. Struggling to stay conscious, I grasp for a tangible image, a thought to keep me anchored here. Kelsea’s sapphire blue eyes flash in my mind, the slope of her top lip as it meets mine when we kiss, her slender fingers reaching for mine in the middle of the night when the ghosts of her past creep in. I hold on to the images of her like a refuge in the midst of pain.
Just hold on.
I hear Kelsea’s melodic voice break through the fog momentarily before the darkness consumes me completely.
twenty-eight
“FUCK!”Rory shouts, as she cuts her finger for the third time. We’ve been working tirelessly for the last few hours to scrub every trace of the intruders out of Breaker’s house. She sweeps tiny shards of glass from the broken bathroom window into a pile again, brushing them into the dustpan.
“Stop picking shit up with your fingers and that wouldn’t happen, aurora.” Ember scolds.
“I’m sorry,mom.It’s not going into the dustpan. I’m literally one more slice away from a mental breakdown!” Rory cries, stomping her foot like an exhausted child. She drops onto the lid of the toilet seat, her head falling in her hands. “I just don’t understand why we haven’t heard anything.”
“We will, babe. They’re fine. Our boys are made of tough stuff,” I say, knowing I’m just as close to the edgeas she is. I just want to hear Everett’s voice. I need to feel his hands on my skin. Crouching down in front of her, I let her lean against me and catch her breath. Willow took the twins into Ember’s room earlier to put them to bed and we’ve all been trying to decompress.
Ember leans on the door frame, eyes closed as the exhaustion weighing down on us all blankets the room. The shrill sound of a phone ringing makes us all jump. Pulling my cell from my back pocket, I find my screen blank. Rory shakes her head, confirming it’s not hers either.
“Hello? Elijah?” Ember’s voice has a sharp edge to it, as if she’s waiting for the bottom to fall from beneath her. “Oh, thank god,” she breathes. I feel the smallest amount of relief before Ember’s eyes lock on mine. They’re wide and full of panic. Whatever Eli is telling her right now is causing pure dread to play out across her face.
“Ember, what? What is it?” I pry, standing and coming to her side.
“I-I-” her mouth gapes like a fish out of water, but nothing intelligible comes out. In the background, I hear Eli yelling through the phone speaker.
I rip the phone from her hands, needing answers more than my next breath. “Elijah? Whats going on?”
“Kelsea, listen to me very carefully. I need you to be ready to fly within the hour. Helo is already on his way back to you guys. Get in the helicopter and he will bringyou guys here.” Elijah’s voice sounds calm, but there’s an undercurrent of urgency that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“What happened, Elijah? Are you guys… is everyone ok?” Something in the corners of my mind tells me I don’t want to know the answer to that question.
“Just get here, Kelsea. We’ll talk when you land,” the sound of the line disconnecting echos through my bones.
