Page 123 of That Girl is Trouble

“That fuck deserved a much more painful death,” he says, his eyes back on mine. “He should have suffered.”

Shaking my head, I pull Rossi’s ring from my finger and toss it onto his chest. He did say he’d be getting it back. “It’s done,” I say, stumbling a little because Axe doesn’t have his balance yet. “I think you need a doctor.”

Graves is suddenly in front of us, giving us both a once-over. “You good, brother?” he asks. “Kitty?”

We both nod, and then he says, “Good. We got more trouble. Bane’s on the scanner at the road. Says we got cops comin’.”

“Fuck,” Axe mutters, his attention dropping to the dead body at his feet.

“What kind of heat we got in here?” Preacher asks as he pulls Mr. Shades’s limp corpse through the door.

Axe has his arm draped around my shoulders, and I realize it’s more for support than affection. “Couple pounds of snow,” he says. “In the duffel at the back. We can hide it in the field. And we’ll need to torch this place.”

He staggers, and I hold him upright, scanning his body for injuries as Graves steadies him.

“Where’s all this blood coming from?” I ask. When he doesn’t answer, I lift up his shirt, revealing a large gash across his stomach. My heart stutters. “Axe—”

Sirens sound in the distance, and he tenses against me.

“There isn’t enough time,” he says to Graves.

Nodding, Graves scrubs his hand over his beard, his brows pulling together. “Bodies are still warm. They roll up and find all this shit, Chief Wells will be sending out the dogs.”

“I know, brother,” Axe says.

He’s too calm. And there’s an odd edge to his voice that’s got my stomach twisting in warning. The two of them exchange a look I can’t decipher. Between the sirens, the pain still radiating at my throat, and Axe’s bloody T-shirt, I can’t put the pieces together.

“I’ll handle it.”

“Handle… what?” I ask.

Graves glowers and opens his mouth like he’s going to argue, but Axe interjects.

“I can barely walk. They’ll be on us before we can get to the road.” He leans on me harder, and more blood seems to soak into his shirt. “Let me buy you some time.”

With a shaky breath, Graves slaps his hand on Axe’s shoulder and nods. “My ride or die, man. Fuckin’ always.”

Axe smirks. “Until my last fucking breath.”

Pulling me into his chest, he takes my mouth in his. This time he isn’t gentle. He winces when our lips meet, and I taste blood as he locks me in a deep kiss. “I love you, Kitty.”

I shake my head. “Why are you saying that? What are you gonna do?”

“Say it back. I need your words.”

“No. No, you don’t get my words until you tell me what’s going on. You’re… what is this? This sounds like you’re saying goodbye. What are you doing?”

“What I always do. I’m protecting you.” His voice is low, his eyes dark and swimming with an emotion I can’t make out. He drags his fingers over my chin and sighs. “Fuck, I wish we’d had more time, babe. It wasn’t enough.”

“Time? Axe,” I choke, my mind swirling in confusion.

He breaks my grip from his bloody shirt and nods to Graves. “Get her out of here.”

It’s a command, and Graves grabs me and flips me over his shoulder. I pound on his back and demand he put me down, but the sirens are so loud the cruisers must be right outside.

“Axe!” I shout, but he only watches me, giving me this look, this… goodbye.

Despite my protests, I’m carried out the back door and into the cover of the wheat field. The sky is practically black now. Flashing blue and red from the two cruisers pulling up in the distance cut through the darkness. Graves drops me to the ground once we’re well hidden in the weeds.

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