Page 46 of His Sinful Need

Something’s wrong. Iknowit. My instincts are screaming at me to pay attention to the lurking stranger, but all he’s doing is just that: lurking.

I glance sideways at Pony, who’s chewing on his lip, betraying his own apprehension. “What do you think they—” Pony begins, but the muffled sound of gunfire cuts him off. Pony’s eyes widen, his fingers tightening around the steering wheel.

The crew were under strict orders. No gunfire unless absolutely necessary.

“Shit!” Pony gasps out. He lets off the handbrake—

This fucker is going to flee. I can smell it on him, the instinct to run. “Wait!” I grab the wheel and yank it hard to stop him, then lock eyes. “I’m going in there to help them. You wait right here.”

“Screw that, man, I’m—”

“If you’re not here when we come out, I swear to Christ I’ll send Julian Castellani after you.”

Pony gulps. Then he nods jerkily, hands twisting around the wheel.

I kick open the door, run up the bank steps, and enter my worst nightmare.

The scene is a battleground: Giddy is propped up seated against a desk to the side, hyperventilating as Tank presses hard against a wound up around his collarbone. Nico is lying motionless behind a desk on the other side, Jazz leaning over him, shaking him. Honeybee is with them, but she’s just staring into space, drenched in blood.

And in the middle of the bank floor is Rook. He’s not moving and there’s a puddle of red around him that tells me the worst kind of news.

“Max,down!” Bricker shouts, just as a new hail of bullets starts up—all aimed right at me, standing like a fucking idiot there in front of the glass doors.

I scramble toward Jazz in a shower of glass fragments and take out my gun before peeking out. Bricker and Van are pinned down behind an upturned table to the side, exchanging gunfire with...

A PacSyn crew.

There are no other people in this building except for our crew and theirs.

No customers. No staff.

Another setup.

Bricker catches my eye, grim despair written clear across his face. “Shoulda run, Max,” he calls. “No point in you dying here with us.”

“Don’t fucking say that!” Jazz snaps. She’s given up trying to get Nico to come to and is just trying to stop the bleeding now. He’s as pale as the marble floor beneath him.

I look back to Bricker and Van. Bricker holds up a hand, signaling me to stay put. Then he nods at Van and they make their next move. Bricker puts his gun around the side of the table and takes three shots, tempting a PacSyn member to pop up and try to take him.

Van gets the guy neatly through the chest.

Bricker holds up his gun to me with open hands, indicating that he’s out, then thumbs at Van. Both of them. They’re both out of ammunition.

I take out my own gun, and with the other hand, point where I want them to go. They need to get closer to the door if we’re going to make it out of here. Bricker and Van glance at each other, as if they have any other choices, then nod at me.

I do a silent three-two-one countdown with my fingers.

Then I lean out and shoot. It’s sloppy and it’s risky, but something somewhere is on our side for a few seconds, because Bricker and Van make it to the desk where Tank seems to be keeping Giddy’s blood in his body through sheer force of will.

The cops will be here soon, if PacSyn haven’t paid them off. Hell, even if they have, there’s no way to keep this under wraps.

“You okay?” I call across.

“Yeah,” Bricker grunts. “We’re good. Nico?” But his eyes have already traveled past me to where Jazz is leaning over Nico. Bricker’s head falls back against the desk as he looks back at me, regret and grief in his eyes. “Should’ve had you in here from the start, huh?”

I ignore that. We can play the blame game later. Tank is still trying to stop Giddy’s bleeding, but when I glance at Jazz with a silent question about Nico, she gives a very small shrug.

Time is ticking. We have to get Nico and Giddy out. “Honeybee,” I murmur. “You okay?” She still sits by Nico, staring blankly ahead, her face splashed with blood. PacSyn seem to be regrouping for now, which means we have a chance to run. But Honeybee is out of it.

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