Page 59 of Bikers & Bars

“But don’t worry we didn’t forget the skinny one at the hospital…. We have met a lot of very interesting people while we were here doing business. You never know who’s on our side.”

“Romeo,” I croaked, my stomach twisting into knots.

“I’ll call Maximo and tell him to find him,” Emiliano reassured me as he tugged my arm toward the flames. “Let’s find the others.”

Gunshots rang out and the two men taunting me were on the ground, brains blown out over the ground.

Alessandro.

As I watched them crumple to the ground all I could find was relief. They’d find no remorse from me.

“We’re here to help,” Hazel’s voice called out behind me as she ran up to us with Alessandro on her heels. “Where are we going?”

“Into the fire,” I told her with determination before running straight into danger.

Loki and Bane were going to be pissed as hell that I came for them, going headfirst into danger without any care. But at least I wasn’t alone. Hazel and two of her mates were here helping me without any hesitation.

“Maximo,” Emiliano huffed as we ran. “Do you have eyes on Romeo?”

There was some back and forth, along with yelling on the other end of the phone but then I started coughing. The smoke was so heavy that my eyes started watering up and we weren’t even close enough to the building to find them.

Pulling my shirt over my nose I gathered myself and kept going forward. Without even checking to see what the others were doing I rushed into the building frantically searching and yelling out their names.

“Loki! Bane!”

I was met with silence, my heart thudding painfully in my chest with each stinging breath. My head was swimming but I pushed forward into the large building, hoping like hell I heard them soon.

“Loki!” I screamed before turning another corner. “Bane!”

It felt like forever before I heard my name called back at me.

My anxiety spiked at the pained voice but I didn’t hesitate to follow the lead, surging forward until I was bursting through a room.

Loki’s blood-laced smile would forever be burned into my brain. They were bound with rope and were sweating as the flames licked at the walls. They were both hunched over, trying to avoid the smoke but from the hacking coughs they let out, I knew they weren’t successful

Rushing over I dropped to the ground next to them, tugging at the rope tied around them.

“I’ve got it,” Emiliano promised as he pulled out a knife and started cutting at the rope.

I was so lost in my head that I didn’t even realize they were following me. Though, I should have known they wouldn’t let me out of their sights.

Sirens wailed in the distance and I let out a sigh of relief as I helped Emiliano hoist Loki up between us, Hazel and Alessandro grabbing Bane. We trudged our way out of the building fueled by pure adrenaline and panic.

Beams and debris were smoldering around us, cracking against the embers and falling in our path. It was a maze of death and I was terrified we wouldn’t make it out alive.

“Don’t give up now, you made it this far,” Emiliano warned me.

The fact Bane and Loki weren’t lecturing me was terrifying me. They should have been the ones urging me forward and telling me I was a dumbass for going into flames for them.

Yet I was met with silence and groans of anguish.

“Through here!” an unfamiliar voice called out as firemen rushed in. They helped take the burden of Loki’s heavy body from us and escorted us toward the exit.

Without Loki’s weight I tried to follow them but a loud crack had me looking up, a beam falling free from the ceiling. I tried to rush forward but I wasn’t quick enough, the impact sending me flying as something heavy landed on my ankle.

“Fuck!” I screamed, the white-hot concrete searing through my clothes and burning my skin.

“We have someone pinned down!” The firefighters were yelling for backup while my sobbed cries filled the air.

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