Page 80 of City of Salvation

The cool liquid from the beer did little to help shake off the heavy feeling of the night air. Something was off, and it had me worried.

“You know when we’d go out on missions,” I asked, staring off toward the desert that surrounded our compound, catching Gunner nodding his head in my peripherals. “That gut feeling we’d get when something was about to pop off. Some instinctual warning system that told us the energy was shifting and something was coming…”

Our eyes locked, his body stiffening. He knewexactlywhat I was talking about.

“It going off?” he asked, taking a tentative sip of his beer. Cutting the connection between us, I stared forward once again, only answering with a nod of my head.

“You fell for her,” Gunner said. It wasn’t a question. “I had a feeling you would. You two are like twin flames.”

I rubbed at my chest as another pang went off because, of course, heartbreak was fuckin’ physical too. “That’s not what I was talking about.”

“Call it a change of subject then, since we can’t do shit about something popping off until it does.”

He was quiet, waiting for me. After draining the rest ofmy drink, I sighed. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter how I feel. Nikki made it fucking clear that all she wants is a fuck,” I growled, shifting on my ride.

“She tell you that, or you assuming?”

A humorless chuff left my lips. “She made it very clear. Shoulda taken the hint the first time she ran out on me. And then when she threw a shoe at me.” I turned toward Gunner, shooting him a smile that probably looked like I was in pain. “Third time’s a charm, right?”

He opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Pres walking up. The way he held his body had me sitting up.

“Is a carrier pigeon the only way to reach you mother fuckers or what? Your fucking phone is off, Dex.” He was clearly pissed.

“Sorry, Pres. What’s up?” I asked, not bothering to give him my sad reasonings for why it was off.

I’d turned my phone off after telling Nikki that Torque would take her home. There was no way I’d be able to resist contacting her, begging her to reconsider, and tonight wasn’t the time to do that. Not when we were both emotional, our judgment clouded. If she didn’t want to be in a relationship with me, I’d respect that. But that didn’t mean I didn’t need time to process and try and wrangle my emotions into submission. Regretfully, I’d asked Torque to take over watching her.

It’d be too painful to sleep under the same roof as her and know we didn’t feel the same way. At least, not right away.

“Boe’s been shot,” he said, staring me down.

“I didn’t fucking do it.”

Pres crossed his arms over his chest, rolling his eyes at me. He was well informed of our feelings toward one another. “Didn’t say you did, asshole.”

“He okay?” Gunner asked, but there wasn’t any realconcern in his voice. He didn’t like Boe either, but the asshole was a brother so there wasn’t shit we could do other than avoid him.

“Yeah, he’s good. He was shot somewhere non-vital, but here’s the problem. Your girl is involved, Dex.”

The words hit like a goddamn freight train. “What the fuck do you mean she’s involved?” I leaped off my ride, tearing my phone from my pocket and powering it up. “What did he do to her? Where is she?”

“I told you your brother is shot, and you wanna know whathedid to her?” Pres asked.

A large hand landed on my chest as I barreled forward, and looking down I recognized Gunner’s tattooed arm. “Easy, brother, let’s keep cool heads and find out what the fuck is happening, yeah?” He spoke to me as if he were taming a wild animal.

Pres looked unfazed, drinking in my reaction.

“Sorry, Pres,” I said, running my hand through my hair. The phone seemed to take eons to power up to the unlock screen.

“That your way of telling me she wouldn’t have shot him unless he did some shit?”

Three missed calls from Nikki, but all of them were from right after I’d stormed out and then told her Torque was taking her home. The oily tendrils of guilt seeped their way into my body, infecting every cell. I’d left heralone,knowing there were people after her.

Like you did with Kell, you thought she’d be fine on her own. This was your fault.

Shards of glass went flying everywhere as my bottle shattered where I slammed it. “Fuck,” I yelled so loud I thought I might break the mirrors on my ride.

“Where is she?” I asked, the words coming out as growls, my chest heaving. My lids fluttered shut when Pres looked down, tongue running along his bottom lip. He didn’t know.

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