Stud had a gun in his hand while Shade’s remained empty, but the deadly look in his eyes made him every bit as frightening as Stud who carried the weapon with expert ease. Sex Piston released a long breath, letting the tension flow from her body. She had to be strong for her friends and for Lily. She had two deadly men at her back and numerous brothers converging on her shop.
She wasn’t that same girl who had faced numerous challenges on her own; she hadn’t been for a long time, but had never let herself truly realize it before. Strength and resolve shone on her face when she stepped into the doorway to face Joker.
He jerked the pistol toward her. Her eyes went to the others in the room. Joker had been amusing himself since she had left. She had been right; he had no intention of leaving any one of them alive. Crazy Bitch was on her knees on the floor; her lip bloodied and a bruise forming on her cheek. Killyama was holding Lily protectively; the cape she had been wearing was now gone and her hand cradled in the other one was a mangled mess.
T.A. and Fat Louise had separated and were standing on opposite sides of the room. Sex Piston knew they were waiting for the opportunity to attack Joker. None of her crew showed fear—they never had.
“Looks like you’ve been busy, Joker.”
“Where’s Dale?” he asked, his eyes going to the doorway behind her.
“He said to tell you to go fuck yourself, and took off,” Sex Piston taunted the man.
“You’re lying!”
“No, I’m not. When we got outside, he took off.” Sex Piston shrugged, looking at T.A. “I always told you he was a pussy.”
Sex Piston could see that Joker was torn in whether to believe her or not. Evidently, his doubt won out because he moved toward her. Sex Piston tried to move to the side so that she could get his back to the door, but Joker was too lost in his anger. Reacting violently to Dale’s supposed departure, he grabbed Sex Piston, but before he could hit her, which was his intention, Killyama was on him. She had picked up one of the break chairs and crashed it down on the back of his head.
Stud and Shade were already running into the room, but Sex Piston couldn’t get out of their way fast enough in the small room to keep Joker from blindly reacting. He fired his gun into the crowded room. It was the first time Sex Piston actually heard her crew scream in terror.
Shade managed to grab the gun away from Joker. Turning the gun to point directly at him, he fired a bullet into the side of Joker’s abdomen.
“That will keep you busy.” Shade’s voice was as cold as his ice blue eyes.
Sex Piston looked around, praying silently. Her eyes went to Crazy Bitch who was getting to her feet. Lily shakily scooted closer to Fat Louise as T.A. rushed over to them. Fat Louise was lying on the floor, blood pouring from her leg. T.A. grabbed some towels from the shelf to try to stop the bleeding, and Lily sank down next to her, taking her hand with her good one. Her other hand fell uselessly to her lap.
Bear and Pike came in the door. “The state police are outside and an ambulance is on the way,” Bear informed them.
Sex Piston went to her friend, going down on her knees beside her. Fat Louise’s eyes rose to hers. Sex Piston’s eyes watered, but she fought back tears.
“You’re going to be okay,” Sex Piston told her.
Fat Louise nodded, trusting her friend’s judgment without question. She always had.
The women finally moved away as the ambulance technicians came through the door. It was too cramped in the small room, so everyone was forced to move outside to the shop as they worked on Fat Louise and checked on Lily who was turning pale. The red rubber band on her wrist, that was definitely broken, was a reminder that she might not be handling the situation as well as she seemed. The ambulance had removed Joker from the room to deal with his gunshot wound.
Two State Troopers came into the shop once the technicians cleared out. One approached Sex Pistol, asking questions, while the other went to Shade. She answered all of his questions as quickly as she could, wanting to be near her friend. Finally satisfied, the officer moved on to asking T.A. the same questions they had just asked her.
Killyama moved toward her when she saw the trooper turn to T.A., but Shade stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, ignoring the officer questioning him.
“I saw you putting yourself in front of Lily.” His hard face stared at her friend. “Then you tried to take that bastard out before we could touch him. You still want that ride with Rider, it’s yours.”