Wrapping the dress around the wounds like a tourniquet, Raven grabbed my hand. “Hold this. Don’t let go.”
I nodded. “She’s going to be okay?”
“She will be fine,” Raven assured me, but her voice scared me almost as much as the bullets still flying by us did. “Stay with her. Protect her with your life.”
“Where are you going?” I cried as she got to her feet.
“Protect her,” she commanded and made a mad run for the door.
“No!” Lexa screamed and tried to get free when she realized her mother was leaving her. “Momma, come back!”
I tightened my hold on the dress and covered Lexa’s little body with my own once again, afraid more bullets would start flying. I had no idea what was going on outside, but all I could think was that Matt was out there somewhere.
Matt could be hurt.
Matt could be shot.
Chapter Twenty One
Raven
JET HAD BEEN AGGRAVATING MAX all evening, teasing him that he was going to marry Flick and he was going to take her away from him. Max hadn’t been happy and had clung to Flick all night to the point that she couldn’t even set him on his feet without him throwing a fit. When he’d started yawning, Flick had given in and offered to take him back to the clubhouse for the night. I was thanking every damned deity in the sky for that small blessing now. Just as I was thanking them that Lexa’s gunshot wound hadn’t hit anything major.
But the sight of my daughter standing in the middle of bullets flying all around her was going to haunt me for the rest of my fucking life. Her sweet face had been white with fear and pain as the blood had oozed out of her gunshot wounds. All I could think about was getting to her,
making sure she was okay, that I wasn’t going to fucking lose her.
As soon as I realized she was going to be okay, that it was nothing life-threatening, the rage had boiled up fast and hot.
Outside, I saw at least four vehicles that shouldn’t have been there at the end of the parking lot. Men in suits were standing behind them, their powerful guns pointed at my family’s bar, at my friends and family.
At Bash.
The brothers were all ducked behind vehicles and motorcycles, shooting back at the suits. “You want some of this, Enzo, come get it!” Hawk yelled. “I’m right fucking here, pussy.”
I could tell where my brother was, not just because of where he was yelling insults at the men with guns, but where the bullets were suddenly being directed.
I ducked down behind a row of motorcycles as a stray bullet whizzed by my head, unsure it was friend or foe who had nearly shot me. On my hands and knees, I crawled through the maze of bikes toward my SUV. Bash didn’t know it, but I had a stash of guns where my spare tire should have been. I had started my little arsenal when Hawk had been shot a while back trying to protect Gracie from being taken. There was no way in hell I was going to chance being out with my kids and something happening to us that could have easily been avoided if I’d just had a gun.
It felt like it took forever to reach my blacked-out SUV. I opened the back and started moving shit around. My fingers shook with reaction as my hands wrapped around the butt of the shotgun I’d filched from Spider’s basement. Willa had caught me taking it, but she hadn’t said a word about it. The next day, she had done the same thing with her own vehicle.
The gun wasn’t loaded, so I grabbed the box of shells that was right beside it. Dropping the shells onto the ground beside me, I grabbed the two Glocks as well but left the second shotgun.
“Fuck!” I heard someone groan and realized it was Uncle Chaz. “Bastard got me in the belly.”
“No,” I whispered and prayed it wasn’t true. In my experience, gut shots were usually fatal.
One of the tires on the other side of my SUV suddenly exploded, making me tighten my hold on the shotgun. Gritting my teeth, I loaded the gun and jumped to my feet. Leaning around the back of the vehicle, I shot twice at the group of cars and was rewarded when I heard an agonized bellow of pain as one of my bullets found a new home in some bastard’s shoulder. I didn’t feel the pain from the force of the kick; I was too full of adrenaline to feel anything but the need to make them all bleed.
“That’s for my daughter, motherfucker!” I yelled as I reloaded.
“Raven?” Bash roared. “Raven, where are you!”
“Fuck, Raven, get your ass back inside!” Spider yelled out next.
One of the suits laughed. “So these pussies have their women doing their dirty work?”
“Nope. You just pissed off the wrong mother,” I called back and edged around the back of the SUV. I aimed for someone’s head and pulled the trigger. His brains splattered across the top of his car.