Chapter Eighteen
Ham heaved himself inside the car just as I threw it into reverse.
The tires screeched loudly as they fought to find traction on the road. There was a loud crunch and I cringed, knowing I’d just hit Ham’s bike.
I started to apologize, but the sound of the windscreen smashing and covering us both in glass instead caused me to scream. Luckily, the truck had a reversing camera, so I ducked below the dash as bullets pierced the vehicle.
“Get Macy!” I yelled at Ham over the revving engine. He instantly scrambled with his head down, through the center of the seats. I could hear her crying as Ham laid himself across her, attempting to protect her from any loose fire.
The loud booming of the gunshots ceased, and I slammed on the brakes. Taking a careful peek over the steering wheel, I saw the two figures running back toward their car.
“We need to get to the clubhouse,” Ham said frantically over Macy’s frightened cries. I heard him trying to smooth the little girl, but she was scared.
We were all scared.
I sat up straight and pushed the truck back into drive. There was no way in hell I was letting her get hurt. She was all Leo had left. Macy was his everything. He wasn’t going to lose her today. “Hold on to Macy. Don’t you dare let her go,” I told him fiercely as I slammed my foot to the floor. The truck picked up speed. The car parked across the road in front of us was an older model, and significantly smaller than Leo’s monster. Wind hit my face harshly through the holes in the windshield, but I blinked away the tears that burned in my eyes.
The car began to turn, attempting to follow us. I braced myself as I swerved to the left and pressed my foot to the brake. The front of the truck collided with the back end of their car, spinning it across the road and onto the grass verge. The impact tightened the safety belt against my body, forcing a whoosh of air out of my lungs as I jolted forward. I sat stunned for a moment. The loud crunching of metal against metal and smashing glass ringing in my ears.
“Go!” Ham screamed from the backseat. I jumped before forcing my foot to the floor once again. The smell of burnt rubber followed us as we sped down the road.
“Is she okay?” I asked loudly, checking in my rear vision mirror to see the damaged car once again turning back onto the road and coming after us. “Macy, baby. Sing with me, honey,” I called over the noises that invaded the broken truck. Wind whooshed in, the motor screamed loudly as I speed down the road, trying to keep at a speed that was fast but wouldn’t get us killed.
Macy continued to cry, so I started singing loudly, hoping it would ease her. “The wheels on the bus go round and round…” my voice shook noticeably, “…round and round, round and round.”
Ham’s head popped up between the seats, his phone to his ear and his head flicking back and forth between the road in front of us and the gaining car. “Open the gates! We’re coming in hot!”
“The driver on the bus says please—” My eyes flicked up to check how far they were behind us, and I spotted a man with his head and arm out the passenger’s window. “Get down!”
Ham dived back behind the seats, just as a bullet flew through the back window, shattering the glass and coating both him and Macy. I tried to keep my head down, but I needed to see where we were going. Another bullet hit the wing mirror and I yelped, pulling on the wheel and causing us to swerve before righting it again.
“The wheels on the bus…” I continued loudly.
Ham yelled into his cell phone, “I don’t know who they are!”
“I can see the club road, hold on,” I told him loudly. The car behind us was coming up fast, I slowed down a little and threw on my blinker.
“Why are you indicating?” Ham yelled in disbelief.
“It’s a fucking habit, okay!”
I tried to slow down a little for the corner, but there just wasn’t time. The back end of the truck started to slide, and I cursed loudly, hoping I’d be able to hold it. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” We hit the curb with a bump before I managed to pull us back onto the street.
Seeing the clubhouse gates open up ahead, my foot hit the floor again. Car tires squealed behind us, and I knew now I’d make it inside before they got to us.
Men ran out the gates toward the road, large guns in their hands.
“Oh shit!” The truck hit the curb and bounced inside as I slammed my foot on the brakes, trying my best to pull it to a stop before I ran through the long line of bikes in front of the clubhouse.
Ham was out the door before the truck had even come to a complete stop. I took a breath, inhaling deeply through my nose, my foot pressed down on the brake so hard my foot ached.
Just as I began to allow my body to relax, the sound of automatic weapons being fired caused me to throw my arms over my head.
Macy’s cries filled the car, and my body seemed to come alive. Putting the truck into park, I wrestled with the seatbelt, ripping it off my body before throwing myself over the broken glass and debris, into the back seat. I struggled with Macy’s buckle, her little arms reached out to me as bullets still rained heavily outside.
Hooking my hands under her arms, I lifted her to my chest and sunk both of our bodies into the small space on the floor between the back of the driver’s seat and her car seat.
“The wheels on the bus go round and round…” I sang loudly, cradling her against my body, her head tucked under my chin and my eyes focused on the door in front of me, “…round and round, round and round...”