The more time I’d spent with Sky, the closer I got to look at who Jess really was. She could be a total bitch and overly abrasive, but when it came to the things that counted, she stepped up to help the people she cared about, showing her true colors, even if she didn’t like people to know. It was almost as if she was afraid people would try and get close to her if they thought she wasn’t as much of an asshole as she made out to be.
“Get the gun,” I told her calmly. Skins had already found his weapon and was loading the chamber. “Jess, trust me, you’ll feel a lot better when you have something in your hands to protect yourself.”
I looked at her out the corner of my eye. She blinked a couple of times before she took in a deep, all-encompassing breath and like a light switch she was diving for the rifle and tearing open the ammunition that was attached to it with her teeth.
“Fucking cunts, shoot a fucking little girl, gonna shove my gun up their ass,” she mumbled to herself, the fear being taken over by adrenaline. “How are we gonna get the girl in the car and then into the clubhouse?”
“I’m going to assume the fire is coming from the abandoned multi-story factory down the left side.” This was a huge assumption, but we were going in totally blind, so it was one that had to be made. “So I’m going to use that side to shelter you as you throw the door open and drag her inside.” I tried to explain the plan, it was messy, but it was all I had right now. We hadn’t heard back from Op, so I just knew it was likely he was dealing with his own problems and I hoped like fucking hell that Skylar was okay.
Sky was strong and stubborn as hell, if someone came at her, she would fight back. At least that much I knew.
I turned the corner, pulling into the club road and I could already see the shape of the little girl sitting at the end of the street, almost directly outside the clubhouse gates. “You ready?” I asked seriously as I lined up the car straight and screamed down the street.
Jess placed her gun on the seat beside her and scooted closer to the doorway, her hand resting on the handle as she caught my eye. “Ready.”
I drove down the left side of the road so she would be on the right side to open her door and drag the kid inside. I was the one left vulnerable like this, well, assuming that the shooter was coming from one of the factories on this side of the road. The driver’s seat was leaned back just enough so that the pillar in between the front and back seat was protecting my head.
Just as I hit the brakes with pressure, a loud bang resonated above the truck’s roaring engine as it fought to slow down. I felt it hit the car, right in my fucking tire. “Shit!” I yelled, trying to control this monster of a fucking vehicle with a blown out tire while trying not to hit this kid in the center of the road.
My control was horrible. With the front left tire now flat, I was fighting to keep it from pulling us to that side and off the road.
The ping of a bullet hitting metal had us all leaping out of our seats. Thankfully for us, after what happened with Hadley and Ham being shot at while Macy was in the car, and the fact that a lot of the boys had kids now or were wanting kids, they all got armoring placed inside the doors of their vehicles through the International Armoring Corp.
The truth was, cars were not fucking bulletproof, no matter how many Hollywood movies tried to tell you they were. Hadley was lucky in her instance because they had shot at Leo’s truck mostly from the rear, so the tailgate formed an extra layer of protection.
“Here she is!” I yelled as I slammed my foot down as hard as possible on the break, throwing us all forward. Jess managed to recover from the momentum and flung the door open, the girl just three or four feet from the rear tire.
“Get back in!” Skins yelled and raised his gun to the narrow gap in his window. Jess managed to get the door shut just as a flurry of bullets skimmed at leg height across the vehicle. The young girl outside was screaming, lying flat on the ground, covering her head. Skins returned fire with three rounds, enough to force the gunman back behind the tall metal fence across the street from the clubhouse.
There went my assumption and the whole plan.
They were coming at us from both sides.
Suddenly, my window shattered, throwing glass all over my lap, the bullet just skimming my jeans before burying itself into the center console. “Motherfucker!”
We were gonna have to leave the kid where she was, or in a few seconds, when they finally got a good shot, we would be fucking dead.
Jess was lying flat on the back seat, just as another bullet shot through the car, smashing her window on entry and the other side on exit. I heard her growl, turning my head just enough to see her gripping the rifle in her hands. “Stupid bastards,” she cursed, rearranging her body so she was on her knees on the floor and the rifle was propped in the now open window.
“There’s three on my side at least,” Skins blurted as he tried to keep his head below the window line. “We need to make a decisi—”
Bang!
My body buzzed as the sound of the rifle being fired from inside the fucking vehicle vibrated through me and made my ears ring. I scratched at them, trying to make the ringing stop and not let it set me off in the middle of a fucking war zone. I could feel my body tingling already but I was fighting it, I wouldn’t let the haze beat me this time.
Fuck no, not when my family was at risk.
Inhale.
I wouldn’t lose the people I love again. No one was going to take them from me this time.
“Now there’s only two!” Jess said, her voice suddenly calm and deadly. “Hang in there, honey, we’re gonna get you out of here,” she called out the window.
“It hurts!” she called back, her voice painful and distraught. “I feel dizzy,” she cried, followed by an emotional sob.
Skins looked at me, his eyes a melting pot of anger and hatred, mixed with the pain of trying to understand how someone could do this to a little girl who was so innocent. “We’re getting her out of here,” he clipped, his lips barely moving because of how tight his jaw was clenched.
He was right.