“Levi, get Skylar and Emerald up with the girls and stay with them. Lock the fucking door until one of us comes to it and tells you it’s safe,” Op demanded as he rounded up the members, orders flying left right and center as Levi guided us to the staircase.
I looked up, seeing Sugar standing at the top with a sad smile. “Come on,” she waved us forward. “We need to be safe so they can focus.”
Tears still streaked my cheeks as I bounded up the stairs, ducking into her waiting arms.
Emerald followed us quietly down to Op and Chelsea’s room where Rose was rocking one of the babies while Harlyn, Jayla, and Macy were playing some kind of board game on Chelsea’s bed, oblivious to what was going on downstairs.
Levi closed the door behind us and locked it before leaning back against it and folding his arms. Levi was young, but he was a serious kid. He didn’t joke around or banter with the other guys, he just did his jobs, listened quietly and got on with it. It didn’t make him the funniest person to be around, but it actually did make me feel a little safer with someone who took shit that seriously.
I wanted to go to the window, knowing that it looked out over the yard, but instead I forced myself over to the sofa where Chelsea was sitting with Jack. She tried to give me a supportive smile, but we were all tense.
I could hear gunshots, and people shouting, but I couldn’t figure out if those people were our people or not. Clenching the blanket in my hands, I tried to focus on something else, I needed to not think about the fact that these people were here to take me, or kill me or do whatever in order to hurt the people I cared about and make me pay for leaving the Colony.
Hadley stepped out of the bathroom and quickly scanned the room. “Does anyone have a weapon?” she asked. Levi nodded, but the rest of us shook our heads. “Damn, I wonder if I could get back to our room—”
“No, Op said no one leaves,” Levi argued firmly, standing his ground. I was pretty sure none of us were getting out of here anytime soon.
“Op keeps a gun in his side drawer, and there’s a .22 locked in the closet. The code is 1225, the boy’s birthday.” Hadley went straight to the side table and pulled open the drawer, checking the gun was loaded before she clicked on the safety and tucked it into her pants.
Just as she was about to head for the closet, we both froze, hearing tapping above us. Hadley’s eyes widened, and I felt like my stomach sank to the floor.
Levi was the only one able to move, and he quickly rushed forward. “Chelsea, Rose, take the kids to the bathroom and lock the door,” he whispered, his words coming out in urgency as he ran to the bed and picked up Macy and Jayla around the waist and ran to the bathroom.
Chelsea grabbed Harlyn’s hand, pulling her along as she cradled one of her sons in her other arm. Rose was right behind her, running for the bathroom door and slipping inside before Levi pulled it shut and drew his weapon, standing in front of it with his shoulders back like a true soldier ready to protect.
Sugar gathered Emerald and threw the closet door open, herding her inside. I could see the fear on my sister’s face.
“It’ll be okay, Em. Just stay there and don’t make a sound, no matter what you hear,” I ordered, trying not to get choked up as she blinked and tears dripped down her cheeks. She stepped back, and Sugar closed the door.
“They’re on the roof,” Hadley said, looking upward, her body tense like they might drop through the ceiling at any moment. “Sugar go… get in the bathroom,” she said pleadingly.
Sugar shook her head but didn’t have time to argue because, within seconds, the windows were exploding. Sugar and I both hit the floor as glass rained down around us, covering our heads.
I could feel it skim past my bare skin, the sharp jagged edges instantly slicing at my body.
One, two, three men landed on the floor of the bedroom.
Gunshots went off, one after the other, shaking my body and filling my head with noise and confusion. The first man through instantly fell to the ground, limp and lifeless, as both Levi and Hadley stood firm, releasing round after round into the invaders.
One managed to draw his weapon and fire back.
I screamed as Levi took two shots, one to the leg and the other to the stomach, throwing him back against the bathroom door, the gun falling from his hand.
Hadley froze when the same man turned his gun on Sugar and me, while the third pointed his at her. I could see that she wanted to keep fighting, but when she looked at us, realization flashed over her, and she held up her hands in surrender.
Two more men climbed through the window. I didn’t recognize any of them. Were they from the Colony? I knew they trained well there, but this was some kind of next level. They had bulletproof vests on and were handling their weapons like professionals, not just some guys who practiced out the back shooting rounds at targets in their backyard.
“You must be Sapphire,” one of them said walking toward me with a cocky grin that I would love to shoot off his damn face. As he got closer, I recognized him, and it took me a second to click just from where.
I sneered. “Brock Obrien,” I spat as I tried to climb off the floor, fighting past the pain I was feeling from the glass that had attacked me. Sugar stood with me, her back straight, her face a mask of indifference.
We all refused to show these guys that they had us scared.
We knew that the boys who were downstairs would have heard the commotion already, I had to have faith that it wouldn’t be too long before they came up here, but the problem was, how many more people would get hurt if this turned into a gunfight.
“Normally I don’t like to bust in this way, but I have to give credit to the club, they really do have this place locked down,” he said seeming almost impressed. “But my men are better.”
“What the hell do you want?” I snapped, pushing my shoulders back and lifting my chin. It was obvious he didn’t have time for a strong woman because he instantly stepped forward in response, his hand jumping out and grabbing a handful of my hair, wrenching me forward.