The breath slams out of me as Rush tackles me to the booth seat, and then we roll to the floor. The breath gets knocked out even harder when he lands on top of me and covers me completely with his body, as the loud, thunderous vibrations of heavy gunfire seem to come in from every angle.
“Shit,” he hisses, but all I can see when I open my eyes is his chest.
I feel the fluff of the seats tickling my hands as it rains on us, someone shooting close above our heads now. My mind is firing too quickly to assess where the gunfire is coming from. I’m too out of practice.
It’s not like I’ve never been in this situation before—someone covering me while bullets endlessly fly—but it’s amazing how low your guard drops when you’ve been out of the game for a while.
I cling to Rush, pulling him down farther, keeping him as low as possible in case they’re coming from outside.
The gunfire carries on, but it’s not blowing up around us anymore. Now it definitely sounds like it’s coming from outside and only outside, and it grows more and more intense as Rush rolls off me, cocking his gun as he scrambles out from under the table.
“Stay fucking put!” he snaps at me before he slips out the side door nearest us, carefully peering around, and then disappears from sight.
“It has definitely gotten worse—”
My hushed words end on a gasp when I spot Dash’s eyes on mine. He’s on the floor just in front of the stage where dead strippers are staring back at me with wide, vacant eyes.
Staying low, I quickly crawl to him, eyes assessing the damage to his torso. Too much brightly colored blood is spilling out of him, and I quickly press my hands to the wound.
“Shit,” Maya hisses from my side as she scrambles to help me, pulling one of her shirts off and pressing it to the wound as well.
The bullets cease, and my heart thumps in my ears as Dash gurgles something I miss. My eyes dart up to the door as Axle and Rush both walk in, though Axle moves with a slight limp.
Ambulance sirens wail in the distance, as Rush’s eyes land on us and widen. Axle drops his gun and seems to forget about his limp as he comes rushing toward us, panic in his stride as he pulls his phone out and dives beside us.
I lose sight of Rush, because others are all scrambling around to check the wounded as the sirens draw closer.
“Stay awake, you fucker. Don’t you dare close your motherfucking eyes on me,” Axle snaps.
It’s the last thing I hear before it all catches up to me, and the world tilts and dims at the same time.
Chapter 12
KARA
The pungent aroma of antiseptic spray. The sound of fluorescent lights humming. Idle chatter and distorted speakers paging doctors…
I feel a body against mine as I slowly come back to the world. I almost panic, until I see the finger tats on the hand that’s resting on my thigh.
Without moving, I dart a glance around, seeing that we are in fact in the waiting room of a hospital.
“Dash,” I say on a harsh breath as I jerk upright.
But…it feels like a brick crashes to the front of my skull when I move too quickly, and I groan.
“Exhaustion, dehydration, a delayed response to trauma, and a few other things knocked you on your ass,” Rush says in a patient tone from behind me, his hand sliding off my thigh. “Lean back in your seat before you fall over. The doctors have done what they can for now, but Dash is still labeled as critical, so we can’t go back to see him until he’s out of the woods.”
I notice we’re the only ones in here, and I sigh out a breath as I look over my shoulder at him.
He’s staring absently at the wall ahead as he runs a hand over his jaw.
“Where are the others? Who shot at us?”
“Who do you think?” he asks with a cold smile, eyes finally moving to mine.
“Was I the target?”
He slowly shakes his head. “As far as I can tell, they still have no idea the prodigal daughter has returned to her brother’s side to team up against the devil who spawned them,” he answers with a detached tone, eyes flicking back to the wall. “Dash or Axle were the targets.”
My mouth is so dry that it hurts to talk, but I manage to ask, “Why?”
“You’re a smart girl, Kara. Surely you can figure that out all on your own. I’ll get you some water. Stay put,” he says as he stands and walks out without another word.
I glance at the door, wondering if now is a good time to make a break for it. But one of my brother’s best friends is possibly fighting for his life, and Herrin is really trying to set Drex off so that he makes a stupid, careless move in true Drex Caine fashion.