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His tongs clatter to the ground and in my peripheral, Dresden and the others back up slowly, lowering their guns. I don’t take my eyes off him. I can’t. If I look at Lily right now, I’m going to run to her. As much as I want to do that, Jax isn’t going to walk out of this building.
“You really want her to watch you die, Mason?”
“No. I want her to watch you die.”
His laugh is maniacal. If I hadn’t thought Jax was insane before, I certainly did now. There was almost a visible craziness to him. Like someone got some seriously important wires crossed in that brain of his. Or maybe he’d finally snapped.
“Let the fun begin.” A beat after the last word left his lips, he charged forward.
Ducking under my swing, Jax wraps his arms around my midsection, pulling me into a tight bear hug and squeezing. “No, Dresden,” I grunt as he takes a step toward us.
Jax tightens his arms around me causing a sharp pain to radiate through my side as I’m pretty sure one of my rib’s crack. Back peddling, we move fast across the floor until both our bodies come to a halt, our heads snapping back as we hit a wall. Jax’s arms loosen just a tad. I pull us two steps forward and then throw all my weight backward again. This time, he grunts and swears, and his arms drop from around me.
Spinning around, I slam my fists into Jax’s face, alternating punches. All I can see when I look at him is Lily’s life— one painful memory after another with Jax’s face looming in the background. Anger builds and I lose myself in the punches, almost to the point where I stop feeling my fist connect with his face.
“Blake, enough, enough!” Two sets of arms grab mine as I struggle to get out of their grasp and back to Jax.
My feet slid back across the floor as Jax slides down the wall, his face covered in blood and caved in. All I can think about is making sure there’s no chance he ever gets back up off that floor.
“Get off me,” I bark at them, forcing Dresden and Vlad to let go. The moment their arms drop from mine, I look around the ground frantically for my gun. Spotting it a few feet away, I stomp over and grab it before moving back to stand a few feet from Jax. He hasn’t moved, but there is a small rise and fall to his chest. He’s still breathing, but barely.
I lift my arm, squeeze the trigger, and lower my gun, staring for a moment as a small line of blood trickles from the bullet hole in his head. A groan and gasp mixed with a gurgle breaks through my haze of anger and I spin to stare at Lily, her body slightly convulsing as more blood runs from her mouth.
Making a beeline for her, the others come up behind us slowly, Dresden calling out that help is a few moments off. I rip the blindfold off and grab her around her waist. She screams, but I keep hold as Rhett comes from behind me and cuts her hands free. Cradling her in my arms, I sink to the floor, holding her to me.
“I got you, baby. Helps on the way. Just stay awake, okay?”
“You . . . came . . . for . . . for . . . m—” Her breathing is shallow, and she can’t manage anything above a whisper.
I cup the side of her face and kiss her lips. “Of course, I came for you. You’re the love of my life.”
“Paramedics coming in, Blake.” Rhett rests his hand on my shoulder.
A moment later, four paramedics surround us with a backboard and neck brace. They load her on a stretcher and for the first time in a long time, I don’t almost go into a panic attack when she’s out of my sight.
Rhett claps me on the back, a radiant smile on his face. We join the others at the entryway as they’re talking to Hyde and Bates. “Well, does this mean it’s over?”
Everyone looks around at each other and then right to Edmond Bates as he smiles.
“Jax was the highest we’d ever found. I think everyone’s earned a long vacation. Lily’s going to have a long recovery anyway.”
Sammi moans in irritation, slapping her hands against her legs. “Damn it. You’re going to have to push back the wedding.”
Everyone stares at her, blank-faced for a moment before busting out in laughter.
Once Lily is on the way to the hospital, I climb in an SUV with Rhett to follow her, proud as hell that I have a fiancée to get married to still.
Epilogue
~Lily~
My eyes are closed, but whatever bright light is in the room is filtering through the skin of my eyelids and it’s annoying. I don’t want to be awake.
Wait? Where the hell am I?
A steady beep picks up and then accelerates.
I’m in a hospital. But I was in some kind of . . . concrete . . . Jax was . . . so much pain . . . Blake . . . Oh God, where’s Blake?
