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But actually, now that Eight was thinking about it, if she passed out, that might be an opening he could use.
Behind him, however, somebody moved. Eight figured it for Mav, or maybe Duncan. He stretched one arm out to stop them from doing stupid shit.
“You’re hurting her now, Greg. And scaring her. That’s what you want?”
“I was good to her! I treated her like a queen! Why wasn’t that good enough? I’m a nice guy! But no, she’s surrounded by you all and thinks you’re better? Why? Because you’ve got guns? Well, now I do, too!”
Jesus, he was one of those.
Eight took one step closer. Greg responded by fixing the rifle on him and tightening his hold of Kelsey. She was about to pass out.
“I’m trying to find a way out of this without people getting hurt. If you’re a nice guy, I’d guess you’d want that, too. Right? You don’t want anybody to get hurt. Especially not Kelsey. You love her, right?”
Eyeing him warily, Greg said, “But she won’t love me. Even when I do everything right, I can’tmake her love me.” As his voice became more emphatic, so did his hold.
Kelsey passed out. Her hands dropped away and her head sagged forward, clearing away from Greg’s head.
One shot rang out, and the side of Greg’s head blew out in a red plume. He dropped, falling over Kelsey in a heap.
Dex had taken up a position at the side. Once Kelsey’s head was out of the way, there was nothing between Greg and the building.
Maverick and Duncan both bolted forward, and the rest of the Bulls followed. By the time they got Greg’s body off her, Kelsey was conscious again.
Her father pulled her up from the ground and picked her up, cradling her in his arms like a child. She laid her head on his shoulder, and Maverick and Duncan carried her to Jenny.
Eight stood where he was, heart pounding, and watched that little family moment.
“You want me to take him to the field?” Dex asked, walking up.
“Yeah. Take whoever you need with you,” Eight answered. He clapped a hand on Dex’s shoulder. “You did great. That was a perfect shot.”
Dex grinned. “It was hard to wait, but I knew if you could get Kelsey clear, that was the only angle I could be sure to only take him out. It was fucking brilliant, letting him put her out.”
Rad came up then. “He’s right, Eight. That was a good move. We all drew right away, but you handled it right.” He gave him a once over and said, “I’ll be damned, but you’re good at this.”
A stunned chuckle fell out of Eight’s mouth. “I’m as shocked as anybody.”
The party was over, for the most part. A little bloodshed wouldn’t quench the vibe necessarily, but there was damage to repair and damage to control. So Eight got to work assigning tasks.
As he was talking to Apollo, making a plan to figure out how to disappear the man they’d just killed, a task that was a lot more complicated than merely burying a body, Eight felt a slim hand slide into his. He turned and saw Marcella, giving him a look he couldn’t read.
“Sorry about this, babe. Real sorry.”
She shook her head and smiled. “It’s okay. I want to talk, but would it be better if I left now, since you’ve got all this to handle?”
He really did not want her to go. After all this, he needed her. Now that the crisis was over, nothing left but the mess, Eight’s heart was jigging in his chest and it was all he could do to keep his hands from shaking. He’d been steady in the moment, but now he was an inch from totally losing his shit.
“I want you to stay, but I get it if you want to go.”
“No. I’ll stay. I’ll go ask Sage if I can help.”
When she leaned up and kissed his cheek, a thread of calm slipped through Eight’s blood. They were okay? She’d been witness to that, and she wasn’t running?
Goddamn.
~oOo~
It took a few hours, but Eight and the rest of the Bulls got the situation handled.
