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Grief was a fist in my gut, harsh and unforgiving. I didn’t know who’d been on shift. Sometimes guys came in on their days off. We didn’t keep a schedule like so many other businesses. Most of us were independent. We rented the space, and shared the cost of the receptionist and the building. Then we all did our thing…
The weight of a hand on my shoulder steadied me. Rome held my gaze for a long moment. No, this wasn’t my fault. Didn’t make me feel better, however. We sat together, watching the building come down as the firefighters worked to keep the fire from spreading. The space itself was a lost cause.
The room where I did Dove’s first tattoo. And her second… where I’d been building my business… where I’d been building toward our future. Hers. Mine. The guys. It was just gone.
More shouts sounded in the distance, and I shifted in my seat to drag out my phone. The screen was cracked and dark—a somewhat mournful metaphor for my current situation. Rome held out his and the message on the screen made my blood run cold.
Liam:
Ambush. Check in.
Ambush.
We needed to go. Rome shook his head as he tapped out a message on the screen then showed it to me.
Me:
Same. Tattoo shop burnt down. Starling? Everyone else?
I barely managed to suck in a breath while I waited for the three dots to resolve.
Liam:
On my way! H with F. J going to them. No word from M or K.
Liam was on his way. He was alive. So were Jasper, Freddie, and Dove.
“Raptor and Kestrel are fine,” Rome said. The determination and faith in those words were something I needed right now.
“Too stubborn to be anything else,” I managed to push out between coughs. That was an idea I needed to hold onto.
Someone was going to pay for this shit.
I glanced at the bodies on the sidewalk.
Someone was going to pay for all of them.
JASPER
I put two bullets into the last guy on the ground. We’d dragged him off the street. There was no cleaning this mess up. The wail of sirens approaching echoed down the canyon of streets. We weren’t going to be able to stay here long.
“Son of a bitch,” Liam swore, and I caught him glaring at his phone.
“What?”
“It wasn’t just us,” he said, showing me the message from Rome.
“We knew that, though.” Suspected, maybe, but we’d both been aware of it. “Go—get to them. I’ll get Freddie and Swan.”
“You know where he’d take her?”
“Yep. A block from the clubhouse. Close enough to get to it, far enough away to avoid any other ambushes.” I glanced to where my car had been. “Leaving the scene of an accident.”
“My attorneys will take care of it,” Liam said without an ounce of irony or arrogance. “Take care of Swan and Freddie.”
“What about Milo and Kel?”
“I’ll get them after I get Vaughn and Rome. Head down.”
