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“What the fuck was that?” Emily blurts the moment the door slams shut.
“What was what?” My hands flex at my sides, my body on high alert from the arrival of the fucking Brutes, and I hate the fact that I’m practically forced to hide in here instead of watching what’s going on outside.
“Don’t ever fucking put yourself purposely in front of a gun again,” Emily hisses, jabbing her finger into my chest, and I let her. Which is completely the opposite to my usual reaction to someone being too close to me.
Instead, I roll my eyes at her. “A simple ‘thank you, Scarlett’ would work just fine.”
Emily scoffs in response, throwing her arms out to the side in disbelief before they settle on her hips. “No, screw that. I’m too much of a delicate soul to live forever with the knowledge that you died because of me.”
I sigh, quirking a brow at her. “Were you the one pulling the trigger?”
“No.”
“Then it can’t have been because of you,” I state, knowing full well that wasn’t what she meant, just as she tries to explain the fact.
“You know what I mean, Scarlett, that’s—”
“Girls, you can be mad at each other later, but right now, I need your help with everyone else.” Maggie’s voice filters through the fog that invisibly settled around the two of us, and I turn to glance at the rest of the people in the room.
Fear and tension are palpable in the air, the worry traveling from one person to another as uncertainty drags everyone down. The kids are cradled in their mothers’ arms while the Ruthless Bitches sniffle among themselves.
Maggie’s right, they’re useless in this state. We need to protect them.
“Coming,” I murmur, turning back to Emily as I offer her a small smile, and she instantly wraps me in her arms tightly.
A beat passes before she whispers in my ear, “Thank you, Scarlett.”
I just hold her tighter for a moment longer, before stepping back and moving into action.
“What are we doing right now? My girls don’t need to be around this.” My attention is drawn to the woman in the center of the bar area, twin girls clinging to her as she desperately seeks a solution.
Sometimes I wonder how these women end up with a biker to begin with. They know exactly what they’re signing up for and yet they crumble at the first hurdle.
I don’t say that of course, instead I roll my shoulders back and step further into the room. “Is it possible to get everyone through the back entrance and around to the vehicles without being detected?” I ask, before my eyes settle back on the mom with the twins.
“It’s possible, but the second we start an engine, they’ll know.”
Fuck.
Searching the room again, my eyes fall to the safest place in the entire building. I consider whether I should start spouting orders or not, but when no one else steps up to the plate, I take a deep breath and move toward the double doors that intimidated me when I first arrived.
“We need everybody—old ladies, children included—to get comfortable in the Church.”
Chattering picks up as a few of the Moms nod at me and start to make their way toward the open doors without any hesitation.
“Who the fuck gave you the right to give orders?” Molly snaps with her arms folded over her chest. Mascara stains her cheeks, her eyes are red and blotchy, but the snarl on her lips remains the same.
“Where were you whenshewas protecting our own, Molly?” The question comes from an irritated Maggie, and before a slack-jawed Molly can mumble anything in response, Ruthie steps up from beside her with a soft smile.
“I’ll help with the kids,” she murmurs, moving toward me. Her hand brushes my arm as she continues, “Thanks for helping me out there, Scarlett.”
I’m left staring wide-eyed after her as Molly hisses from her spot. “You can’t lock us in there. If those fuckers try to burn us down or something, we’ll have no way out.”
Irritatingly, she has a point.
“We won’t lock the doors, we’ll guard them.”
“Guard them?” Her scoff annoys the fuck out of me, so I decide responding to her needs to be someone else’s job.
