Page 47 of His Sinful Need

I reach over and touch her, and she looks at my hand on her arm as though she doesn’t even recognize her own body. “Honeybee, can you tell me what happened?”

“Nico…he pushed me out of the way,” she whispers. “He took the bullet meant for me.”

“Okay,” I tell her in a level voice. “You want to make sure that counts for something, right?”

She looks at me at last, lips trembling, then down at Nico. “Yeah.”

“Then you need to make sure you get out of here, safe.”

“But Nico—”

“Nico’s coming too,” I assure her. “So you need to get your head in the game so you can help. Right?”

“Right.” The strength is returning to her voice. “I-I have my gun here...”

“You give that to me,” I suggest. “And you help Jazz get Nico up, so when I tell you to run, you can run. Okay?”

Jazz is already pulling Nico up, winding his arm around her neck. Nico’s out of it completely, a dead weight, and I worry that even together, Honeybee and Jazz will have a tough time with him.

But I have to get Rook. I’m not leaving him here.

“Max, you need to make a move,” Bricker warns, moving into a crouching position. “Get Jazz, Honeybee and Nico out of here. Tank will take Giddy.”

“What about you?” Van demands.

“I’m getting Rook,” Bricker says. His voice is firm. “And you’re going to give me cover.”

“Man, I’m out,” he reminds Bricker. “No cover.”

I slide Honeybee’s gun hard across the floor, and Bricker hands it to Van. “We get him together,” I call softly to Bricker. “Okay?”

There’s no time to argue, and thankfully, Bricker doesn’t. He just nods.

“On three,” Van says, and counts us down.

We both bolt as soon as Van hits one, and I hope like hell the cover will be enough. Rook’s eyes flutter open when we reach him, and he even tries to smile, but it’s wiped off his face as soon as Bricker and I pull him up off the ground.

A neck shot, and he’s lost way too much blood. I have to focus on not slipping in it as Bricker and I drag him toward the exit. Rook’s weight slows us down, and I can feel his blood soaking through my clothes. I try not to think about it, to just focus on getting him out of here before Van runs out of bullets.

Again.

“Fuck,fuck,” Bricker grunts, but we keep moving.

“Go, go,go,” Tank hollers. He’s got Giddy practically tucked under his arm, and in the other hand, he has his gun. PacSyn are starting to make some noise again, so I put my head down and drag, keeping pace with Bricker. Rook, the poor bastard, is getting dragged right through glass, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even notice.

We burst out of the bank’s entrance, the fresh air and sunshine a sharp contrast to the stifling atmosphere inside.

“Rook! Stay with us!” I snap at him, as Bricker hoists him up. Somehow Rook’s held onto his gun this whole time, so I take it out of his hand and look around the street.

Pony’s still there, staring at us through the windscreen. Pale. Astonished.

But just as we clear the exit, a figure steps out from behind a nearby car, gun aimed straight at us. It’s that suspicious guy I spotted earlier—he must be with PacSyn.

“Shit!” Bricker hisses, just as I holler, “Down!”

I shove Bricker and Rook to the ground just as the PacSyn guy takes his shot, diving on top of them both.

And then Pony guns the engine, taking off with a squeal of rubber. For a second I think he’s splitting on us, but then I see it: he’s driving like a madman toward the PacSyn thug. The shooter dives out of the way just before Pony strikes him, but as soon as his body hits the pavement, I take careful aim and fire, spilling his brains all over the sidewalk.

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