Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35194 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35194 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
“Byte and Crush have it. They’ll get to the bottom of this, and they’ll get to the bottom of it soon.” The barely controlled rage in Rocket’s voice was very clear. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard my president this angry. There was a pause, and I knew what was coming next. “Why’d you kill Redwood?”
“You mean besides because he shot Apple and had turned back to either finish her off or shoot Calista?”
“Yeah, Ringo,” Rocket snapped. “Other than that.”
“He was dead anyway. Calista didn’t fuck around with him. Stabbed him at least five or six times with a fucking big-ass sharp knife. He was dying anyway. I didn’t want her to be the one to kill him.”
Rocket was silent and I could almost see him scrubbing a hand over his face. “Yeah. Sorry, brother.”
As I finished the call with Rocket, a big-ass SUV skidded to a halt in front of the house. Bullet jumped out of the passenger’s side while Leather and Falcon exited the driver’s side. Leather driving, Falcon in the back seat with a long backboard.
Bullet took a quick look at Apple before putting her on the narrow board Falcon laid beside her.
“Get her to the truck. I need to look Calista over.”
“I’m fine. Not a scratch,” Calista assured him. “I promise.”
“Not even a tiny scratch?” Bullet gave her a stern look.
“No. I swear.”
Bullet gave me a hard look. “You make sure.”
“Don’t worry. Take care of Apple. If I need you, I’ll bring Calista to your clinic.”
“I’ll let you know if I need to get her to a hospital.”
“What do you mean if?” Calista got to her feet, even though I tried to keep her on the ground. “There is no if! She’s been fucking shot!”
Bullet gave her a tight smile. I knew the other man wanted to get Apple to his clinic so he could properly assess the damage, but he also took time to reassure my woman her friend would be seen to properly.
“I swear to you, Calista. I won’t take a chance with Apple’s life. Besides the fact Lemon would kill me, I’d never deny anyone care who needed it. Especially one of our women.”
“How would you explain this?” I knew Bullet would have trouble with an extensive gunshot wound if he had to take her to the hospital. Even he took her to his old hospital where he could still get things done off the books, stuff like that was required to be reported.
He shrugged. “We’ll figure that out if it comes to it. But I truly think Apple will be fine here. I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks.”
That seemed to put Calista at ease because she let me pick her up to carry her inside the house. Before I took her inside, though, I wanted her to see that Apple wouldn’t be alone. I saw Lemon approach as Falcon and Leather carried Apple on the board to the SUV and loaded her into the back.
Lemon got there right before they got her inside the truck and hurried in that direction. She stopped briefly to punt Redwood in the head with her booted foot before climbing in with her sister.
“I need to go with Apple,” Calista said shakily. “I don’t want her to be alone if Lemon needs to leave.”
“We’ll go in a minute. Just let me look you over first. Besides, do you honestly think Lemon is going to leave her sister?”
“No,” she said. Calista buried her face in my chest and cried. “This is my fault.” Her voice was muffled, but I heard her clearly.
“Hey. No,” I said firmly, sitting on the couch in the living room. Thankfully, everyone else was in the panic room, and I could take a few moments with Calista to calm her fears and maybe look her over quickly. “This isn’t your fault.”
“I brought these people straight to your door! I don’t know how they found me, but none of this would have happened if I hadn’t come here! Redwood said he was taking me back to Borris.”
“You did what you had to do to survive. Redwood was already here. If this hadn’t flushed him out, something else would have. None of this is on you.” I gripped her chin and turned her face up to mine. “You get me? That motherfucker Illivitch’s gonna fuckin’ die, though.”
She nodded. “Yes. Please.” Then she wrapped her arms around my neck and cried silently against my skin.
I only hoped Dom didn’t find Illivitch before I did. This was one kill I desperately wanted.
Chapter Twelve
Calista
The ride to Bullet’s clinic was a blur. Ringo took me in an old pickup because he thought I was too shaky to ride behind him on his bike. He wasn’t wrong. The thought that I might not see my friend again living and breathing and laughing and giving everyone shit clawed at me.