“I’ve been put in charge, not them. No way am I messing that up,” he says. I guess he must be under a lot of pressure to make sure nothing goes wrong while the rest of the men are away.

I kiss him on the cheek. “Goodnight then.”

“Night Faye,” he replies, looking down.

Was he feeling shy that I kissed him on the cheek? Grinning to myself, I head to bed.

Chapter Nineteen

I wake up to the sound of a scream and then a gunshot. I rush out of bed and hide in the corner of the room just as the door is slammed open. I hold in my breath until the man leaves, thinking no one is in here. When I think it’s safe, I crawl on my hands and knees to the drawer where Dex keeps one of his guns in, and pull it out with trembling fingers. I take in a few shaky breaths. What the hell am I going to do?

I wish I could say I am one of those badass girls who knows how to use a gun, but I’d be lying.

I have no idea how to use it. Surely it isn’t rocket science.

I could see now that it was a mistake on my end, and if I make it through tonight, one I am going to rectify at my first opportunity.

What I did know was that the safety was on, and I needed to turn it off which I do with a flick of my thumb. Aim and fire right? How hard could it be? I swallow hard when I think of the baby. What could I do? If I hide I’d never be able to live with myself. I open the door and walk down the hall, not making a noise. I hear the loud bang of a door. I run into the living area where I see all the women sitting there, crying. In front of them stands four men. All wearing cuts.

“Looks like we missed one,” the leader says, grinning at me with an evil look in his eye.

“Who are you?” I ask, lifting the gun and aiming it at him. I fake my confidence, like I’ve done many times before.

Don’t let them see your weakness.

He laughs. “And she has claws. Put down the gun princess. I could kill all these bitches before you even shoot one bullet.”

Cindy stares at me, the only one of the women not crying. Her eyes are trying to tell me something, but I can’t read them. How did this happen? This is supposed to be my safe place.

“Wh- what do you want?” I stammer, swallowing hard. I don’t take my eyes off the men. The wrong move could cost us our lives.

The leader sneers. “Revenge. An eye for an eye. Wind Dragons killed two of ours. Now the Wild Men will take what’s due.”

Revenge.

“They really should have left you better guarded… Although to be fair we made sure those fuckers thought we were out of state,” he says, laughing like a hyena.

Okay, think Faye think. Four men, armed with weapons not drawn.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I need time. I need to stall. “Where are the prospects?” I ask, pulling in a shaky breath.

“Those two dumb fucks are bleeding out outside,” he says, smirking. Fucking asshole. Wait, he said two.

A small movement flashes in the corner of my eye.

Vinnie.

Maybe that’s what Cindy was trying to tell me. I look to her, and she nods slightly. She gets it. I get it. Now it’s up to me to make my move.

“Put the gun down,” he commands.

“Faye!” Vinnie hollers, showing himself and shooting the leader in the head. I block out the man, block out the screams as I aim and fire at one of the other bikers. I get him in the chest, and he goes down. The other two have their guns drawn and start shooting. Vinnie is able to take out one of them, then turns to the other. The final man standing shoots at the women twice more, then turns to me. His gun trained on me, he smiles, letting me know that he’s not afraid of death, and also that he’s going to try take me down with him. Vinnie shoots, and so does the man. He gets taken down but not before a stray bullet flies past me. I duck, crouching in a ball on the floor.

Then, silence.

Too scared to move, I stay like that until Vinnie comes and sits next to me. He puts a hand on my shoulder, making me flinch.

“It’s over. You really handled yourself babe,” he says, his hand trembling.

I lift my head, tears dropping down my cheeks like raindrops. “Who made it?”

That’s not what I wanted to ask. What I wanted to ask is ‘who did we lose?’

His face crumples. “Other prospects are dead. One of the women got shot. The rest are scared shitless but fine. I’m sorry Faye—”

His phone rings, and he walks off to answer it. I stand up and walk to the table where the girls were all hiding during the gunfire. I see Cindy okay, hugging Jess. I see Allie there, crying, but alive. I look around for Mary.

Where is she?

“Where’s Mary?” I ask in a shaky voice. The women all cry harder, except Cindy who hasn’t shed a tear but has devastation written all over her face.

“No,” I whisper, my eyes going behind them to the dark-haired woman lying on the couch. Blood drips from her chest. Her eyes are closed. I run my fingers through her hair and kiss the top of her head. Why Mary? She was the sweetest, kindest person I’d ever met. I start to sob inconsolably.

“Faye, Dex is on his way. He wants to talk to you,” Vinnie says gently. I shake my head and continue to stare at Mary.

“She needs you right now man,” Vinnie tells him, his eyes going red when he looks at Mary. “She’s fine physically, but I don’t know,” he says into the phone.

He doesn’t know if I’m fine emotionally. Well I’m not.

I sit there with Mary until the men arrive. For the rest of my life, I will never forget the look on Arrow’s face. Never. He ran inside and dropped to his knees in front of her. He buried his face in her hair and cried. He cursed, he swore, and he kept asking why over and over again.

Why her?

In that moment, I know that Arrow loved Mary. I wonder if he only just figured it out himself. And if he did—now it’s too late.

Dex wraps me in his arms, his body trembling, shaking with fear and rage.

And relief.

He takes me to our bed and just holds me. “I was so worried,” he whispers. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry sweetheart.”

I can see his face in the moonlight, his pained eyes tearing through me. They hurt to look at, so I squeeze my own shut.

I’m just about asleep when he says, “I need to go help the others. I will be back as soon as I can.”

Help must mean take care of the dead bodies.

I killed a man today.

I killed someone.

And I lost someone.

I think of Liam and Trev, and I feel sad, but when I think of Mary being gone I feel heartbroken.

The good die young, the saying must be true.

Dex joins me back in bed early morning. He smells like soap, freshly showered. I explore his smooth chest with my hands, then place my right hand against his heart.

I feel it beating.

“I love you too,” he whispers to me. “I wanted to say it to you face to face.”

He kisses my lips once, then we fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

Chapter Twenty

“What’s this?” I ask, peering at the box curiously. Jim smiles at me, his eyes crinkling, and places the box on the table.

“You earned this,” he says as I open the lid and pull out what’s inside.

It’s a cut. One made in my size. On it, it says ‘Property of Sin.’

“You’re the first woman to get one. Ever.”

Dex watches me, his eyes full of pride and sadness. Pride over my actions but sad that I was forced to do it. Sad that I was almost killed, and that others were.

“I didn’t do anything really,” I mutter. “It was all Vinnie.”

Vinnie was patched in the next week, after Mary, Liam, and Trev’s funerals. It’s now been two months since the incident.

Two long soul-searching months.