Brecken leans over and grabs her arm; he hauls her to her feet and then shoves her back against the bar. He presses his body into hers as he wraps his free hand around her neck. Her eyes close and her body thrashes as she tries to get away, but it’s not possible. He has a hold of her as he takes her air away. “You gonna tell me this doesn’t make you fucking wet? You gonna tell me that you faked it the last four years? I find that hard to believe.” He lets go of her, and she bends at the waist sucking in a ragged breath.

“You are one very vindictive bitch,” I say. “I mean that with the utmost respect.” I gotta give it to her.

She sucks a deep breath as she looks up at me. “I learned from the best, Case.” She swallows. “You and Brecken …” She shakes her head. “The way you use this fucking town with your lies and deceit.” She reaches up and rubs her neck as she straightens her back. “Did you ever think Taylor could end up with the same fate as Nicole?”

I feel my blood run cold as my entire body stiffens. “They prefer a little younger than Taylor, but she would still bring in money.” My teeth hurt from grinding them together. “It’s easy really. The selling of women.” She smiles.

“You have no clue what you’re talking about,” Brecken growls

She looks over at him. “You think Cricket only moves drugs?” she asks.

Brecken starts to shake his head. “I don’t believe a word you say.”

She crosses her arms over her chest, and she gives us both a smile. One that I used to think made her look halfway normal, but now that I know her real colors, it makes her look psychotic. “That’s your choice.” She looks at me. “But is that a chance you’re willing to take?”

“Cricket,” I snap, changing the subject. “He knows we’re undercover cops?” He has to. She had to have told him what we really do. “Why hasn’t he come for us?”

She takes a long, deep breath. “He doesn’t know.”

“Quit lying,” Brecken yells.

“I’m not. I swear I never told them who you really are.”

“Why not?” I demand. “Why not tell them the truth?” I can’t help but believe her. If Cricket knew who we really were, they would have killed us years ago.

“Do you have any idea what they would do to me if they knew I was sleeping with not just one but two undercover cops?” She laughs. “They would have killed me.” She looks over at me. “I allowed you to fuck me for six months before I even knew you were an undercover cop. If I had gone to them and told them that …” She shakes her head at herself. “It would have made myself look like an idiot.” She hangs her head. “Plus by that time I had fallen in love with both of you. I wouldn’t allow Cricket to kill you guys.”

“Then why are you trying to kill us now?” I demand.

Her head snaps up to look at me. Her dark brown eyes narrow on me and her lips thin. “Because of that bitch.” She growls. “She came in and ruined everything. You felt you could just throw me to the side in order to save her. I was no longer important,” she yells. “I had kept your fucking secret for four years just for you to throw me away.” Her body shakes as she fists her hands down by her side. “It was time I put you both in your place.”

“Jones is on his way.”

We all turn to look over at Taylor as she joins us once again. “You need to leave,” I snap.

She looks up at me. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Oh, but you are.” I look back over at Rachel, and she’s straightening her back as she pulls a gun out of her right boot. She used the distraction of Taylor walking into the room to reach down and pull her weapon. Even though the bitch came here thinking I was gonna make up with her, she had still planned to kill me. “I hate to break up the party, but I need to go,” she announces as she lifts the gun and points it straight at me. “And I can’t leave any of you alive.”

I lift my right arm that holds my gun and go to fire off a shot, but I’m too slow. She was already ready. I pull my trigger just as I turn my body and leap toward Taylor to get her out of the way of Rachel’s bullet. I collide with her and we hit the floor with a hard thud as the sound of the guns being fired ricochet off the club walls.

I look up toward Rachel and raise my gun to her again as another loud bang goes off. Before I can even pull my trigger back, I see her fall to her knees as blood runs from her chest. Her and Brecken stand facing one another, both guns were raised, but hers falls to the floor with her. He stands breathing heavy and a look of hatred on his face as he watches her die before us. She had gone to shoot him next, but he was faster. He shot her.

He stands over her with his gun still trained on her, and I look down at Taylor, knowing Rachel is no longer a problem.

“Sorry, babe. You okay?” I ask breathing heavy and heart pounding. I push her hair away from her face and see her eyes are closed. Another loud bang goes off, but it barely registers in my mind. Did I knock Taylor out? We hit the concrete floor pretty hard.

“Taylor?” I place my hand on her stomach to shake her. My heart stops when I feel wetness. I look down to where my hand and see it’s covered in blood. “Taylor?” I demand again as I reach up and check for a pulse. “TAYLOR!” I scream out her name when I don’t feel one.

Brecken is sliding on the floor as he drops to his knees next to us. “She has no pulse.” My voice shakes as much as my hand does when I reach up to feel her neck again. Maybe I was wrong; I feel nothing.

He places his ear down to her parted lips and his dark eyes look up at me. The look he gives me would take my breath away if I wasn’t already breathless. “Case,” he says sitting up. I watch him lean over her and rip off her tank top. “Case!” he shouts now removing his own shirt.

My heart pounds in my chest, and my limbs feel heavy. I can’t move, let alone breathe at the moment. She’s dead. The woman I fell in love with is lying dead in front of me, and I can’t move to help her. Tears sting my eyes and a knot forms in my throat. My chest tightens to the point it feels like it’s suffocating me.

“Case!” I hear Brecken yell and then the side of my face stings. I blink a few times and shake my head. “We’re gonna save her, but I need you to help me,” he growls. “Are you gonna help me or not?”

I look down at her and I can see the bullet wound now that he removed her shirt. It’s on the left side of her abdomen and the pool of blood we’re sitting in is getting bigger by the second. My face stings once again and my head snaps up to look at Brecken. “Pull it together, Tyler!” he demands using my first name.

I suck in a deep breath and my lungs burn. I blink rapidly and the tears that stung my eyes run down my face. He positions himself across from me and reaches over her as he applies his shirt to the gunshot wound and I place my hands on her chest, ready to give her compressions. My heart rips in my chest as I press down on hers. I feel a crack and then a snap as I start to perform CPR on her. My heart tells me to stop, that I’m hurting her. I’m breaking her ribs, but my mind tells me to keep going—her bones will heal. “Come on, baby,” I grind out as I push on her chest again ignoring the cracking this time. “Come on, Taylor,” I demand as the terror of not having her threatens to take hold.

Save her! I have to save her!

I push harder, needing to bring her back to me. It’s crazy how this beautiful woman came into my life. She walked into this club and changed it for the better. I refuse to lose her in this very building.

CASE

I stand in front of the gray concrete wall that holds the people who have passed away. It’s been a week since Taylor left me, called me in the middle of the night, and came up with her plan to show us who was behind trying to kill us. I wish I could go back to that moment. I would do it all so differently. I would take her seriously. I wouldn’t get mad at her or yell. I would have gotten to her faster and made her leave in order to keep her safe. But that’s not how life works.