More guns fired, followed by hollering and laughter.
“It’s them, isn’t it?” I breathed, my heart stopping for a split second before it started pounding so hard in my chest I could barely breathe.
He looked at me, his face set in a grim line.
“That wasn’t a warning shot, was it?”
He shook his head. “That was the sound of war beginning. Looks like they called in the other charters faster than weexpected.”
Chapter 50
Rachel
All hell broke loose as gunfire rained down upon us. Men came flying out of their houses, their guns loaded, ready to defend the club.
Vienna grabbed hold of me, shielding my body with his own and shoved me to the back of the burnt down clubhouse, pushing me down to the floor.
“Can you shoot?” He barked at me.
“I—No. But how fucking difficult can it be?”
“That’s the spirit,” he gave me a sad smile before pulling out a handgun from his jacket and shoved it into my hands. Gun fire rang out, making him crouch next to me, the pair of us flinching at the yells and screams. “Listen to me and listen carefully for the love of fucking God. You are not going to shoot your way out of here, do you hear me? The gun is for protection, as a last resort. You get out of here. No matter what you see, what you hear, you get the fuck out. You shoot anyone in your way, and that’s the end of it. You aim for the fucking head. You go to the Greasy Spoon, and you don’t move a fucking muscle until one of us comes and collects you.”
“What about Bee?”
“Bee is fine. We have trained for this. She will be better prepared than you are. She knows exactly where to go. Every old lady here will be ensuring she gets out of here.”
“I can’t leave until I know she’s safe. Don’t even try to convince me!”
“Fuck!” he hissed, pulling out his phone. “Dante?” He said the minute it was answered. “Yeah. I’ve got her. She’s going to make her way to Greasy. No, she’s fine. Where’s Bee?… Stay safe, Brother.” He put the phone back in his pocket. “Bee is with Jenna. The pair of them are already in a car out of here. She’s fine. Now please, get out of here.”
“I’m going! Keep him safe, Vienna. Please. And don’t fucking die.” I pleaded, tears springing to my eyes.
“President down! President down!” Came the screams from in front of us.
“Shit!” Vienna hissed. “Go!” He shoved me, knocking me onto my knees, and was gone a second later, his gun already firing at one of the Rough Riders.
I kept down low, crouching around the edge of the burnt-down house, using the crumbled walls to keep me hidden from the line of vision. Every time I poked my head out to make sure it was safe, I scanned the grounds, looking for Dante, needing to know he was okay.
I saw Crash on the floor, blood seeping from the wound in his chest. Shark was crouched over him, dragging him to the nearest building for a slight bit of safety, but he was struggling, only able to use one of his arms as his other fired at any of the men that came close.
He dropped Crash and rolled to the side, just as a bullet shattered through the wood of the door behind him.
Fuck this!
I couldn’t leave. These men were my family, and I’d be damned if I made my way to safety and left them to fend for themselves!
I scanned my surroundings, noticing a pile of wooden planks the builders had left behind, and ran to them, pressing my back against them as I cocked my gun. I twisted onto my knees and looked over, noticing one of the Riders running near me. I fired a shot, hoping for the best, and heard a scream as the Rider fell to the floor, clutching his leg. I hurried over to him and grabbed the gun he had dropped, tucking it into the waistline of my jeans, and kicked him as hard as I could in the face, knocking him out.
“What the fuck are you doing!” Came the deep, pissed off yell from Dante as he pulled his knife out of the neck of another Rider and came over to me, wiping it on his jeans. He seemed oblivious to the chaos taking place as he zoned in on me, seizing me by my shoulders, and hauled me around to the back of the clubhouse once more.
“I can do this, Dante! Don’t fucking focus on me! We need all the help we can get.”
“It’s not fucking safe here! You understand you could fucking die, right?”
“Well then, I will go down defending my family! I’m not running like a coward, not anymore!”
“I can’t lose you, Rachel!”
