Page 61 of War

War quickly checks me over with his eyes, a muscle working in his jaw when he sees my face and what feels like a cut on mylip. “Are you okay?” he asks me, and I nod. My emotions are all over the place. I’m still angry at him, I’m scared, and I am also so sorry I brought this bullshit upon them.

“Hand her over, John,” Rome demands, cracking his knuckles.So that’s the jerk’s name.

Guns are pulled on both sides, and I wonder how they thought this was going to go.

A shitload of bikers with loaded weapons?Yeah, not everyone is leaving this place alive today.

“Walk over here alone, Rome. We aren’t releasing her until you’re in our truck,” John calls back, pointing his gun at my head.

Fear like I’ve never seen before flashes in War’s dark eyes. They stare right into my soul, pleading with me. For what, I don’t know. Rome puts his hands in the air, his eyes darting to me before walking to John. I feel like everyone is trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what.

The men grab Rome and cuff his hands behind his back.

War steps forward. “Now give us Ora.”

John smiles and buries his face in my neck. “You know what, I think I might keep this one. If any of you shoot or come after us, wewillkill her.”

“We thought you might say that,” War mutters, fingers twitching by his sides.

Suddenly, a shot rings out.

I close my eyes, unable to watch, bracing to be hit.

But it’s John who falls to the ground. Dead.

And he was right next to me.

After that, pandemonium strikes. Weapons are drawn. Bullets are firing.

War runs for me, throwing me over his shoulder as the men create a wall to block me in. War keeps running, throwing me into a truck with a waiting driver. Suddenly, he barks out a curse,the impact making him stumble, and I know he’s been hit with a bullet. “Get her out of here!” he yells to Danger, who puts his foot on the gas and speeds off.

I scream War’s name, but he’s gone.

“He was shot!” I yell, trying to find War through the window. “We need to take him with us.”

“He’ll be okay,” Danger replies, but he doesn’t sound so sure. “I’m not taking you back there. This whole thing was to get you out.”

“Who shot their president?” I ask, tears in my eyes when I think of who I might lose today because of my jealousy and recklessness.

“Sniper,” he replies.

“Where are my friends?”

“Back at the clubhouse,” he assures me, pulling off to the side of the road to help me cut off the zip ties around my wrists.

“Thank you. Do you think they will be okay?” I ask, the first tear falling.

Does he think War will be okay?

He took a bullet for me.

And his first thought was to get me out of there.

“I don’t know,” he replies, his throat working as he swallows. “Lore stayed behind to look after the women and children. He wasn’t happy. He was worried about you.”

I cover my face with my hands. “We can’t just go back to the clubhouse. We need to do something.”

“War and Rome will kill me if I take you back there, Ora. Not happening,” he replies, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.

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