Roman jumped to the side, away from the barrel. “Whoa! Shit. Put that down.”
“Clarke, let me have that.” I edged toward him.
Clarke kept his focus on Chanos. “My brothers shouldn’t have to pay for what I did. Especially Ryan.” Tears tracked down Clarke’s face. “He looked out for me when no one else would. He’s a good person. I’m the one who messed up. I took your drugs and I started this war.” He sniffed. “I should pay for this. Not him. Not them.”
“Then put your gun down and let’s do this man to man,” Chanos said wiggling his fingers toward the gun. He took a step closer to Clarke.
“Stay the fuck away from him.” I moved between them and shoved Chanos back. The movement hurt my shoulder and I bit back a groan. Turning to face Clarke, I held out my hand. “Come on, man. Give me the gun.”
“I’ll make you beg to die.” Chanos took another step forward in an effort to grab Clarke.
“Stay the fuck back,” Ryker barked.
“Why? Clarke won’t shoot,” Chanos sneered. “He’s a coward. A pussy that couldn’t—”
Clarke pulled the trigger and the sound was deafening as the bullet zipped past my ear. Everything exploded into chaos as the pool hall descended into hell. The muscle with Chanos fired back and I screamed at my brothers to take cover. The air filled with the odor of gunpowder as glasses on the counter shattered and the fragments rained down as bullets plowed into them.
Clarke pulled the trigger until there were no more bullets left, then he began reloading. That’s when I saw one of the guys with Chanos stand up from behind the pool table and take aim at Clarke.
“No! Clarke, get down!” I flung my body into the air, but the beating I’d taken had slowed my reflexes. The first bullet caught me in the side. The second one in the leg. The floor was so far away. I hung suspended in the air, futilely trying to grab Clarke to make sure he was safe, and then I fell down forever.
The bullets peppered the air, some of them plowing into the floor right beside me. I tried to move, tried to crawl forward to make sure my brothers were okay but I couldn’t make my body work right. I wheezed as I struggled to draw in enough oxygen. The sticky wetness of what I hoped was only my blood covered my side and leaked onto my back.
“I got you, man.” Juvante covered me, his face screwed up like he was about to cry.
“Let’s get him out of here.” Cooper started dragging me toward the door and I saw one of the muscle take aim at Cooper’s head.
Ryker took him down with a pool stick shot to the balls and the bullet meant for Cooper ended up in the ceiling.
“You idiot. What the hell have you done?” Zane demanded, after staring at Clarke.
“We’ll sort it out later. Let’s get the hell out of here,” Cooper said.
Clarke leveled a zombie like stare at each one of us. “I’m not leaving. Go.”
The guy Ryker hit with the pool stick tried to rise and Clarke calmly popped a shot off near the guy’s head. He muttered and hit the floor to crawl under the table.
“What the fuck has gotten into you?” Roman demanded as sirens started in the distance.
Clarke walked over to a stool and sat down. “I’m manning up. Now go.”
Cooper looked at me and I shook my head. He sat on the floor with his back against the wall and pulled me in a half sitting position. Ryker knelt and pressed his shirt against the bullet wound in my side. Roman walked over and put his hand on Clarke’s shoulder.
Juvante plopped down in the middle of the floor. “Mama Leena is gonna fucking kill us all for this shit.”
Clarke looked at me. “I got a paycheck coming from the warehouse. Will you make sure Mama Leena gets it?”
“Yeah,” I managed to say as I drifted in and out.
***
When I came to, I was in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV. The sky was dark outside the window. I turned my head to look around at the family filling the room. Mama Leena. Destiny. Roman and Juvante, Cooper and Ryker were there.
“Zane went to get some coffee,” Roman said when I raised an eyebrow. He looked awful. Like he’d aged years.
“No. What...” I tried to think back. “Clarke?” He wasn’t here. “Where’s...”
“Shh...” Mama put her hand on my brow. “Clarke is alive. You saved him. Foolish child.” She sighed and looked like she’d aged too.
I lifted my hand. It felt like it weighed a ton. I touched the back of her hand where it rested on the bed and she took my hand in both of hers. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I couldn’t stand the look on your face. I pushed you away because I had to. I was afraid that if I didn’t, now that I’m back in, you’d be a target for a rival gang.”
“I don’t know what you were thinking. You’re not Clint Eastwood and this isn’t the Wild West. You have a family. We go through life together.”
I managed to nod.
“Good. Now we’re going to go downstairs and get you some food. This hospital stuff is beyond nasty. You’re going to eat and then we’re having a family meeting.” Everyone filed out after her.
Juvante lagged behind. He hunched his shoulders. “When I saw you lying there with all that blood on you...” He blinked and I saw moisture in his eyes. “I thought you were dead. I ought to beat your ass right here for scaring the hell out of me.”
“Better think it over.”
“Why?”
“Because when I get better, I’ll come after you.”
He laughed. “I’ll be at boot camp by the time you’re able to stand up without falling over.”
“Where’s Clarke now?”
Juvante’s face tightened. “Locked up. The dumb shit is going down for killing Chanos. He’s already told the cops he did it on purpose. He’ll be lucky to see the free sky by the time he’s an old man.”
I turned my face toward the wall. Clarke had stepped up to try and give me an escape route. My brothers had put themselves in the line of fire not caring if they lived or died for me. Then I did something I hadn’t done since I was five years old. I cried. For my brothers. For the death of my mother. For the things I’d seen I should never have had to deal with. For the things I’d done that I shouldn’t have done. For the hearts that I’d broken. For the pain of missing Tana.
Juvante poked me in the leg and whispered in a choked voice, “Pussy.”
I looked at him and tears were tracking down his face. I tried to laugh, but it hurt. I held my hand up and Juvante clasped it. “Yeah, man. Love you, too.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
TANA
College was a lot harder emotionally than I’d anticipated. I missed my family. I ached for Ryan but I was working on forgetting him even though I suspected it was going to be an impossible task. There was no forgetting a guy like Ryan Collins. I would have to stop breathing first.
Now that it was January, I was starting my second semester and I was a little more adjusted to my life of classes, studying and doing my best to avoid partying with Shelby. But I’d never adjusted to not having Ryan in my life. There was a missing piece. I wasn’t in the mood to be surrounded by people laughing and hooking up and I had to work hard to keep the pretense up that I was okay.
Without knocking, Shelby flung open my door and made a beeline for my closet. She and I had been lucky enough to get one of the two rooms with a living space in Patriot Hall. With the dorm being coed, Shelby was in her element surrounded by good looking guys.
Pulling out a black dress, she held it against her and said, “Borrow this?”
I closed my textbook. “That’s the third party this week and it’s not even the weekend.”
“I know but I’m young and finally free from my golden cage. I’m making up for lost time.”
“It’s supposed to snow tonight. You might want to wear boots with it.”
“I will and I’ll find someone warm to snuggle up with.”