Rake's Redemption (Wind Dragons MC #4)(77)

I look around for Irish.

“Don’t worry about him, he’s sitting out front smoking,” she says, sitting down next to me. “I know it’s stupid, but what do I do? Should I just f*ck him out of my system? Yes, that’s exactly what I should do.”

“You know I kissed him, right?” I say, cringing. “I wouldn’t have, if I knew you’d end up liking him.”

She waves her hand in the air. “It was just a kiss, who cares. Not like you let him bend you over.”

I expel a deep sigh.

My friend.

“From what he says he’s not the settling-down type,” I tell her, thinking it over. “Are you going to think you’re the exception to the rule?”

She nods.

“Jesus, Tia. Think this over before you dive in,” I tell her. “I don’t know how this is going to go. If you just want sex, then it’s easy, but if you want any more . . . Yeah, I don’t know.”

“I don’t know either,” she admits, sinking back into my couch. “I should have gone with you to his birthday thing and tried to figure out why I’m so infatuated with the man. Knowing me, I’ll just want to sleep with him, then I’ll get over it.”

“Talon owes me a favor, you know,” I say, thinking back to the beer pong incident. “I could call it in for you.”

Tia smiles slowly and a little evilly. “You’d do that for me?”

“Of course,” I reply. “I don’t think Rake will be too happy knowing about it anyway, so I will happily use it for you.”

Tia taps her finger to her lips in thought.

Scheming.

Forever scheming.

“Okay, how about this?”

*

I wake to the sound of something smashing, followed by a sound I’ve never heard before in real life.

The sound of a gun being cocked. I try to remain still as the person holding the gun doesn’t make any further movements. I didn’t think they were going to shoot me, or they probably would have already. No, they obviously wanted to threaten me, or to use me against the club.

Who was in the house?

Wade?

Pill?

Fuck, when did I get so many enemies?

When my eyes focus, I’m truly surprised to see just who is pointing the gun to me.

What the actual f*ck?

I hear noises in the other room. A slamming noise, like someone getting pushed up against the wall, and I hear Irish yell, his accent more pronounced than ever. Cara.

My heart in my throat, my mind races. Is she okay? Did someone have a gun pointed at her too? They wouldn’t hurt her, would they? What am I going to do? What if they try to kidnap her?

Panicking isn’t going to help.

I need to keep calm and think.

Cara.

“Get up,” she demands quietly.

All I can think about is my daughter.

Is she safe?

Does Irish have her protected? Is he okay? How many men does he have up against him? What if he needs my help right now? Shit. Not that I can do much, but I can do something.

“What are you doing, Amethyst?” I ask, sliding out of my bed slowly, not wanting her to react to any sudden movements. I need to get to my daughter, and no crack whore is going to get in my way. “What do you want?”

It’s clear she’s doing Pill’s bidding. She must be a weak woman indeed for him to be able to put her up to this.

All this for money? Or was this for revenge?

Her fingers tremble, making the gun shake.

Yeah, she doesn’t know what she’s doing, and it makes me feel a little more confident.

I remind myself that she’s just a stupid girl. I can take her, gun or not.

All I need is the right moment.

I hear some glass shatter. We both look to the door as we hear a commotion, a scuffle of some kind, and I use the distraction to kick her once, right in the stomach.

Hard.

One of the moves Anna showed me just last week.

She bends at the waist, holding her stomach, and drops the gun. It falls to the ground, luckily not going off.

I pick it up, awkwardly, and point it at her.

My hands are even shakier than hers were.

“Cara!” I yell at the top of my lungs. “Irish.”

Amethyst takes a step toward me.

“Stay back!” I yell at her, taking a step backward. If she came at me would I shoot her? If I had to, yes, I would. I’ve never used a gun before, but if this idiot can figure it out, then so can I.

“Do you even know how to use that thing?” she sneers, the moonlight shining on her face. “Just give him the money, and we’ll leave you all alone.”

I hear my daughter scream, and it breaks me out of my trance.

There is no option other than her being safe, nothing I wouldn’t do.

I’m about to rush through the door when it slams open, and Irish stands there, Cara in his arms.

I exhale.

Thank God.

All I feel is relief until I see blood on his stomach, some of it on Cara’s leg. He’s hurt.

“We have a huge f*ckin’ problem,” he says to me, turning the light on and staring at Amethyst. “Of course they sent some drugged-up bitch to do the dirty work for them. Give me the gun, Bails. You take Angel.”

Cara lifts her head and looks at me, and her brown eyes look terrified. I hand Irish the gun, then carry her into my arms, running my hand down her back. “Everything will be okay.”