I hardly got three words out to Colton before he was already in his Veneno racing toward Blaxlands Grove. He told me that he’s been calling all afternoon, worried sick about where I’ve been. He knew that I was collecting the paternity results this morning, and figured that I just needed time to myself.
What a big fucking joke. The fact that this baby is Jude’s seems so pitiful compared to the bullshit that’s going on now.
I turn one last corner, and as I race closer and closer to the Wolf Den, I finally see it.
Thick, dark smoke billowing up into the sky. My eyes instantly go wide.
No. No, this can’t be true. Surely I’m seeing things. I push Nic’s piece of shit car faster.
A familiar car comes screeching down the opposite side of the road, and I gape at it, instantly recognizing Kairo in the driver’s seat with both Sebastian and Eli in the car. As they pass me, all three stare at me in horror, realizing that not only some shit must have gone down for me to be in this car, but that I’m more than prepared to throw myself inside the Den to save as many men as I can, even fucking Snake and Scarface.
When someone gets down on their knee and vows that they’ll follow me, then they sure as hell have my respect and deserve to be saved. Nic does not get to decide their fate. Nobody should have that power.
I fly past the boys, not wanting to deal with them right now, and instantly watch as Kairo’s car tailspins, and he chases after me. I push myself faster. I will not let them pull me away.
I pull up into the Wolf Den less than thirty seconds later, and as I fly out of the car, I realize that all the doors and windows have been boarded up. There’s no way for the smoke to really escape except for out of the burned roof.
I hear them all screaming, desperately trying to save themselves from within. I run for them, but the boys fly out of Kairo’s car right behind me, immediately coming for me.
I turn on them, not hesitating for a second as I grab Nic’s gun and pop off two shots, bringing them to an immediate stop as the bullets smash into the concrete at their feet. “Get out of here,” I yell. “Don’t make me fucking shoot you like I did Nic,” I spit, so disgusted in each of them. “I swear, I will not hesitate. Nothing will stop me from saving their lives.”
Their eyes go wide, and seeing the desperation in my eyes their hands instantly raise. “Is Nic alive?” Kairo asks, his voice low and terrified, something I’ve never heard from him before.
“Yes, he’s fucking alive,” I demand. “I called an ambulance. Now either get the fuck out of here or help me save their lives. Either way, you need to fucking move.”
The boys glance at each other, and with a cringe, Eli and Sebastian run for the doors while Kai backs up. “I have to check on Nic.”
“Just go,” I spit, turning my back on him and racing for the Den.
The boys struggle with the chains on the door while I go for the massive roller doors. There has to be a way to get in there. I push against it, trying to find a weak spot, but I’m five foot nothing. What am I going to do? The Wolves are dying in there. If the flames haven’t got them, the smoke will.
Fuck.
I panic, looking around for some kind of way to help them. Sebastian and Eli haven’t had any luck and while I hear the sirens in the distance, they’re still too far away.
I glance back at Nic's car and before the idea has fully formed in my head, I'm already running toward it.
“OCEAN. NO, DON’T,” Sebastian calls out, running for me, but it’s too late. I back up as he tries to get a grip on the door handle, more than ready to yank me out of here, but I’m going too fast.
What does it matter if something happens to me? Sacrificing my life to possibly save a hundred others? It seems like a good way to go.
Putting the car back into drive, I pull on my seatbelt and hit the gas, curling my hands around the steering wheel. My knuckles instantly turn white while I tense every part of my body, knowing that this is going to hurt. My jaw clenches and my eyes squint as my face twists into one of fear.
I race toward the roller door, knowing that someone could be standing right behind it and hoping to God that I don't cause more damage, but at this point, how much damage could I really do? I’m sure they’d be happy to sacrifice their roller door if it meant they got to live for another day and go home to their loved ones tonight.
The car hurtles toward the roller door and in an instant, I crash right through it. My body is jolted forward, and I smack my head against the steering wheel, rebounding back into my seat as a sea of glass rains over me, cutting up my arms.
My head instantly begins to throb, and as I try to blink through the thick smoke that comes crashing into the car, I feel the blood start trickling down my face.
Fuck. I don't have time for cuts and bruises.
I try to force my way out of the car as bodies begin rushing toward me, some coming for me while others escape out of the gaping hole in the roller door. All I see is a red glow, the bodies being nothing but a black silhouette against its brightness. As my head finally stops spinning and the thumping begins to ease, the noise becomes louder.
Men are shouting for help, some laying on the ground not moving, while others drag lifeless bodies through flames in a desperate attempt to get people out.
Someone pushes me out of the way and dives into Nic’s car, instantly putting it into reverse and getting it out of the way, making a bigger space for the Wolves to get through.
I stare around in horror, watching as the building quickly starts to crumble around me while men shoulder past me, gasping for fresh air.
Christian comes storming back through the roller door, pushing his way past people with urgency, making me realize that it was him who’d moved Nic’s car out of the way. “Snap out of it,” he tells me as Eli and Sebastian come rushing in. “Either help get your men out of here or get outside and help the guys who can’t breathe. Don’t just fucking stand there.”
Fuck. He’s right. It's one thing slamming through the roller door, but standing here gaping at everything isn’t helping anyone. It’s only going to make everything worse.
The boys all take off, going for guys who are struggling on the ground, and knowing that they’ll be okay, I focus on what I can do. I squint my eyes into the Den and raise my shirt over my mouth before running in. Heading for the rooms in the back, I know I don’t have long.
The smoke is thick, and flames are licking their way up every wall. I hear loud cracks as the foundation of the building begins to shake, and the fear that settles into my stomach is like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
The heat instantly has me in a sweat, but I push through as I race down the hallway. After learning the hard way just how hot door handles are, I slam my foot against every door, checking that no one is getting left behind.
I kick down the door after door, quickly losing count until I get halfway down the hall and hear desperate banging coming from behind one of the doors.
“MOVE OUT OF THE WAY,” I yell, not waiting a second longer before busting down the door.
I come face to face with Snake, and he stares at me for a second too long before grabbing the hand of some girl and pulling her out of the room. They take off down the hallway without even looking back or asking if I need help, and I instantly shrug it off. I can deal with that later, as for now, there’s still another five doors to kick in.
My leg instantly starts to hurt, and by the time I get another two doors down, my lungs are screaming as they fill with thick smoke. I have to get out now or become one of the many casualties. Risking not checking behind the last three doors, I run, needing to save myself.
As I get back to the main part of the Den, I find the firefighters have cleared most of the people to safety. Relief filters through me. Feeling better for needing to run, I make my way toward the roller door, but as I run, struggling to see through the thick smoke, I trip over a body and crash down onto my knees.
I feel around, my eyes beginning to
sting as I search for the person I just tripped over. My knees ache, but I put the pain aside as I find an arm and feel my way up his body. The guy is face down, and I grab hold of him, using everything I have left to turn him, and as his limp body falls down on his back, Jaren’s perfectly handsome face stares up at me.
I suck in a breath and instantly regret it as I start choking on the smoke.
“JAREN,” I yell, slamming my hand down on his chest when he refuses to even look at me. I tug on his arm, desperately trying to move his heavy body. “QUIT FUCKING AROUND. WE HAVE TO GO. GET UP.”
He doesn’t move, and the tears instantly begin streaming down my face again. “COME ON.”
I try pulling on him, fearing the worst, but as arms curl around my waist and pull me off the ground, I scream out. “NOOO,” I cry, recognizing Eli’s tattoos as his arm tightens around my sore ribs, holding onto me and pulling me out. I claw at his hold, refusing to take my eyes off Jaren. “SAVE HIM,” I beg. “GO AND GET HIM.”
Eli doesn’t relent, just keeps pulling me until we’re out in the hot sun. “SEBASTIAN,” he yells. “TAKE HER.”
Within seconds, Sebastian is at Eli’s side and grabs me out of his hold only to lock me in another tight grip. I fight against him, desperate to go back in as Eli races back through the roller door, leaving me praying that he’s going after Jaren.
He can’t be gone. I refuse to believe it. He’s too good. He was the first person in the godforsaken place that I didn't instantly hate.
Agonizing seconds tick by as I wait for Eli to come back through the roller door, and I take a moment to look around me. Bodies lay all over the driveway of the Wolf Den, some motionless while others struggle to breathe. Wolves race around with water, ventilators, and inhalers, listening to every word that the many paramedics are throwing their way.
Police surround us while the firemen do their thing, trying their best to save everyone inside before they can even start putting out the flames.
The Wolves are covered in soot, their faces smudged with black charcoal as ash litters the ground. It's like a scene out of a horror story. I can hardly believe what I’m seeing.
A slumped figure emerges from the broken roller door, his body bent under the weight of another man slung over his shoulders. They stand for a moment in the hazey doorway, two faceless silhouettes against the flames at their backs. Brothers at first glance, clawing their way to safety. The face of a wolf is barely visible under the streaks of ash, painted across Jaren's forearm with pride, and a stark contrast of the widow's ink wrapped around the arm gripping him. I can't help but gasp at the sight. I've never seen anything quite as poetic as a man saving his sworn enemy
The second Eli clears the burning building, Sebastian instantly lets me go. I race toward them and nearly beat the shit out of Eli when he refuses to put him down and keeps hauling him away from the burning building.
When he finally stops moving, Sebastian calls over a paramedic. I drop to my knees and press my fingers against his neck, trying to find a pulse like they do in all the movies. But I have no fucking idea what I’m doing. Am I even feeling in the right spot?
A paramedic moves in, and I get booted aside, but I stay right by Jaren’s head, keeping him protected. Christian moves in beside me with wide, horrified eyes, shaking his head, clearly seeing what I'm refusing to believe.
The paramedic looks up and seeing Christian as the guy in charge, she meets his eyes before shaking her head. “I’m sorry,” she says with sad eyes. “He’s gone. There’s nothing I can do for him.”
Christian nods, and as the paramedic moves on to the next guy, I break. “NOOOO,” I cry, throwing myself down onto Jaren. He didn’t even get a real chance to live. He was stuck working a rundown bar for a bunch of gang members. Surely, he had so much more to do with his life.
“Hey,” Christian says, pulling me up. “You don’t get to break down yet. I know you're hurting, and seeing all of this is a lot for a kid like you, but you’re the leader here. These guys are counting on you. Get in there and help until every last man has been checked, every wound stitched, and every flame is gone. You have a job to do. You can cry when you get home.”
I nod my head, getting back onto my wobbly feet with Sebastian at my side. I fucking hate that he’s right … again. But I have no choice. These guys are counting on me to be their voice of reason, to bring them back from making a drastic move, and to put forward a plan to make this right, but before that, there’s still a crisis to handle and chaos to fix.
I turn to Sebastian while also taking in Eli over his shoulder. “You two get out of here before the rest of them realize who you are and take revenge into their own hands.”
They nod, and just like that, they’re gone, not stupid enough to hang around longer than necessary.
I make my way over to one of the many firemen and pull on his arm until I have his undivided attention. “I kicked in all the bedroom doors in the west corridor but the three at the end. Make sure someone checks those. I want every single one of my men accounted for, is that clear?”
The fireman gives me a strange look, wondering who the fuck I am to be giving out orders but seeing the look in my eyes he nods and instantly speaks into his radio. “Last three bedrooms in the west corridor have not been cleared. I repeat, the last three bedrooms in the west corridor have not been cleared. Over.”
A crackly voice comes back through the radio, and I listen intently. “Heading there now. Over.”
Confident that they have it under control, I focus on the men struggling on the ground until every last one of them has been tended to. Men are driven off in ambulances while others are treated on-site by their own brothers.
The police make their way around, trying to take statements, and just as they’ve been trained, no one gives away anything. It’s like an unspoken rule that everyone claims that they don’t know how it happened.
Someone points me out as their leader, and just as the cops are taking my name, two firemen come walking out of the flames carrying one last body. Only this one is different and hasn’t fallen like the rest.
Mikhail Russo’s lifeless body is laid down on the ground beside his fallen brothers as the remaining Wolves stare in horror. Unlike the others who have fallen through smoke inhalation and burns, there’s a perfectly round bullet hole right through the center of his skull.
Christian drops to his knees, the grief instantly taking over him, and as the rest of the Wolves drop to their knees in respect of their former leader, one man remains standing with a twisted grin on his face.
Snake.
I catch his eye from a distance and watch as he turns on his heel and runs, telling me everything I need to know and giving me another target. I look back at Christian and for a brief second, I wonder if now is the time to tell him before Snake can get too far. But with the cops and the grief heavy in the air, I save it for another day knowing that the Wolves will be able to track him and won’t stop until they have Snake right where they want him.
An eye for a fucking eye.
As everybody grieves, I turn to face the burning Den, wondering what my next move will be. Like Christian said, they’re all counting on me, and this next move has to count.
I don’t know what I’m going to do or how I’m even going to do it, but what I do know is that Nic was right. From now on, I won’t bother trying to save his soul because, as of now, his soul is fucking dead to me. No longer is this about trying to save Nic and hoping that he can somehow find himself on a good path and start earning forgiveness. This is about cold, hard, revenge.
Dominic Garcia is going down for what he did here today.
Mark my fucking words.
Chapter 34
Thirteen men.
Thirteen fucking men lay dead at my feet. One of them being Jaren, a friend, and another being Russo, Christian’s father, and a leader. Miss Davies' father.
How am I supposed to handle the fall out from this? I’m just an eighteen-year-old
girl. The Wolves are going to want answers, and they’re going to want them now. If I’m not careful, we’ll be starting a whole new war with the wrong people.
The whispers are already going around with everyone assuming the Widows are responsible for Russo’s death, but I won’t let that fly long. I don’t care how many times I have to scream it from the rooftops, we will not be starting another war with the Widows when they’re innocent of this crime. The real culprit will be paying, and he’ll be paying with his life.
As for Nic, I still don’t know how I’m going to go about that, but I will handle it, even if it’s the last thing I do. I can guarantee it.
I drop down onto the soot-covered floor, my ass instantly getting wet from the water that’s flooded through here over the past two hours. Sadness settles heavily into my heart as a feeling of failure washes over me.
I’ve been their leader for two seconds, and already thirteen men are dead. How will I morally ever be able to live with myself? What was Russo thinking when he put me in charge? Sure, I might be strong enough to tell a dickhead when to get fucked, but dealing with the pressures and heartaches of the reality of this world? It’s too much.
My head falls into my hands, and I sit there with my heart on my sleeve until the familiar rumble of the Veneno vibrates through the ground. My head snaps up just in time to see Colton bringing his car to a stop, and as I get to my feet, the tears begin staining my cheeks again.
I run to him.
As my body crashes against his, the heavy sobs come tearing out of me. Colton wraps his arms around me, sliding his hand up to hold my head tightly against his chest. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispers, his chin dropping down over my head as he stares at the devastation before him. “I’ve got you.”
I cry into his chest, this time not caring about how weak I appear to the Wolves. I’m human and entitled to break down every now and then. All that matters is how quickly I get myself back up again, stronger, wiser, and more determined than I was before.
Ride or Die: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Rejects Paradise Book 4) Page 31