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I peered into the darkness beyond him, but there were no streetlights, and night had fully fallen. Those men were still out there. There was no doubt in my mind the moment we stepped out of the house, I could be killed instantly.
The baby in my arms let out a keening wail, and tears poured down my face. I didn’t want her to die before she’d even had a chance to live. “Please!” I added my shouts to Caleb’s. “Please let us pass. My daughter is only days old. Please let her live.”
The baby only cried harder at the volume of my voice, but I held her to my chest while I sobbed. This was all my fault. If I hadn’t been so greedy, I could have been sitting in my cheap apartment, broke as hell and probably contemplating going back to my parents, but at least she’d be safe. At least we wouldn’t have guns trained on our heads.
“You’re good. Go on. No one will hurt you.” The voice from the darkness was deep and rumbly but sincere.
I believed him. “Thank you.”
Caleb shoved the gurney forward, keeping his head down. Hayden took up the end closest to my head. I looked up at him, but he had his chin tucked into the collar of the thick jacket, and his eyes flicked left to right, assessing the situation. He didn’t notice me watching him, focusing on him because I couldn’t bear to think about getting into that ambulance with Caleb.
“Just keep walking,” Caleb muttered. “Nobody make any sudden movements or try anything. You know what will happen if you do.”
I held my breath while they wheeled me across the yard to the waiting ambulance. I waited for shots. For an ambush from the dark. For them to realize the paramedics weren’t actually paramedics at all, but the two men the Slayers seemed to want most.
But it didn’t come.
Caleb got the back doors open then went around to the front of the ambulance and got behind the wheel. He started the engine as Hayden loaded me and then followed inside, pulling the doors closed behind us. There were no windows back here. Both sides of the vehicle were lined with medical supplies and equipment, and Hayden slumped on a bench seat in the middle of it all, his gaze intent on me.
“Is she okay?”
I looked down at the little girl in my arms. “I think so. She’s gone back to sleep anyway.”
“Exhausted herself probably.”
I hated she’d had to cry herself to sleep so many times since she’d been born. I’d read a lot of parenting books while I’d been pregnant, researching all the different parenting methods. I’d wanted to co-sleep and cuddle her when she cried. I wanted to try gentle parenting, so our days would be peaceful and calm.
I’d never wanted this. Her terrified and screaming because there were bullets exploding around us and strange men shouting. Her life constantly in danger.
Caleb drove the ambulance down the driveway, slowly and cautiously, and after a moment of flicking switches on the dash, he found the one for the siren.
“See ya around, you bunch of dumbass motherfuckers.” Caleb laughed and stuck his middle finger up below the dashboard so no one watching from outside would see. “That’s for you, War. You’re even dumber than your old man. It was easy enough to have him killed when he didn’t want to play nicely. You’ll be next.”
We turned out off the street.
Gunshots exploded into the night behind us, the Slayers and the Sinners opening fire on each other the moment we were out of the way.
I clapped a hand over my mouth, muffling the sobs I couldn’t keep inside. The other women…they were all still inside. Sitting ducks.
Hayden stared at the wall opposite his seat, flinching with every gunshot. “This isn’t right. I should be in there with them. I’ve known some of those guys since I was in high school and I just left them.”
“You should be thanking me,” Caleb called back. “The Slayers had you outnumbered. You’d just be another statistic of gang warfare if I’d left you back there. You’d be dead, and no one would even care.”
Hayden’s face was a picture of devastation.
On instinct, I reached out a hand to him. “Hey. Don’t listen to that. People would care if you weren’t here.”
He dropped his gaze to mine. “They wouldn’t. I’m a shitty son. A shitty brother. An even worse friend. Fuck!”
The expression on his face hurt my heart. It was the face of a man whose bad decisions had all caught up with him and potentially cost his friends their lives. I just wanted to take that look away. He didn’t deserve it.
There was something good in Hayden Whitling. I saw it, even if no one else did.
“I’m a terrible parent,” I blurted out, not even sure why. “If it makes you feel better.”
Hayden squeezed my leg. “You’re a great mom in a shitty circumstance. If anyone is a terrible parent, it’s him.” He jerked his head to the front seat.
Caleb sniggered. “Listen to you, all flirty with my sloppy seconds. You want to be the baby daddy, Chaos? Damn, slut. How good is your pussy that you have him so whipped in just a matter of days?”