Page 14

Chapter

Fourteen

LUNA

“ S al? Sal!”

He slumps against the doorframe, sucking in ragged breaths. “We failed.”

“Is that your blood? Sal, talk to me.” I look behind him, but no one else is there. “Come in. Come in.” I help him inside and sit him down at the kitchen table. “What happened?”

“I was pissed, ok? That bastard blew up our clubhouse, and then he tried to kill Maxim.”

“Who?”

“Anton.”

The name sends chills over my body. “You went after Anton? I thought Maxim said he didn’t want you doing that.”

Sal shoots me an annoyed look. “He did, but we didn’t listen. When I found out Anton tried to kill Maxim again, I went after him. Me and a few of the other men. Lucas. Joey. Romero. We showed up at the bastard’s house, and he …” He gasps, covering his mouth with his bloody hand.

“Sal? What?” Tentatively, I touch him, and he jerks away. “What?”

“He blew them to pieces. Came out with a machine gun and started firing. Sprayed them with bullets. Their blood …” He looks down at his hands—hands that won’t stop shaking. “Their blood got all on me. I ran and came right here.”

“So, they’re dead?”

He nods once, making it final. “They’re dead.”

“Oh my gosh.” It’s my turn to slump into one of the kitchen chairs. I wasn’t close with a lot of Maxim’s men, but it’s still chilling to think about. Who exactly is this Anton? He’s a madman, is what he is.

“We failed. We didn’t even get a hit on him. He just laughed like a maniac as he shot up my friends. My family.”

“They were your family?”

“God, you’re so stupid, girl. Not literally, but they were like my brothers.”

His harsh tone makes me flinch. “Don’t be rude.”

With a sigh, he sinks deeper into the chair and nods. “Sorry. I just …”

“You shouldn’t have gone. Maxim told you not to do that. He tried to take down Anton, and his business partner, Dimitri, got shot at. This Anton sounds insane. You can’t deal with insane people.”

“I don’t need a lecture, little girl.”

“You came here. If you don’t like what I have to say, then leave.” I point at the door, my heart pounding. Standing up for myself feels good. Rose was right about that.

“I can do whatever I want.”

“No, you can't. Because you tried that, and you almost died. Maxim is your president. You should listen to him. He said not to go after Anton.”

“So, where is he now?” Sal asks, glancing around the room. “I don’t see him.”

“He’s going after Jasper.”

“By himself?”

“Yes.”

Sal scoffs. “Hypocrite. He tells us not to go into danger without a plan, and look what he does? He goes after the one man who probably wants him dead more than anything.”

“He said he can handle Jasper. He’ll be fine. Now, you need to leave. You probably need to go to the hospital.”

“I don’t need no fucking hospital,” he growls as he stands up and then promptly stumbles, almost falling onto the floor.

“Go,” I say in my most stern voice. I cannot be afraid. Rose and Maxim aren’t here to help me. I need to handle this on my own.

Sal looks me over before he scoffs once more and then leaves. I quickly shut the door behind him and lock it.

More of Maxim’s men are dead, and Anton is still out there. I just hope Maxim can take care of Jasper and return home to me.

MAXIM

Blood slowly oozes out of my leg. That’s a good thing, at least. If Jack had hit an artery, blood would be gushing from my wound. But I need to stop the blood and soon.

That is if he doesn’t kill me first.

Jack raises his gun and points it right at my face. The sight of him and Jasper standing together pisses me off.

“You went to him?” I ask Jasper, nodding at Jack.

“I did. After you kicked me out. You shouldn’t have kicked me out, Maxim.”

“You were going to hurt Luna. Hell, you already did hurt her.”

“Because you wouldn’t give me her. Who’s fault is that?”

I clamp my hand over my bleeding thigh and glare up at the man who used to be a friend. “Luna is not some pet I can just give away. She’s a human with her own mind. She didn’t want you, Jasper.”

“No, because she wanted you. If she’d seen me first, maybe she would have wanted me instead.”

“But she didn’t.”

“Exactly my point. I’m tired of you being president, Maxim. I think it’s time someone else takes charge for once.”

I level my gaze on Jack. “And you? Why do you want Luna so badly?”

“To have an untouched woman who’s so innocent.” He licks his lips. “Mmm. What’s better than that.”

“Hate to break it to you, men, but I already touched her. Luna’s not so innocent as she once was.”

Jack’s eyes narrow. “You’re lying.”

“No, he isn’t,” Jasper says. “But you haven’t fucked her yet, have you? I know you, Maxim. You like to treat women with respect. She’s still too innocent. You couldn’t fuck a woman like that in good conscience.”

I don’t give him a response. He doesn’t deserve to know exactly what Luna and I’ve done together. I won’t debase her like that.

Jasper sniffs, turning to Jack. “She’s still a virgin, I bet you. You can still have her and then give her to me.”

“But it’s not quite the same. Even if she’s still a virgin, she’s been touched now.”

“God,” I growl. “You’re both fucking sick, and I’m tired of it.” I raise my gun and fire, landing a hit to Jack’s arm. He jerks back against the wall as his weapon falls from his hand, clattering to the ground.

Before Jasper can get his gun out, I shoot at him, but he dodges out of the way and runs out of the apartment. Jack quickly follows him.

Those two fucking idiots. Leaving me alive was their mistake.

I’ll be back to end them.

But I failed at my job. Luna isn’t safe with both Jasper and Jack out looking for her. And with Anton doing who knows what, anything could happen.

First, though, I need to stop this bleeding long enough to get back home to Luna.

I rip off a piece of my shirt and wrap it high on my thigh, above the wound. The blood stops oozing out, but I need to get help now. There’s no time to go to the hospital. The police investigate bullet wounds. Someone like Dimitri, with all his Bratva power, can handle a police investigation, but a biker like me? I don’t have the same protections.

Gritting my teeth, I grab the back of the couch and haul myself up. Every step I take hurts like a motherfucker.

I keep my gun drawn in case Jasper and Jack are waiting for me, but they’re not there. This isn’t good. Shit, shit, shit.

Hurrying to my bike, I manage to swing my hurt leg over it and get on. I don’t stop for anything as I hurry home.

Once I make it back, I stumble to the apartment and pause outside the door. There’s a blood smear on the wall. Oh no.

My fingers shake as I get the keys in. The door doesn’t open fast enough. I just need to see Luna. I need to know she’s ok.

And there she is. Standing in the apartment, looking unharmed.

I limp over to her.

“Maxim! You’re hurt.”

I grab her and pull her into my arms. Luna sinks right into them, where she belongs. Where she’ll always belong. “I need to get to a doctor, but I can’t go to the hospital. Dimitri has a private doctor we can use. I need you to call him for me.” I look down at my wound and see that my tourniquet isn’t working like I hoped it would. Blood is already coming out of the wound.

I’m losing too much.

And then I feel myself slump onto the ground.

“Maxim!”

“Here.” I hand her my phone with my bloodstained fingers. “Call him. Get him to come. Or Nikolai. Just … someone.” My vision is starting to go black. I don’t have much time. Luna’s frantic face stares down at me, and I feel terrible that I’m causing her so much fear. All I wanted to do was protect her, and I’ve done a shitty job of it.

“Call him, Luna.” Then everything goes black.

LUNA

My hands shake as I click on Dimitri’s name in Maxim’s contact list. I haven’t actually made a phone call myself before. It’s intimidating.

My heart pounds as the phone rings, and then a man answers. “Maxim.”

“Uh, it’s Luna. Maxim needs help. He said to call you and have you help him get to your doctor.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s bleeding from his leg. I don’t know exactly what happened.”

“All right. I’m on my way. Oh, and by the way, it’s nice to finally hear your voice.”

“What?”

“You know, now that you’re Maxim’s girl.”

Dimitri sounds way too cavalier about the situation. “Can you just get here? We’re in his apartment.”

“Right. On it.” He hangs up.

I stay with Maxim, watching as blood seeps from his wound and stains the floor underneath him. I keep checking his pulse, and every time I feel it move, I know he’s alive. “You’re gonna be ok. You’ve saved me so many times. You can’t die on me yet.”

A knock on the door.

Scrambling up, I open it, and a very handsome man enters the room.

He extends his hand. “Dimitri.”

I don’t shake it; instead, I point to Maxim. “Just help him.”

He manages to drag Maxim out of the apartment and get him into his car. “God, he’s not light. He needs to lay off the burgers, I swear.”

“Can I come with it? I need to come with.” Even though Dimitri is a stranger to me, he’s helping Maxim, and that’s good in my book. Besides, his wife Evie and sister Katya were kind to me. How bad can Dimitri be?

“Sure. Get it.”

Riding inside Dimitri’s car is the opposite of riding on Maxim’s bike. It’s suffocating and stifling. It doesn’t help that Maxim is bleeding out in the backseat.

Dimitri pulls up to a small clinic, and together, we get Maxim inside. A nurse jumps up from the desk and runs over to us, calling out for a Dr. Wilson to come. A middle-aged man appears in the doorway and helps to bring Maxim into a back room.

“You need to stay out here,” he tells Dimitri and me before shutting the door behind him. The last sight I have of Maxim is him bleeding out as the doctor and nurse get him onto an operating table.

Hard, intense shakes fill my body.

“Hey,” Dimitri says gently. “Come on. Sit down.”

I do as he says, and he takes the seat next to me, flashing a smile that does nothing to comfort me.

“He’ll be all right. I’ve known Maxim for a while, and he’s a tough fucking cookie.”

“I just want to be brave for him, but I’m not.”

Dimitri’s eyes soften. “You seem pretty brave to me, considering you grew up in a lighthouse all by yourself.” He opens his arm. “Come on. I’ll help you out until Maxim is better.”

And so, I let this man, who’s a stranger to me, comfort me as I wait for the man I love to be all right.

MAXIM

My vision is groggy as I wake up, but the first thing I see is Luna leaning over me, a hopeful expression on her face.

“Maxim? You’re awake. You’re alive.”

I groan and pull the oxygen tube from my nose. “Luna.”

“It’s ok. You don’t have to say anything. I’m all right. You’re all right.”

“No. Jasper is still out there. He wants you. Jack, too.”

The color drains from her face, but she smiles anyway. “They can’t get to me here. We’re at Dr. Wilson’s clinic. Dimitri is out front, guarding the place.”

“So, he came through.” I shake my head. “That bastard has changed a lot.”

“I’m just glad you’re all right. If you were gone, then who’s going to protect me?”

“I’ve done a shitty job of it so far.”

“No, you haven’t. You saved me from God. Ed,” she corrects herself. “You’ll save me from Jack and Jasper, too. I have no worries.”

“Jack shot me. I didn’t know they were working together.”

“You know now. And that’s all that matters.” She fluffs my pillow for me. “It’s my turn to take care of you. And since I have you confined to a bed, I want to learn more about you.”

“I can’t get away, huh?”

“No.”

“What do you want to know?”

“You’ve never mentioned family to me.”

“That’s because I don’t have any.” I glance down at my bandaged leg. That’s not going to slow me down. It can’t. I have too much work to do. “Parents are gone. Had to grow up fast. Found the Knights and worked my way up to president. Now, they’re my family.”

She winces. “Maxim, there’s something you don’t know.”

For a moment, I think Luna will tell me she wants nothing to do with me. “What is it?”

“Sal came to the apartment covered in blood. He and some of your other men went after Anton. He killed them. All except Sal.”

Her words settle in my stomach, and then the dread comes.

And then the vomit.

I lean over the bed and puke onto the floor. The pain of my leg mixed with the worry over Luna mixed with the knowledge that I just lost more men is too much to handle.

“Who?” I ask, wiping my mouth.

“Maxim—”

“Who, Luna?”

“Lucas, Joey, and Romero. Sal told me they’re all dead. Anton killed them. With a machine gun.”

“Fuck.” I run my hand down my face. The cement in my stomach only grows. “And I can’t even go after Anton right now. I’m too hurt.”

“What are we going to do?”

“You can’t go back to the apartment by yourself. I want you to go with Dimitri while I heal up here. He’ll take you to his place. You know Evie and Katya. They’ll keep you company.”

She grabs my hand and squeezes it. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“You have to, Luna. I’m too vulnerable here at the clinic, and the apartment isn’t safe. Go with Dimitri. I’ll come get you soon. Don’t worry. We won’t be apart for long.”

“Are you sure?”

I kiss her hand. “I’m sure. Now, you have to go. I can’t take care of you from this bed. I need time to heal.”

“Maxim,” she sobs.

“Just go.” I have the urge to tell her I love you. It’s on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t say it. I haven’t known Luna long enough to say, “I love you.” It’s just not possible.

But I know deep in my gut that I care more for her than I’ve ever cared for anyone in my entire life.

When she finally leaves the room, I slump back onto the bed, knowing she’s safe but hating that it can’t be me who takes care of her.

LUNA

Dimitri takes me home with him, which turns out to be a large penthouse suite that makes Maxim’s apartment seem kind of shabby. But I don’t like it as much as Maxim’s place because I have a home with Maxim. Dimitri’s penthouse, while beautiful, isn’t my home.

Evie and Katya welcome me inside while Dimitri leaves us be.

I tell them everything that’s happened since we last met.

“Oh my god,” Katya says, her beautiful blue eyes opening wide. “Are you ok? I know how new all of this is for you.”

“And to be thrown to the wolves like this …” Evie shakes her head. “I know what that feels like. When I first married Dimitri, I had men coming after me left and right.”

“But you survived,” I say.

“I survived, thanks to Dimitri and Katya. And myself,” she says after a moment.

“But you’re a librarian. You know so much. I’m just a girl who grew up in a lighthouse. I don’t know how to protect myself without Maxim.”

“You have us. We’ll help in any way we can.”

“Yeah,” Katya agrees. “And I have a crazy idea.”

“Oh no,” Evie groans.

“No. It’s a good idea.”

“Katya, nothing you say that starts with ‘I have a crazy idea’ is ever a good idea.”

She flips her long blonde hair over her shoulder. “Well, I think it’s a good idea. This Jasper guy wants you, right?”

I nod. “And it’s scary. He tried to kill Maxim. He almost succeeded.”

“Well, what if we confront him? Tell him to leave you alone?”

“That’s not going to work,” Evie says. “Did you not hear Luna? He tried to kill Maxim. What would he do to us? And remember the last time we tried to confront someone? It ended up in a disaster. We were almost kidnapped. It was not a good idea. We just need to stay here and let the men handle this.”

“When did you become a 1950s housewife?”

Evie rolls her eyes. “I’m not a 1950s housewife. I just know your plan is completely stupid. If we go and confront Jasper, we’re only going to end up hurt. And we’d give him leverage to use against Maxim, and in turn, Luna could get hurt. So, we’re staying right here.”

Katya flings herself against the couch. “Ugh, fine. Good point. But I say we do something. Staying cooped up in the house makes me go stir crazy, and when I go stir crazy, I tend to come up with crazy ideas.”

“We could go to the library,” Evie offers. “It’s safe there. Public. And”—she turns to me— “it would give you a chance to see more of the world. You told me last time you’ve never been to the library.”

“I would love to see it.” Maybe it will help take Maxim off my mind.

“Great. We’ll bring a guard with us. Dimitri won’t let us go without one, especially at this time. Not with Anton out there blowing things up.”

“God, I hate this Anton guy,” Katya mutters. “He really needs to stop blowing everything up.”

“You’ve never even met him,” Evie reminds her.

“So? I still hate him. If I ever do meet him, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.”

“Not if he kills you first.”

Katya flashes a smile that’s so similar to her brother. “He won't kill me. Men are too dazzled by my looks to want me dead.”

Evie laughs to herself and turns back to me. “Come on. We’ll bring Ava with us. Make it a whole affair.”

The library is a lot bigger than I imagined. With books upon books stacked up everywhere, it’s like in a fairytale.

“That’s the reason I love to read,” Evie explains as we move through the shelves. Evie keeps grabbing out books and placing them in my arms. “You can go anywhere in the world in the comfort of one spot.”

“I had books in the lighthouse, but not that many. After a while, it got boring to read.”

“Well, now, you have a ton of options.”

Katya yawns. “I think reading is boring.”

“You think a lot of things are boring,” Ava says, her eyes on an open book she’s holding.

“That’s because I’m not allowed to do anything, and it’s so annoying.”

“Here.” Evie hands Katya a book. “Read this and stop complaining. This moment is for Luna.”

I offer Evie a grateful smile and take my stack of books to a table. We spend the next hour reading to ourselves. In that time, I discover a romance book about pirates and mermaids, and it’s so fascinating. God—Ed, I remind myself—never let me read things like this. It was always just books made for children. Either picture books with words or a few chapter books that I quickly outgrew the older I got.

Books about adults doing adult things are amazing. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.

I put the book down and take a moment to look around the library and all its beauty.

And that’s when I see him.

Jasper.

He’s leaning against one of the shelves, just watching me.

The guard we brought with us stands a few feet from the table, his eyes on his phone. He thinks we’re safe here.

But I’m not safe anywhere.

I grab Ava’s hand, who’s seated next to me, and point at Jasper. “That’s him. Jasper.”

Ava tenses and motions at the guard and points in Jasper’s direction. He nods and heads toward Jasper, who remains where he is.

Why isn’t he moving? Dimitri’s guard will remove him. He has to.

The guard gets close to Jasper and says something to him, and then I see something in Jasper’s hand glint. A knife.

He stabs the guard right in the gut, and the guard falls to the ground. Jasper slits his throat before he can call out.

My throat squeezes in panic. It’s happening all over again. I’m not safe. I’m trapped back in my lighthouse.

Jasper runs over to us, pointing his bloody knife at us. “All I need is Luna, and none of you need to get hurt.”

“You can’t take all of us on,” Katya says, standing up. She opens her mouth to scream, but Jasper punches her in the throat, making her stumble back and gasp.

Both Evie and Ava scramble up, with Evie throwing a hardback book at Jasper’s head. It hits him right between the eyes, making him flinch.

We’re in a secluded part of the library with no one else around. But surely, someone will come by. Someone has to help us.

Jasper runs over to Ava and grabs her, pressing his knife to her throat. “I’ll kill her, but I won’t if Luna comes with me. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t have to be hard. I just want Luna.”

“No,” Evie says, grabbing my hand. “If you want Luna, then take all of us. We’ll only go with you if we’re all together.”

Jasper’s eyes narrow as he looks between us and then nods. “Fine.” He brings the knife to Ava’s back. “But if you try anything, I’ll paralyze her.”

Ava whimpers but doesn’t say a word. This is all my fault.

“Let’s go,” he growls, marching Ava forward. Katya, Evie, and I slowly follow.

I spy a security guard by the entrance, but Jasper says, “Don’t even think about it. Your friend will be dead in a matter of seconds,” and so I stay quiet.

He leads us outside and to a car …

Where Jack is waiting. The sight of him makes my skin crawl. He paid Maxim to retrieve me for him so he could touch me the way God wanted to.

“Get in,” Jasper orders.

“Why so many girls?” Jack asks.

“Had to improvise.”

The three of us get into the back seat, and the moment the door closes on us, Jasper lets Ava go and dives into the car. Jack drives away, leaving Ava behind.