Page 30 of Last One Standing (Saint Brothers #5)
CHAPTER THIRTY
ANGEL
We showered together, and Kona let me check and make sure we hadn’t caused any damage to his already tender ribs. He agreed to an X-ray later, and I was hoping to see some healing happening.
I left to race to my room for fresh clothes, and of course I bumped into one of the twins.
“A little underdressed for breakfast, brother.” Nick eyed my towel.
“Fuck off.”
“Oh no, so grumpy!”
“Who’s grumpy?” Naturally, Noel had to show up, because it was going to be one of those days. “Oh, Angel…” He peered behind me. “Are you coming from Kona’s room?” He gasped and placed a hand on his chest. “Scandalous.”
“No, no it’s fucking not. Get the hell out of my way.” I barreled past them, not caring, pushing them against the wall. Those two were thorns in my side. If I didn’t love them, I’d kill them.
Once dressed, I headed downstairs and came to a screeching halt when I heard the conversation going on in there.
“Just a towel?” JJ spoke softly, but I still heard.
“ Mmhmm .” I thought that was Nick, couldn’t tell.
“And he was coming from Kona’s room?” Shep asked.
“He was.” That was Noel.
“Did they…you know?” Sweet Phoenix, how he’d become so corrupted.
“I mean, why else would he be leaving Kona’s room naked? Get real.” JJ scoffed. “Why not wear the clothes he showed up in?”
“Do you like putting on dirty clothes after a shower?” Mason argued.
“I guess not.” JJ hummed. “What should we do?”
“How about minding your own damn business.” Matt was quickly becoming my favorite. “Seriously, don’t make a big deal out of it.”
“What are you doing?” Kona whispered beside me, and I jumped. He chuckled. “Eavesdropping?”
“Debating if I want to subject you or myself to my family right now.”
He smiled. “Why?”
“They saw me in a towel; they know I was with you.”
Kona pursed his lips. “Are you ashamed you were with me?”
“No.”
“Is their knowing a problem for you?”
“No.”
He gently patted my cheek. “Okay, then.” He walked right into the kitchen and before I could ask why, he spoke to everyone in the kitchen.
“Good morning. Yes, Angel stayed with me last night, yes, we slept, and played. Also, yes, his dick is amazing, and you should all be jealous. Oh, is that orange juice?” He moved to where Shep stood stock-still, holding a partially squeezed orange.
My eyes were wide as I watched Kona single handedly shut all of them up. If I didn’t think it would be the talk of the week, I’d scoop him up and fuck him right on the table.
“Delicious.” Kona winked at Shep and took his glass to the table, where he plopped next to Mason.
As if they were sentient they all, minus Kona, turned and looked at me.
“Uh, yeah, morning.”
Gabe chose that moment to walk in, and he frowned. “Why are you all so fucking weird?” He made an exasperated noise and went to the coffeepot. “Four said the cops and coroner and shit left the barn. Saw them arriving at the clubhouse a few minutes ago.”
That sobered the situation. “Now we have to see if they’ll arrest anyone. Obviously, they’re about to find out that they lost more men, but can the cops ignore Leo?” I grimaced and glanced at Kona. He was staring at his orange juice.
“I have to head to Saintly Sweets.” Shep placed a platter of waffles on the table. “I should be back in a few hours, and we need to decide what’s next. We’re taking out the Kings, but I’m not sure two at a time is gonna cut it—there are still many.”
“Yeah, we can talk tonight, see what we can think of.” I moved to the table and sat next to Kona. “Pika still asleep?”
“I woke him on my way to the kitchen.”
“How’s he doing?” JJ handed me a glass of orange juice.
“He’ll be okay.”
After breakfast, Matt left for work, Shep and JJ headed to Saintly Sweets, and I went downstairs with Kona for those X-rays. Pika joined, since he wanted to see how his brother was doing.
“How’s he look?” Pika was sitting on one of the stools as I examined the scans.
“Better. He didn’t puncture a lung, which was a concern, but the initial X-rays told me that as well. No fluid in the lungs, you’re on the mend.”
Kona beamed. “Good.”
“I’m gonna go find Nick, see if he wants to play a video game.” Pika hugged Kona quickly and raced upstairs.
“Poor Nick.”
I scoffed. “Please, Nick loves video games. We give him a hard time sometimes that he plays too much. Now, he can use Pika as an excuse.”
He chuckled and hopped off the table. “Well, then I guess it’s not poor Nick.”
I moved closer to kiss him, and my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw a text from JJ.
We have a major issue. Kings are at the shop…a lot of them.
“Fuck.”
“What is it?” I showed Kona my phone and ran up the stairs. Everyone that was home was already in the living room, cells in hand.
“I’m going.” Four was strapping a knife to his leg.
“Okay, I’ll go with Four. The house is secure, Noel, you and Mason stay here. The rest of us, let’s go.”
I went to go and Kona grabbed my arm. “He won’t play fair, Angel.”
“I’m not fuckin’ playing.” I gently kissed his lips, then bolted to the garage.
Gabe hopped in beside me and handed me my guns. Nick got into the back with Four. I broke all the speed limit laws and didn’t care. As I turned onto the street where the shop was, I could see at least ten bikes lined up and no bikers in sight.
“They must be inside,” Four said.
“I’m going around to the rear entrance.” I spun the wheel and made a right.
Once we were parked, we all got out, quietly shutting the doors. I motioned for two of them to move beside the door. Four crouched while I opened it.
No one was in the kitchen, so they had to be in the front.
“You thought I didn’t know?” Brick’s voice boomed. “I knew before that shit Leo got on my hook—he just proved me right. So, you fuck with my life, I fuck with yours.”
“You fucked your own life,” Shep growled, and the sound of bone hitting flesh spiked anger through my body.
“Maybe we begin with the ladies, huh?” A whimper filled the room. “What’s your name?”
“D…Darby.”
“Darby, pretty name.”
I sneaked closer to the door that separated the shop. We’d likely have to storm in there, but if he had Darby in his hands, it could be fatal for her.
“How about I take Darby here. You want her to return, you bring my Kona. It’s that simple. But…” A crashing sound had me peeking through the small window. Two of the bikers had bats and started smashing the cases. “Yeah, I’m gonna destroy your business first.”
I nodded to Four, Gabe, and Nick. They were preoccupied with breaking things; they wouldn’t hear us enter. I held up my hand, made a one, two, three gesture and then we pushed through and aimed our guns.
Brick faced us and grinned. “Oh, good. I’d hoped you all would be here. Especially you.” He glared at me. “You think you can take what’s mine?”
“And what would that be, shitbag?”
“Don’t play dumb with me.” He gripped Darby by the hair and yanked her closer. She cried out. “I heard you brothers treated everyone you knew like family or whatever. So, this fine lady means something to you, ain’t that right?”
I met Darby’s cornflower eyes, tears pouring down her cheeks. “Let her go.”
“Maybe. But you see, you took the lives of some of my family. I’m thinking I need to even the score.”
All the bikers were armed. There were ten of them to our four who had weapons, Shep and JJ were unarmed.
“The cops have been called. They were alerted; you should go.” Lizzy’s voice shook, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Four whip his head in her direction.
Brick smiled at her. “That was a stupid thing to do, sweetheart.” He gestured to one of his guys, and they lifted the gun to Lizzy.
Everything happened so fast after that. Four screamed and leaped over the counter, tackling the man who was about to shoot Lizzy. Gunfire rang out, and pure chaos erupted.
“Hit the floor!” I shouted to Lizzy and the others who were unarmed.
I ducked behind a table, aimed at one of the members, and got him right between the eyes.
“Move!” Brick hollered.
He stood with Darby covering his body. I couldn’t get a shot without hitting her. He dragged her to the front door. I had to keep him here.
“You’re going nowhere, Brick,” I yelled and rose, pointing my gun at him. “Let her go.”
“So you can shoot me?” He looked around the shop. “We’re almost done here.” Three of his guys were dead, and the remainder pushed in closer to him.
“Leave!” Gabe shouted.
Brick sneered and whispered something in Darby’s ear. Her eyes widened, and she met my gaze. It didn’t matter that I was only a few feet from her. I knew before it happened, and I couldn’t stop it.
A shot rang out and blood bloomed over her baby-blue sundress. She fell forward into my arms when I raced to grab her. More shots sounded, but the Kings ran out.
“Angel,” Darby cried. “I don’t want to die,” she whimpered and gasped for air.
I didn’t get the chance to lie to her and tell her she’d be okay. She took a shaky breath and went still.