Haunt (Bayonet Scars #6) (28 page)

Carlo pulls out a knife and moves it toward Ruby’s throat. The woman is fucking insane, because she doesn’t blink. She just slides her eyes to the woman in front of her and nods her head. It all happens so fast—with the feminine-clad figure rushing at Carlo and being thrown aside with ease. She scampers away as Carlo glares down at her and spits out something in Italian that I don’t understand.

Behind me, I can hear more men approaching and being shot down by our guys. I don’t let it unsettle me that shots are being fired behind me. The shots are fewer and further between, with Mancuso’s men rushing at our guys and our guys taking them to the ground. I turn to check my back only to see my man with his boot to some guy’s neck. I turn away right as the guy takes a bullet to the skull. Just as I do, I see it. The plan I didn’t know about, the one that was so perfectly executed I can barely believe they pulled it off without most of us not knowing. The woman who rode on the back of Diesel’s bike throws her helmet off, revealing herself to be Alex. She stomps forward, her face red, with her gun raised. In a matter of seconds, both Michael and Leo are free from their shackles and drawing their guns on the men at our backs.

“I love you, Mom,” she says firmly as she fires off one round after another at her father’s head. She misses, but it’s enough. Carlo is so struck by the turn of events that he’s frozen for a moment too long. Ian and Ryan rush at him, Alex ceases fire, and Ruby scampers away. Jim descends upon Carlo and throws himself onto the man, slamming his fists into the Italian’s face again and again. Duke has his gun at Emilio’s head. A loud shot rings off before Emilio crumples to the ground. More shots ring out as grown men cry out in agony. I don’t give myself the freedom of looking back to make sure my man is okay. Instead, I move forward, toward Gloria and the situation that nobody seems to be addressing.

Tony has his mother by the throat. Her face is purple, and he’s not letting up. I rush toward them, trying to avoid the chaos around me. The woman might be in poor physical shape, but she’s a scrapper and manages to fight him long enough to push him off. He dives for a gun that’s on the ground. I figure it must be the one Gloria had before I lost sight of her. She’s standing there defenseless, with her own fucking son raising a gun to her head. He doesn’t have time, though, and I fire off a few shots that barely graze his chest and one to the leg that has to hurt like a bitch. Like the fucking pussy he is, he stumbles toward the edge of the dock and throws himself over. I stand there, in shock, as I watch him disappear into the water.

When I turn around, it’s eerily quiet. There are bodies everywhere, some moving and some not. Bear is down, but the rest of our guys seem fine. I want to go check on him, but I don’t have the luxury. Carlo is holding on to Alex, a large knife to her throat. His eyes are crazy, and he’s dripping with sweat.

“You would let them kill your own father?” Carlo asks, his question obviously for Alex.

“No,” Alex says softly. “I’ll give you the same respect you gave me. I’ll just turn my back while I let you die. At least I know you earned your fate.”

Ian gulps as Carlo presses the knife in enough to draw blood. Alex cries out in pain, and my stomach lurches at the sound. Ryan’s finger twitches on the trigger of his gun. Wyatt joins me at my side, shouting “You’re not getting out of this.”

“I don’t plan on getting out, but I can give your
whore
something to remember me by,” Carlo says with a twisted smile on his face. He pulls the knife away from his own daughter’s throat and drags the blade up her face. He presses it into the side of her mouth and smirks as he drags the blade from the corner of her mouth, slowly back to her ear. My mind flashes with Ian’s face and the scar he bears from a scene all too similar to this. We could shoot Carlo, but the damage is already done. Blood pours from Alex’s face and down her neck as she cries out in pain. Tears push at my eyes, threatening to fall down my cheeks. I feel so helpless in this situation. Like there’s something I should be able to do to stop it. If we shoot, we risk missing and losing Alex. If that happens, then everything we’ve lose and all we’ve suffered is for nothing. All the pain we’ve endured is for naught if Alex dies.

“Stop it, Mike,” Ruby cries out, a mother’s love and fear evident in her voice. Abandoning reason, she rushes toward him, but he only digs into Alex’s flesh further. She’s losing too much blood. She can’t take much more of this. When Carlo gets to her ear, he drags the knife back over her flesh toward her eye. Ruby makes it halfway to Carlo before Jim flies into action. He shoves her out of the way at the last minute and throws himself at Carlo.

The rest follow, with Ryan pulling Alex away from the monster who created her. I’m so focused on Ryan falling to the ground, Alex in his arms, bloody and screaming out in pain, that I don’t see what’s happening with Carlo. Our boys got him, though.

Ryan Stone, one of the meanest assholes I’ve ever met, screams out, with tears falling down his face. He rips his shirt and uses the torn material in his hand to cover Alex’s wound. He sobs loudly, unapologetically, as he holds the only woman aside from this mother that he’s ever given a shit about in his arms, unable to make her pain go away. “I’m sorry,” he chants again and again as he falls apart. Alex kicks at the ground as she helps Ryan hold the shirt over her wound. It’s going to scar. The cut was way too deep. My heart hurts for her, but there’s nothing I can do there.

Slowly, I approach the crowd that’s gathered where Jim tackled Carlo. Men are slowly standing up and backing off. Wyatt’s eyes leave the men on the ground and raise to mine. Unshed tears fill his eyes, and my stomach drops. His face contorts into something unrecognizable as he stares at me. I manage to rip my eyes away from him long enough to see what’s going on.

On the ground, Jim is doubled over. He has his hand on his stomach, doing his best to cover what I can only assume is a knife wound. Dark-red liquid seeps out from beneath his fingers, covering his hand in his own blood. Michael stands to the side, holding Ruby against his chest, her head firmly shoved into his pecs. When she breaks away, she spins around and eyes her husband on the ground. Leo and Duke grab at Carlo, who is now either unconscious or dead, and pull him away. Ruby runs to Jim and pulls him up against her chest. He screams out from the movement, his shaking hand no longer able to stop the bleeding from the side of his stomach. I can’t make sense of it. We’re wearing bulletproof vests. That should have protected us. But judging by the way Jim’s holding his wound, Carlo got him at the exact right angle and was able to get under his vest rather than through.

“Come on, baby. You’re fine. You have to be fine,” Ruby cries into Jim’s head. She rocks back and forth, cradling him to her like a protective lioness.

Jim slowly blinks up at her, and he gives her a weak smile. He tries to laugh at her words, but he can’t. His face is ashen, and even with Ruby’s hand on his wound, it’s still seeping blood. He smarts, saying, “Just a flesh wound, Mama.”

And in that moment, we’re all propelled into action. The men coordinate how best to get both Jim and Alex to a hospital. Somewhere in the back of my mind, it seeps through that nobody’s worried about Bear, which means we lost him. I fight back the tears, deciding now’s not the time to mourn my old man’s brother. Everything moves so fast and so slow at the same time. It’s like I’m watching it in a movie. I do my best to go through the motions of getting everyone moving, but the look on Wyatt’s face tells me it’s more than a flesh wound. I shake my head, my eyes trained on him. Slowly, gravely, my old man nods. He’s wrong. He has to be.

“No,” Ian says. It feels more like a whisper, but it’s loud enough for all of us to hear it. He’s the only one not moving, remaining stock-still. His eyes volley between his adopted father and his half sister. He looks like he’s about to be sick. “It can’t end like this.”

The End

COMING SOON

COMING SOON

Cease (Bayonet Scars, No. 7)—coming soon!

Dear reader,

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this book. What follows Haunt is Jim and Ruby’s story, which marks the culmination of a story that spans decades of pain and loss, but also extraordinary love. I hope you join me in the coming months as we wrap up the
Bayonet Scars
series and bid farewell to the Forsaken Motorcycle Club. In true, JC Emery fashion, I’ve saved the best for last.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to my mom and sisters. You three are the absolute best. To my Jewels for encouraging me every step of the way. To Danielle Sanchez for everything you do. My wonderful cover artist, Brenda Gonet at Star Bound Books, who perfectly depicted Wyatt and Amber and my amazing editor, Michele Milburn, who never loses her patience with me. Big thank you to everyone on Team JC Emery. You’re all amazing. To the bloggers who kept asking where
Haunt
is, and to my readers who thought to message me demanding more Forsaken. I wish I had the time to thank each of you personally, but I think you’d rather I get back to
Cease
.

Thank you all. If I’ve forgotten someone, I’m terribly sorry. You know I have a shit memory. You can yell at me later.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

As a child, JC was fascinated by things that went bump in the night. As they say, some things never change. JC is known for her bad-ass anti-heroes who lure unsuspecting readers into their dark stories and refuse to leave them alone-- even once their story is finished. JC is a San Francisco Bay Area native, but has also called both Texas and Louisiana home. She just recently ditched her flip flops for winter boots and now resides in Southwestern Illinois. When she's not torturing her characters for fun, JC drops the pen name and goes by Christina.
JC is the author of the Bayonet Scars series-- about an outlaw motorcycle club that starts a war with the Italian mafia.
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