Chapter 26
Makenna
I watched from the window in horror as Rock cut the phone call. Two guys barged in from the back porch and the rest went funneling through the front door. Gunshots galore were heard as tears streamed down my cheeks. I had no idea of knowing if Brewer was all right. I had no way of knowing if he had been hurt or killed. Or if he was hurting or killing. It didn’t matter. I didn’t care. All I wanted was for him to make it out alive so I could tell him how sorry I was.
Watching everything unfold made me want to reach out for him. To pull him out of everything and hold him close to me. Tears soaked my neck as my body shook violently. Every gunshot made my body jump and every time someone yelled out I tried to make out of it was Brewer. Everything inside of me wanted to call the cops. To get the police over here to settle the issue. But I knew the second those men charged in that Brewer would try to fight his way to them. Which meant Brewer would be arrested in the process and hauled off without a second thought.
And I knew I couldn’t watch that.
I slid to my ass and sat on the floor as my phone tumbled from my hand. If he made it out of this alive, I’d spend every day apologizing for what I’d said to him. He wasn’t a mistake. We were never a mistake. I was scared. Idiotic. Angry that he couldn’t talk with me. But he could never have been a mistake. What we shared could never have been anything less than beautiful.
Wonderful.
Perfect.
I clenched my heart as sobs poured from my lips. I was so glad Ana wasn’t home to witness any of it. I didn’t own a gun. I didn’t know how to shoot a gun or aim one or even how to cock it to get it to work. I had no way of protecting her if one of those assholes barged into my home. Which meant I had no way of protecting Ana.
Maybe Brewer would teach me after all this was over.
I stood back up and peeked out the window again. I saw three men on the lawn throwing punches with their guns lying on the driveway. I saw shadows rip roar behind Brewer’s curtains, but none of the voices I heard shouting were his.
But I did recognize Rock’s voice.
“Brewer! Where the hell are you!?”
Could they not find him? Where would he have gone?
It felt as if the shootout went on for hours. But finally, the shooting died down. I watched one of the guys stumble out holding his leg, wearing a mask as he hopped onto his bike. He cranked it up and sped down the road, leaving all of the other guys behind. I furrowed my brow as I watched his motorcycle swerve down the road, but not too far behind him were four more men roaring down the road away from Brewer’s house.
Was that all of them? Were they gone?
“Get him in his damn car!”
The unfamiliar voice caught my ear and I turned my head back over to Brewer’s. And what I saw made me sick. His body, limp and pale, was slumped over two guys as they carried him out the door. Without thinking, I grabbed my purse and my phone and threw open my door, locking it behind me before I rushed over.
“Brewer!”
I raced across the lawn as the guys whipped their heads over to me.
“Brewer!”
My heart slammed against my chest. My vision tunneled as one of the guys opened the door of Brewer’s car. More tears poured from my vision as I stepped onto his driveway, fighting the men standing in my way to get to his side. His eyes were closed. His mouth had fallen open. And everything inside of me caved.
Was he dead?
“Makenna?”
I whipped my gaze over to the familiar voice and took in the man in front of me.
“Is he dead?” I asked.
“No, but he’s in a lot of pain,” Rock said.
“This who called you?”
I looked over at the massive man standing at the other side of the car.
“That’s Grave,” Rock said.
“We can do introductions later. We need to get Brewer to see our doctor now.”
“That’s Diesel,” Rock said.
“Makenna,” I said.
“He’s going to be okay, but we have to get out of here now,” Rock said. “He’s been shot through the shoulder and he’s losing a lot of blood.”
“Wrap it up,” Diesel said.
“I’m coming with you,” I said.
The men froze as the one they called ‘Diesel’ slid behind the wheel of the car. He cranked it up and revved the engine to life before he turned around and looked at me. His gaze was stoic. Focused. His eyes danced along my body, like he was reading the whole of my life in my features. I felt analyzed. Judged. But I wasn’t going to let it deter me.
I was going with them, whether they wanted me to or not.
“Where are you taking him? I can follow you guys,” I said.
“There’s a doctor we know that’ll take care of this quietly,” Rock said. “But we need to get out of here and you can’t come.”
“Tough shit. I’m coming whether you want me to or not. It makes more sense for me to drive anyway so none of you leave your bikes behind,” I said.
“Doesn’t shock me that Brewer would snag a woman as rational as he is.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Knox,” the man said. “Diesel, she’s got a point. She can drive his car and we can lead her to where we need to be.”
“Do you know how to drive a stick shift?” Diesel asked.
“Do you know how to not be a condescending asshole?”
“I don’t think those two answers are the same,” Grave said.
“I like her. Diesel, get up,” Rock said.
I watched the two of them stare one another down before Brewer groaned. I looked down at him and watched his eyes flutter open momentarily. I crawled into the backseat and straddled him, trying to get him to look at me.
“Brewer,” I said lightly. “Can you look at me?”
“Makenna,” he said as he coughed.
“It’s me. I’m here. I’m so sorry, Brewer.”
I leaned down and kissed his lips before he sputtered again. His cough was unbearable and it broke my heart, but I could’ve sworn I felt him pucker his lips against mine. He passed back out, his head hitting the seat of his car.
My gaze turned back to Diesel as he studied me carefully again.
“Drive or get out of the way,” I said.
The guys chuckled around me when Diesel finally got out of the way.
They all ran to their bikes and struck them up, then I followed them out of the neighborhood. It had been a long time since I’d driven a stick shift, but it was coming back to me quicker than I figured it would. I kept up with their speeding and took sharp turns down back roads, hoping to heaven on high I wasn’t hurting Brewer or making things worse. I followed their taillights for what seemed like an eternity, but fifteen minutes later we were pulling up into a place that looked like a cross between an abandoned warehouse and the opening to Hell itself.
This was where their doctor was?
The guys got off their bikes, so I shut off the car. They all came running, throwing open the back door and scooting Brewer out of it. Rock threw him around his shoulders and took off towards the entrance as I sat there, my hands trembling.
I wanted to move, but I couldn’t.
The door beside me opened up before the car lurched. My jaw trembled as my lights guided Rock and Brewer into the warehouse. My hands gripped the steering wheel as my body began to shake, and it wasn’t until the voice sounded out that I managed to turn my head.
“So, you’re Makenna.”
My eyes panned over and took stock of Diesel sitting next to me.
“I am,” I said.
“Hell of a move you pulled, calling us.”
“Is he going to die?” I asked.
“Brewer’s been in much worse condition than this. He’ll be fine.”
My stomach rolled at that statement. What else had Brewer encountered during his time with these men?
“Thank you for calling us and not the police,” Diesel said.
“Figured the cops would only throw him in jail along with them,” I said.
“They would have, yes.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
A small grin trickled over the man’s cheeks, and for a second, I thought that answer was ‘yes’.
“No,” Diesel said. “I’m not going to kill you.”
I nodded as I turned my eyes back towards the warehouse.
“Why can’t I go inside?” I asked.
“Because your fight or flight response is kicking in, and judging from what I already know about you, I’d say you’re fighting every ounce of your want to run so you can be supportive to Brewer.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” I said.
“I know you have a daughter, Ana.”
“Apparently you all know I have a daughter,” I said.
“I know you’re not from around here, judging from your accent. I’d say somewhere in the South. The actual South, not North Carolina or anything like that. And judging by the way you were able to make rational decisions while gunfire popped off at your neighbor’s house, that tells me you’re good at working under pressure. But your shoes and your outfit don’t scream ‘high pressure job’ at me. They scream ‘office job’ at me. Which means the pressure probably comes from a past relationship, given your accent, where you used to live, and where you live now.”
My eyes moved back over to Diesel as his words graced my ears. He got all of that by looking at me?
“You wanting to fight that innate need to run tells me you care about Brewer. So, I’m only going to ask you this once. What were the two of you doing tonight?” he asked.
Tears automatically rushed my vision again as those words echoed off the corners of my mind.
This was a mistake.
We aren’t a mistake.
Mistake.
Mistake.
Mistake.
“I’m so sorry,” I said with a whisper.
“What are you sorry for?” Diesel asked.
“I called him a mistake,” I said. “I didn’t mean it, but I did. In the moment I did.”
“What happened?”
“He kept acting so weird,” I said as my hands began to shake. “He kept making all these comments about not seeing me for a while and making sure things were okay with me before he left. Like he was going somewhere or something. He told me he had to do something for you guys and he would be gone, but he wouldn’t tell me what. Said he was keeping me and Ana safe by not talking with me about it. So, I panicked and I pushed him away and told him we were a mistake.”
“Because your ex used to do that to you, didn’t he?”
I closed my eyes as my head fell back against the seat.
“Which tells me more about you. A single mother constantly battling her ‘flight or fight’ response makes someone very tired. Emotionally. Mentally. Physically. You’re a strong woman, Makenna. And if you want to be with Brewer, it’s going to take a strong woman to deal with him. Because he doesn’t dabble in bullshit and he rarely gives second chances.”
“Oh no,” I said with a whimper.
“I think you’d be an exception to him, but you have to understand that what we do is dangerous.”
“Yeah,” I said with a snicker. “Got it.”
“Brewer isn’t someone to run from, but he is someone to be wary of. Knox and Grave? They’ve found a way to make it work. You and Brewer will have to find your own way as well.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Knox? The guy who called you ‘rational’? He’s expecting a child in a few months.”
“Really?”
“Mhm. And Grave? Same thing. His girl has about six more months left in her pregnancy.”
“Do you have anyone?” I asked. “I mean, a girl or someone at home.”
His eyes grew unfocused for the first time since I’d met the man. He turned his gaze out the windshield and I knew he traveled somewhere else. Lost himself in whatever memories were assaulting him. He was an analyzer. Someone who could read people. But it didn’t take someone with his kind of mind to know what was happening to him.
He’d lost someone dear to him. Which meant he’d closed himself off to the idea of ever having someone else again.
“You should tell him how you feel,” Diesel said as he opened the door.
“What?” I asked.
“You should tell Brewer you love him.”
I grabbed my purse and stepped out of the car as my heart took flight.
“Did you get that from the dirt on the bottom of my shoe?” I asked playfully.
“No,” he said as his eyes hooked to mine. “I got that from the way you kissed him in the backseat.”
Then I watched him start for the abandoned building, leaving me standing by Brewer’s car to decide. Diesel was right. I did love Brewer. But what was I supposed to do about that? I’d yelled at him. Pushed him away. Called him a mistake and didn’t even look back when I ran away. Was that something that could be forgiven? If Brewer made it out of this alive, would he ever be able to forgive me for what I said to him?
I wasn’t sure, but I did know one thing.
Brewer was worth a shot at figuring it out.
So, I slipped my purse over my shoulder, stuffed his car keys into my pocket, and started for the door everyone else had already walked through.