Chapter 19

Glock

I had Brick right under my nose. Right, where I had been dreaming of having him, and instead of hiding from my gun; he was grinning at me like he was sure that he was going to win. The truth was that he was going to.

This was the moment that probably each and every member of the Bad Disciples, including Axel had been waiting for. To have the president of the Dragon Knights standing a few feet away from them, with nothing more than a knife in his hands. Which was technically useless against my gun.

It was crazy and frustrating that I couldn’t shoot him. If I did, and I missed, or I was too slow, he would have enough opportunity to kill Sage. Chances of missing a clean shot were high; Brick was keeping Sage tightly held in front of him. I couldn’t possibly get a direct shot in him without also hitting Sage. She could die by my hand, by my bullet. I wouldn’t take the chance.

“What’s it going to be, Glock?” Brick’s voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked at Sage, whose t-shirt was torn. Her face was streaked with tears, and her mouth was covered tightly by the man’s hand. There were drops of blood on her chin, which told me that she might have a split lip. He had definitely hit her, he had hurt her, and for that, I was determined to punish him.

I was going to get him, if not right now, I was going to kill him before long. He was going to pay for laying a hand on Sage.

“Do you want to shoot your girlfriend to get to me or are you going to let me leave?” he asked, and I heard Sage try to scream again.

Brick’s arm was wound around her waist. He was holding her tightly, clutching her, touching her. I could feel the rage pump wildly in my veins. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to watch him bleed.

The other girl, who I assumed was the one who Sage had come here to rescue, was cowering in the corner, whimpering and crying.

When I looked into Sage’s dark hazel eyes, she looked frightened. I had never seen Sage frightened before. She was a strong-willed brave girl, who had always stood up for what she believed in. It was crazy to see her like this now, under a man’s brutal control.

“Tick tock, Glock,” Brick chimed in, and I saw the glint of the knife that he was pressing lightly into Sage’ belly. I knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to dig it into her. It had already ripped a hole in her t-shirt, a little more pressure and it would puncture her skin and then her organs, and I would have to watch her bleed to death. There was no way that I could call for help in time, or take her to a hospital before she lost too much blood.

“I’m going to go upstairs to my men, and then I’m going to leave, and I’m taking your girlfriend with me,” I heard Brick say and I blinked blankly at them. My mind was clouded with thoughts. If I allowed Brick to leave this basement with Sage, there was a high possibility that I would never see her again. He was a ruthless monster. He would kill her the first opportunity he got, or sell her off to the flesh trade—just to get at me.

But what else could I do? How was I supposed to stop him without harming her too?

Brick had taken a step to the side and dragged Sage with him. I was tracking them with my gun, but I had nothing to say. I couldn’t stop him. Sage’s muffled shrieks filled the room. She was still trying to put up a fight.

“It was nice talking to you Glock, but I have to go now. I’m bursting for a piss,” Brick said with a laugh and took another step sideways. I could see that they were inching closer and closer to the steps that would lead them up through the door.

I could hear voices and gunshots upstairs. My brothers were still engaged in a crossfire with the Dragon Knights. There was a high chance that more of the Dragon Knights had turned up. It was why none of my brothers had come looking for me in the basement yet.

“Say goodbye to your hero, my beautiful,” Brick hissed into Sage’s ear with a sickening smile. Her face was damp with sweat, her eyes were large and wild, and she continued to struggle in his grip.

“Let her go,” I tried again because there was nothing left for me to say. Brick laughed and shook his head like he was exhausted with my pleas.

“Don’t worry Glock, I’ll take good care of her,” he said, and I watched as Brick’s hand holding the knife slid up from her waist to her breast, and he was cupping it now.

The bullet left my gun with a crack. I hadn’t even realized that I was taking aim. I wasn’t even expecting myself to pull the trigger. It was like the whole thing was happening in slow motion. It left the barrel of my gun and pierced right through Brick’s skull.

This was the loudest gunshot I had ever heard, and it echoed in the empty dark basement. I watched, in slow motion, as Brick’s hand left Sage’s mouth and then his body slumped to the floor. The bullet had gone right through his skull, he was dead, on the ground, next to Sage’s feet and the other girl’s scream filled the room.

***

The girl in the corner was still screaming, while Sage stood next to Brick’s slumped body on the floor, with her hands clasped to her mouth. There was a sound like white noise in the room, and my eyes were shifting, still taking time to adjust to the reality of what had happened here. My gun was still pointed at Sage, I hadn’t moved since the bullet left the barrel. She wasn’t hurt.

Brick’s blood was pooling around her feet, his head with the bullet hole was right beside her. Neither Sage nor I had moved. She just stood there, as the blood trickled like a stream around her, it was like Sage was frozen to the ground. I didn’t even know what to say to her. It was like if I said something, the spell would be broken like Brick wouldn’t be fucking dead anymore. Had I even done the right thing?

“Sage,” her name had barely left my lips before she leaped towards me. The gun dangled from my hand, and she was in my arms. She was too warm, and her t-shirt clung to her from the dampness of her sweat. I stroked her long ruffled red hair and breathed in her scent. Even though it was me who had fired that shot, I still couldn’t believe it had happened.

Sage buried her face into my chest and wrapped her arms around my torso. Even though we had known each other for so long, we had never hugged like this before. We had never shared this kind of a relationship, but now, it felt natural. She was alive, and relatively safe and in my arms. I had never been this thankful for anything else in my life before.

“Glock, you got him,” she whispered through her tears. I hooked a finger underneath her chin and lifted her face up towards me.

“You’re safe now,” I said to her, and she nodded her head.

“I can’t believe you did it, you got him, I thought he was going to take me captive, that he was going to get away,” she was breathing hard and talking too quickly. I stroked her hair some more and held her tightly to myself.

“We have to get you out of here, Sage,” I said, as I heard another round of gunfire upstairs. Brick was dead, the leader of the Dragon Knights was killed, but that didn’t mean she was completely safe yet.

“And Casey,” I heard Sage say and my brows crossed with confusion. She looked over at the cowering girl in the corner, and I nodded my head.

“Yes, of course. You both need to get out of here right now,” I said, and Sage stretched a hand out towards the girl who walked towards us. She stepped over Brick’s fallen body and whimpered. It was like, even though he was dead, she was still afraid of him.

“You killed Brick! It’s over!” Casey said to me, and Sage clasped her hand and pulled the crying girl to herself.

“No, it’s not over yet. There are more Dragon Knights members upstairs, and I need to get the two of you out of here first,” I said and then pulling my gun back in position, I walked towards the stairs.

Sage and Casey were behind me, huddled together. I could still feel Sage’s warmth in my arms as I took the steps two at a time. At the metal door, I pushed it open and peeped out.

Just as I predicted, my brothers were in a crossfire with some other members of the Dragon Knights. There was a shootout underway, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the girls out of this place unharmed.

I looked over my shoulders at Sage.

“You need to do as I say, no questions, okay?” I said to her.

“Yes, Glock,” she replied, and I looked back at the hallway. At both ends were sets of men. On one side, were Hunter, Tank, and Gunner; and on the other side were the Dragon Knights, at least four of them but there could have been more who had joined them.

I caught Gunner’s eye, who nudged Tank and they saw the girls and me behind me at the top of the stairs.

I raised up my hand and held out three fingers. On the count of three. Tank nodded his head.

“Keep an eye on my fingers, girls. On the count of three, you’re going to run left, as fast as you can. I’ll cover you,” I said to them.

We were in the middle of the hallway at the top of the stairs. This was going to be the only way out. I held up my hand again, one finger, two, and then three. I ran, and so did Sage and Casey. The Dragon Knights rained fire on us, but I turned around the girls and shot back at them. My brothers were shooting too, while the girls ran towards them.

I kept shooting, taking steps back.

“They’re out!” I heard Hunter scream, and that was when I stopped shooting, turned and ran in the direction of the front door of the house. It was swinging open; Sage and Casey had already made it out.

I ran out, the cold air rushed into my lungs. It was only the moon that illuminated the darkness around us. Sage and Casey had run up to her pickup truck, and I followed them.

Casey banged open the door and jumped inside, but Sage didn’t follow. She was waiting for me with heaving breasts. When I came up to her, she wrapped her arms around my neck.

“Let’s go, Glock, let’s just get out of here,” I heard her whisper in my ear. More gunshots fired through the house. As much as I wanted to take Sage and drive as fast as I could away from here, I would never leave my brothers behind. I leaned down and kissed her hard on the lips.

“I can’t leave yet, Sage,” I said to her.