I moved back a step, fear twisting my stomach. Snake was unhinged. I hadn’t noticed it before, but looking at him now, all I could see were the signs. He’d lost it. “Jack, he’s not going to go out without a fight.”

“Anyone who doesn’t want to be involved, go. Obviously, Snake here has a few screws loose. You want to leave and we let you.”

Snake scanned his group with increasingly insane-looking eyes. They shifted back and forth constantly, while staring without blinking. “You try to walk out, and I’ll kill you myself.”

The men shifted, glancing between Jack and Snake. The one with Snake’s gun resting on his forehead spoke. “Snake. Let us go. This is insane. We’re not going to prison for this bitch. This is your problem. You’ve got us involved in shit that we don’t want to be in.”

The gun fired before anyone could stop Snake. The man’s brains exploded out of the back of his head, spraying the men behind him. His body slowly dropped to the ground, lifeless.

Jack was on Snake before the body hit the ground. He yanked the gun away and threw it behind him before wrestling Snake to the ground. I pulled my gun from the back of my pants and held it at my side, ready to aim it at anyone who dared step toward the fight.

Another brother stepped forward, another one I didn’t recognize. “This isn’t our fight. We’re not going to hurt you. We just want to leave.”

“Why did you go to Memphis with him to get me?”

“He was our president. We had to back him. He killed Buck, though. If you don’t kill him, we will. He’s not with us anymore. He got us into all of this, and we’re going to end it here. We don’t want anything to do with you.”

I looked around, spotting a few familiar faces. “How do I know you won’t try to find me later?”

“You’re just going to have to trust us, lady.”

I shook my head. “I need something more than that.”

Jack was kneeling on top of Snake, but Snake wasn’t slowing down in his struggling. Jack looked up at me and then to the bikers. “We have enough on them to put them each away for a long time. They even think of coming near you, we take them all down.”

“See? Look, we just need to go before the cops show.”

“Fine. Go.” I watched as they all got back on their bikes and headed toward the exit.

As they got there, though, a line of police cars and solid black SUVs were arriving. They sped off and several of the cars gave chase. I shrugged and looked back down at Jack and Snake. Whatever happened to those guys, I didn’t care. As long as they left me alone, I wasn’t concerned.

Snake gave one more powerful buck to get Jack off of him, and then he grew still. “This is never going to be over, Raelyn. I’ll get out. I’ll always get out, and then I’ll keep coming for you. I’ll hunt you down like the bitch you are, and then I’ll fucking gut you for this!”

Agents and police were coming in thick by then. I spotted the cops who were friends of Snake’s just as they spotted me. They tried to disappear into the fray, but I screamed at them. With everyone’s attention, I jerked my finger in their direction.

“They’re working with Snake. I’ve seen them helping him.”

The weasel-looking one of the two seemed to shrink under the scrutiny, but anger bloomed on the face of the other one. “How dare you suggest that!”

“Why are you here? I see FBI, State Police, but no local. There’s a reason for that. Your chief agreed to keep local out of it. Yet, here you are.”

Jack was relieved by a couple of state police who were all too willing to jerk Snake around while getting him to his feet. He stepped beside me and ran his hand down my hair. “You okay?”

I nodded. I was more than okay. It was ending.

Snake didn’t get that memo. He was still screaming. He turned his attention to the two local police. “Get me out of this! I’m not going back to prison! I won’t! Do something! What do I pay you for if you’re just going to stand there?!”

Sensing their time was running out faster than they would’ve liked, the meaner cop pulled out his gun and aimed it at me. “Anyone moves and I pull the trigger.”

Snake started screaming even more aggressively, until frothy spit was flying from his mouth.

Jack tried to shift his body in front of mine, but the instant he moved, the gun went off. My body jerked backward and I sucked in a sharp breath as white-hot pain instantly took over my upper half. I fell against the forklift and clutched at anything to keep me afloat. I ended up with a fistful of Jack’s shirt as more shots rang out.

“Red! You’re okay! Stay with me.” His voice sounded so panicked. “Stay with me!”

I wanted to. Despite the pain, I wanted to stay with him. I was afraid of what the darkness slipping into my mind meant. I wasn’t ready to die. I hadn’t done anything with my life. I hadn’t had a chance to live.

I looked past Jack just as Snake wrenched himself free and charged Jack’s back with a knife he’d grabbed from his boot. I wanted to scream. I wanted to save him, but Jack put pressure on my body and the pain was too much. The darkness took over and I had no choice.

*

“Rise and shine. I told you that we weren’t saying goodbye yet.”

I stirred, instantly regretting it when pain shot through my body. I grunted and then tried opening my eyes. It felt like I’d been through a sand storm. My eyes were so dry and gritty feeling.

“Need me to call a nurse?”

I blinked a few more times and finally managed to see Brent standing in front of me. My mouth was dry, but Brent immediately handed me a glass of water. After a long drink, I felt slightly better. “Where’s Jack?”

Brent sat down in the chair next to me and frowned. “He’s next door.”

Next door? I had the image of Snake charging Jack in my head, playing on repeat, and I couldn’t help it. I thought you were supposed to forget what happened right before you passed out, or whatever happened to me. I couldn’t, though. It was the first image I saw when I’d started waking up.

“He wanted to be here, but I sent him for some coffee. You’ve been out for a couple of days. He’s been here the whole time, and he’s reached zombie status. He’s going to be pissed that he missed you waking up.”

Tears filled my eyes. “He’s okay?”

Brent’s eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah, of course.”

I sighed and felt my body relax into the bed. I looked around and saw that we were in a hospital room. I was hooked up to several machines, one of which was beeping like crazy. “Is that a bad sign?”

A nurse came into the room, on that cue, and started asking me questions while pushing buttons. A doctor quickly followed, but it was hard to pay attention.

“The bullet barely missed your heart. You’re a very lucky woman. As it is, you’re going to have some pain with this shoulder for quite some time. You’ll be in physical therapy for a while. You can have a full recovery, though, if you put in the work.”

Jack walked in at that moment, and I couldn’t help but let out a weak laugh. “Hey, Jack, good news. I won’t be able to strip for a while.”

He laughed and moved to my side. “Well, that seems like great news.”

I smiled up at him, feeling an amazing sense of relief that he was okay. “But Doc here says if I work really hard, I’ll be able to get back to it before too long.”

The doctor shook his head and held up his hands. “I said nothing of the sort.”

Jack pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m glad you’re okay, Red. You really had me worried.”

“You really had me worried, too. I thought you were a goner.”

He rolled his eyes. “If I’m going out, it sure isn’t going to be at the hands of a lunatic like Snake.”

With that sobering thought, I noticed the doctor push a button on a hose hooked to my arm. “What was that?”

He smiled. “That’s the good stuff. It was time for your medicine again. You’ll probably be groggy and sluggish for a while, but you need it right now.”

They left my room, only after the doctor motioned for Jack to follow him outside. I was already feeling the effects of the medicine and couldn’t do anything but rest in my bed.

Jack squeezed my hand and smiled at me. “Try not to sleep for so long this time, okay?”

I made a face but I was already falling asleep again.