Page 74 of Mischief Mayhem
You have to fight. You have to fight as hard as you can.
“Boss, we have a tail,” said Hoss, glancing in the rearview.
“Are you sure?” Crank cursed and turned to look out the back window.
When I followed his gaze, I sobbed harder. One of the Caputi SUVs gained on us, and I honestly didn’t know whether I wanted to stay in the car with these psychos or be taken by my family’s sworn enemies. Both were a fate worse than death. If my family was gone, if Hollywood was dead, I’d rather follow them into the dark than survive whatever these sick fucks had in store for me.
But as the SUV got closer, I recognized my brother behind the wheel. And in the passenger seat sat Hollywood. I had only a moment to be thankful before another force slammed into the truck from the driver’s side. I ducked down as we catapulted off the road, the crunching metal sound reverberating though my body. With my hands tied behind my back, I couldn’t stop myself from careening into Crank, who shoved me back as soon as the chaos stopped.
He shoved the door open, jumping out onto the street with his guns out, the Knight in the passenger seat quick to do the same. Hoss slumped over the steering wheel, either knocked out or dead, but I didn’t wait around to find out. Gunshots rang out into the air while I rolled onto my back so I could maneuver my arms down my legs and over my feet, screaming while I used my boot to snap the zip tie in half. My wrists protested and I burned the skin raw, but once I was free, I scrambled for the gun in Hoss’s holster.
Once I had it, I jumped out of the truck, determined to help my family end this. Crank stood near the bed, aiming the barrel of his gun at Bear and Castor, who were hunched together near the SUV that had rammed into us. Hollywood had the other Knight in a chokehold near the hood while he elbowed my boyfriend in the face, trying to get him off.
I didn’t even think. I raised the gun, aimed it at the back of Crank’s head, and fired, blinking as his brains exploded down the obsidian fender and his body went limp. Then, I turned to Hollywood, stalking toward them like an assassin on a mission. I’d almost reached them when a hard grip circled around my throat, yanking me back against a tall, revolting body.
“You didn’t think it would be that easy to get away, did you?” Hoss’s voice whispered in my ear, the cool barrel of a pistol aimed at my temple. “Put the gun down, you little cunt.”
I watched as Hollywood finally overwhelmed the third kidnapper, shoving him to the ground before rising to meet my gaze. He looked rough—bloody and bruised and barely alive on his feet. But he was still alive, staring at this new predicament with a hatred in his gaze I’d never seen before.
“No one move,” Hoss said, tightening his arm around my throat, forcing me to straighten against him in order to breathe. “Drop your weapons, including you, little cunt. Go on. Drop them and I won’t kill her.”
Hollywood shifted his gaze between me and Hoss as my captor took a step back, angling his body so he could see Bear and Castor walking around the front of the truck, still aiming their guns at his head.
“Don’t you see you’re outnumbered?” I said. “Even if you kill me, they’ll tear you to pieces.”
“You think I’m afraid of that?” He laughed and shook his head. “I knew the risks when I decided to make a deal with the Caputi bitch.”
Hollywood used his distraction to take a step toward me, but Hoss pointed the gun at him instead, firing two shots at the love of my life. The world went blank, a loud ringing in my ears making me incapable of understanding reality. Hollywood dropped like a stone, and terrorized screams tore out of my throat as I wrestled away from Hoss. Bear and Castor descended on him like wolves, filling his torso full of holes while I raced to Hollywood’s side.
He’d been shot through the chest twice, his shirt drenched in his own blood. He met my stare with glazed-over eyes, pulling his lips into a shadow of a smile as he reached a hand toward my cheek.
“V,” came Hollywood’s shallow voice, the feel of his bloody fingers on my face making this real instead of the nightmare I wished it was. “V, it’s okay. We’re okay now.”
“Shhh,” I said, pressing my hands into his wound, trying to staunch the bleeding. But fuck, there was so much of it . . . too much of it. I blinked against memories of the last time Hollywood bled out in front of me, the horror of that night in Saint’s truck so close to the surface now. “Don’t move. It’ll be ok-k-kay. You’re okay.”
“Is he alive?” Bear asked, coming to the other side of me so he could lean down and put his fingers on Hollywood’s pulse.
“We n-n-need to get him to a h-h-hospital.” I had to force the words through trembling lips. “Can you c-c-carry him?”
Castor grabbed Hollywood’s arms and Bear got his legs, and together, they lifted him into the back of the SUV that hadn’t rammed into the Knights’ truck. I crawled in after Hollywood, lifting his head so it rested on my lap before putting my hands back on his wounds, pressing down so they’d stop bleeding. But they wouldn’t stop. His blood just flowed and flowed, covering me and the back of the Range Rover.
We left the Hell’s Knights fuckers where they were, and when Bear called Thor to let him know we were safe, he told the sergeant at arms we needed a cleanup crew.
“How’s everyone at the cabin?” Bear asked. “Any casualties?”
“Coins and Skulls,” Thor said, sinking my heart into my gut. “Hollister is still alive, but barely.”
“We’ll see you at the hospital,” Bear said before hanging up. But I couldn’t focus on anything except the man slowly dying in my lap and the agonizing thought he might not live to see tomorrow. Suddenly, all those dreams about a future with him in it went out the window. Once again, Hollywood had sacrificed himself so I could live, and this time might actually be the last.
“You better not leave me, Hudson,” I murmured, brushing the hair out of his eyes. “Stay with me. Please. I’m so sorry for everything I said. I’m so sorry. I love you. Please stay with me.”
His eyes fluttered shut and he winced, but didn’t regain consciousness. When we got to the hospital, Pollux’s nurse took one look at us and let out a deep sigh. Hadn’t we just picked up the survivor of our last run-in with the Caputis? Now, here we were again, and this time, we were just as fucked up and demoralized.
Julia, KC, and Hollister were already in the back when we walked in, but they took Hollywood immediately while the rest of us were put on the list and asked to sit in the waiting room. My leg burned, but now that I had a moment to get a good look at the wound, it wasn’t much more than a deep scratch. I’d done worse to myself at the lowest points of my life, so I figured I’d get a few stitches and they would let me go.
Bear stood in a corner talking on his phone while the rest of my family tried to get their heads back in the game. We’d been hit really hard this time, much harder than ever before.
“How did this happen?” I asked. “How did we let this happen?”