Rafe (Inked Brotherhood 5)

Good girl. I’ll buy her whatever she wants after this is over. As long as it’s not drugs or explosives. You never know with these kids. They could ask for crazy shit.

“Rafe.” Zane’s waving a hand in front of my face. “You with us, fucker? I should’ve called that cab to take you to the ER.”

I flip him off and start walking again. “I’m going in.”

“Let’s go,” Dylan says and they’re striding by my side, heading toward the alley.

As we pass Apples, I nod for her to leave, but she shakes her head. Dammit. But Apples can take care of herself, and Meg…

Christ. I shove down the paralyzing fear for whatever’s happening to her, and break into a jog, then full-out run, the guys following suit. We break apart as we enter the alley, the guys toward the walls on either side, and me…

Well, rolling is out of the question with broken ribs, and if I do it, I’ll pass out and be no help, so I keep running and hope for the best.

Everything happens so quickly. A bullet smashes into the wall at my right, and I keep going. I see them now, a tall man and Meg, my Meg, held against him, his arm pressed to her throat.

The only thing I can do now is keep him aiming at me, hell, firing at me, giving the other two guys a chance to get to him. I’m a decoy, a distraction. I’d take a bullet for Meg. For any of my friends, too.

So keep looking at me, asshole, keep that gun pointed right at me. I’m not afraid anymore. If this is the last thing I do, I’ll get Meg out of here alive.

“Fuck off!” the asshole yells. “This is none of your business.”

“Let her go, dickhead!” I shout at him, my voice strangled because I can’t draw a single good breath and my whole chest is a mass of pain.

Just a bit longer. I can do this.

“I’ll kill you, you cunt,” he shouts back. Another gunshot cracks, and it zings so close to my head, I swear I feel it brush me by. “I’ll kill you!”

I’m close now, and Dylan and Zane are closing in. I see the man glancing right and left, see his gun move toward Dylan.

“Here, you motherfucker!” I head straight at him. “Here.”

The gun turns back to me. So close he can’t miss me. I know it. And I’m still running at him.

“No!” Meg screams and suddenly she’s fighting with him, trying to wrench the gun away.

Holy shit. “Meg, no!” I launch myself at them, reach for the gun. Barely manage to push it away before it goes off again.

Then Dylan and Zane are there, holding the man down, taking the gun from him.

“Meg!” I tug her to me, grab her face in my hands, check to see if she’s hurt. “Are you okay?”

Then my arms are full of distraught girl, and broken ribs or not, I hold onto her as hard as she’s holding on to me.

“Rafe,” she whispers, her voice just a breath, “you’re okay, you’re alive, oh god…”

I rock her, trying to grasp the fact I came to save her and all she’s been worried about is me. “I’m fine,” I tell her, kissing her hair. “We’re both fine. We’re both alive.”

She clings to me and her slender body shakes. Somewhere in the distance, I hear sirens. Guess someone had the presence of mind to call the police.

“I love you, Meg,” I say, because it’s the truth. “That balance between the past and the presence? I’m working on it. Please…” I lift her chin to look into her face. “Please, don’t leave.”

“Oh my God,” she says, sniffling, and then laughs. “Of course I’m not leaving. I n

ever left. I was just so frigging scared for you. I was coming to find you.”

Zane said that, didn’t he? Shit, I’m grinning so wide I think my face will split in two. “You were, huh? Missed me?”

“I did.” She rises up to kiss me, sliding her hands up my sides, and I gasp and flinch, caught by surprise. “Rafe?”