Duke (The Henchmen MC 5)

They had obviously both just gotten back, the men getting bags out of the trunk.

Duke parked and jumped out, club business obviously more important than what we had been discussing.

He was over by them before I could even unclip my belt.

I was just reaching for my door handle when Renny's voice yelled out, loud and worried, "Get down!"

I didn't even get a second to register that before I heard the gunshots.

The sound made my heart wedge into my throat as I did the unthinkable, I froze.

My eyes went to the group.

Duke and Renny ducked low, Duke's eyes on the street.

Janie found herself thrown behind her giant wall of a husband.

That wall, though, it wasn't bulletproof.

And I watched in complete and utter horror as four bullets sliced into the flesh of his chest and stomach, the impact of each making his body jolt as the red exploded outward.

His body went down slowly and the sound of Janie's screaming was the most horrific sound I had ever heard in my life.FOURTEENPennyEverything happened in a blur.

I felt myself oddly detached from it all, like I was watching through a TV, not living it myself.

Not more than a minute after the shooting started, the backdoor to the car I was in was wrenched open and Renny and Duke were moving a still conscious Wolf inside. Janie and Renny jumped in the back with him, both pressing down on his wounds, as Duke got into the driver's seat and turned the car so fast I felt my stomach swirl ominously.

Then we were speeding.

I had never been in a car driving so fast in my entire life. My hands planted on the dash as I struggled to breathe through the smell of blood, heady and metallic, filling the car.

"Woman," Wolf's deep voice rumbled and I turned my neck to see him reaching one of his giant hands out to touch Janie's delicate face.

"Don't you fucking dare," she hissed at him, seeming to press her whole body weight into his chest. "You are not going to give me some bullshit last words right now, do you understand me? You are not going to die. That is not even an option. So don't."

"Stubborn," he said, giving her a smile that hurt my soul, his honey eyes taking her in like he would never see her again.

Unexpectedly, I felt tears sting at my eyes, prominent enough to blur my vision as I turned to look at Duke's profile. His eyes cut to me for the barest of seconds and I saw worry flash there.

"No no no no," Janie yelped from the back. "Wake up. Come on. Open your eyes," she demanded and I could hear her tapping his face to try to keep him conscious.

"Next turn, Jstorm," Duke said and reached into his pocket and threw a phone at me. "Get into my contacts and call Lo. Tell her we'll be at Navesink View. Then call Cash and tell him the same and tell him to call Reign."

"I..." I started, fumbling to hold the phone with shaking hands.

"Baby, please," he said and there was so much desperation in his voice that I watched as my fingers scrolled and I found Lo's name and hit dial.

"Duke, what's..."

"Lo, there was a shooting and Wolf was, um, shot. We're on our way to Navesink View."

There was the briefest of pauses. "Janie..." she said, her voice tortured and the call ended.

I scrolled again, finding Cash. "Where the fuck is everyone? There were gunshots and there's blood..." Cash started immediately, voice much more harsh than I had ever heard it before.

"Cash, it's Penny. Wolf was shot. We are almost," I started, then saw us pull up into the parking lot. "We're pulling up to the hospital. I called Lo. Duke said to call you to call..."

"I got it, honey," he said, voice no-nonsense and he ended the call just as Duke screeched to a stop and flew out of the car, running inside.

I watched as Duke, doctors, and nurses came running back out with a gurney. And I watched as Duke and Renny heaved Wolf's massive form out and onto it. And then I watched as a blood-covered Janie ran behind them and they disappeared inside.

Then I looked down at the phone in my hands, doing something I wasn't sure I had done since I was a small child. I prayed. I wasn't even sure what I believed in anymore, but I prayed to whatever higher power might be listening.

Because I had seen something between Wolf and Janie I had never seen in my life before. I saw two people genuinely, fully, completely, world-changing-ly in love with each other.

And while I didn't know much about either of them, I knew down to my bones that a love like that needed to be preserved, that death should not be allowed to separate it so soon.