“Haven, don’t.” Dare’s whisper was just loud enough for her to make out.
“You’ve done enough damage here,” she pressed on. Sirens wailed in the distance. “So agree to leave him and tell your men right now not to harm anyone else, or I’ll drag this out and those sirens will get here and you’ll be trapped.”
Chuffing out a humorless laugh, her father shook his head. “Aw, you’re a big shot now, huh? Ran away and found your spine. I’m gonna have a good time beating that back out of you.”
She didn’t take the bait. “Do we have an agreement or not? Those sirens are getting louder.”
“Fine. I’ll leave him. Now get the fuck up.”
“Call the shootings off now,” she said.
Glaring, her father spoke into his phone. “I’ve got her. Pull back now. I repeat, pull back. We’re moving out.” He lowered his gun some and scanned his gaze around. “Now let’s go before I lose my fucking patience with you.” The words were a lie—she already knew she was going to pay for her defiance. But it would be worth it to keep anyone else from getting hurt.
Keeping one eye on her father, she looked down at Dare’s face. He was pale. Scary pale. And his eyes were dazed, unfocused. “You hang on, you hear me?” She gently dragged her hand up his side, trying to avoid the wound, though she couldn’t entirely. Please, please, let that one be from his back holster.
“Haven, I swear to Christ,” her father bit out.
She leaned down and kissed Dare’s forehead, and her fingers brushed the end of the grip of his second weapon still holstered under his cut. Oh, thank God. She’d never handled a gun before—her father had always kept her away from them—but she had to try. She had to fight. “I’m just saying good-bye,” she said.
She shifted her legs like she was getting up and wrapped her fingers around the grip. As it pulled free, her eyes met Dare’s. A moment of clarity spilled into those brown depths as he grimaced at the movement at his side.
Crouched on one knee, Haven whirled and pulled the trigger. The first shot caught her father in the shoulder, but the surprise of the hit sent him reeling even as he squeezed off a round that went wide. The second caught him low in the gut. The third, in the chest, and he went down on his back, blood bubbling out of the wounds. Every hit was the result of his low expectations of her, and she’d never been happier to be discounted in her entire life than she was just then.
She kept the weapon pointed at him, even as his hand went slack around his own gun. But he was still holding it.
From down the hallway, she was remotely aware of people screaming, but she couldn’t pay attention to it. She couldn’t pay attention to anything except Dare and her father. Not to the sweat pouring down her hairline and the center of her back. Or the way her heart raced so hard it was difficult to get a breath. Or the way her hand shook around the gun. Her own breathing loud in her ears, she stayed crouched over Dare’s body, gun at the ready, finger still on the trigger. Just in case.
Footsteps came pounding toward her and she whirled. “I’ll shoot!”
The men skidded to a halt in the darkness. “Haven, it’s okay. It’s Maverick.”
She scrabbled to Dare’s other side, putting her body between him and this new threat. “Stay right there or I’ll shoot you,” she said, her voice cracking, wetness on her face.
One of the men stepped slowly into the light, hands in the air. “Haven, it’s Maverick. See? Put the gun down, sweetie.”
Her brain couldn’t process what she was hearing. “Mav . . . Mav . . . Dare . . .”
“I know.” He came a little closer, and then Phoenix and Ike stepped into the light, too. “Put the gun down. Okay?”
But she couldn’t. She couldn’t make her muscles respond. She couldn’t let herself believe the threat was over.
Maverick was within a few feet of her. “I’m gonna take it from you, Haven. Okay? Just real easy,” he said, leaning in and wrapping his big hands around the barrel. He gently tugged it free.
Which was when Haven realized just how bad she was shaking. Her teeth chattered. Her bones hurt. It was suddenly like she was plugged back into her body, because all at once she heard a voice through the loudspeaker giving instructions and saw the colored whirl of emergency vehicle lights in the distance.
Maverick went to his knees beside Dare. “Dare?” he said, leaning over his cousin. But Dare was completely nonresponsive now. Mav pushed his cut open to reveal the full measure of his blood loss. “Get help. Now,” he said, looking up to the other men.