Atonement (Angel's Halo MC 5)

“Dead is my guess,” Onyx grumbled.

Mine, too, and I didn’t want to join them.

I shifted until I could pull my phone free from my pocket and lifted it to my ear. It rang three times, and I cursed my brother over and over again until Colt answered.

“Get your asses down here. We got trouble.”

“Shit,” he growled as more bullets tore the warehouse apart. “We’re on our way, brother. Stay alive until we can get there.”

“Just fucking hurry,” I commanded.

My goal was to stay alive for a hell of a lot longer than until he and the others could get there.

I had been glad to come on this damn run in the beginning, but almost from day one, I had felt something I had never felt before.

Homesick.

It wasn’t for Creswell Springs, though. Fuck, I had been away from home so many times, for weeks upon weeks at times, and I had never had the gnawing ache to get back like I had during this trip. No, it wasn’t the place, but it had taken me a little while to realize what it really was that was causing this pain in my chest, this urgency to get back as quickly as possible.

Quinn.

I missed her.

It was new, and more than a little terrifying to feel these new emotions swirling around inside my head and chest. Yet, as scary as it all was, I found myself liking these new sensations.

More bullets aimed in my direction had me dropping the phone and sending a few of my own back. I needed to conserve my bullets; they were a precious commodity right then. I had already emptied two magazines, and I was down to the few bullet in the one I had just put in my Glock.

“I’m out,” Clutch called out.

“I got three, maybe.” From the corner of my eye, I could see Tanner crawling around behind his crates. “Someone cover me. There has to be something we can use in these fucking things. Why else would those damn Italians be so trigger happy?”

He was right; there had to be something in the warehouse they wanted. Otherwise, they would have just blown the damn place up, something Santino and his men had become famous for.

Onyx and I were the only ones with a few bullets, so we covered Tanner as he pulled the top off the first crate. His sharp inhale had me turning to look at him, thinking he had caught a bullet. The huge-ass grin on his face told me he was fine.

He pulled out a huge gun, some kind of fully automatic machine gun by the looks of it, and picked up a clip that was as long as my forearm. What the fuck? I didn’t know who Vitucci was dealing with to have those kinds of guns, but if all the crates were full of those same guns, then he must have been backing a militia in a third world country or some shit.

Most likely, these were from or for Vito Vitucci’s brother-in-law. His dead wife had been part of the IRA, and her brother was some higher up within the organization. They still fought for the cause. Whatever that might have been, I was still unclear of.

“Hold on to your asses,” Tanner said on a laugh as he started shooting in the direction the bullets kept coming at us from.

Clutch and I locked eyes for a second, both of us unsure of what to expect next. With Tanner, it was anyone’s guess. He was too unpredictable at times. He had a tendency to act before thinking and had gotten his ass handed to him plenty of times by Bash, just because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. But he was my friend, and one of the guys I trusted with my life.

Most of the time.

Groaning, I belly-crawled over to him while Onyx covered me with the last of his bullets. Glass, plaster, and who knew what else was flying in every direction. A bullet went screaming by my ear, and I prayed that I would make it out of there alive.

That I could make it back to Quinn …

Fuck this shit.

Reaching Tanner, I carefully stood up beside him and grabbed a gun for myself and two magazines. The gun was surprisingly light for the kind of damage I was about to inflict with it. Hell, Tanner was already turning the chaos into a nightmare for the guys outside trying their best to kill us all.

“Don’t know if you’re an idiot or a genius,” I snarled at my friend.

He shot me a quick smirk before turning back to playing with the new toy he had found.

Shaking my head, I grabbed two more guns and as much ammo as I could. Tossing one to Clutch, he caught his easily and quickly joined Tanner.