Atonement (Angel's Halo MC 5)

Ducking down, I rushed back to Onyx and handed over the other gun.

“I don’t remember running these from Cali,” he grumbled under his breath.

“Me, either. Must be from Vito’s brother-in-law.” I nodded at his shoulder that he was still favoring. “You okay?”

“Hurts like the devil, but I’ll live, boy.” He gave me an evil as fuck grin. “Can’t say that about those motherfuckers out there, though.”

I tried to grin back, but my mind and heart weren’t in it. I just wanted this to be over so we could get home.

I couldn’t remember if it took five minutes or five hours before the hell storm of flying bullets began to die down, until it was only the four of us shooting. I wasn’t stupid enough to think it was because we had either killed everyone, or that they had

run away once we had gotten hold of the big boy toys.

We were all breathing hard, sweat rolling down our faces like it was a hundred and ten in the warehouse. Dust was floating around in clouds so thick it looked like fog.

Shootouts were not a party, even if Tanner tried to make it seem like it was. I hated this shit. I never knew if I or one of my brothers would bite a bullet and be sent home in a pine box for my sister to have to bury.

But it wasn’t her face I imagined standing over my grave right then. It was Quinn, with tears pouring down her beautiful face as I was lowered into the ground.

Without thinking about what I was doing, I fished out my phone again; this time bringing up a number that I had only recently programed into the burner. I had stolen the number from Colt’s phone, because I had never allowed myself access to Quinn’s number before. The temptation would have been too much for me.

Just as it was right then.

I traced my thumb over the digits on the screen, wanting to call and hear her sweet, gentle voice in the eerie quietness after the deafening sound of gunfire and bullets tearing through metal, wood, and glass had faded.

What was she doing right then? Was she thinking about me as much as I was thinking of her?

I wanted to know. Wanted her to have been thinking of nothing but me while I had been away.

In the distance, I thought I heard the rumble of multiple motorcycle engines and quickly put the phone away. I took stock of my brothers.

Now that we didn’t have to worry about flying bullets, Tanner was exploring the rest of the crates. Clutch was with his father, examining the already dark blue bruise on Onyx’s shoulder.

Dusting my ass off, I slowly made my way to the door where the first bullets had come from. With my new gun at the ready, I carefully opened the now shredded doors and stuck my head out to have a quick look. Jerking my head back in after only a few seconds, I did it again, trying to see what was going on outside without getting my head blown off in the process.

The next time I stuck my head out, I saw Colt and Trigger pulling up about a hundred yards away, with Warden and Creed right behind them. Their guns were already out as two black SUVs screeched to stop behind them. Half a dozen men poured out of the big vehicles, rushing around the outside of the warehouse in search of the enemy, yelling at each other in Italian.

Lowering my gun, I stepped outside.

Seeing me, Colt lowered his gun to his side but didn’t put it away. “Are you good?”

I nodded as I ran my free hand over my hair, knocking dirt and broken glass out of it. “Onyx got one in the shoulder, but his vest stopped it. He’s gonna be feeling that for a few days.”

Trigger stepped closer, examining the gun in my hand, before whistling low. “Wish we had this shit on hand all the time. Haven’t seen anything that pretty since I left the army.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure these bad boys were what they were looking for.” If they got a hold of that kind of metal, the war between the two crime families would be more even, and Santino could possibly take over some of Vitucci’s turf.

I popped my neck, my body already starting to stiffen up as the adrenaline of the last hour began to fade. I wasn’t a fan of this shit.

Any other time, my mind would have already been on finding a few females to help me loosen up my cramping muscles, taking my mind off of what had just happened. I would have been fine by that night. Right then, my body didn’t harden with the thought of a new flavor of snatch.

When we had first gotten to Chicago, I hadn’t even tried to find the kind of fun I usually did to keep myself entertained when I was on a run. I hadn’t tried to find a hookup or even really thought about it.

The only female I could think about was the sweet, little beauty thousands of miles away.

For years, I had stayed away from Quinn because I thought I couldn’t give her the kind of faithfulness a girl like her deserved. I liked too much variety to settle down with her.

Or so I had thought.