The guy grabbed Bobby by the arm and pulled him out of the room.
“My apologies, gentlemen. It appears Bobby misses the days of shooting first and asking questions later.” Leo sat back down and sighed heavily.
I re-holstered my gun and watched Wrecker step to the side. Mayra was standing behind him with tears streaming down her face and fear still in her eyes. “I thought he was going to shoot you,” she cried.
“Come get your girl before she cries all over me,” Wrecker grumbled.
I was within arm’s reach of her when a loud gunshot rang out from the hallway. Wrecker dove in front of Mayra again, taking her down to the floor, and I felt a raging fire rip through my arm after a second shot fired.
“Everyone down!” Pipe called.
Maniac dove, caught me by the shoulders, and pulled me onto the ground. We landed next to Mayra who was crying uncontrollably. “Boink,” she called. “Boink!” She wiggled her way out from Wrecker and placed her hand on my arm. “Are you okay?”
I couldn’t really tell. My arm hurt like a son of a bitch, and I couldn’t move it.
“Keep pressure on it. Don’t move,” Wrecker ordered.
The gunshots had stopped, but we were all still on the floor. “Lords good?” he hollered.
A chorus of “yes” and “yeahs” went up from Pipe, Nickel, and Brinks.
A strangled cry sounded from the hallway. “Leo!”
“That’s Princeton,” I heard Leo bark. “Someone get to him.”
Wrecker didn’t hesitate. He crawled to the door with Pipe behind.
“Are you okay?” Mayra hiccuped. She couldn’t stop crying, but she was doing a good job of pressing down on my arm.
“I will be, M. Don’t cry.”
“He…he sh—” She gulped and closed her eyes. “He shot you,” she strangled out in between sobs.
“He did, but I’ll be okay, M-baby. It’s all over now.” I didn’t know if that was true or not, but at least I had Mayra within arm’s reach.
“Clear,” Wrecker yelled. “He’s gone.”
Mayra got up on her knees and covered my body with hers while still keeping her hand on the blood leaking out of my arm. “He shot you,” she said again.
“I know. I can feel it,” I chuckled
She pressed her forehead to mine, and I felt her tears drip onto my cheek. “He shot you,” she repeated again.
“You keep saying it, M, it’s gonna make it worse.”
Her eyes popped open. Her mouth opened to yell at me, but instead, I pressed my lips to hers. I may have been shot and in a shit-ton of pain, but I knew when I had Mayra this close to me, I couldn’t not kiss her.
She instantly kissed me back, and I died a little bit knowing she was safe and back in my arms.
“I think he’s shot, but I can’t tell ‘cause Mayra is trying to have sex with him right now.”
Leave it to my asshole friends to kill the moment right before I was going to tell Mayra I loved her. I opened my eyes to see Brinks and Nickel standing over us.
“Nah, she’s still got her clothes on, but at least she’s stopped crying. I hate when chicks cry ‘cause you’re trying to figure out how to make it stop when you don’t even know what started it in the first place.” Nickel kicked my foot. “Lucky fucker, though.”
I was lucky. If I would have been turned a little bit more to the left, the bullet would have went right through my chest.
“Can one of you guys help and stop with the commentary?” Mayra asked. She moved off to the side that wasn’t bleeding and looked up at Nickel.
Nickel kneeled down and pushed down on my arm.
“Fucking Christ, brother. I just got shot there,” I moaned.
He pressed down even harder and smiled broad. “Just making sure to put enough pressure on it.”
“He’s going to be okay?” Leo moved into view.
“He should be fine.” Pipe lifted his hands and cringed. “Looks like it went straight through and didn’t hit anything important.”
“His arm is important,” Mayra snapped.
“You know what I mean, doll,” Nickel laughed.
“He got away.”
I lifted my head and watched Wrecker and Pipe walk back in. “Your guy was shot in the shoulder. He should be okay. He said Bobby got a shot off at him, then aimed wildly into here and took off down the hallway. He managed to get one of your vehicles to escape in.”
Leo grimaced. “He got away because no one probably knew he just shot two people.” Leo turned to his men and started barking orders about tracking him down.
“Are you really okay?” Mayra asked softly.
I lifted my good arm and swept her hair from her face. “I got you back, M. I’ve never been better.”
“I’m sorry you got shot,” she sobbed.
Oh hell, she was gearing up to let the waterworks go again. “Shh, baby. You don’t need to cry. I’ll be okay, and you didn’t get hurt.”
“I…I…la….I love you,” she gushed out.
She buried her face in my neck and cried her eyes out.
“I would probably react the same way if I realized I’d fallen in love with a guy named Boink.” Pipe shook his head and frowned. “Didn’t really think that one through good, did we?”
They guys all laughed, and Mayra pursed her lips. “I really don’t care what you are called as long as you don’t die. I love you, Boink.”
I cupped her cheek in my hand. “I love you, too, M-baby.”
*
Chapter Twenty-Four
Mayra
“The captain is here.”
“Who?” I asked?
Cora nodded to the kitchen. “All she needs is a peg leg and parrot.”
“Karmen?” I laughed.
Nikki plopped down on the couch next to us. “Is she wearing the hat I got her?”
Cora glared at her. “You would buy her a pirate hat to encourage her.”
Nikki shrugged and finished the last of rum and coke in her glass. “This is the first time she’s drinking since relieving her boobs from milk duty. Can you really blame me for celebrating this momentary occasion by bringing out the captain?”
“Momentary?” Cora laughed. “What in the hell is that? It’s not even a word.”
Nikki splayed her hands in front of her. “Monastery.” She squinted and tried again. “Monistat?”
I patted her leg. “Momentous?”
“That is totally it,” Nikki winked. “Not Monistat at all. Who even says that about occasions?”
Nikki was half into a bottle of rum and looked to join Karmen in her pirate celebration.
“I’m surprised you’re even here yet,” Cora said. “I thought for sure you and Boink would be on a plane back to Pines Peak.”
I shook my head and took a sip of my water. “We leave in the morning. He was trying to get tickets for tonight, but he couldn’t find any.”
“You’re coming back, right?” Nikki asked.
I laughed and nodded. “We are definitely coming back. Boink isn’t ready to leave the club yet, and I got a second interview for a job at the law firm in town.”
“Damn, you work quick.” Cora set her glass on the coffee table and kicked her feet up. “It’s only been two weeks since your run-in with the Banachi’s and you’re bouncing back on your feet already.”
“It’s only to be a secretary. It’s not that big of a deal.” It really wasn’t. Boink was on the mend with his arm, and I knew I needed to do something to get some money coming in. I didn’t want to be a kept woman.
Clash walked into the common room holding Raven by the arm.
“Oh shit. I wonder what she did this time,” Cora laughed.
“Probably tried to set her panties on fire.”
Cora and I both turned to look at Nikki. “Say what?” I asked. Raven had been doing some crazy things to try and escape, but I wasn’t sure where Nikki had gotten the idea of burning her underwear.
She waved her hand. “You
two just don’t seem to be able to think like a pirate. You wouldn’t understand.”
She acted like what she had just said made perfect sense. Pipe was going to have fun with her tonight when he tried to take her home.
“These are your friends,” Clash said loudly. “These are my friends too. I want to have a good time with my friends, but I can’t do that when you are trying to escape every five seconds.”
Raven wretched her arm out of Clash’s hold. “Then just let me fucking go, and then you don’t have to worry about me.”
“I would love to do that, doll, but your brother thinks you need to stick around for a bit to make sure you don’t wind up getting yourself killed doing something stupid.” He pointed at me and Cora. “Go sit with them and try not to be a brat.”
“Did he just call her a brat?” Cora whispered.
“I would have said bitch,” Nikki said loudly. “She is totally a bitch,” she drawled.
I elbowed Nikki in the side and called out to Raven for her to come sit by us. “I’ll pass,” she called back. “I can get drunk by myself in the corner without listening to you guys giggle.” Raven grabbed a bottle of whiskey and headed to the dark corner of the clubhouse where Brinks was sitting.
“I thought she was your girl,” Clash called.
I shrugged. Raven used to be my friend, but ever since I had been back at the clubhouse, she hadn’t said a word to me.
Raven set the bottle of whiskey down on the table Brinks was sitting at. She said something to him, and he held his hands up defensively. He shoved his chair back and stormed out of the common room.
“Did she really just make Brinks move from the table he was sitting at?” Nikki asked, shocked. She shakily stood up and tried not to topple over. “This shit ends right now.”
“Pipe,” Cora called. “Get a hold of your woman.”
“What!” Nikki shrieked. “You’re in the Girl Gang. You can’t be calling the man on me.” She beat her chest with her fist. “Girl Gang for life.” She tried to contort her fingers into something that resembled a G, but she couldn’t get them to cooperate.
“You causing a ruckus over here?” Pipe put his arm around Nikki’s waist and pulled her into his chest.
“She was mean to Brinks,” Nikki explained.
“Who was?” Pipe asked.
“Raven. She was mean, and I don’t like it.” She looked down at Cora and me. “I don’t one bit like it. At all.” She stomped her foot and lost her balance. She precariously held onto Pipe and continued to rant about Raven.
“I think you had enough to drink, babe. How about we go see if we can find some pizza?”
Nikki’s eyes lit up. “Oh, my God, I am starving.” And just like that, all thoughts of Raven left her. Now I see why Cora had called Pipe over.
Pipe lead her off into the kitchen and passed Clash who was standing in the middle of the common room staring at Raven.
“You actually know what’s up with her?” Cora asked me.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. She never talked to me about anything important.”
Cora pursed her lips. “I can get behind being sassy with a touch of bitchy cause that’s how I roll, but Raven takes it a little bit too far. God help the man or woman who decides to tame her.”
“Woman?” I sputtered. “You think Raven might be gay?” I had never gotten that feeling from her before, but what did I know?
“Not a fucking clue,” Cora laughed. “I just figured since I don’t know which way she hits, I’d leave it open.” She stood up and looked down at me. “I’m gonna go see what the pirates are up to cause your dude has been eyeballing you for the past ten minutes waiting for me to leave.”
“Wait, what?” I sputtered. Cora didn’t have to leave just for Boink to come over. He was going to have all weekend with me in Pines Peak.
She walked away and high-fived Boink when she passed him.
“I think Cora and I just had a moment,” he laughed. He plopped down on the couch next to me and put his arm around my shoulders.
“Because she said you were eyeballing me.”
“I may have been keeping an eye on you.”
I rolled my eyes and finished my glass of water.
“Not drinking tonight?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Not when we have to fly out early in the morning. If I drink, I’ll have a hangover and won’t want to get on the plane.”
“Then I guess you better stick to water ‘cause I’ve got a surprise for you but it’s in Pines Peak so your ass needs to be on that plane tomorrow.”
“A surprise,” I said hopefully. “What is it?”
“If I tell you, M-baby, then it won’t be a surprise.”
I pouted out my bottom lip and crossed my arms over my chest.
He pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “Patience.”
That was easy for him to say. He wasn’t just told that there was a surprise waiting for him seventeen hundred miles and a plane ride away.
*
Chapter Twenty-Five
Boink
“Get the door, M.”
I heard Mayra grunt and shut the oven door.
I looked down at her from the loft and watched her stalk to the front door and pull it open. “Elle! Agnes!” she exclaimed.
There was surprise one.
Mayra had been talking about Pines Peak and all of the people we had made friends with only to leave behind. Coming back up here to get the stuff we left behind and a visit with Elle and Agnes was just what she needed.
“Boink!”
“Uh, yeah?” I hollered back.
Agnes appeared below with a huge smile on her face. “I just wanted to see for myself that was really your name,” she laughed.
Elle appeared next to her and waved up at me. “I knew you didn’t look like a Melvin, but I wouldn’t have pegged you for a Boink.”
“I could always tell you ladies his real name,” Mayra threatened.
“Try me, M,” I retorted.
She strolled back into the kitchen and flipped me off. “I think tonight I will.”
Elle and Agnes both chittered and followed Mayra into the kitchen.
I grabbed what I had come up to the loft for and jogged down the stairs.
“The girls didn’t come with?” Mayra asked.
Agnes shook her head. “No. Carnie feels horrible for hooking up with that rotten Bobby, and Wendy had work tonight.”
Mayra opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. “You should have made Carnie come. There is no reason for her to feel bad about what happened.”
I grabbed three glasses down from the cabinet and set them in front of Agnes and Elle. “The Banachi’s would have found Mayra another way if it hadn’t have been through Bobby. Having it happen the way it did was probably for the best.”
“Except for you getting shot,” Mayra pointed out. She popped open the bottle and filled the three glasses. “And for the record, you make a horrible patient, Boink.”
I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close. “But you make a fabulous nurse.” I buried my face in her neck to give her a kiss, and Elle and Agnes swooned.
“See, that is why we believed you two were married. You actually liked each other. If you wouldn't have wound up falling in love, no one would have ever bought that you two were together.” Elle grabbed a glass and held it up. “To falling in love when it’s all you’ve got left.”
Mayra turned in my arms and grabbed a glass. She clinked glasses with Elle and Agnes and took a sip. “I wouldn’t say you were all I had left, though it was pretty darn close.”
“You’re mine. That’s all that matters in the end.”
Elle fanned her face, and Agnes grabbed a napkin off the island.
“Like a fairytale,” Elle sighed.
“One with badass bikers, the mafia, and gunshots,” Agnes laughed. “But definitely a fairytale in the end.”
*
Mayra
“Remin
d me again why I invited them?”
I waited ‘til Agnes’ taillights faded and then looked over at Boink and smiled. “‘Cause you like them even if they call you Boink at every available time.” I started counting halfway through dinner, and between Elle and Agnes, they had said Boink thirty-seven times. About thirty-two times too many.
“Pretty sure they just like saying ‘boink,’” he chuckled. “Come sit in the swing with me.”
He threaded his fingers though mine and pulled me over to the swinging bench that was in the corner of the porch.
He sat down and pulled me into his lap. “How are you going to swing when I’m sitting on top of you and whatever is in your pocket is poking my butt?” I shifted, trying to slide onto the bench.
“Lift up for one second.”
I stood up, and then he pulled me back down onto his lap. The thing that had been poking my butt was gone, but I was still sitting on top of him. “Boink, just let me sit on the bench.”
He let me slide off but pulled my legs to drape over his lap. He kicked off on the porch and sent us swinging.
“I really like it up here. It’s so peaceful.”
“Especially when you know the mafia isn’t trying to find you,” he chuckled.
“Yes, that is very true,” I agreed.
“We can always come back and visit. You know Elle and Agnes are going to want to come and see the clubhouse.”
Lord were they. I think most of the questions over dinner were about life at the clubhouse. “Can you imagine Wrecker with Elle and Agnes?” I laughed. “They’re both like Alice but thirty years older.”
“He’s probably going to go into hiding if they come.”
“Everything good between you two now?” I asked. I know that it bothered Boink before when Wrecker was pissed at him even though the reason Wrecker was pissed at him was because of me.
“He saved your life two times, Mayra. I’m forever going to be in debt to the guy so if he wants to be a grumpy asshole to me all of the time, I’ll deal with it.”
“So, what happens now?” I asked.
Things were finally over with the Banachi’s, and I wasn’t worried about Oakley anymore. He didn’t want anything to do with me, just like I didn’t with him. It still hurt that he thought so poorly of my mom, but he didn’t know what all she had done. What she had tried to do but couldn’t because his dad had all of the power.
Boink (Fallen Lords MC Book 5) Page 16
