Rome's Chance (Reapers MC #6.6)(10)



Then pain exploded down my back with a crash.

My body slammed into Randi’s. It took a minute for my brain to shake the haze of lust, then I heard men shouting and chairs crashing all around us. Holy shit, had someone hit me with a chair?

I dropped Randi, grabbing one arm to make sure she didn’t fall, and spun around to see what the hell was going on.

Bad news.

Dry fucking her against the wall had been good. Damned good. So good that I hadn’t even noticed that a full-on bar fight had started. The Reapers were right in the middle of it, too. Fuck.

That little sister of hers had been right.

I should’ve taken Randi somewhere nice, because this wasn’t going to end well.

Not even a little bit.





Chapter Three



Randi



I couldn’t figure out what’d happened.

One minute I’d been having one of the most exciting sexual experiences of my life. The next my ribs were being crushed as Rome slammed into me. Then I was on my feet, trying to catch my breath, as people shouted all around us. The music had stopped. Thankfully, Rome’s big body formed a barrier between me and the rest of the room, because everyone else in the place had lost their minds.

For an instant, I thought maybe I’d be safe behind him. Then some guy in a cowboy hat launched toward us, fists flying. I don’t know what I expected, maybe that Rome would start punching him—you know, like they always do in movies—but instead he ducked, then started dragging me toward the bar. More shouting. I saw a man lift a chair and slam it down against another guy’s back from behind. The poor bastard went down hard, so hard that his head literally bounced on the floor. He couldn’t even get his hands up in time to break the fall.

This definitely wasn’t a movie.

I needed to get the hell out of here. Now.

Rome didn’t need to drag me any more—adrenaline had set in and sexy times were forgotten. My instincts said to run, and I wasn’t going to argue. Running wasn’t really possible, though, what with people and bottles and tables flying all around us.

It felt like it took an hour just to get across the room, although it was probably just a few seconds. Nothing touched me. Every other step, he was pushing me to the side, standing over me, or slamming into someone to get them out of the way until we reached an opening at the far end of the bar. He shoved me down behind it, toward a group of women huddling under the safety of the ledge.

“Stay here and keep your head down!” he said, catching my eyes to make sure I heard him. “I’ll be back soon.”

With that, he left to wade back into the crowd.

Someone wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and I turned my head to find Tinker sitting next to me. Beyond her was another woman who’d been with the Reapers earlier. Peaches crouched just past them. I widened my eyes at my old classmate, shooting her a nonverbal, What the actual fuck?

She rolled hers back at me and shrugged like it was no big deal, even as a bottle flew over the top of the bar, hitting the row of hard liquor on the shelf above. I ducked as booze and glass exploded all around us, covering my face.

When I raised my head again, Peaches’ expression had changed. She’d gone from slightly exasperated to outraged. Apparently she didn’t mind a scuffle, but bottles breaking and booze on the floor pissed her off. Fair enough. Someone was going to have to clean up this mess, and the smart money was on her. She leaned over and grabbed a baseball bat, then stood up and took a swing at someone who must’ve been trying to climb over the bar.

“Holy shit!” I said to Tinker, terrified. “What the hell is going on?”

“No idea. It’s our job to stay out of the way,” she replied firmly, and I couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t freaking out. I mean, she didn’t look happy to be there, but she wasn’t in a state of raw panic, either. Me? I was getting there. Fast.

Someone shouted, and suddenly Peaches jumped up onto the bar, standing tall as she yelled at the crowd, waving the bat menacingly.

“I can’t believe this is happening!” I hissed at Tinker. The wooden bar sheltering us shuddered as a body slammed into it. Somewhere along the way, someone had turned on the bright overhead lights, and then a shotgun exploded, echoing through the building.

We all froze. The distinctive sound of the gun being cocked again rang through the room—a clear threat. I tucked my head down and huddled close to Tinker. Peaches kept her stance on the bar, which scared me. She was an easy target up there, and now someone was shooting. Why the hell wasn’t she hiding with us?

“Okay, you’ve had your fun. Time to end it!” a man shouted, his voice surprisingly calm. “Cops are coming, and the ambulance. If you were part of the fight, now’s the time to get out. You go fast enough, maybe you won’t get arrested. We know who you are, and we’ll be happy to help you find your way if you can’t remember where the door is. As for everyone else, we’ll have this cleaned up in about twenty minutes and get the band playing again. Thanks for your patience.”

Peaches glanced down at us and winked. Tinker sighed, giving me an extra squeeze.

“I guess we better make sure our men are still intact,” she said. “I so didn’t need this tonight.”

I swallowed, wondering how she knew we were really safe.

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