“That’s,” I croak, “Samuel.”

Mack snarls a curse as Samuel comes closer. Samuel skids to a stop and lets his eyes travel over me. “Are you hurt?”

“What the hell are you doing?” I cry.

“I fucked up, Jay,” he pants. “I want you back. I know I left you with debt. Now it’s sorted.”

Sorted.

Sorted.

He just shot one of the biggest drug lords in the fucking state.

“Have you lost your mind?” I scream.

He blinks, confused. “I’m trying to get him out of the picture.”

“You fucking moron!”

“We gotta go,” Mack hisses, dragging me towards the car.

“Hey,” Samuel yells. “Hey, you. Let her go!”

He raises his gun to Mack. Bad choice. Well, another bad choice. Mack aims his gun at Samuel’s leg and shoots. With a scream and a splatter of blood, Samuel leaps backwards and begins wailing.

“You fuckin’ stupid boy,” Mack roars. “You just signed your own death warrant. No fuckin’ way you’re signin’ hers.”

Mack shoves me in the car, and I watch as Samuel rolls around on the ground. “Please,” he squeals. “Don’t leave me here.”

“Mack,” I plead. “Gregor isn’t dead.”

“No,” he snarls. “He fuckin’ isn’t. Which means when he comes to, he’s goin’ to want blood.”

“Oh, God.”

“Can’t you finish—”

I don’t finish my sentence before more gunfire rings out. From three different directions, men appear, shooting at us. Gregor’s men.

“No fuckin’ chance of me finishin’ him off. We just got stuck in a fuckin’ war,” Mack roars. “Get in.”

“You can’t leave him,” I cry.

With a snarl, Mack leans down and lifts Samuel up. I quickly shut the door and drop down as gunfire erupts all around us. Samuel is thrown in the back, and Mack is in the front only a second later. He puts his foot to the floor and we skid out of there in a cloud of dust. He drives almost sluggishly, and it takes me a minute to notice why.

“You’re shot!” I cry, staring at the blood coming through his jeans.

“I’m fine.”

“Mack, you’re shot.”

“It’s fuckin’ fine.”

“Oh God,” I cry, pressing my hand to my head. “Oh God, this is bad.”

“Fuckin’ right it’s bad.”

I spin to Samuel who is pale, staring at nothing.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I scream.

“I . . .”

“Leave it,” Mack snaps. “Just leave it.”

He drives, and as we near a hospital, I become confused. “What?”

“Droppin’ your boy, here, off. No fuckin’ way I’m havin’ him near me.”

“But they’ll find him, and—”

Mack pulls over so suddenly my words are cut off. He turns to me, his eyes wild. “He just got himself labeled with the worst fuckin’ target there is. You’re automatically involved because you were there. Nothin’ I fuckin’ do will save him, and I’m not about to try. Furtherest I can keep you from this shit, the better it will be. He put himself in this mess, he can get himself out of it.”

Then he gets out of the car, opens the door, lifts Samuel out and dumps him outside emergency. Then he’s back in the car and we’re speeding home.

“What are we going to do?”

“No fuckin’ idea, but we’re goin’ to sort it.”

“He knows it wasn’t me, right?”

Mack nods sharply. “He was lookin’ at you, but don’t mean he won’t think you set it up.”

“Oh, God.”

“And his men saw us there. You put two and two together . . .”

“He’ll kill us.”

“We’ll kill him first.”

Oh Jesus. My head spins as Mack comes to a stop outside his house. He gets out, then jerks me from the car and runs me inside. Maddox, Krypt and Tyke are waiting when we get in, and the minute they see us and then see Mack’s bleeding leg, they know things went south.

“What the fuck happened?” Maddox asks.

“All was fuckin’ good, until her ex showed up and shot fuckin’ Gregor.”

“Shot him?” Krypt almost breathes.

“Shot him. Like a fuckin’ hero.”

“He dead?” Maddox asks.

“Nope, and the rest of his goons showed up, which just took things from bad to worse.”

“Fuck!” Maddox roars. “Where’s the boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I whisper, my voice broken.

They all give me sharp looks. I shut up.

“Hospital. I shot him,” Mack says.

“He’s a dead man,” Krypt informs him coolly.

“Yeah, and now she’s in danger,” Mack growls, jerking his finger to me, “because Gregor’ll think it was a set up.”

“You got a fuckin’ plan?” Tyke asks.

“Yeah,” I grunt. “I talk to him. He doesn’t take what I have to share, things get ugly.”

“What?” I squeak.

“Good option,” Maddox agrees.

“Only one we got.”

Shit.