Free Twisted Rose: Motorcycle Dark Romance 3 (The Darkness Trilogy) by Abby Weeks

his hands over his head and prayed none of the real shot got him. All around him, everything was being smashed to splinters.
    He crawled through the smoke and debris to the end of the bar and out behind it. There, he had a little cover from the gunshot. He peered back in Rose’s direction and saw her running for her life. Behind her, the wall was exploding as one of the men fired at her.
    Why would those bastards shoot at her? The thought filled him with rage. He looked up at the balcony through the smoke. The two men closest to him were still firing at the bar. They hadn’t seen him crawl out of it. He pointed the handgun in front of him at the man closest and steadied his arm. Then he pressed the trigger and in the same instant the man’s head whipped to the left and he fell on his knees before slumping in a pile on the floor. Before the other two men had a chance to react he pointed his gun at the second and pulled the trigger.
    Nothing happened. He was out of bullets. He ducked back down behind the bar just in time. The shotguns sent shrapnel pounding against the bar right behind him.
    He looked back toward the door that Rose had been running for. She appeared to have made it safely. He prayed she wasn’t hurt. He wasn’t sure what to do now, though. He was out of bullets and there were still two men up on the balcony.
    The gunshots ceased. There was silence.
    He heard one of the men say to the other, “I think the fucker’s out of bullets.”
    The other grunted, “Come on out,” his voice harsh and bitter.
    Josh didn’t dare rise up. He knew they’d spray him in lead the second he showed his face.
    “Fuck you,” he called out.
    There was silence again and he listened for anything they said.
    “Deuce is dead,” one of them said.
    Josh nodded to himself. He’d gotten the chapter president. That left Serge and the kid. Josh didn’t care about the kid, other than that he had a gun pointed at him, but Serge was one of the men he still wanted to kill. His mind raced among his options. He didn’t care if the kid got him as long as he got Serge first. He prayed Rose was climbing out a window or somehow escaping.
    He peered around the corner of the bar and saw Serge and the kid making their way cautiously down the stairs.
    “Come on out you son of a bitch,” Serge said. “The game’s up. Face what’s coming.”
    “Serge Gauthier,” Josh called out.
    “That’s me,” Serge answered.
    “I’m not leaving this building till your body’s cold on the ground.”
    Serge laughed. “That’s some fine talk, mister, but I believe you’re out of bullets and me and my friend here still have a lot of fight left in us.”
    “I’m not out of bullets,” Josh said. “I’ve got one for you, Serge. I just don’t have one for your friend.”
    He peered around to see if that slowed them down any. They seemed to have paused on the staircase. Serge was wondering whether it was true or not.
    “You’re bluffing,” he said at last.
    “Am I? You willing to take that bet.”
    “If you had a bullet, you’d have used it,” Serge said. “You’ve got nothing left.”
    Serge and Patrice continued down the steps and slowly started making their way through the debris toward the bar.
    *
    R OSE WAS PRESSED UP AGAINST the wall by the door. Patrice had sent a lot of shrapnel her way but none of it had found its mark. She had her gun in her hand, clenched so tightly that her knuckles were white. She could hear Josh and Serge out in the bar but she was too scared to look around at them.
    “I’m going to skin you like a pig,” she heard Serge say.
    She knew that Serge and Patrice were getting closer to Josh. She knew too that he was probably out of bullets. If she didn’t do something soon to help him it would be too late.
    Nervously, she peered around the edge of the door frame. There they were, Serge and Patrice, tentatively making their way down the stairs toward Josh. They hadn’t seen her yet but she couldn’t