Page 173 of I Will Revel in Glory (Death by Daybreak MC 3)
I keep myself low to the ground, trying my best to breathe through the smoke as pieces of the flaming roof crash down around me. It’s probably a good thing, right? Letting in all that fresh air … Or not. Maybe it’s just fanning the flames? I have no idea.
I’m not in my right mind.
A man materializes out of the haze, and I choke back a sound of relief. I’m sure for a moment that it’s Beast.
Only … it’s not.
It’s Cat.
It’s fucking Cat.
He moves forward confidently, his gun held by his side. Did he hear me on the radio and come for me? Did my daddy come for me?
I hate that thought even as I swallow back a choked sound of relief.
Cat walks right up to Grey and lifts his gun on the comatose boy. I might be fading at the edges, but I’m at least coherent enough to recognize that I can’t let this happen.
“No!” I shout, throwing myself over Grey’s body. “Leave him, Cat. Leave him and take me out of here.”
“Girl, move,” Cat snarls, reaching out to grab my arm. His fingers smear in the blood that’s draining out around the slice in Beast’s leather jacket, and he pauses. But only for a second. Cat yanks me up and into the circle of his right arm. He’s strong enough to hold me there and still take aim at Grey.
I throw myself at his arm, and his shot goes wide. Cat curses at me, but before he can right me and try again, another figure appears from the smoke. A tall, slender figure that I definitely don’t recognize.
It’s Ivan Wolfe, the mafia’s underboss. Cat stiffens up with me still clinging to him.
They’re both holding guns, and they’re both there with people they really don’t want to lose. The roof creaks and groans again. I look up and wonder if it isn’t going to collapse completely, kill all four of us in one go.
Ivan looks at Cat, his gun still held in his right hand, and he bends down, hefting Grey over one shoulder with a surprising amount of strength.
“Good luck,” Ivan says, backing away from Cat as my father curses, his breathing heavy and labored from the smoke. There’s a minute there where Cat has to make a choice: save me or kill Ivan and Grey.
He can’t have both.
I’m almost convinced that he’s going to choose the latter, put the club ahead of me the way he should. Instead …
“Goddamn it, girl,” he growls out finally, tucking his gun in its holster and hauling me up into his arms. He carries me in front of his chest like I’m a little girl, my head bobbing as he takes off at a jog in the direction of the barn’s rear entrance.
We’re nearly there, the smoke fading, fresh air filling my lungs. I feel a sudden, bright clarity as the oxygen tears through my chest.
And then …
There’s a screaming sound from above us, and then the world is tumbling and rolling. Or … I’m the one that’s tumbling and rolling? I’m so disoriented that it takes me a full thirty seconds to realize that Cat has fallen and thrown me forward in the process. I’ve rolled toward the open barn doors and come to a hard stop in the dirt.
I brace myself on my palms and look back.
My mind refuses to accept what I’m seeing.
“No!” The word rips from my throat like a storm, and even though I’m bloody and hurting and suffering from severe smoke inhalation, I scramble across the dirt toward my father.
He’s pinned beneath a large section of roof, his body crushed to the dirt floor. Not only that but the fallen pile of lumber is on fire. The flames haven’t quite reached Cat yet, but they’re licking their way across the wood and old roofing tiles. I do my best to stand up, stumbling a bit as I reach out and put my palms on one of the beams, shoving with all of my strength.
But I know I can’t move it.
The beam itself is massive. It’s also attached to several other large pieces of the roof. Even if Beast, Grainger, Sin, and Crown were all here … we couldn’t move it.
I drop back to my knees in front of Cat, putting my cheek to the ground beside him.
“Talk to me, Daddy,” I whisper, struggling against the violent, overwhelming urge to cough. “Talk to me.”
His fingers curl into the dirt and he groans as several fat teardrops roll down my sooty face.
“Gidge …” he whispers as I reach out and stroke some of his dark hair back. It might be streaked with gray, but there’s no doubt that it’s the same color as mine. Same hair, same eyes, same strength. Me and Cat. No, no, no. I don’t want to lose my baby and my daddy in the same day.
