Page 46 of Obey

This was never going to end. This was never going to end.

Then, right when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. Because a cop car came skidding to a halt right in front of us, the back door opened... and Devil himself stepped out.

He was grinning like a fucking maniac, though I could see how badly he was wounded. He’d been shot at least once and had several knife strikes decorating his body. He’d been through some shit during the first fight, that much was obvious, and I was surprised he hadn’t taken advantage of evidently being picked up by the cops to get some medical attention.

Though Devil had never been the most rational person. He’d always been way too excited about violence, and I guessed there was probably a very good chance that he was too enthralled with the fight—and too afraid of missing out on any of it—to actually get the help he so obviously needed.

He staggered and clutched a hand to his side, and my eyes went from the spot where his hand rested to his neck, right above the collar of his shirt.

The places where I’d stabbed him last night when he had me pinned against his bed.

I felt the twitch of a smile on my lips, and a thrill of pride rushing through me. Sure, other people had stabbed and shot him, but I’d done it first. And from the looks of it, those wounds were not only still bleeding but also still bothering him.

Good. I hoped the last thing he felt on this earth was the spot where I’d stabbed him. I hoped the last thing he thought about was that I’d betrayed him and gotten the best of him.

Of course for that to happen, someone had to kill him.

I lifted my gun and took careful aim at him. I was just about to pull the trigger when he saw me. His face moved from the snide grin he’d been using to something so arrogant, so sneering, that it froze my blood in my veins.

Then he pulled the machine gun from behind his back and started firing.

Bullets sprayed wildly into the building behind us, the ground in front of us, and the sky above, and Knight grabbed me and yanked me down and out of the way. Devil looked half-crazed with power or pain or something like it, and he wasn’t even aiming the gun before he fired. Bullets were flying everywhere, so out of control that even the cops started to clear out. Tires screeched and engines roared, and within moments, Devil was the only man in the street, what was left of the Steed standing behind him while the Banshees surrounded them.

No more cops. It was just the two clubs now.

Knight saw it the same moment I did, and grabbed me to lift me up. “The cops are gone! Just us, now, let’s get you inside where you’ll be safe!”

I jerked out of his hand. “Not a chance!” I shouted back. “I’m staying here with you!” I’d just found him again and there was no chance I was letting him get away. We might be in an impossible situation and we might be about to die, but I wasn’t going to let him die on his own.

If this was the end for him, it was going to be the end for me, too. Period.

Unfortunately, Knight didn’t like that answer. “No!” he screamed. “I’m not going to stand here and watch you get hurt!”

I wrapped my hands in the front of his shirt and yanked him to me, my heart growing so big it hurt with the tension of the moment. “And you think I can stand watching you out here throwing your life away? I don’t want to live if you’re killed, Knight! You die, I die, get it? I love you! I love you too much to let you stand out here on your own, and that’s final!”

It was stupid and reckless and definitely a suicidal move.

And the moment I said it, I knew it was the right thing to do. Because his eyes went from cold and hard to melted chocolate, his expression changing with the knowledge that I loved him.

He grinned briefly at me, acknowledging what I’d said... and then turned to face his enemy with me at his back.

CHAPTER 21

KNIGHT

I HAD TURNED AROUND and started considering how I was going to take Devil down before I realized that I hadn’t even answered Saraya. She’d just told me the most important thing one person could ever tell another person and I’d just smiled at her like an idiot and then turned away to take care of business.

Business that was, at the moment, not even facing me. He was too busy shooting at the clubhouse like he was trying to kill the building to pay attention to us. Hell, he’d looked right at Saraya and then turned away like he didn’t even see her.

And as long as he was going to be facing the other way, I had some business to take care of.

I turned back to Saraya, took her hand, and jerked her toward me. She flew at me, her eyes wide and shocked, her face smudged with dirt and blood and her perfect lips opened to an O. She was so tiny that she flew right into my arms and I caught her, holding her tightly against my body like I never wanted to let her go again.

That was, in fact, the truth. No matter where I went or what happened, I wanted this girl with me. Even with her attitude and inability to follow simple orders like ‘get into the clubhouse where you’re safe.’

“I love you, too,” I breathed against her mouth.

I’d never in my life felt that way about anyone, and I’d certainly never thought I’d say it to a woman. I’d spent my life keeping myself isolated from anyone who might get too close to me. Protected from anyone who might get close enough to become a liability—or close enough to hurt me.