Page 63 of Ace

“You missed, you asshole! You shot out a streetlight!”

Her entire body deflated with relief but only for a minute.

“Here, give me the gun.” Meathead rushed between the seats and toward Snake to grab for it and Spider swerved.

“Fucking Christ. You’re going to cause an accident!”

“Tell this asshole to give me the gun, then. Before he shoots up a cop car or kills a kid or something else fucking retarded.” Meathead crossed his arms and climbed back in the passenger seat, and Snake knelt between the two.

Lizzie’s eyes met Joey’s. He shrugged. Okay, so he wasn’t going to be a lot of help.

Tiptoeing across the deck of the truck she crouched down behind the driver’s seat and motioned at Joey to create a distraction.

“Hey, have you guys figured out what the fuck the plan is yet, or are you just gonna sit there and scream at each other?”

“We can’t do anything until we lose these assholes, and motorcycles go a lot faster than delivery trucks. I don’t know what you want me to do,” Spider yelled.

“Shoot them!” Meathead screamed.

“I’m driving!”

Joey shot her a look, then raced to the front of the truck, and leaned over Meathead, pointing at the dash. “You better fucking do something fast. We’ve only got about twenty-five miles before we are out of gas.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake. Give me the gun!” She felt the shift rather than saw the movement as Meathead lunged for the gun in Snake’s hands. There was a struggle between them, and the gun fell between Joey’s feet.

Their eyes met. He bent down, making like he was going to grab for it and kicked it toward her. Her whole body shook as her hand closed over the metal. She’d never held a gun outside the shooting range, but she’d spent a lot of time at the range. She’d also taken a lot of self-defense classes before her father would let her make deliveries to some of the rougher bars in town. And just like she’d promised him, she’d never told anyone.

Let them think you’re some helpless princess. Never show your hand. Catch them off guard. That was the advice her father had drilled into her for years. She’d never really understood or envisioned what that would look like until today.

With the gun in her hand, she leapt to her feet, whipped around and held it to Spider’s temple. “Pull over now.”

Chapter 24

Ace

The truck fishtailed on the highway, and his heart dropped. If they crashed, it meant they would stop, but there would be an accident. Lizzie could be hurt. Innocent people could be hurt. And yet, he couldn’t see any other way.

As Bear pulled up beside him, he choked on air as he yelled to his friend, “We have to cause an accident!”

“Short of parking in front of them, and sacrificing ourselves, I don’t see how we are gonna do that!” Bear yelled.

Axel gunned it to pull up along the opposite side of the truck. Their president was up to something and it made Ace nervous not knowing what it was. He wanted to save Lizzie but he didn’t want to lose one of his brothers in the process.

Ace fell back behind the truck, with one eye on it, and one on Axel. The truck slowed and signaled its blinker.

“What are they doing?” Bear yelled.

“Hell if I know!” Ace watched as the truck slowed and merged lanes to take an exit. Oh my god, they were going to stop. Oh my god. This could all be over soon.

Lizzie’s truck got off at the exit and they followed, casting weary looks at each other. When it pulled into the far end of a gigantic rest stop, Ace wanted to floor it over to them, but Axel signaled for him to hang back.

Easing his bike to a stop, he ripped off his helmet and glared at the president. “What the fuck, man?”

Axel shook his head. “Something is going on, and I don’t think it’s necessarily bad. When I pulled up alongside them, there was a gun to the driver’s head.”

Ace frowned. “Lizzie wasn’t driving.”

“Exactly.”