39. Sage

Some moments happen so fast they move in slow motion.

Shards of glass fly through the air. The heat of an explosion is on my back as I wrap my body around Lyla's. She's shaking beneath me, and it drags my mind back to that basement. To the bloody girls on the concrete floor.

One moment and time splits us in half. A mirror that becomes our past and present happening simultaneously.

The butterfly of fate flapping her wings so fast the two sides blur.

Screams ring out around us as another explosion goes off almost immediately after the first one.

"Are you okay?" I tip Lyla's face up to meet mine.

Her violet eyes are terrifyingly distant. They're at peace when I'd prefer to be met with fear. She's seeing something I'm not, and I don't like how easily she's accepting it.

"You're not leaving me again," I tell her. "Don't you even fucking think about it."

My words blink her back to me in this moment. She bats her lashes, and a glossy sheen coats her beautiful eyes.

"Stay with me." I grab her hand and pull her through the crowd.

I need to get her out of here. She shouldn't be back in LA in the first place. The second I tracked her down in Denver, I should have grabbed her and ran. I should have taken her with me. I don't want to leave my life behind, but it's no life without her.

I've been in suspension. Paused, waiting for her to return to me. I can lose anything as long as I don't lose Lyla.

Pulling her around the corner, another explosion blasts through the clubhouse, and we duck as a hole is blown in the wall across the room.

Screams, blood. This place is ripping apart.

"Sage." Kane slaps a hand on my shoulder.

I didn't feel him following us.

"What the fuck is going on?"

He shakes his head. "They're going to level the fucking club."

I try to pull Lyla down the hall, but she's frozen in place. Her eyes are fixed on someone standing a few feet away, and I look to see Helix approaching with Steel at his side.

"Lyla." I try to tug her hand again, but she doesn't move.

"It's him." Another explosion rings out, and I almost miss what she said.

"Who?" I look from her to Helix, trying to figure out what she's talking about.

But when Steel continues toward us and Helix pauses, the darkest grin curls up in the corner of his mouth.

I go to reach for my gun, but he lifts his before I have the chance, aiming for the center of Lyla's forehead.

"Don't." He fixes his aim on her.

She lets out her breath, closing her eyes. Looking too at peace. She's not allowed to accept this; she's not allowed to leave me.

"What the fuck are you doing, Helix?" Steel yells at his VP, and I slap a hand on Steel's chest when he moves to take a step forward.

Any sudden movement might set him off, and I can't risk losing Lyla just because Steel can't keep a level head.

"This was supposed to be my fucking club, that's what," Helix spits, his gaze moving to Steel, even if he doesn't take his aim off Lyla.

"I was promised this spot by your father," he says to Steel, before his attention slides to Kane. "You took that bullet for him, and everything changed. Percy decided he owed you a favor for his life because that's how that shit worked with him. But this was my fucking club. You shouldn't even be here. You didn't earn it."

"Earn it?" Kane laughs, and I sense his ego burning to the surface. "I've put my blood, sweat, and life into this club, you spoiled fucking asshole. I built this club from the ground up. And when my president died, I sure as fuck earned my place after all I'd done."

"And what about what I've done? I gave up my fucking wife, my kids—" I don't know much about Helix, but I do know his wife walked out with their kids when they were pretty young. "I was owed that patch. And instead, I've had to sit back and watch you shit all over it. You don't even care about this place. You shouldn't be allowed to hold your title. But we're all taking orders from a kid now just because he's Percy's son. It's bullshit."

"That's how this works." Steel is barely holding back. "You don't like it; you slice off your patch and walk away."

"I'm not going anywhere," Helix yells, his arms shaking as he aims at Lyla. "I'm going to teach you all what it's like to lose your family just like I did. Then you're going to learn what it means to lose your club. And then you can watch from where you burn in Hell while I make it mine."

Helix clenches the gun, and I shift to try to block Lyla.

"Don't," Helix threatens.

Lyla reaches up slowly, taking my arm and holding it tight. Her little nails dig into my leather jacket, but she's not pulling me to her, she's holding me away. "Listen to him, Sage."

"Fuck that." I shake my head.

"It's okay." Her voice is calm—too calm. "It was meant to go like this."

"Don't you dare talk destiny to me right now, Lyla. Don't you fucking dare."

"You aren't dying for me."

I break my stare at Helix to look into her purple eyes. "Fuck if I'm not."

"How sweet." Helix laughs. "The motorcycle princess fell in love with the dropout."

"Don't talk about my daughter." Kane twitches but pulls back when Helix tightens his grip on his gun.

The tension is on the verge of snapping.

Around us, bikers are fighting, bleeding, dying. Screams and shouts ring out with the buzzing in my ears from the explosion. We walked straight into it. We brought everyone here just like he probably wanted.

I brought Lyla here.

"You're not walking away from this." Steel looks around, and Helix glances left and right, seeing the people slowly closing in on him.

What guys are still standing have started to take notice of the situation, and they're only holding back because Steel hasn't made a call for them to move yet.

"Maybe so." Helix shrugs. "Doesn't really matter so long as he doesn't either."

Helix pulls the trigger and time stops with the bang. With the bullet flying through the air.

The first shot goes off, and I shove Lyla out of the way as hard as I can while Kane steps in front of her. I move for Helix at the same time as Kane does, and Helix refocuses his aim on Kane. He hits him once, twice, three times in the center of his chest. And even if he's still moving forward, his posture tilts.

Reaching behind my back, I pull my dad's gun out and aim it at the center of Helix's face.

One shot.

One final sound rings out and his brain matter splatters the wall behind him.

His body falls knees first to the ground, and I shoot him again in the chest because he deserves to be reduced to nothing. I empty my whole fucking clip into him. For my dad, for Ellie, for Lyla. I teach him what it means to be weak. To be helpless.

To be nothing.

I make a mess of his body. Art with his blood. I let my rage write a love letter for my girl so she knows no one is going to hurt her again.

This was all ego. For years, Helix brewed in his own pathetic need to be more. He thought he was owed something, and he decided to take it by force.

We aren't owed anything. Not life, not love. The only thing that is certain is death, and I grant him that. I make a mess of his flesh, pulling the trigger until there's nothing else coming out.

Bikers rush for Kane, who's slumped on the floor beside me. I don't know whether he's dead or alive, and I don't have time to check as my name comes in a whisper behind me.

"Sage."

Turning, I see Lyla leaning against the wall, and at first, I think she's smiling, but it twists into something different, and her hand grips her side. Her body starts to sink as blood seeps between her fingers, and I realize she was hit.

"Lyla." I drop my gun and rush for her, catching her in my arms before she hits the ground. "Lyla, stay with me."

I brush her hair off her face.

Looking around, I see Blaze nearby and I yell for him. "Find Doc."

He nods, dipping away to find the onsite doctor. I hold Lyla in my arms, resting her head in the nook of my arm and pressing my hand over her bloody fingers.

"Told you the cards don't lie." A broken smile ghosts her mouth, and I hold my hand over the wound.

Blood spills between my fingers.

"Don't say that shit." I shake my head. "I'm not losing you. I promised to keep you safe."

"You do, Sage." She lifts her hand, brushing her bloody fingers along my jaw. "My heart's always safe with you. I love you."

"Lyla!" Her name is a threat because I love her too, but if we do this right now, she'll have nothing to fight for.

She needs something to fight for.

"Sage." She smiles. "I love you. Okay? I love you."

I hold her palm over my cheek, and her eyes start to flutter closed. "Don't leave me, butterfly. Hold on. I love you too, and you can't leave me. Destiny, remember? You can't leave me like this again."

Her fingers lose their grip as her body goes limp, and if I could cut out my own heart and put it into her chest I would. I'd hand her every last beat so she wouldn't have to fight so hard to keep hers going.

Her eyes close, and I hold her tighter.

"Where's Doc?" I yell at Blaze when I see him circle back into the room.

"On his way now." But his gaze moves to Lyla, and I know he sees it just as I do.

She's here; she's not. She's fading so fast I can't contain her wild fucking spirit. If she'd just sit still for one moment and let me save her instead of always being so intent on breaking out of every cage.

"Here," Blaze calls for Doc when he walks in.

I can't lose her again. I won't survive it this time.

Her body sags over me. My fingers trail her jaw, painting a red path on her pale skin. And I swear I'm shaking as I drop them to her throat and rest over her pulse.

Hoping.

Praying.

But I'm met with silence.