Blinking rapidly, I remember I took it off earlier while I was downstairs. Vova and Andrei got into a fight, so I took off my gun to beat the two idiots into some sense. Luckily, it worked, but I failed to have my own sense when I came back upstairs.
“What’s wrong, tough guy? You not so tough without your gun?” Jacob asks, laughing maniacally as he grows closer to the women and me.
I look back to Meghan and my look alone is a warning, but I’ll verbalize this shit too. “Keep her away from him, no matter what it takes.” Meghan gives me a nod, showing me she understands exactly what I’m saying.
Looking back at Jacob, he looks like a real fucking creeper. “She doesn’t want you, get the fuck out of here, or I will make your life a living hell.”
His smile only grows, which makes me feel like something more’s going on here.
“The whore doesn’t know what she wants. She’s incapable of having her own thoughts. Didn’t you know? She’s only good for a fuck, when she’s not being a twat.”
Fuck this, gun or not, I can take him.
I lunge for the fucker and slam my fist into his mouth. His jaw cracks the second my knuckles hit him, and while he goes back a few steps, he’s quick to come straight at me. I look at his eyes, watching the way he’s trying to see what my next steps are going to be, and the moment he gets close enough to punch, a stinging feeling hits me in the side and I fall straight to the ground.
“Michail!” Trista screams out my name, her voice showing how terrified she is right now.
“Get . . . get her out of here!” I holler with a raspy voice, knowing Meghan will do what she needs to.
Jacob starts to walk in the direction of the women, but I manage to get a hold on the back of his ankle and yank him with all my might, even if my side is screaming at me for making the slightest movement. At the end of the day, I will do whatever I need to protect her, even if it means sacrificing myself.
Trista is the most important thing in my fucking life.
Chapter Eighteen
Trista
Terror at what’s unfolding before my eyes has me frozen in place. Tonight wasn’t supposed to go this way. In fact, it’s supposed to be a joyous occasion. We were just supposed to get ready for the baby coming. Dema texted me a bit ago and said they left to go to the hospital when she’d originally started having contractions. Both Kronid and Dema wanted a very private birth experience, only the two of them in the room when the baby was born. I can respect that, but fuck if I’m not going to be in the waiting room waiting for the baby to come into this world. Even if I have to be in the waiting room the entire time, I’ll do it. At least I was fully prepared to do it until this happened.
We were getting ready to leave Pins and Needles and lock up when everything I feared would ever happen, happened. Jacob came on the offensive, trying to take me from Michail. The two of them fought and Jacob stabbed Michail in the process.
How can Michail think I could run, leaving him behind like this? I heard what he said to Meghan, but there’s no way I’m leaving. No fucking way! I can’t just leave him in Jacob’s hands. He’d kill Michail, and fuck, I love him. I can’t leave him behind, and I won’t. I refuse to do so.
Jacob attempts to come at me again, but Michail, being the strong, determined man that I’ve come to love, refuses to allow that to happen. Even while wounded, he’s protecting me.
I look around the lobby for something to help Michail. Meghan pulls a small snub-nosed gun from her hobo bag and points it at Jacob’s leg.
Oh shit.
I didn’t even know the spunky woman had a gun, let alone knows how to use it, but she should . . . right, if she has one? Then again, I still don’t know much about her, other than her dad was ex-military and moved to Russia when he met Meghan’s mother.
Without a word or any hesitation, Meghan pulls the trigger without blinking an eye. Fucking hell.
Jacob screams and loosens his grasp on Michail as he falls to the cement floor. He puts his hands over where Meghan shot him. “You fuckin’ bitch. You shot me. Trista, get the fuck over here now, you whore. You’ve caused enough bullshit, you filthy fuckin’ whore. Wait until we get home. You’ll pay for this,” he screams with all his might.
I ignore his demands and rush to Michail’s side. He gives me a look of aggravation while I place my hand over his side where he’s bleeding. “Are you okay?” I ask, even though my hand’s being covered with blood. No matter the amount of pressure I’m putting on it, he still continues to bleed. “You’re bleeding badly. We need to get you to the hospital right now. Oh God, what if he hit something important,” I ramble as fear of losing Michail settles in.
“Trista, I am perfectly fine,” he grumbles, wrapping an arm around my shoulders while glaring daggers at Meghan. “You were supposed to run with Trista when I told you to. Jesus, why don’t you women ever fucking listen?!”
I open my mouth to argue with him when two men I’ve seen several times since moving here come rushing around the corner of Pins and Needles. I believe their names are Andrei and Vova, if I’m not mistaken. “We heard shots,” one of them says, looking between all of us.
“No shit,” Meghan mutters in annoyance. “This guy just ruined my
