Pick us back

Julian

The roar of the engines drowned out the first few pops, but then a bullet shattered the window of a parked car nearby. One of the dealers had scrambled out of the house, wild-eyed and firing blindly.

"Go! Go!" I yelled, returning fire to keep the shooter's head down.

Nova was frantic, her boot slamming down on the kickstart over and over again. The engine sputtered, coughed a cloud of grey smoke, and died. "Come on!" she screamed, her voice cracking. "Come on, you piece of s**t!"

A bullet buzzed past her shoulder, tucking into the siding of the house. She was a sitting duck.

Marcus &Nova

Marcus skidded his bike around, the back tire kicking up a spray of gravel as he shielded her with the frame of his hog. "NOVA!" he roared over the mechanical scream of the engines. "Leave it! Get on mine! We'll come back for yours!"

She hesitated for a split second, looking at her bike like she was leaving a piece of herself behind, but another round of gunfire snapped her back to reality. She lunged for Marcus, vaulting onto the back of his seat and locking her arms around his waist.

"Hold on!" Marcus shouted. He pinned the throttle, the front wheel lifting slightly off the pavement as they burned rubber out of the driveway.

The wind whipped past them, but Nova didn't feel the cold. Her entire world had shrunk down to the heat radiating off Marcus’s back and the white-knuckled grip she had on his jacket.

Even through the haze of adrenaline and the stinging cuts on her face, her eyes darted back, searching through the dark. She needed to see those two sets of headlights. She needed to know that Ezra and Julian were still there, flanking them like a phalanx of shadows. Only when she saw the familiar roar of their bikes holding steady behind them did she let out a breath that caught in her throat.

Nova leaned over and tapped Marcus's shoulder. "Take me to Lucy's," she shouted over the wind. "I'll be fine there. You guys don't need to worry about me anymore."

Marcus glanced back, his eyes taking in the state of her. He saw the shredded fabric of her clothes, the dark bruises beginning to bloom across her skin where those bastards—and her own mother—had put their hands on her.

"f**k off," he gritted out, his voice low and dangerous even over the roar of the engine. "You're coming home with us. I'll give you my room."

Before she could argue, he reached back and found her hands where they were locked around his waist. He placed his large, bruised hand over hers, his touch a sharp contrast to the violence from moments ago. He gave her hands a soft, grounding squeeze, letting the silence between them say what he couldn't You're safe now, and we aren't letting you go again.

I let out a long, shuddering sigh and leaned my forehead against the rough leather of Marcus's jacket. The adrenaline that had kept me upright was draining away, leaving behind a crushing weight of exhaustion. Between the loss of blood and the lingering terror of the last hour, my body felt heavy, almost numb.

As my eyes began to flutter shut, a strange realization washed over me. For the first time in my life, the world didn't feel like a threat. I felt safe.

Behind us, the low hum of the headsets crackled. Julian and Ezra pulled their bikes closer, their eyes darting to Nova's slumped form against Marcus.

"What are we gonna do with her?" Ezra's voice crackled through the comms, laced with a mix of concern and uncertainty.

Marcus didn't hesitate. He didn't even look back. He just adjusted his grip on the handlebars, his voice a low, iron-clad vow that cut through the wind.

"Keep her forever."

Julian

Julian's grip tightened on the handles of his sports bike until his knuckles turned white. He watched Nova's head loll against Marcus's back, her exhaustion finally winning. The others... they might have forgotten the details, but how could he?

How could he ever forget the girl who had stolen his heart when they were just kids?She looked exactly the same. Behind his eyelids, he could still see her—vibrant and laughing as her dad came to pick her up. Her dad had been his father's best friend, a bond forged in blood and loyalty. That was before she ruined it.

His teeth ground together as he thought of Nova's mother. That wrench... she was the one who took Nova away. She was the one who dragged them into the gutter, her drug addiction a fire that burned everything down and got Nova's father killed.

But now, the cycle had broken. She was back.

A dark, possessive heat flared in his chest. They had her back, and this time, the world wouldn't get a second chance to break her. She was theirs. She was his. She was the only thing that had ever mattered.

I won't let her go this time they will have to kill me to try, he promised himself, his engine roaring as he sped up to flank her. Not for anything.