Jem’s POV

I had nightmares sometimes. 

It had been a good day. We had a record-breaking day of sales in the drug department, the weapons unit had a huge shipment payout, and my newest club had the best weekend opening out of all businesses combined. The week had started out rocky and stressful with everything going on but it ended on a high note and that’s all that I cared about at this point so we celebrated.

Dev, Barrett, and I were completely wasted, to say the least and Liam was nursing the one shot of tequila we had allowed him until all four of us crashed on the couch, not even remembering the reason we got as drunk as we did.

We went to bed in high spirits, not knowing what would happen only a few hours later. 

Some of them were about losing Dev. Others were about Liam and what might happen to him if I wasn’t around. Most were of this night. 

My head shot up from the pillow the second the first round of gun fire rang through the air. 

Dev and Barrett were close behind me, grabbing guns as they sat up, looking to make sure Liam was still where we had left him on the couch beside us. 

“What the hell was that,” Barrett said barely above a whisper as he gently shook Liam awake. He stirred slightly and looked like he was about to tell us off for waking him when the next shot rang out. 

“Get him to the basement,” I told Dev, pointing at the kid I was responsible for. “Barrett go to the minor wing and meet Dev down there. Keep them calm and quiet. Don’t let your guard down. Shoot first, got it?” They nodded and quickly went to do what was asked of them as I held the gun tightly in my hand. 

My eyes went to the TV, searching the cameras around the house for what could be going on, praying to God it was a false alarm and some dumbass was shooting at 3 in the morning for no reason. What I saw made my blood run cold. 

Cars were littered around every square inch of my driveway with a few scattered in the woods surrounding us. I didn’t recognize a damn one of them yet they effectively trapped us. 

I cursed as I pulled my phone out, sending a mass text to everyone involved with me. 

‘Get to the main house. Be ready for a fight.’ 

The text went unanswered but I prayed it wasn’t ignored as another shot rang out. I flinched at the sound, something I hadn’t done in a long time as I made my way to the door. 

Whoever these fuckers were, they were in my house and were killing my people, and that was something I simply would not stand for. 

I opened the door just wide enough to peek through and closed my eyes at the sight in front of me. 

Dozens of men I didn’t know crowded around my living room. They smiled in the dim light, laughing lowly with their eyes trained on the stairs. At the bottom, three of my men already lay dead. They planned to pick us off one by one for as long as they could and ambush the rest of us before we had a chance to fight back. 

I grit my teeth as I go for my phone again. 

‘They’re in the house. No one comes downstairs. Keep your guns aimed at the door. Everyone who is not in the house stays outside. Do not let them know you’re here until I give the word.’ 

I didn’t wait for any response as I put my phone away and tried to come up with a plan to get as many of my people out of this alive while killing every single person involved in this.

Looking back now there were so many things I would have done differently. If I hadn’t been so drunk I would have reacted better. If I put more money into security we could have known they were coming long before they were in the house. If I hadn’t sent Dev and Barrett away they could have helped. So many things could have been done better if I had just planned for something like this. 

The plan was half-assed, to say the least as I pulled my door open and began shooting as many people as I could before my clip ran out. The men I managed to hit went down like a bag of rocks and the more that went down the more I saw lurking in the shadows. I was outnumbered by a lot more than I originally thought. 

When my clip refused to fire another bullet, I slammed the door shut and re-loaded before opening it again and repeating what I had done before. It was harder this time now that they knew where the shots had been fired from and the shock had worn off but within a few clips every fucker in my living room was down. 

I sighed to myself as I pulled out the phone. 

“Living room is secure,” I told Dev as a greeting. 

“What the hell is happening? Are you okay? Do you need backup?”

“We’re completely surrounded. They’re in the woods, around every door, there might be more in the house. I’m fine but Dev I don’t know what the hell to do.” My breath was picking up as I willed the tears away. 

“Crying isn’t going to help you,” Drake’s voice had seethed in my head. “You have to be strong. They’re looking at you for guidance so fucking guide them. Crying isn’t going to make the plan and it sure as hell isn’t going to make itself. Pull your head out of your ass and fucking focus.” 

I hated that man more than anyone else on this planet but I took a deep breath, knowing he was right.

“We’re going to figure this out,” Dev whispered calmly in my ear. I could hear the others around him in the basement. The kids were a mix of crying and scared laughter as they tried pestering Dev and Barrett for answers. “We got all the kids in the basement like you wanted, everyone else is in their room. I’ve got confirmation from everyone else stating they are either on their way or already here awaiting your command. We can work this.”

“Is Jem okay,” a soft voice asked, barely audible against Dev’s ear. I knew the second I heard it that it was Liam and it did my heart good knowing he was still okay. 

“He’s okay,” Dev confirmed, his voice returning to its usual hardness now that others were around. “We’re just trying to figure out a way to make everyone stay safe.” And God if it had been as easy as it sounded. 

“Dev send Barrett up, you stay down there with the kids and make sure nothing happens to them.”

“I’m coming with you,” Dev seethed and I could tell by his footsteps he was already heading my way. 

“You need to stay where I told you,” I seethed back, my heart rate picking back up again. 

It had been years since Dev and I dated but in moments like these we were still Devon and James and I still loved him. It was selfish but I wanted him to be safe. If my plan worked no one would make it to the basement. He would be safe playing babysitter while Barrett and I did the hard part. 

It wasn’t right of me to choose him to be safe over Barrett but this was Dev and I loved him and I needed to know in the back of my head that was safe and breathing downstairs with the others. 

“Send Barrett up now,” I seethed into the phone to which he promptly hung up. If I hadn’t had more pressing issues to deal with I would have screamed and dragged him back down there by his ear. 

“We don’t have time to waste fighting,” Dev said with a small glare when he came into my line of sight. “Tell me the plan and let’s get this started.”

There hadn’t been much of a plan. Dev and I would pick off the ones in the house while I gave the okay for the ones outside to start pushing in.

It had been a massacre. In a matter of one hour 150 men were dead, only 6 belong to me. I had been soaked with blood, my arms still felt shots and tingles as they tried to right themselves after so many shots fired. The barrel of my gun was completely useless, the heat of so many back-to-back shots warping it so bad it wouldn’t shoot straight ever again. Both of us were out of breath but we had been breathing. We had protected our people with minimal loss. 

The weight that had fixated on my chest left as I walked back downstairs. 

We were still cautious. A scared Barrett is a trigger-happy Barrett and neither of us wanted to get shot after all of this.

We turned the corner slowly and what I saw had my blood run cold.

There were three men. In my basement. With their guns aimed at my kids. 

They had them all huddled in the back corner, Liam stood in the front with a rather pissed-off look in his eyes while Barrett stood in front of him. You could just barely see Liam standing behind Barrett as he trained his eyes on the three men in front of him. 

Clearly, they were in a standoff, none of them wanting to make the wrong move. The strange men likely not want to alert the rest of us and Barrett knew he couldn’t fire fast enough to kill them before he was killed. 

I pulled my gun instantly, praying the warped barrel had one last straight shot left in it and Dev did the same. 

I didn't bother with the peace talk. 

I should have tried the fucking peace talk. Talked them down and convinced them to give up. 

My gun aimed at the guy on the left. Barrett had his gun trained on the guy in the middle and Dev wordlessly aimed for the right. 

Barrett hadn’t noticed us but the second my gun left its chamber, three more followed it. 

All three men went down and Barrett dropped his gun in order to hold his side. 

The kids screamed, Liam helped Barrett stand, and I swear my heart stopped beating as I watched Barrett’s blue shirt turn purple. 

I was screaming. Screaming at the kids to go find help. Screaming at Dev to clot the blood. Screaming at Barrett to stay awake. Just stay awake. Keep your eyes open dammit. Just stay awake!

We didn’t have the hospital wing and I hate knowing that most of this could have been avoided if I had just thought ahead. 

“We can’t help him, James,” Dev whispered in my ear as I tried to wrap gauze around the bullet hole. The second it touched his skin the entire thing went red and I gagged. He was so cold already and pale. His eyes were closed and the mumbling he had been doing to convince me he was awake stopped. 

“He’s going to make it,” I seethed as I pushed Dev’s hands away from me. “If you don’t want to help then fucking leave.”

“He needs a hospital,” Dev said, far too calmly. 

“Hospitals ask too many questions,” I spat back the borrowed words Drake had once told me. 

“Isn’t it worth it? He’s going to die if we don’t get him somewhere they can help us.” I grit my teeth as I look down at Barrett before leaning down and picking him up like he was my bride. 

“Get the door,” I told Dev as I began walking up the stairs. 

Dev rode in the back, keeping as much pressure on the wound as he could as I drove. My speed didn’t drop below 90 and by the end we were being followed by traffic cops but the blue lights only made me go faster as they forced others to get out of my way. 

The second we pulled up to the hosptial Dev and I piled out of the car; carring for Barrett as we went, yelling for doctors and making the biggest scene possible.

The cops tried arresting us but the rage of the day mixed with the stress of Barrett allowed us to knock all three cops on their asses in seconds as we finally caught the attention of a nurse. 

“He’s been shot, he lost a lot of blood, he’s A positive. I’m a match if you need extra. Please just save him,” I told her as she stared at me with wide eyes, clearly seeing all of the other blood that hadn’t come from me or Barrett. 

She didn’t waste time asking any questions as she began looking at the wound in Barrett’s chest. 

“I don’t have a pulse,” she whispered to a man beside her. 

“You mean he’s dead,” I asked, forcing myself to breathe even though tears were already streaming down my face. 

She still didn’t answer and before long he was hooked up to machines that were shocking his heart back to life. 

Sometimes the dreams ended here, with Barrett dying on the hospital floor. Other times he made it into surgery but never made it out. Most of the time he died in our house. No matter which way it happened it was awful. 

I heaved off the bed, my heart beating out of my chest as I tried to remember where I was and what was happening. And then I heard it. 

Gun shots. 

It was happening again.