“I would have shot Moon if I had known you’d cut off your clothes if one of us got shot.”

“I heard that,” Moon called out from above.

Trisha laughed as she wrapped the strip around his leg and tied it tightly. “That should hold it enough to slow the bleeding but it needs stitches.”

“It feels better already.”

“Let me see your arm.”

Harley crouched and twisted his big body to turn his shoulder her way. She quickly tore the thin material of his shirt to see the wound. It was a bloody mess. She hesitated.

“I need to feel to see how deep it is and it’s going to hurt.”

He nodded, not looking at her. “We have great pain tolerance. Go for it.”

Even though Trisha hated to do it, she eased her fingers into the ragged wound that was bleeding badly and instantly touched something there. Crap.

“I feel a bullet. I thought you said it was a graze.”

“I lie sometimes.”

Trisha used her fingertip to dig out the damaged bullet after realizing it hadn’t gone deep, feeling lucky that the projectile had gone through the cabin wall before it had struck Harley. It had slowed the bullet down significantly to prevent it from tearing completely through his body. She feared a big vessel had been nicked by the amount of blood seeping down his arm. She had to stop the bleeding and she knew he wouldn’t lie down flat for her to apply pressure until help arrived.

She could try to cauterize it but dismissed that idea. She asked for his knife again and cut off more of her shirt until the material was just under her br**sts. She locked her teeth together, hating how she would have to hurt him.

“I’m packing the wound and afterward, I’m going to tie it off. The pressure from the filler will stop or greatly slow the bleeding but it’s going to hurt.”

“Do it but just hurry, Trisha. I need to be on my feet. They will open fire on us again at any time. They aren’t just going to go away as much as we wish they would.”

Trisha balled up a small piece of her shirt and packed it into the hole. It was extreme but she didn’t have a choice. She studied it, saw a decrease in the bleeding, and wrapped a strip tightly around his arm to hold it in place, before tying it off. Long seconds ticked past while she watched the bandage but the bleeding seemed to have stopped.

“Try to keep that arm as immobile as you can. This isn’t exactly a fix but more of an emergency temporary patch.”

He nodded, stood, and shoved the side table back in front of her to shield her from stray bullets. “Thanks.”

Harley retook his position by the front door while Brass stood by the back wall. Suddenly Brass and Harley chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Trisha glanced between them, wondering if the stress of the situation had finally gotten to them.

Brass looked relieved when he glanced her way. “We have company. The neighbors are on their way to welcome our guests. I can pick up their scents.”

“At least four.” Harley inhaled. “And Valiant is one of them.”

“Poor bastards,” Moon chimed in from above. “This is going to be interesting.”

Trisha just wanted it to be over. She wished she could see what was going on outside but bullets suddenly tore through the cabin again.

“Full frontal assault,” Moon yelled. “They are going for one of the trucks.”

“Trisha,” Harley yelled, running for her. “Get out of there!”

Trisha shoved at the table and knocked it aside. Bullets struck the wall near Brass as he loudly cursed. Harley suddenly gripped Trisha’s arm as she struggled to get to her feet and yanked her toward the stairs. He kept his body between hers and the front of the cabin. Bullets tore through the room from the front of the cabin, embedding in walls and glass shattered.

“Get up there,” Harley snarled.

He released Trisha at the bottom of the stairs. She ran and reached the top before she realized Harley hadn’t followed her. She turned and saw him lying on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. Brass rushed the fallen man, grabbed him with both hands, lifted and dumped him over his shoulder to pound up the stairs.

“Trisha, get on the bed,” Brass snarled at her, tossing Harley’s limp form on it first. “Get behind him and stay flat.”

Trisha heard the distinct sound of an engine seconds before an explosion of noise boomed through the cabin so loudly it hurt her ears. She threw herself onto the bed next to Harley. The cabin shook as though an earthquake had hit—one sharp jolt of movement. She screamed, terrified, as wood snapped and groaned. More glass shattered and crunched from somewhere below them on the first floor. The sound of an engine seemed super noisy, as if it were next to Trisha.

“They breached the front wall,” Moon roared.

“Breached it hell,” Brass snarled back. “That truck is parked inside the living room now.”

Trisha saw that Brass took position at the top of the stairs where he’d thrown his body flat onto his stomach. He started firing at something below and gunfire became deafening to the point that Trisha covered her ears. She couldn’t look away from her friend though, too worried for him.

“Keep your head down, Trisha,” Moon yelled at her.

The engine died and someone screamed from below as Brass kept firing. He dropped a clip, snapped another one in and continued shooting after a pause of only seconds. Moon fired his weapon from the window.

Trisha’s heart pounded. Those men had driven a truck through the front of the cabin. Bullets tore up the floor by the bed where Trisha watched holes appear in the wood and continued on through the roof. Debris rained down. Trisha turned in to Harley’s still form and she grabbed him, clinging, until she realized her hand felt wet and warm on Harley.