Panicked, I tried to wrench myself free. Lowry’s action distracted Mason, and the two men gained the advantage. They were about to beat Mason to a bloody pulp. “Mason!” I screamed and his head jerked up.
Mick took advantage of his distraction and brought the butt of a gun down on the back of Mason’s head. He crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
“Mason!”
“Come on.” Lowry dragged me to the back door, and I kicked and clawed, frantic to get free. The sound of fighting was a dull roar in the other room, and wisps of smoke floated under the door to the hall. The club was on fire.
Lowry got me to the back door, and I broke free for a half-second. I made a bolt toward the room where Mason was being kept, but Lowry snagged an arm around my waist and hauled my back into his chest.
“You’re coming with me.” He flung the back door open, and it banged into the exterior wall, bouncing back to hit Lowry’s side. I grunted my frustration as I kicked his legs and clawed at his arms. Lowry’s arm dug into my ribs as his hold tightened.
When the cold air hit my bare legs and arms, the reality of what was about to happen hit me hard. “Let go of me!”
“Do as the lady says, Lowry.”
Lowry froze, and I stopped struggling, the man’s voice flooding me with relief.
Skeeter Malcolm stood several feet away, holding a handgun that was aimed at Lowry and me.
Lowry hooked his arm around the front of my neck, putting me in a choke-hold. “Since when do you care about a piece of ass, Malcolm?”
“It’s none of your damn business. Now let her go.”
Lowry’s hold on my neck tightened, and I fought to take a breath. “No. I don’t think so. Go ahead and shoot her if you’d like.”
“Hey!” I forced out through my limited air supply.
Skeeter’s face was unreadable. I told myself to never play poker with him.
“Why’s she so important to you?” Lowry asked. “She used to work at your club? You meet her at the pool hall?”
“It doesn’t matter where I met her. All you need to know is that you better get your filthy hands off of her now.”
“In the ten years I’ve known you, the only other woman you’ve shown any interest in is the Lady in Black,” Lowry gasped, lifting his arm so my toes barely touched the ground. I fought to take a breath, and I was getting light-headed. “This is her, isn’t it? Daisy’s the Lady in Black?”
If Skeeter was surprised by Lowry’s flight of logic or the fact that he’d called me Daisy, he didn’t let on. He lifted his gun higher so it was eye level with Lowry behind me. “This is your last warning.”
Lowry put a hand on the side of my head. “I’ll snap her neck, Malcolm. Are you willing to put your precious ‘Lady’ at risk?”
“She won’t be.” His eyes narrowed, and the blast of his gun deafened my ear. Lowry’s arm dropped, and I sucked in huge lungfuls of air. Lowry began to fall, and Skeeter pulled me to him.
“You okay?” he asked.
I started to shake and leaned into Skeeter as I stared at Lowry’s body. He was lying at an awkward angle on the gravel parking lot, hole in his forehead. The realization that he’d almost killed me sank in—between that and the lack of oxygen, I felt close to passing out.
Skeeter grabbed my face and lifted it so his eyes pierced mine. “Are you okay?” His voice was menacing.
I nodded, still in shock.
He shrugged out of his coat and put it around my shoulders, then pulled out his phone. “I’ll call Cal to pick us up.”
“Wait!” I pulled loose. “Mason’s in there, and he’s unconscious.”
Skeeter’s face barely registered my comment. “I don’t care.”
“Skeeter, I’m not leaving him in there.”
His jaw tensed. “You don’t have a choice. I’m not letting you go back in there period, particularly not now that the building’s burning.”
“No! Stop! You promised to protect him.”
“Not in this. I know he was here accepting a bribe. That makes our agreement null and void.”
“You don’t get to pick and choose what makes our agreement null and void! Since when did you become so high and mighty? Besides, he wasn’t taking a bribe! He was there trying to take Mick Gentry down. Not that any of that matters! We had an agreement.”
He glared at me. “I said no.” He snatched my arm and started dragging me further from the building.
“You’re no better than the rest of them in there.”
“I never claimed I was.” Skeeter’s black sedan pulled around the side of the building and stopped next to us. He reached for the back door and opened it, giving me a little push. “Now get in the car.”
I turned around and tried to bolt, but he pushed my head down as he shoved me in the car.
“Skeeter, please!”
“No.”
I started to cry. Even if I managed to get away from him, how was I going to get Mason out of the building? “I’ll give you anything you want. I’ll give you six months as the Lady in Black. No questions asked. Please.”
He stopped shoving me, so I grabbed his arm and clung to it.