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“Guns up unless you have to,” I hissed, putting mine away just in time for the first Ace to come at me. He was uncoordinated and clearly unused to actually trying to hit someone, because it was almost comically easy to deliver a swift kick to the knee and a knife to the eye. Before he’d even landed fully at my feet, another Ace caught me with a meaty fist to the cheek and sent me to the ground. I grimaced at the blazing trail of pain that covered that half of my face before grinning like a lunatic.
“That was a mistake.” Grey’s eyes were dark with menace as he ripped the Ace away from me and sent him careening to the floor with a wicked right hook that I was going to reward later. Watching Grey help me slay my enemies was hot as fuck. Dominic was too as he ripped his way through a boatload of Aces, breaking noses and fingers and legs as he went, but I refused to admit it.
Obviously, he had some aggression to work out. My condolences to the Aces who ran into him.
Between the four of us—though Moore helped once he found a safe place to lay Geneva—we cleared the room in no time. The more men we took out, the more concrete my assumption became that Grey was right, but it didn’t matter. As long as we won, I was happy.
I knelt beside one of the unconscious bodies and dug around the pockets but found nothing. “No phone to tattle to daddy and tell them they did a good job.”
Brushing off my knees, I stood and looked around for cameras. If Cash wasn’t reachable by phone, it meant he was probably watching the whole fight go down. It also meant that he was likely to have more nasty tricks waiting for us. I saw no obvious domes or cameras, but I knew he was watching. I could feel it.
Fuck it. Let him watch.
I was about to round us all up and head back outside when something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was only a flash of black, but instinct had me pulling my gun.
A final Ace had his gun up and aimed but not at me. At Dominic.
Time slowed, and all I could think was He’s not wearing a vest. We’d been arguing while I put mine on, and I forgot to make sure he had his. Grey did; I’d felt it under his shirt when he grabbed me, but Dominic’s shirt was plastered to his chest.
He’s going to die because I was too pissed to make sure he was covered.
The hysterical thought propelled me forward. With a shout, I lunged at Dominic, lifted my weapon, and fired. The bang echoed in the room, and the bullet took out Dominic’s would-be reaper with a messy shot to the head, but not before he got his own shot off. The bullet landed like a sledgehammer to the gut and dropped me to the floor.
It’d been a while since I’d been shot and even longer since I’d been hit right in the vest. A few grazes here and there, a hole through my thigh when I was younger, but straight to the solar plexus? That sucked.
The impact stole the breath from my lungs, and when I cracked my head on the concrete, I had no chance of holding back the cry of pain that ripped out of me.
“Mari!” Grey covered my front, giving me a chance to fight through the initial wave of pain as I curled into myself. Holy shit, I hated getting shot in the vest, but at least I was wearing it. I’d take a few broken ribs over a hole in my stomach or a funeral any day.
Peering out from behind my hair, I checked on Dominic. He looked pissed, waving his hands and snarling, but I didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was he was still whole. Even if he irritated the fuck out of me, he was still mine.
“Answer us,” he barked. I hadn’t realized they’d been talking at all. My ears rang, and it was all I could do to keep my head up as the world swam. Sucking air in through my teeth, I tried like hell to get my lungs, my voice, anything to work.
“I’m good,” I croaked.
I wasn’t. My gun shook in my hand, my vision was a little blurred, and every movement hurt like hell, but that was a problem for future Mari.
“Get up.” Grey extended a hand toward me, and I let him pull me to my feet carefully. “Good?”
“Fine.” We both knew I was lying, but adrenaline would get me through until I could see Doc. I was almost looking forward to his prodding for once. And the drugs. I was going to sleep for days.
Grey looked me over quickly, grimacing at the bullet hole in the vest. “We’ll get you a new one.”
“That’s all you’re going to say? We’ll get you a new one. What the hell is wrong with you two?” Dominic yelled. I winced because, fuck, my head hurt. Did he have to yell? “You’re twisted. Both of you.”
After our chat in the gym, that cut deeper than it should have, and despite how much it hurt, I shoved him. “Fuck you, Dominic. I just saved your life, and all you can do is complain that we aren’t normal? Next time, say thank you instead of screaming at me, you emotionally stunted turnip!”
Dominic’s neck grew disturbingly red. “Thank you? Thank you?! You shouldn’t have done that in the first place. You could’ve been killed!”
“Well, too bad for you, I wasn’t. It would’ve made your life easier!” I winced at my own voice echoing and fought to lower it. A raging headache was creeping up, and I wanted to be out of there before it fully hit. “This isn’t the time for this conversation. In fact, let’s end it for good.”
“Mari—”
“Drop it, Dominic,” I growled.
“I will not.” Dominic reached out and grabbed me, reeling me in with a firm but gentle hand around my jaw. He looked me over, staring hard at the blood seeping out from under my hair. “We’re talking about this later.”
Like fuck we were.
