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Sanjay nodded, but he didn’t want to let Jake go. He never wanted to let him go again. But Jake was right. They needed the cops.
Reluctantly, Sanjay got up, raced upstairs for his phone, and ran back down, dialing along the way. He told the operator that he needed the police, that a shooting had taken place.
Then he dropped to his knees and cried out, forgetting that he’d been shot, too.
“Shit.” Jake used his good arm to exam Sanjay’s leg. “He fucking shot you?”
“Yeah, but I’ll live.” Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, the pain of his injury came back full force. Sanjay gritted his teeth as he curled into Jake’s side, waiting for the cops.
“We’ll shift to heal once this mess is cleaned up.” Jake kissed Sanjay’s hair. “I want his corpse out of here.”
So did Sanjay. He looked over his shoulder and saw Dario with his back against the lower cupboard, his arms wrapped around his bent legs, his head down.
Sanjay tried to shove aside his anger to go to his friend so he could comfort Dario, but right now, Sanjay couldn’t. Maybe later, after some time had passed, but as of that moment, the anger was still too raw.
He’d nearly lost his mate tonight. Sanjay had nearly lost his own life. All because Dario couldn’t let Trenton go.
Jake ran his knuckles down Sanjay’s cheek, pulling Sanjay’s attention away from Dario and back to his mate. “You’ll forgive him in time.”
Sanjay wasn’t so sure about that. When it came to Jake, Sanjay would take on the world to keep his wolf safe. He would do anything, including letting go of a friendship that used to mean everything to him.
“I meant what I said.” Sanjay looked up into Jake’s electric-blue eyes. “I love you.”
Jake smiled. “I love you, too.”
* * * *
Fearless Fox was packed. Jake was in his element as he slung drinks, chatted with customers, and yelled out orders to Kendrick. It had been three weeks since the incident with Trenton, and his bond with Sanjay had only grown stronger.
“How’re you handling things?” he asked Hayden Lovato, the cheetah shifter he’d hired a week ago to replace Adan.
“I told you before that I used to tend bar,” Hayden said, doing some fancy moves as he made some fruity drink. “I know what I’m doing, boss.”
So far, Hayden was a gem. He not only made it on time for work every night but showed up thirty minutes before his shift began, asking what he could do to help out.
Hopefully he stayed that way.
Jake looked up when the front door opened. He wasn’t sure why, since it had been opening and closing all night, but he saw Sanjay walk in.
With a huge smile, Jake watched as Sanjay worked his way through the crowd to get to the bar.
“I see your mate made it here tonight,” Hayden said. “He works all day and spends all night with you. When does he sleep?”
Jake shrugged. He didn’t know Hayden well enough yet to talk about his personal life. Sanjay had started to rely more and more on Kayla to open for him. She was happy about the extra hours and taking more of a leadership role. That also freed a lot of Sanjay’s time to spend with Jake.
Things would die down between them, and Sanjay would go back to getting up at the crack of dawn, but for now, Jake loved seeing his mate at the bar.
He walked from behind the counter and met Sanjay halfway, sweeping his mate into his arms. He kissed Sanjay fully on the lips, uncaring who saw them. “Hey, handsome.”
Sanjay smiled up at him. “Hey, gorgeous.”
“Tired?”
“No, but I’m starving,” Sanjay said. “Tell me Kendrick saved me some pot roast.”
With a chuckle, Jake took Sanjay’s hand and led him toward the kitchen. “He saved you an entire bowl. I’d say there’s got to be at least four servings in it.”
“Sweet!” Sanjay chuckled.
