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His fingers slid under her jaw. “You already have a bruise.” Low and filled with barely banked rage. “Be assured, the one I gave that SOB is a hell of a lot worse.” He leaned toward her. His lips brushed over her jaw. “Pretty sure I broke the bastard’s jaw. It will be lots of fun for him when he has to have it wired shut for weeks.”
She shivered.
He pulled her against him. Lifted her up and got her out of the closet.
“M-my hands…” Now her teeth were chattering. She could still taste that stupid gag. Or maybe she was tasting her own fear. Her mouth was too dry. Her body too cold. All she wanted to do was hold tightly to Midas, but her hands were locked behind her back.
He put her down just outside of the closet. He eased her around and swore. “Fuck, baby, your wrists are raw and bloody.”
“G-get them f-free—” She broke off because her gaze had just landed on the body a few feet away. The redhead. He sprawled on the floor, not moving at all.
Snick.
She flinched at that sound and turned to see that Midas had a wickedly sharp knife in his hand.
“Hold still,” he ordered quietly.
She couldn’t stay still. She would have very much liked to follow his order, but her body wouldn’t stop shaking.
His fingers stroked lightly over her wrists. “Don’t move. I don’t want to cut you.”
He sliced the zip ties. Immediately, pain seemed to shoot through her fingers. She let out a sharp cry.
He rubbed her hands and her wrists. “That’s the feeling come back. Those sonsofbitches had the ties too tight.” He kept rubbing. Stroking. “I know it hurts. It will get better. Trust me, okay? It will get better.”
She trusted him completely. One hundred percent. He’d just saved her life. “How—” She winced at the pain. “How are you here?”
“You think I wasn’t going to follow you?” More tender strokes of his fingers as he tried to ease her pain. “Sweetheart, I’d follow you to hell and back any day of the week.”
Tears pricked her eyes again. She didn’t want to cry. She wanted to be strong. Midas was strong.
Her gaze fell on the body. “Is he…dead?”
“Nope. Though I am tempted to make him that way.”
A flinch jolted her body.
“Knocked him out. I’m going to cut the ties around your ankles. It’s gonna hurt when the feeling comes back, but, actually, these ties aren’t as tight so it might not be as bad.”
He sliced through the ties. It was bad. But she bit her lower lip and tried hard not to cry out.
Be strong. Midas is strong. You can be strong, too. Her gaze remained on the fallen man. Curly red hair. Pale skin. Young. Maybe around twenty? Twenty-one? Much younger than she’d thought he would be.
“He has a pulse. He’ll live.” Midas moved in front of her and blocked her view of the sprawled man. “We need to haul ass. Someone else is coming. I don’t know if it’s one guy or a whole crew or what kind of weapons the others may have. I can’t risk losing in a fight. If I lose, they’ll have you.”
She grabbed his shirt front. “Let’s haul ass. Definitely.”
He kissed her. Fast and hard and unexpected.
She wanted to keep clinging to him. But he’d already pulled back so quickly.
“Can you walk?” Midas asked her.
“I can run.” She could do anything. She wanted to run. As fast as possible. Now, please.
He nodded. “Good. My ride is about two miles away from here. Had to hide it. Couldn’t come straight in because I didn’t want them to hear my vehicle and get tipped off. I was afraid of what they might do to you if they knew I was right outside.”
Don’t think about what they could have done. Don’t.
