“Why can’t I stay with you?” I’m disgusted by how needy I sound. Was I like this with Tucker? I don’t think so.
If I didn’t have a gun in my hand and the other on Iggy, I’d probably be clutching at his shirt like some kind of swooning maiden. Fuck, I should bust inside and let those guys shoot me. Either way, I’m screwed.
Milo gestures to shadows moving across a window. “Someone’s in there. Someone who is undoubtedly armed. I’d rather have a wall between you and them.”
“What about you?”
He gives me a patient look. “Rowan, I’ve done this before.”
“Right. Right. Just…” It feels stupid, but I say it anyway. “Be careful.”
“Always am.” Then he disappears back inside, leaving me cuddling a bearded dragon and awkwardly holding a weapon I don’t want.
Probably, I won’t need to use it. I don’t want to. I press myself farther into the shadows against the side of the house, looking at the thing in the light of the half-moon up above. It’s a dull sort of pewter color, and there’s an attachment on the end—on the muzzle?—that must be a silencer.
Which makes me feel even weirder. I know Milo kills people. I’m pretty sure Jaylen does too. It’s not exactly a foreign concept,more like… There’s something serious looking about this gun. Knowing it’s Milo’s, that he handed it to me for protection…
It’s intense and sort of terrifying, but also sweet, I think? That’s nuts, right? It’s definitely nuts.
Tugging the zipper of my hoodie up, I check to make sure Iggy’s comfortable against me. He wiggles some, his little nails scratching against me as he settles and tries to go back to sleep.
“Honestly, I’m jealous,” I tell him in a whisper.
I’d love for this to all be a bad dream. When I fell asleep, a guy who had given me the best orgasms of my life had me wrapped in his arms, and now I’m standing out in the cold holding a gun.A gun.
First a whore, and now a whore with a gun he doesn’t know how to use. “My mother would die, Iggy. This would absolutely kill her.”
Such a good whore.
Okay, this is not the time to think of the things Milo said to me in bed. Or on the floor. In the shower…
Iggy little head pokes out of my hoodie. He blinks and flicks his tongue, oblivious to my crisis.
A series of thumps and shouts comes from inside the cabin. A flash of light and the boom of a gunshot. From Milo’s gun or the other guy’s?
My heart is a washing machine with an unbalanced load. I want to check on Milo, but he told me to stay out here. I’m not even sure I can move my feet.
But what if he’s dead?
If he’s dead, you shouldn’t go back in there.
Then what do I do? Run? We drove a stolen car here. Milo used some special key to start it, and I don’t know where that went. I can only go so fast while I’m carrying Iggy.
A flash of light interrupts my spiral near the side of the house. Someone dressed in head to toe black, holding a gun in one handand a flashlight in the other. Before I can think, I raise the gun in my hand. My first shot startles him but misses. The second shot seems to get him in the side. He’s still alive, but he drops his weapon when he grabs his side. Iggy twitches under my hoodie, and I belatedly put a shaking hand over his head. Even with the silencer, the gun isn’t actually silent, and he’s sensitive to noise and vibrations.
Oh. God. “Iggy, I shot someone,” I whisper.
I can’t believe it. I fuckingshotsomeone.
My whole arm is vibrating so much I’m not sure I can aim again. When I force myself to try, there’s a sound to my right and he suddenly slumps to the ground.
My brain can’t process anything beyondsomeone’s coming. I make myself lift the gun and shoot again. There’s a quiet “oof” before the shadowy figure steps into the light.
When I see Milo standing there, the relief almost makes me collapse. Until I realize he’s got a limp. And his leg is bleeding.Oh no.
I think I’m going to be sick.
“Two goddamn hit men on the property and who shoots me in the leg? The guy whose life I saved. Nice.”
