My body braced.
An engine roared.
Click. Click. Click.
Light glinted.
I moved.
I wasn’t the only one.
Rhys crashed into me just as I lunged to tackle him to the ground. Rather than taking him backward, we collided and fell to the side. Every molecule of air was forced from my lungs in a haggard wheeze as I hit the ground. The side of my head bounced on the concrete, my vision narrowing and blurring as intense pain swelled to fill my skull to bursting.
Even still, my body scrambled on instinct, quickly rolling before the cartoon birds cleared my sluggish brain.
Once they had, it was like someone had cranked the volume from mute to one hundred in an instant. Echoing pops filled the air, slamming against my already aching eardrums. Something burned across my forehead as I was suddenly flipped.
Despite the weight, I lifted my torso to keep my vantage point clear.
Seconds.
That was all it’d been.
Brief blips of chaos and destruction that tore through the peaceful night before vanishing like they were never there.
My gaze dropped to the man I was physically tangled with. One of his hands palmed the back of my head, and I had no clue when it’d gotten there. I dislodged it when I got to my knees. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Not injured.” Rhys scrambled after me, hovering in my space. His mouth was moving. His tone was urgent. But no words sank in as I scanned him again. He seemed physically fine—other than a little blood on his cheek. That was far preferable to a rushing geyser of a hit artery.
Bolting to my feet, I fought a wave of nausea as my vision tunneled in and out. Once I trusted that I wasn’t about to hit the ground for a second time, I pulled my walkie-talkie from my waistband and called it in as I scanned the street to survey the situation.
Thankfully, it hadn’t been blips of maximum chaos and destruction. No one appeared shot. There were no bodies on the ground. No one was bleeding out.
Most of the waiting line scattered in various directions. Some remained rooted to the spot, likely out of fear or shock. Or, like a few who were illuminated by their phone screens or camera flashes, because they wanted to record or stream or whatever.
Screams and panicked cries were drowned out by barked orders—and most of said orders came from the man standing at my side.
I could do withoutthaticepick to my brain.
Fabric was suddenly pressed to my head. I was already trying to shift the random obstruction away when sharp, fiery pain burned across my skin. My breath hissed out between clenched teeth. “Shit.”
Rhys tried to yank me toward him.
“I need to get to work,” I muttered distractedly.
“You were hit.”
CHAPTER FOUR
WORTHLESS WIENER
LUNA
“No, you were,” I saidwith a pointed look to his cheek. Though with the clearer angle, I couldn’t see an actual cut.
Rhys swiped his fingers through the smear of red and glowered, his words forced out through his clenched jaw. “That’syourblood.”
No reason to be a dick about it. I didn’t purposefully bleed on you.
