Page 47 of Lethal Weakness

His engine is nearly silent as the rain pours, but you can hear the exact moment his transmission shifts into drive. He’s going to run us over.

Oh God, Avery.

That’s all I have time to think before Jack’s hand glides across his waist so fast, I barely catch his shirt lifting and the gun being drawn before it’s in the air and aimed directly at Turner’s head through the windshield.

He produced it so cleanly and efficiently that I know two things for certain.

He is definitely more than a recreational gun user.

And, he will kill Turner without any hesitation if it comes to it. Every single part of his body is primed to stop a threat, and it isn’t adrenaline. This is pure muscle memory.

Turner must come to the same conclusion because his car never moves even a millimeter forward.

The transmission clicks, and his car high-tails out of my driveway, hydroplaning down the road.

In what feels like a lifetime, I breathe.

Jack reholsters his gun before turning around to face me, and for the first time ever, his face is full of emotions that I can actually read—anger, worry, and hesitation.

The last time I spoke to him… I told him to stop rescuing me.

“I didn’t know if you could hear what was happening. I didn’t know if you’d come,” I cry, muffling my sob with a hand to my mouth.

His steps are instant, taking me into his arms, and holding my head to his chest, letting me break down against him. “I heard you. I’ll always hear you, and I will always come for you,” he promises.

It only makes me cry harder. “He was trying to get to Avery.”

“I know, baby. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

Raw emotions tear out of me as I fall apart in the safety of someone’s arms. Arms capable of holding all of my pieces upright because I can’t pull myself together alone this time.

“You call for me anytime you’re in trouble,” he utters against the top of my head. “And I’ll be here to stop it.”

“I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“They can’t touch me, Linden. I won’t let them touch you either.”

I digest his words with my face buried against his chest. I can hear his heart beating in my ear. He’s not speaking in fear. He seems so sure.

“Jack… You’re not a mechanic… Are you?”

There’s a long moment of hesitation before he answers. “No.”

“Do you work in security?”

He doesn’t respond this time at all, even after I look up at him.

“Are you a dangerous person?”

He’s looking at me with such deep sorrow that I can’t distinguish it. He exhales deeply. “Not to you. And not to Avery.”

I don’t fully know what that answer means, but I know I believe him.

My shoulders jerk as I shiver in the cool rain, and he notices right away, tucking me into his side and leading me back into my house.

“Go get dry, and crawl in bed with your girl. I’ll be right here.”

“You’re going to stay?”