Page 101 of Lucian

Cazzo, Lucian loved this woman.

“Let’s not waste time, then.”

On the trek back towards where the Lexus was situated in the lot, Lucian noticed Fraser intercepting their walk with paperwork and a pen in hand. Lucian didn’t say a thing as he scrawled his name and date where the papers noted he needed to, and then handed the papers back over.

“I don’t need to count it, do I?” Fraser asked, glancing down at the black bag before tossing a look over Lucian’s shoulder.

The shake in the man’s tone caught Lucian’s interest. Never had he screwed the dealer around before, so even joking about it was offensive. Something prickled at the back of Lucian’s neck, making his hair feel like it was standing on end.

Again, Fraser glanced somewhere behind Lucian, as if he was looking for something, or someone. It was only then Lucian noticed the dealer hadn’t brought him out keys for the Lexus. Lucian dropped the bag of money to the ground, just to see what Fraser would do.

Then, as Fraser made a move to retrieve the bag, the man took a step back from Lucian as quickly as he could. When the dealer looked for a third time over Lucian’s shoulder, he knew something was so wrong about the situation. He had the distinct feeling if he tried to seek out what Fraser was looking for, it wouldn’t end well.

Some people called it instinct, but Lucian knew the sensation bubbling up in his chest was more about the sudden oddness in his surroundings than anything else.

Silencers only muffled the sound of a gun going off. It wasn’t soft, but more like a muted pop. Lucian barely registered the sound of the gun blowing somewhere behind him in the quiet car lot in time, but he heard it.

Lucian reacted in what felt like milliseconds. Jordyn’s chest met Lucian’s arm, taking her down to the ground. She tried to catch herself as Lucian fell, her cry of pain and surprise hitting him straight in the heart as her blue eyes met his, terrified.

“Lucian?”

“Shhh,” he whispered, soothingly. “S’okay, sweetheart.”

It was only then he noticed Fraser was beginning to move farther away from their spot.

“Don’t move!” Lucian snarled at the man. “I’ll put a bullet between your eyes before you even get the chance to run, you bastard.”

Oh, someone was in a lot of trouble. Lucian was pissed.

Knowing that while they were on the ground whoever had had taken the shot didn’t have a second chance to take another, Lucian forced Jordyn to stay there until the screech of tires squealed in the near distance. Quickly, he popped up from the ground only to catch a glimpse of a dark colored sedan that wouldn’t have caught his attention before it disappeared out of sight.

“Up,” Lucian ordered Jordyn, offering his hands for her to take and keeping his sharp gaze on Fraser. “Go to the Mercedes.”

“Lucian—”

“Go!”

She was practically vibrating, her eyes drawn to his arm as tears welled. “But—”

“Jordyn, not the time to argue!”

“But your arm!” she cried.

As Lucian attempted to pull his cell phone from his pocket, a faint sting radiated though his upper right arm. A warm, wetness seeped into his suit jacket. Glancing down, he knew immediately what had happened, but his adrenaline was running too high to really feel the pain, or care.

The bullet had nicked his arm before continuing on to wherever it finally landed.

Merda. It’d been close.

They were aiming for his back.

• • •

Jordyn paced back and forth in the bedroom, listening to Lucian cuss at Paulie as loud as he could while the doctor stitched his arm up in the connecting bathroom. Apparently her lack of patience and constant voicing of her worry wasn’t needed in the bathroom, so she’d been designated to bedroom and told to stay there. She didn’t appreciate that.

Dante slipped out of the bathroom with a roll of his eyes just as Lucian cursed angrily again.

“Cazzo. Stick me with that fucking needle one more time, Paulie, and I swear to God …”