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“I’m texting the coordinates now. Be there in five.” Carlos hung up and sent the coordinates.
Turning his back on the mundane world with its kids on swings and clueless joggers, he ran onto the battlefield with only one goal in mind: save Mika. After that, he’d figure out what to do next to convince her to save him.
The world spun while Mika held onto the thick grass and tried to get her bearings. A canvas bag covered her head. She sat propped up against a tree, a rough cord holding her wrists together behind her back and tethered to the tree. She rubbed her skin raw each time she tried to squirm free. Every inhale started a brushfire in her battered throat, but it was so much better than the alternative. Pain meant she was alive. She focused on it and let her body scream its agony, but only for a moment. She wasn’t about to sink into oblivion again. She would fight.
She bent forward as far as she could while bringing her legs up, clamped her knees together, and trapped the corner of the bag between them. Then she pulled it off.
She turned her head and spotted Josh. A bulky and brown knapsack sat at his feet. That couldn’t be part of his costume. Of course, it wasn’t like he was actually here for the Battle Ultimate.
“Is that the drugs?” she croaked.
“Oh good, you’re awake.” He didn’t bother to look back at her; instead he continued to watch the horizon. “Your ride is on his way.”
Her already aching throat tightened. “Ride where?”
He shrugged. “Does it really matter?”
It didn’t, because she wasn’t going. If she had to claw, bite, or rabbit-kick him into next week, she wasn’t going anywhere. His words should have frightened her. They should have spilled cold panic across her skin. Fuck that. She had too much to live for to give up now. Her family was out there in those woods—and somewhere out in Harbor City was Carlos. She wasn’t about to abandon any of them without one hell of a fight. Love wasn’t always easy, but it always won in the end.
Josh didn’t stand a chance.
Taking advantage of his focus on watching out for whomever was coming, she sawed her bonds around her wrists up and down against the tree’s rough bark. The friction heated the cord, making it burn against her skin, but that didn’t matter. Along with the pain came the realization that the rope was shredding.
As she worked to free herself, she watched Josh. He remained unconcerned about her, but whoever was coming must have had him worried. Along with the sword sheathed on his back, he had a gun in his hand and another one holstered at his thigh Han Solo–style.
A soft pop sounded behind her. Followed by another. And another. They sounded just like Carlos when he popped his—
He was here. He’d found her. Even if he didn’t think he was the white knight he thought she needed or deserved, he was the only one she wanted—the only one she loved.
A battle cry sounded in the distance, followed by the unmistakable chant of the ogres. Josh spun around, his gun at the ready. Then the noise was everywhere, coming from all sides. Screeching. Clanging of weapons. Yells. Battle cries. Whatever it was had surrounded them, but she couldn’t see anything moving in the trees. The cacophony built higher and higher until her teeth nearly rattled from the sheer volume of it all.
Josh’s movements became jerky as he aimed the gun at one section of the woods surrounding their clearing and then another.
Her breath caught. He’d shoot the first thing to flicker among the trees. She yanked her wrists, but still she couldn’t pull them free. The only thing she could do was pull his attention from what was going on in the woods.
“It’s not gonna work out for you,” she yelled. “You’ll never get away with it.”
He cut a glare her way. “Forgive me for not shivering in my boots over threats from a woman who’s tied up and at my mercy. Now shut up before I choke you out again.”
A silver knight rushed out of the woods, his booming war cry piercing the air ordering Josh to halt. There was no mistaking that voice, especially not with the knuckle pops before. It was Carlos. He flipped up his visor, confirming it, and then grabbed a huge tree branch with both hands, swung it like a baseball bat, and knocked the gun from Josh’s grasp.
Carlos’s face was red with fury. “You’re going to very much regret doing that before I’m done with you.”
The crack of bone snapping ignited something raw and primal in Carlos. Alex, Will, and the LARPers had done their part by creating a diversion. Now it was his turn. This man had had the audacity to harm Mika, and he was going to pay the price.
Josh howled in pain and clutched his injured arm close to his chest as he reached behind his head and unsheathed a sword with a deadly steel blade. “Back the fuck off, man.”
Carlos spun the tree limb just like he used to do warming up in the batter’s box, letting his muscles stretch and relax. “Not gonna happen.”
Everything slowed down as his senses became heightened. It was like everything disappeared except for the three of them. Carlos positioned himself on the opposite side of where Mika was secured to a tree in order to better draw Josh away from her, then centered all of his attention on the drug dealer. Josh was cornered and out of options, but he wasn’t the kind to give up and play dead. There’d be a fight. Carlos couldn’t wait.
The sword shook in Josh’s hand, the weight too heavy for a single-handed grip, as he held it straight out. With a desperate roar, he ran straight at Carlos.
Carlos pivoted to the left at the last possible moment and shot out a leg, sending Josh stumbling forward. Balance already off because of the sword’s weight, Josh nearly fell face-first into the grass. For a second, Carlos figured it was a foregone conclusion. But then the dealer pulled up. He dropped the sword and let his injured arm dangle at his side.
“I lied the other night at Mika’s studio. I’m going to kill you first.”
Carlos grinned, bracing for attack. “You can try.”
