AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Making my decision for me, Beauty gasps. She grips my hand and I glance down to find her eyes closed. Her chest rises and falls; her breathing is shallow. Fuck this. "Fine," I snap, "I'll take the car."
"What the—!" Christian explodes, "How can you willingly put yourself in danger, and after what happened to Xander—"
"It’s because of what happened to Xander that I can’t allow anything to happen to her." I scowl up at him.
He holds my gaze and whatever he sees on my face must convince him, for he blows out a breath. "Fuck," he growls. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." He rises to his feet, then stares down at us, "I am coming with you."
"No, you’re not," I snap.
"If you are putting yourself in danger—"
"Nothing is going to happen to us."
"Then let me come with you."
"No," I say in a low voice.
He opens his mouth to protest and I slice the air with my palm, "This is not open to debate."
"Cazzo!"He sets his jaw. "We’ll cover you. We’ll fire at the motherfuckers and make sure they are so occupied that they won’t be able to stop you."
"Good plan," JJ remarks.
Christian glares at him. "We’re out of ammo."
"You know where to find it," JJ replies.
"Don’t we need your iris scan to unlock the door?"
"Do you?" JJ smirks.
Christian’s face suffuses with color.
He jumps up to his feet, swoops out and jams his gun into the side of JJ’s temple. Everyone freezes as the two glare at each other. JJ doesn’t flinch, doesn’t lower his gaze. The staring match goes on and on, then Christian nods. He slowly lowers the gun, pivots and walks out.
"I’ll come with you." Antonio follows him.
A bead of sweat slides down JJ’s temple. "The boy has balls," he concedes, "and he’s hurting."
"We all are." It’s not lost on me that in the space of a few hours I’ve gone from wanting to kill the motherfucker to trusting him…albeit grudgingly. Perhaps it’s because of the life and death situation in which we currently find ourselves. It’s what happens when you are under pressure. You need to make snap decisions, and trust your instincts. And right now, my gut says JJ is on our side. Temporarily. Until we find out who the hell is after us.
"You'll need this," JJ holds out his phone, "I've deactivated the lock and the doctor's address is already keyed into the GPS."
I slide the phone into my pocket.
"Garage is at the back of the house, through the kitchen," he adds, as he hands over the key fob. I take it, then rise to my feet and scoop Karma into my arms. She protests and I scowl at her. "Don’t even think about it."
"But—"
"I am not going to let you walk."
"I was going to ask for my gun back."
I scowl at her, she tips up her chin. "My gun, Michael."
I nod at Seb, who reloads her gun, then holds it out. She accepts it, and cradles it close to her chest.
"Don’t shoot me with that thing."
