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I tried to kick out, dig my fingernails into his hand, and got a slap to the face for my efforts. Back to the ground I went with a thud. I glared up at the masked man as he reached behind him and pulled out his gun. Seeing the black steel barrel pointing at my face caused my eyes to widen and heart to stop.
I started to back away, shaking in my head, my eyes pleading with him. I ran into the wall, scurried to my butt, and shut my eyes. If I was going to die, I didn’t want to see it coming. I’d rather picture Lock’s handsome face, picture the soft smile he would give me after we made love.
“Fucking cunt,” he grumbled, and I tensed. A shot rang out. Bang! I yelped and brought my hands to my face. Not sure what the heck I was doing, maybe if I hid my face the bullet would miss me, because it couldn’t… find me? So stupid.
The sound of a body dropping caused me to open my eyes. Lying in front of me was the masked man. I turned behind me and found Homer standing there, gun in hand, face puffy, blood on his shirt.
“Are you alright?” he breathed out coming toward me. He stretched out his hand, but I didn’t take it. I actually shifted away from him, looking up at him, feeling the panic beginning to seep through. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me, knew I was safe, but my brain wasn’t registering what my heart was telling it.
“Shit…” he mumbled and pulled out his phone.
I did my best not to look at him or the dead body lying in front of me. I felt my ass start to vibrate. I glanced around the ground wondering what the fuck? When a small voice said,it’s your phone stupid.
I reached behind me and pulled the phone from my back pocket. The screen was cracked, but I could still see who was calling. Ayana.
I answered as fast as my shaking hands would allow, “Hey sweet cakes, what’s going on in the land of Lock?” she asked me and all I could say to her, right before I broke down was her name. “Ana?”
Ten minutes later, the living room was packed with people, ambulance, the coroner, other detectives from Lock’s team. I heard Homer telling other police that they couldn’t enter into the house. Lock would lose his shit.
For the most part I was in the corner, my legs bent, folded arms resting on my knees and face buried in my arms.
A familiar voice broke through the chaos, and I looked up to find Ayana barging her way through from the back room. She damn near broke someone’s arm who tried to stop her from coming into the living room. She frantically looked around the room, and when she saw me, she headed in my direction. I stood on shaky legs and wrapped my arms around her the second she was close enough.
Having her here took away most of my anxiety. She guided me to the couch and sat me down. She sat next to me, wrapped her arm around my shoulder, and we fell back against the couch. A few of Lock’s guys came over to check on us and to see if I was ready to talk, but I wasn’t ready. Actually, Iwasready to talk, I wanted to, but I was waiting for a certain someone to…
I felt his unbelievable presence before I saw him. I glanced toward the doorway and not two seconds later, he stepped through, wild eyes coming right to me.
He headed towards me, determination in each stride. I stood and made it to him just before I collapsed in his arms.
This…This was what I needed, what I had been craving since everything had gone down.
Lock mumbled something in my hair I couldn’t quite hear, but I didn’t care what he said. He was here, I was wrapped in his arms, and he was here. He leaned back and rested his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes as his hands caressed my arms, my back, my neck.
“Are you okay, Kitten?” he asked, using his private nickname for me.
I nodded, unable to speak.
He kissed my forehead, then tilted my chin up to meet his eyes. He searched mine, maybe checking to see if I was lying when I said I was fine. Content with whatever he saw he shocked the hell out of me when he leaned down and lightly kissed my lips. I breathed out and the rest of my anxiety melted away.
“Stay with Ana. Let me talk to my guys, then we’ll talk, okay?”
“Okay,” I replied breathlessly. He tenderly caressed my hot cheek and it was then that I remembered the dead guy had slapped me. I said to him, watching the mood change in his eyes, “It looks worse than what it is.”
“Who?” he asked, and I jutted my chin to the corpse still lying on the living room floor.
“The dead one.”
Lock let out a harsh breath and I could see the muscles along his shoulder tense. His jaw was tight and that fat vein that ran along his neck pulsed with rage. But despite all that, he leaned in, kissed me again, and whispered, “Stay with Ana.”
He was gone after that. He headed toward the back of the house, ignoring the wide eyes and slacked jaws of his men. When I looked around the room, everyone’s eyes fell to me. And I mean everyone. Even the coroner was looking at me crazy.
I gave everyone a small smile before I returned to my seat next to a grinning Ayana.
“Oh, I see you and I need to have alongtalk. You’ve been holding out on me I see.”
I leaned into her, resting my head on her shoulder, unable to resist my smile growing, and promised, “Later. I’ll tell you everything later.”
Hours had passedand the dead body was wrapped up and carried off. Someone came inside and cleaned Lock’s floor, getting rid of the blood that leaked from the dead guy. Surprisingly there wasn’t much blood, but I overheard the coroner say that he had bled out internally, the bullet never leaving his body.
