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Waking up together, spending evenings at my desk and her at her games, sharing meals, introducing her to my people, rolling around in the bed with me.
“Ah… is there a reason we aren’t getting out?” Shale asked, making me snap out of my swirling thoughts to realize we were idling at the curb in front of the loft.
“Right. Yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “Barry knows the code and has a key,” I told her. “You guys go up. I’ll get the tree,” I said, cutting the engine, then watching the two of them move into the building.
I went to my trunk to grab my pocket knife to cut the ropes holding the tree to the roof.
They came out of fucking nowhere.
Apop pop poprang out.
And before I could get in or get down, the pain sliced across my side, making me slow to react, but I grabbed the hatchet on the way down.
“Junior!”
No.
That was Shale’s voice.
“Get back inside,” I demanded, jumping back to my feet, ignoring the pain in my side as I rushed out from behind my vehicle to a hail of bullets.
“Take her!” a voice hissed even as I charged forward.
No.
Fuck no.
But even as I was rushing toward her, as hands grabbed her and started to drag her, something came down on my head from behind.
And all I knew was darkness.
“Boss! Boss! Wake up!” a voice demanded, hands jostling me as the pain ricocheted through my skull. “They have Shale!” he said, voice panicked.
Shale.
Just the mention of her name had that newly familiar warm sensation spreading across my chest.
Who had Shale?
Then, just like that, it came rushing back.
The graze.
The bullets.
The men with their hands on her, dragging her away.
Then the blackness.
I’d been knocked out.
“Whoa, easy,” Barry said when I knifed up and jumped to my feet, swaying for a second as my head spun.
“Which way?” I asked.
“That way,” Barry said, pointing. “I tried to stop her. When she heard the bullets, she just ran. I tried to grab her, but she pulled away and ran.”
“It’s not your fault,” I told him.
