Emma looked at him as though he was a maniac. Well, he was, but now he was talking crazier than he had been. “Jace doesn’t love me! I promise.”
“Tell you what. If I lose your boyfriend back there, I’ll let you go. Until then, you might be my only way out.”
Emma tried to focus through the pounding of her heart beating in her chest. He wasn’t going to let her go. Even if her cousins worked some kind of magic, this psycho was going to use her as leverage until Jace wasn’t after him.
But then she saw it. Dave wasn’t wearing his seat belt.
After she glanced in the mirror to ensure that Jace was still there, Emma took one more steadying breath before she lunged. Using her bad shoulder to hold him off, Emma gripped the steering wheel with her good hand and jerked it with all her force toward her.
Dave punched out at her, but by then the truck was already careening around in a tight circle as the left wheels came off the ground. What started off as a slight tilt turned into the car falling completely over on its side. Emma held her arm over her face as her window connected with the concrete, her belt tightening as the truck lurched forward.
When the truck finally stopped moving, Emma couldn’t move her arm or open her eyes. What the hell had she done? Crashed the truck. Good Lord, she could’ve died. Or maybe she was dead. Or worse, she was alive and so was Dave. Pissed off and in the vehicle with her.
That bit of fear motivated her to finally open her eyes. The truck rested so that the passenger side was against the pavement. Pieces of glass were strewn about the truck and her head would be on bare pavement if not for the seat belt locked into place. Dave was in a heap in front of her, the lower half of his body dangling out the windshield. And if he woke up, she’d be within arm’s reach.
Emma tried to unlatch the seat belt with her good hand, but the press down button wasn’t moving. After giving it another try, she pulled at the belt, trying to get a little give, but the thing wouldn’t budge.
A groan emerged from Dave and her sense of urgency increased. She couldn’t be there when he woke up. She once again tried to get the belt undone, but suddenly Dave was being dragged out of the truck. His groan turned to a scream as he scraped over what was left of the windshield, but he went silent fast as Jace came into view and landed a sound punch right to Dave’s face. She couldn’t tell whether it was the punch or Dave’s head hitting the glass-covered concrete, but suddenly he wasn’t moving anymore. Emma’s jaw dropped at the violence in front of her. At the crash she’d caused.
Jace dropped to his hands and knees and looked in at Emma. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay,” she said automatically, only belatedly remembering that she wasn’t even close to okay. “No. My arm. He shot me in the arm.”
“Motherfucker. I want to get you out of there, okay?”
Emma nodded. “The belt won’t come off.”
Jace reached around and grabbed something from his back pocket. Gingerly, he climbed through the broken windshield until he was right in front of her. Knowing he was there, smelling his familiar scent, feeling the heat from her body, made her feel so much better. She let out a sigh of relief.
“Wrap your good arm around me. When I cut this, you’re going to fall.”
Emma did as he said and he made quick work of the belt before he pulled her out, trying his best to keep her from cutting herself on the jagged edges. He carried her away from the road and set her down on the grass.
His face was expressionless as he assessed her body for other injuries. “It looks like the bullet grazed you. I don’t see blood coming from anywhere else, but we’ll get you to the hospital and make sure nothing is broken.”
“Wouldn’t I know if something was broken?” Her arm still hurt more than anything.
“With the adrenaline pumping through your system, you could be missing a leg and not realize it. Stay here. I’m calling an ambulance.”
Stay here? Where did he think she was going to go? But she was a bit too traumatized to be snarky, so she just nodded. Emma cradled her injured arm against her chest and stared at Dave, ready to run at the slightest sign of movement. Jace spoke rapidly to whoever was taking his call, giving instructions on how to get to the motel where apparently the front desk attendant had been assaulted and directions on their location. She was glad he knew where they were, because she was completely lost.
Jace hung up his phone and came back to her. “Help should be here soon. I told them to go to the motel first since I’m not sure how badly injured the attendant is and you seem to be doing okay.”
Emma nodded and scooched closer to Jace. He softly set an arm around her shoulder and she could tell he was worried about hurting her. It was only as he pulled her close to his body that she realized she was completely trembling. “I was so worried that he would lose you,” she murmured against the fabric of his t-shirt.
“I’d never let him get away with you,” he promised. “And from now on you’re never getting out of my sight.”
Emma smiled against him, not sure if she should be happy or terrified at his declaration. “Never is a long time.”
Jace pulled away and looked down into her eyes just as sirens sounded in the distance. “Well, get comfortable. Because from now on, you’re stuck with me, Emma Devereaux.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Emma flinched as Jace opened the passenger door for her.
“Are you okay there?”
She laughed at her own jumpiness. “Yeah. Long day, I guess.”
He narrowed his eyes as he held out his hand to help her out. She didn’t really need help, but she’d never pass up an excuse to touch him. She put her palm in his and stood.
“You’re worried about Luke and Michael, aren’t you?”
“How am I supposed to feel? They made some sort of deal with a man who was willing to have me shot to cover up something.” Jace was silent and Emma considered him for a second. “You agree with them, don’t you?”
Jace’s expression hardened. “You saw exactly how far I was willing to go to keep you safe today. How can I really judge them?”
That wasn’t a fair comparison. Jace was different. He could handle himself. Michael and Luke were businessmen. They didn’t know what they were getting themselves into.
Jace set an arm around her shoulders and leaned forward to press a soft kiss to her forehead. “Relax,” he breathed. “They’ll be okay. Evelyn and I will make sure of it.”
Hmmm. Emma wasn’t sure how she felt about his FBI contact. From the brief phone conversation she’d heard between the woman and Jace at the hospital, it sounded as though she was much more concerned with landing a potentially huge arrest than helping Emma’s family. But she trusted Jace. If he said he would help, she believed him. “Okay. Besides, I’ll be seeing a lot more of them now anyways.”
Jace headed for the porch. “Why is that?”
“Luke offered me a job. The not-for-profit coordinator. DevX is setting up a 501c(3) to handle all its donations and they asked if I’d be the director. I think they felt bad for me being out here all alone, so they wanted to give me something to keep me busy.”
“So you’re moving to New York?”
“Oh no. Just flying out once or twice a month. I wasn’t going to accept, but it will be nice to keep an eye on those guys.”
Jace pushed open the door and held it open for Emma.
“So since you’re keeping an eye out on the terrible twosome, does that mean you’ll be hanging out with me for a bit longer?” She wished she could find a more subtle way to ask. Before the crash, they’d said they’d go on a date and afterwards, Jace had seemed determined to stay with her for much longer than one date. But that was the heat of the moment. Now that the immediate danger was past, she didn’t want to be blindsided by him changing his mind.
He raised a brow and the corner of his mouth hooked up. “Hanging out? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
“Give me a—” Sh
e broke off as she noticed the entryway. What had previously been a crumbled mess was now almost back to normal. The patches in the drywall were no longer noticeable, as though they had been patched and painted over. The color of the walls was the exact same color as before. If it weren’t for the new paint smell, she might never have noticed it was a fresh coat. The priceless antique secretary was no longer in the room, but the entire space had been cleaned, polished, and dusted so all signs of the vandalism were gone. “What happened?”
“I didn’t want you to come back to that,” he said softly from behind her.
“But how? You were with me all day.”
“Well, don’t be too grateful. I didn’t lift a finger. While you were getting your x-rays, I called the owner of that diner who seemed to be so fond of you. I explained what happened and he was more than happy to get a group of guys together.”
Emma’s heart swelled at the sweet gesture. Damn it. She was trying to stay cool and remind herself that she’d only known Jace for a few days, but he was making this whole “not rushing into things” hard.
“Don’t look at me like that.” He intertwined his fingers with hers. “I happened to come into a lot of cash lately, so it’s not a big deal.”
“Well, I happen to have a pretty pink cheerleader’s bedroom upstairs and, believe it or not, no man has ever slept in that bed. It’s no big deal or anything, but how would you feel about being the first?”
His eyes darkened with desire as he looked her over. “You should probably rest.” He moved in closer.
“Oh, I will,” she promised. “Afterwards.”
~~THE END~~
TOUCHING THE BOSS will be released September 2015! Check out mallorycrowe.com for more information and sign up for the newsletter to be notified about upcoming releases, giveaways, and get your free copy of all 3 parts of the Cross Falls Saga!
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