And then he took a deep breath and went underwater, completely disappearing from sight. Barely several seconds later, I heard him break the surface and take a breath. I knew he was just on the other side of the boat, but it felt like he was miles away.
The faint sound of sirens in the distance was music to my ears. I whispered a silent thanks to the man who heard me cry for help and dialed 9-1-1.
Help was on the way.
The boat dipped a little, sinking down, and forced me farther into the water, up to my chin. A light tapping sound overhead made me look up, but of course I saw nothing. I knew it was Brody, but I had no idea what he was doing.
Surely he wouldn’t climb up on top of the boat, giving those men an easy target.
“Look!” someone yelled. “There he is!”
What the hell was he thinking climbing on top of the boat?!
Before I could call out and tell him what a damn idiot he was being, the sound of gunfire filled the air.
17
Brody
I was pissed.
Actually, pissed was an understatement.
I felt like killing someone. And since I was an officer of the law, my life was being threatened, and so was the safety of the public, I had every right to shoot back.
So shoot the fuck back was what I was gonna do.
I might not have a home, per se, because the last few years of my life were spent in a rented, undercover, ugly-ass house with a granny-pink bathroom, but this lake was a place I’d been visiting since childhood. It was familiar, and it was as close to home as I had right now.
That meant these douche bags had come up in my house, shooting.
I knew Taylor was scared and wanted me to stick close by her side, but doing that wouldn’t help our situation. So I left her beneath our pathetic excuse for a boat and came up to the surface. I was going to use the bottom of the boat as a shooting deck.
I knew I wouldn’t get all three of them, but I might be able to bring down one or two. And once I did, I was going to make him talk.
I levered myself up and leaned against the side of the boat, letting my forearms rest on the top as I took aim with my .45 at the guys who were frantically watching the surface of the water for my body to start floating.
Just as I lined up my shot, one of the guys saw me and they all drew their weapons.
The first shot I fired hit one of the guys in the shoulder; the bullet slammed into him and sent him spiraling backward until his ass hit the dirt. One of his buddies looked down to help him, and I fired off another shot, catching him in the calf.
It was sick, but I enjoyed watching the bullet pummel his flesh as drops of red burst outward and speckled his skin. A couple shots came in my direction, one of them close enough that I felt the heat from the metal as it whizzed by my head.
I shot a couple more, causing the two guys who weren’t lying on the ground bleeding to scatter backward.
The magazine in this gun only had about fifteen bullets in it, and I wasn’t sure how many I already fired off. Five? Six? I didn’t know, but I knew I only had so long to run these guys off.
The sound of sirens drew closer and I knew it would work to my advantage. The kid with the bleeding calf dragged himself over to the passenger side of the nearest SUV and scrambled inside. I shot the ground where he was standing to make him rush.
The remaining uninjured guy fired off a shot at me and I leapt back as the bullet grazed the top of the boat. Taylor made a sound of distress, and my back teeth slammed together. It pissed me off she was in danger again.
The guy in the car was yelling for the other one to hurry, but he was slowed down by the fact he was trying to drag his bleeding, whining friend along with him. I shot at the ground again, scattering a little bit of earth up into his face. He dropped his buddy and looked up. I shot again, this time catching him in the hand gripping his gun.
He yelled and dropped the weapon. He didn’t even glance back at his buddy this time. He just jumped in the SUV and drove off, leaving his “friend” to look out for himself.
Not only was he a killer, but he was dishonorable as well. It just went to show how desperate Snake was to get rid of me because he sent a loser like that to finish me off.
As soon as the dust flew up behind the getaway car, I shoved the gun in the back of my water-logged jeans and dove off the top of the boat. As I swam quickly toward shore, I felt the stitches in my side rip open, the sting of an open wound an unwelcome guest to this party.
By the time I made it to the bank, the abandoned crewmember had staggered to his feet, clutching the shoulder that hung unevenly from his body as it gushed copious amounts of blood. I hadn’t really meant to hit an artery, but I wasn’t sorry about it either.
I gave the guy ten minutes if he didn’t get medical attention.
Ten minutes remained of his life, but I only needed about three.
I stalked the short distance from the bank and plowed into him. He stumbled and would have fallen, but I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked. This time, he would have fallen forward, but my fist stopped him.
I plowed it into his jaw, enjoying the burst of energy I felt move through my body when my fist rammed his flesh.
He made a groaning sound and fell onto his back, rocking a little, trying to stop the pain. I leaned over him, grabbing his blood-soaked shirt once again. “Where’s Snake?” I demanded.
He coughed, little drops of blood scattering over his face.
“Where. Is. Snake?” I ground out again.
“I don’t know.” He lied.
I shoved my thumb into the bullet wound. He screamed. The squishy flesh felt spongy beneath my finger and blood oozed anew.
“Tell me!” I roared, pulling back my fist to hit him again.
I wasn’t above torture. These were criminals. Known druggies, killers, and thieves. They were tough, but I knew how to make them talk because I learned from them.
His lip split when I punched him, and his head snapped to the side.
“Downtown Raleigh,” he said, coughing and spewing more blood.
“Where?” I gave my fist a rest and just glared down at him.
“25th street. Apartment A.”
I yanked him up a little farther so I could stare directly in his face. “You better not be lying.”
He grinned; his teeth were outlined in red. “We both know I’m dead either way. Might as well take down the guy who sent me here.”
“Enjoy hell,” I spat and tossed him onto the pavement as two patrol cars ripped around the corner with their lights flashing.
“See you there,” he whispered as I turned away.
His final words would likely haunt me. Not because they were threatening, but because they were true.
The cop cars skidded to a stop and they both flung their doors open and crouched behind them, raising their guns at me.
“I’m officer Brody West,” I called, lifting my hands. “Two of the perps took off that way in a black SUV. One of the passengers is shot.”
One of the officers jumped back in his car and drove off in the direction I pointed.
The other one lowered his gun and walked cautiously around the hood of his car. “What the hell is going on, West?” he said, and I recognized him as one of the officers who was part of the bust at the old gas station the other night.
“My cover is blown. Thanks to Snake, I just became the most wanted cop within the organization.”
Officer Newman shook his head and bent down to check the pulse of the man lying on the ground. “He’s dead.”
“I shot him after he opened fired on me and my girl.” Thoughts of Taylor had me dismissing the case and spinning toward the water where I left the boat.
Fear spiked in my veins as I imagined the worst: that she got hit again and was bleeding out or drowning while I was over here beating a guy for the last moments of his life.
What the hell kind of man was I?
But Taylor wasn’t dea
d.
She wasn’t floating in the water or bleeding out.
But she wasn’t hiding under the boat anymore either. Instead, she stood in front of it, soaking wet and pale, looking toward me and the officer with a drawn look on her face.
I knew then she saw what I had done.
She saw the way I got the information I needed.
And she didn’t like it.
Suddenly, I felt like some adolescent kid who brought home four D’s and an F on my report card and I was standing there silently awaiting judgment by my mother.
Fuck that.
I was a grown-ass man and sometimes I had to do things most people would think were shitty. But I did them because they needed to be done. Because sometimes getting answers required getting my hands dirty.
At least she had the luxury to pass judgment on me. She wouldn’t if I didn’t act the way I did.
“You got this?” I asked Officer Newman, motioning to the body with my chin.
“Yeah.”
I went back into the lake, swimming out to where Taylor stood barely moving as she watched me draw closer.
When my feet hit the bank of the shallow section, I stood up, looking down into her jade eyes. “Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“How’s the arm?”
“Wet.”
I felt my lips twitch but forced them not to smile.
“Come on.” I offered her my hand. “We can’t row the boat back, but I’ll help you to shore.”
She gazed down at my hand stretched out between us and then looked up. She recognized the test I was giving her. She knew her reaction to my offer would likely tell me everything I needed to know.
Did I still have a chance with her?
Or…
Would watching me shoot a man, then beat him make her shrink away from my touch?
She looked at my hand for long moments before reaching up and pushing it aside. I won’t lie; something inside me sank a little. Her rejection (even though suspected) stung like hell.
Before I could turn away, she moved, not away, but closer. Instead of taking my offered hand, she leaned up and wrapped her arm around my middle and pressed in close against my chest. It took me a minute to react, a minute for my brain to catch up to what my body was already feeling. I brought up my arms; they kind of hovered behind her. I was almost afraid to hug her, to hold her close. What if she changed her mind?
“I’m sorry you had to do that,” she said, her voice muffled against my wet T-shirt.
“You saw?” I asked, wanting to make certain she saw it all.
“Yes, I saw.”
I lowered my arms back to my sides. “It isn’t the first time I’ve done something like that. I’ve done worse.” My heart was thumping slowly in my chest, almost like it was hesitating the same way my arms had.
I hadn’t realized how important her opinion of me had become in such a short amount of time. I realized I wanted to be worthy of her. I wanted her to see past the man I was paid to be, to somehow look inside me and see the man I’d forgotten.
“I know,” she whispered. “It’s okay.”
My heart stuttered. “What?”
Her head tipped back. “I don’t care, Brody. I know that’s not who you are.”
I didn’t hesitate a second time. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close. “It’s part of me.” I cautioned, not knowing why I bothered. I shouldn’t try to push her away, not now, not after something inside me already claimed her. Whatever part was holding me back was broken and now lay shattered at my feet.
She pulled back. “You’re a lot like an uncut diamond.”
Was this one of those moments when her complete girliness was going to come out? Why the hell was she talking about diamonds?
“An uncut diamond has a rough exterior and maybe even a couple flaws, but underneath are brilliant qualities.”
“You think I’m brilliant?” I asked, feeling a grin split my face.
“I might not go that far.” She scoffed.
A weight I didn’t even know I bore lifted off me, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like maybe I wasn’t as lost to myself as I thought.
It was a good feeling.
“Does this mean you believe you’re more than a job to me?” I asked, stepping up close and invading her personal space. I liked invading her space. I wanted to get all up in her space.
“I believe you.”
It was like someone gave my dick a green light because the minute the words left her mouth, blood began flowing down into my pants, like an insane adrenaline rush that only happened in my lower body.
Another patrol car and an ambulance pulled up to the scene, and I was reminded that this wasn’t a good time for my other brain to take control. I ducked down in the water and offered Taylor my back. “Come on. I’ll do the swimming.”
Once her arm and legs were fastened around me, I swam the short distance to shore, where everyone was waiting to take our statements.
The first thing I did was set Taylor down in the back of the ambulance and tell them to check her stitches. “Don’t give them a hard time this go around, ‘kay?” I told her after draping a blanket around her body. Then I pressed a kiss to her damp hairline and left her in the capable hands of the EMTs.
Officer Newman was standing beside the body, along with two other officers I knew from the RPD. “Before he died, he told me where Snake was hiding.”
They all looked up, interested.
“I want a patrol car out there now to pick up his weasely ass before word of what happened here gets to him.” That reminded me of the two men who ran off before the police arrived.
“What about the runaway black SUV?” I asked.
“All in custody,” Newman answered.
I nodded. Then we still had time to get to Snake before someone else did. He might have been able to get away and hide in practically plain sight for the last couple days, but he made a mistake.
He came after me… after Taylor.
“Let’s go. We need to go make the arrest.”
“Uh, West?” said the officer beside Newman, looking at me.
“What?”
“You might wanna go get looked at by a medic.” He pointed to my side where the torn stitches were bleeding anew and a red stain was spreading across my drenched shirt.
I sighed. I was getting sick of bleeding.
“Let us handle the arrest,” Newman said, slapping me on the back. “You have enough to deal with.”
Refusal was on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to be there to see the look on Snake’s face when they slapped some cuffs on his wrists. I wanted the satisfaction of being there when he went down.
I glanced over my shoulder at Taylor, who was huddled in the back of the ambulance, frowning at the EMT who was cutting away the drenched bandages on her wound. If I left now, then no one would be here with her but strangers.
I couldn’t leave her here alone.
“Yeah, okay.” I relented. “I should probably get this sewn back up.” I pointed to my side. “Some dry clothes might be nice too.”
Newman nodded briskly and then looked at the man next to him. “Let’s go make the arrest.”
The pair started off toward a cruiser, and I called out behind them. “Call me the minute he’s in custody.”
Newman waved and drove away.
I felt Taylor’s stare and turned, our eyes connecting from several yards away. A possessive feeling unfolded inside me and an urgent need clawed its way to the surface. Usually, I claimed a woman with nothing but my body—with nothing but my dick. But this was wholly different. I hadn’t even had her in that way yet, but she was already mine.
And as soon as this mess was cleaned up here, I was going to have her completely.
18
Taylor
It was not quite dinnertime when Brody finally pulled his truck into the driveway of my dad’s house. After everything that happened, the hour felt like it should be
much later.
Thankfully, neither one of us needed to make another trip to the hospital. My stitches were looked at, the area around them was cleaned, dried, and then a new bandage was applied. They even gave me a new sling, which I refused to put on until I got out of these annoyingly wet and grimy clothes.
Brody required a couple new stitches, which he insisted they do right there instead of him going to the hospital. Since his shirt was also drenched with water, he opted not to wear it home (and just ruin the new dressing over his stitches), so I had been constantly trying (and failing) not to stare at his hard body and chiseled muscles.
I found myself daydreaming the entire ride home about using my tongue to trace along the tattooed path of the vine that wound its way down his arm.
My father wasn’t home yet and I didn’t expect him until very late. Since the robbery, he and all the executives had been working practically around the clock, putting out fires and dealing with angry members. Thankfully, word hadn’t gotten out about what happened today, so I opted not to tell him just yet, but to wait until things calmed down. There was really no use in worrying him anyway. He already had enough to worry about.
And truthfully…
I knew if I told him, he would come home. I didn’t want him to come home. I wanted to be alone with Brody.
The stark possessiveness and want in his eyes made my toes curl against the floorboard of the truck and my teeth chew the inside of my lip with mouth-watering anticipation. My God, the thought of his rippling muscles and sleek tattoos sliding over my pale and boring body was enough to stop the heart in my chest.
The inside of the house was quiet and felt cold. It wasn’t that the AC was turned especially low; it was more because I was still slightly chilled from our impromptu dunk in the lake. Goose bumps raced over my skin as we stepped into the house and locked up the door behind us.
“I need to get out of these clothes,” I said, my eyes straying down to the black duffle bag in Brody’s hand.
I looked away and pressed a hand between my breasts, trying to rub away the ache that formed there. When I suggested we stop at his place to get him a change of clothes, he told me he didn’t have a place of his own.
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