Above Protection (Imperfect Heroes Book 1)

by C. J. Pinard

  I nodded and walked woodenly to the bedroom and began throwing my things into the suitcase I’d brought. I found an empty grocery bag and shoved all the books into it, then closed my suitcase, setting it in front of my room while I did a quick sweep of the house to make sure we don’t leave anything behind.

  I saw Duke’s wallet and FBI badge on the counter and because I couldn’t help myself, I opened it up. I just wanted to see where he lived, as I quite literally knew nothing personal about the guy except for the size of his dick and how well he uses it.

  My cheeks flushed hot as I opened it up and saw his driver’s license. Something wasn’t right. That was his picture. Height, weight, eye and hair color was right, but his name was wrong.

  Royal Wayne Hawthorne

  1858 Seaside Court

  Tampa, Florida

  Royal?

  And his middle name is Wayne! That was just a joke that I’d called him cowboy after John Wayne. Oh, this is rich. I started giggling and closed the wallet, trying to remember I was in a serious situation.

  Duke came around the corner and raised an eyebrow when he saw what I was doing.

  I cleared my throat. “Uh, here ya go, just tidying up before we leave, making sure we don’t forget anything.” I handed him the wallet and badge.

  He eyed me speculatively and grumbled his thanks, walking in the direction of my room. He picked up my suitcase, and I grabbed my purse, the bag of books, and my sweater and walked toward the door. He opened it cautiously and told me to get behind him. He had the gun in one hand, my suitcase in another, and his duffel bag slung around his back.

  I stayed close to the back of his body when he turned his head slightly and said, “Run.”

  I ran behind him and he opened the passenger side door and I practically dove in, breathing hard as he slammed the door closed. He looked around with his gun still up, holding my red suitcase in the other. He quickly popped open the trunk, threw our stuff in there, and then waved the gun around and got into the driver’s seat. I breathed a sigh of relief when he started up the car and pealed out of the gravel drive backwards. He then spun the small car around and darted toward town, my heart in my throat.

  Once we were in town, he drove a little too fast down side streets and then down the main drag where we’d been out shopping. His eyes continually looked between the rearview mirror and the road ahead. He hadn’t said a word the whole 15 minutes, just drove.

  “What now?” I asked when we came to a red light. “Shouldn’t we be leaving town?”

  He nodded and pulled a can of chew from somewhere between the seats. When he opened it, he cursed when he saw it was empty. I smiled a little to myself. He replaced the lid and chucked it behind him with force.

  “There’s a store, do you need to get more? I’m also hungry.”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” he yelled, smacking the steering wheel with his meaty hand.

  His outburst startled me. “What’s wrong, Duke? You’re scaring me.”

  “Yes, we need to get out of town but the agent told me to wait here, they were sending more agents for backup. They’re going to transport you somewhere else. We’ve been compromised, and I can no longer protect you. I’ve made that clear…”

  Tears glistened in my eyes. “But I need you. You’ve kept me safe this far…”

  He whipped his head in my direction and anger was storming in his eyes again. “No, I haven’t! Don’t you see that? We’ve been made! I failed you. I failed us. I’m fucked and you’re fucked, and this whole situation is utterly fucked!”

  I shook my head and said, “Nothing you’ve done has put me in danger. These guys after me are very wealthy and have a lot of resources. I knew they’d catch up to me eventually, but you know what always set me at ease?”

  He just glared at me, his jaw pulsing, his knuckles white around the steering wheel.

  He didn’t answer, so I did. “You. You protecting me. I feel safe with you, and I still do. Please don’t leave me, Duke. I don’t trust anyone else. Just you.”

  I released my seatbelt and leaned over. Brushing my hand along his beard, I stared into his eyes. “Please.”

  He seemed to be defused or disarmed by the gesture, so I climbed into his lap and straddled him so we were face to face. “I need you. I loved last night. Please.”

  He swallowed hard and slammed his mouth onto mine. I groaned when his tongue went into my mouth and I began grinding my hips into his until a car honked behind us.

  He didn’t move. I didn’t move. We didn’t care – we couldn’t. I continued to kiss him with all the gratitude I’d been storing up, and he continued to kiss me back with all the passion and built-up frustration and anger he’d been putting out. We needed each other in that moment, and I wasn’t sure if it was just a temporary thing for him or not, but I knew for me, it wasn’t. After last night, I’d fallen hard for him.

  Shouting and honking continued and I climbed off his lap so he could drive. He pulled into a local convenience store gas station and parked around the back. Looking around and then making sure the doors were locked, he looked at me. His anger seemed to have been chiseled away by our kiss. At least for now.

  “Listen. I don’t want to leave you. I have to. I’m already in the shit as it is at work. I can’t fuck up again.”

  I cocked my head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing. It’s nothing. Never mind. Just know that they now have to reassign you to someone else. I can’t do this.”

  I grabbed his wrist tight and said, “No, tell me what you mean. You’re in trouble at work?”

  He nodded slowly and looked away. “Nobody wants a witness protection assignment, Blondie. I do mean nobody.”

  I was starting to get angry, but I couldn’t quite figure out why. “Why are you in trouble at work, Duke?” I repeated.

  He sighed, and stared out the windshield. “Three excessive force charges.”

  I snorted and threw a hand to my chest to still my heart. “I’m utterly shocked!” My tone was laced with flippancy.

  “You don’t know jack shit, so do not sit there and judge,” Mr. Stormy Eyes said.

  I folded my arms across my chest. “Okay. Do tell. I love a good cop story.”

  Chapter 21

  Duke

  I stared in disbelief at her. She seriously wanted to hear why I’d been assigned to her in the first place? Fucking women. I’m gonna be single forever. She’s gonna hate my ass when I’m done, but whatever. Fuck it. Being single ain’t so bad.

  Taking a deep breath, I rattled off the three stories that had gotten me in hot water at work. I still thought the charges were bullshit, but I was clearly in the minority with that opinion. Once I was done, I waited quietly for her to start screaming at me about what a hot-head Neanderthal I was and how I deserved to be in trouble. Instead, she looked at me with a smirk on her face.

  “Seriously?” was all she came back with.

  “Look. I’ve been at this a while. These criminals, they know nothing but violence and pain – and sometimes you have to speak to them in the only language they understand.”

  She chuckled, that smirk still on her face and said, “I agree.”

  Well, I have not been shocked into silence very often, but this was one of those times. When I finally found my voice, I said, “Wait, what? You just said –”

  “You didn’t let me finish,” she smirked, “I was going to say… seriously? They put you on a discipline detail for that? I don’t really see what you did wrong. Sounds like all the douchebags deserved it.”

  Holy motherfuck. I think my dick just got hard. “You’re serious?”

  She laughed. “Yes, I’m serious. I work in a law firm. Do you know what kinds of scum I see come through the doors every day? Losers who want to sue because they break into a place with the intention of robbing it and then get hurt while they’re breaking the law. Or are crying police brutality because they got pepper-sprayed or the cop dug his knee into the guy’s back
a little too hard after he’d just shot up a neighborhood. Every day I would have to bite my tongue and just do my job because my greedy bosses would take these clients just to get rich. So I get where you’re coming from. The face-bashing into the asphalt on the freeway was a bit much, but…”

  I laughed. “Yeah, that one may have been going too far.”

  There was a tap on my window and I jumped in surprise. Holy shit. I’m the worst agent ever.

  A white guy in a crisp shirt, a red tie, and black slacks was scowling at me. He opened a black badge and pressed it flat against the window.

  Special Agent Jack Morris

  Richmond Field Office

  I was relieved to see backup had arrived. I looked past him to see his plain white government sedan parked behind him, another male in the passenger seat. I shooed him with my hand for him to back away from the car. He nodded and turned to give me enough space to open the door so I could speak with him. All of a sudden, he fell to the ground. I gasped when I saw a young man wearing a black hoodie pulled up over his head and blue jeans. He had a baseball bat in one hand and a gun in the other.

  Grinning wickedly, he tucked the gun into his waistband and wound up the bat with the intention of breaking my window. Rayanne screamed and I didn’t even think. I ducked and slammed the car into reverse, almost hitting the guy. Shoving the car into drive without even looking, I squealed out of the parking lot of the small gas station and hit the main drag without even stopping. I looked in my rearview mirror to see the guy toss the bat and hop on some kind of red crotch-rocket motorcycle and give chase.

  “Dammit!” I yelled, flooring the gas pedal.

  Rayanne was breathing hard, her fingers gripping her legging-pants. “Duke, that was Shane! That’s Elmo’s son! What the hell is he doing? Oh, my God! That must be who’s been threatening me!”

  I nodded. “Yes, he’s wanted by the feds for questioning,” I said, glancing in my mirror to see him on his bike a ways behind me. My eyes bulged in their sockets when I saw two more guys wearing hoodies on motorcycles. A normal civilian wouldn’t notice, but I could clearly see they were carrying pieces under their sweatshirts.

  Fuck!

  The light up ahead was red, but I ran it and continued down the main street. In a last-minute decision, I made a sharp right turn, practically taking it on two wheels. The tires squealed in protest but I kept going. A big brown sign indicating a state park at the corner where I’d turned didn’t go unnoticed by me, but I didn’t care. I had to lose these assholes.

  I could hear their motorcycles following me and I swore. I had to lose them. I took another sharp right, and smoked down a small residential road. Why? Why did I turn down here? That was not a good decision.

  Shit. I have a gun. But they have guns, too. I made another couple of turns and found myself at a dead end – we were at the edge of a tall cliff that dropped off into a lake surrounded by waterfalls. I slammed the car to a stop but I could hear the motorcycles in the distance, but getting closer. I readied myself for a firefight but there was just no way. I was outmanned and outgunned.

  An idea hit me. It was stupid, but I didn’t see how I had any other choice. I put the car in park and looked at Rayanne while I undid my belt buckle. “Take your pants off!”

  Her eyes bulged. “What? Now? We can’t…”

  “Take off your fucking pants. Now!”

  She nodded and kicked her little ballet looking shoes off and pulled up the long black tank top she wore. She slid her crazy patterned legging-things off and threw them at me inside-out. I got out of the car and scooted the seat as close to the steering wheel I could. I removed my belt and looped it through the steering wheel, then secured the other end around the metal bars that held the head-rest. Yanking her pants from the seat, I tied one end around the other side of the steering wheel and the other end of them around the other metal bar of the head-rest.

  She was staring in horror at me. “Get out of the car and run as far and as fast as you can in that direction,” I growled, pointing along the ledge of the cliff we’d just been stopped at.

  This time, she didn’t argue. She slipped her shoes back on and nodded teary eyes at me and began to run.

  With the car still running, I awkwardly half-sat in the car and then cranked the gas pedal. I turned the cruise-control on, threw the car in drive, and jumped out, snatching my gun from the seat before rolling out of the car and into the dirt.

  The small sports car squealed its tires in a cloud of dust just as it went flying over the cliff. I got up and ran to where Rayanne had taken off to just in time to see the motorcycles round the corner. They screeched to a halt and seemed frozen as they watched the small car careen over the cliff. I ran ducking low, catching up to my victim as she was cowering behind a large rock.

  The waterfall at the bottom of the cliff was so loud, I could barely hear anything. Grabbing Rayanne, I hugged her to me as we hid behind the large boulder.

  After a couple of seconds, I peered around the rock to see three thugs in hoodies looking over the cliff in disbelief.

  “They jumped the cliff!” Shane said, waving his handgun around carelessly. “Like Thelma and fucking Louise! They went right over!”

  Shane high-fived his buddies like the idiot he was. I then noticed one of them was a female, the other a white dude, but it was hard to get a description with their hoodies up.

  I then began ticking off my options.

  One, get up and just start shooting and hope I could hit all three.

  Two, stay here until they left.

  Three, wait for backup. Surely the other agent had given chase after he’d seen his partner – Jack Morris – get smacked with a baseball bat?

  “What now?” Rayanne mouthed in my face, her beautiful eyes wide with terror.

  I shook my head for her to be quiet. I still had the gun in my hand.

  Peering around the rock once again, all three heads were turned in our direction.

  “What the fuck?” Shane said, heading toward us.

  It was then I noticed one of the others carried some kind of sub-machine gun.

  “Time to go,” I said, grabbing Rayanne’s hand.

  Then, the shooting started. I shot back until my magazine was empty but I didn’t think I hit anyone. I hadn’t really been aiming. It was called defensive shooting to keep attackers at bay.

  We ran a few feet and realized we were out of land. I didn’t think. I just yelled “Jump!”

  With her scream in my ear, we jumped, hand-in-hand, feet-first off the cliff, falling about 30 feet down into the icy cold water at the bottom.

  Chapter 22

  Rayanne

  I gasped as my head emerged and hit the surface, freezing cold water sputtering out of my mouth as I breathed in deep, my lungs still burning. We’d not been able to keep our hands clasped as we’d hit the water.

  Frantically searching for Duke, I treaded water with my arms and legs while I spun in circles, looking for the man who’d quite literally just saved my life.

  “Duke!” I screamed out, swimming in a circle. I could hear sirens up near the cliff but ignored them.

  “Where are you?” I yelled again, tears threatening to join the beads of water already assaulting my face. My chest tightened and I choked back a sob, refusing to believe Duke wasn’t going to pop up out of the water at any minute now.

  Had he been shot? Maybe he was passed out and sinking to the bottom. I panicked even more.

  Pulling in a big lungful of air, I held it as I ducked into the water and squinted my eyes in the dark, watery murk. I spun around in a circle until something pale caught my eye. Looking down, I could see something moving fast toward me.

  Duke!

  His eyes were open wide and he was shooting up toward the surface. I too made my way up to the sunlight, gasping as I broke the surface. Duke joined me a few seconds later, breathing in hard as water trailed down his hair, face, and shoulders.

  “Duke!” I cried, grabbing his
hand, pulling him weightlessly toward more shallow water. He gave no resistance, just let me drag him until we could both stand.

  He ripped off his wet and torn T-shirt and tossed it into the water. Then, wrapping both hands around me, he smoothed back my sopping wet hair. “Angel. You saved me,” he said, water dripping from his beard and lips.

  I mimicked the gesture, smoothing back his dark hair from his face and flicked my eyes between his. “No, Royal. You saved me.”

  “Tsk, tsk. Nobody says the R word.” He smirked and pushed a finger over my lips. Suddenly his smirk was gone, replaced by a somber expression. His finger stayed on my lip for a minute, then trailed down my chin as he leaned down to kiss me. It was hard, desperate, and full of so much passion, I thought I might pass out.

  When he broke it, he pulled a dripping wet hand out of the water and put it on my face. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  I nodded, my teeth taking my bottom lip hostage. “I’m glad you’re okay, too.”

  Duke looked up at the cliff we’d just jumped from and I followed his stare. There was nobody there.

  He looked back to me and kissed me again, pressing his hard, wet, cold body against mine. Not that I minded. When we broke apart again, I said, “Isn’t this breaking some kind of rules? Crossing some sort of professional line?”

  He ran a finger across my forehead, down my cheek, and down to my bottom lip. Staring into my eyes, he said, “Sweetheart, we’ve already crossed so many lines, we’re tripping over them.”

  I smiled at that. Not just because we were rule-breakers, but because Duke didn’t care. I didn’t care. We knew our feelings and attraction to each other didn’t obey rules like professional conduct and agent-victim protocol. We had gone from two entities to a united one. As we held each other tight, the roaring sound of the waterfalls crashing behind us, I smiled up at Duke. He was so beautiful, so strong, so courageous. Yet, in these past eight days I had managed to see the entire spectrum of emotions and sides he had. Vulnerable, strong, weak, overpowering, sexual, protective. And not one of them turned me off. I loved everything he had put out and more.