Once a Vamp addict, always a Vamp addict. Until death.
No. If it was the last thing he did, he’d get her answers. He’d find something to help her dad.
Shhhh. “Ash,” Reese’s voice rose through the static in his earpiece. Shhhh. “Ash. Are—” Shhh. “There?”
One arm tightened around Sam, and he lifted his other to place a finger at his throat, turning on his mic. “I’m here,” he said. “What is it?”
Shhh. Shhh. “Lorena.” Shhh. Shhh. “Way.”
Shit! The shipment!
His grip tightened on his service weapon, and he started to spin toward the exit.
“Do not move, mi amante,” a woman spoke, holding a handgun of her own.
Chapter Thirty-One
It was her. The beautiful woman from Club Hell. The one with the cat eyes who had squeezed Heinrich’s junk.
“Lorena,” Ash said, stepping in front of Sam.
Lorena? That’s Lorena?
Sam leaned around Ash’s body to get a better view of the woman who had once held Ash’s heart.
Lorena’s lips curved slow and deliberate. The white of her teeth gleamed brilliant against the deep crimson of her lips. Much like when Sam had seen her at Heinrich’s club, the woman wore a tailored dress that accentuated her voluptuous curves. Her spiked heels reinforced her fierceness.
“Well, well,” Lorena’s voice, heavily accented in Spanish, spoke. “What have we here?” She focused her gun on Sam and Ash as her other hand gripped her full hip. “I did not think I would see you again, Ash. And with a woman. I am wounded. I thought we had something special.”
Ash’s body shifted, blocking Sam’s view. “I’d say that was blown to pieces when you shot me and left me for dead, Lorena. Where are my men?”
She laughed and waved her hand nonchalantly through the air. “Yes, so imagine my surprise at seeing you now. Plus, I remember you shooting first.”
“Answer my question, Lorena,” he said in a tight voice. “Where’s my team?” Fear rolled off his body in waves.
Lorena’s eyes sparkled with unconcealed excitement, and Sam trembled in response. Please let Ash’s team be okay.
“Stop toying with me,” he said in a tight voice. “Where are they?”
Shrugging, she said, “Captured? Dead? Truthfully, I do not care. You are the one I wanted.”
Sam slid a glance at Ash. His expression didn’t crack, but horror flickered in his eyes. Her heart ached for him. Based on what she knew about Lorena, Sam could only assume the worst.
Lorena peered around Ash’s large frame. “Who are you hiding, mi amante?”
Sam sidestepped from behind Ash, despite his arm reaching out to keep her in place. “Samantha Harper.”
Lorena grinned, her expression telling Sam she remembered her from Club Hell as well. “Lorena Serrano.”
Ash moved in front of Sam again.
Tempted to roll her eyes, she made a deliberate move around him. If he was going to face Lorena head-on, they were going to do it together. His evils were hers now, too.
Sam stood at his side and placed her hand in his, squeezing.
He slid her a look from the corner of his eye. His expression was so impassive, she couldn’t tell if he was pleased or annoyed by the move. She didn’t care. She was there for him. From here on out.
Lorena spread her legs a bit and balanced on the skinny heels, her gaze dropping to their joined hands. “You have moved on.” One corner of her lips dipped as if she couldn’t believe her statement.
Ash remained silent, neither confirming nor denying.
Sam’s body thrummed with awareness. Lorena’s weapon was fixed on Ash’s chest. On his scar. The one she’d given him. Bulletproof vest or not, he wasn’t invincible.
His gun hung in his hand at his side. He wouldn’t be able to raise it before Lorena got her shot off. And the woman surely wouldn’t miss. Only Sam’s aim was that poor.
Sam squeezed his hand again. She needed to get the attention away from Ash. She hated that he was in the line of fire. Vulnerable.
Anger built inside of her. She couldn’t stop it. Didn’t want to. “You shot him,” she said, spitting the words at the other woman.
Lorena’s piercing gaze jerked to Sam. “As I said, he shot first.”
Ash squeezed her hand almost to the point of being painful.
Sam stepped forward, ignoring his warning. “He didn’t mean to get that little boy killed.” Ash held her hand and pulled her back to his side. “It was an accident.”
“Quiet, Sam,” he said.
“Accident?” Lorena’s grin disappeared. “Accident?” She sliced the gun through the air toward Sam. The barrel pointed at her heart. “It was no accident.”
“Goddamn it,” Ash said. “Lorena, stop this.” He made a move to sidestep in front of Sam, but Lorena sent him a warning look.
“I would not do that, mi amante. Or I might accidently pull the trigger.” The hand on her hip lifted to join the one grasping her 9mm.
He froze. “Lorena, don’t do this. There’s no justice in taking another life. It won’t bring Armando back.”
“Perhaps.” She surveyed Sam, closing one eye as if gauging her aim. “But it would make me feel better to take someone from you. Someone you care about. I want you to feel my despair. I want you to wake up screaming in the middle of the night, remembering you will never see her again.”
He dropped his hold on Sam’s hand and lifted both hands in surrender. “Lorena, please.” His tone was soft as he took a step toward her. “Think about what you’re doing.”
Sam couldn’t let him do this. Lorena was unstable. Distraught with grief over losing her son. She wasn’t thinking straight. He’d get himself killed trying to reason with her.
She had to do something.
“Do not take another step, Ash,” Lorena said.
With Lorena’s attention diverted, Sam jumped in front of Ash, stretching her arms open wide. “I won’t let you hurt him again.”
“Damn it, Sam,” he said, reaching for her. She dodged him and stood an equal distance between him and Lorena.
Lorena’s eyes widened, and her grin faltered. “That is not your decision. Ash and I have history.” Her lips curled in disgust. “We are connected in a way you will never be.”
Low blow, but Sam let it slide.
“Then you really don’t want to do this. You can’t hurt him. You’d regret it. And your son wouldn’t want you to do that to yourself.”
Lorena made a noise of disgust, and the gun trembled in her hands. “Do not speak of mi hijo!
“Sam,” Ash warned. “Get back.”
“No,” she responded.
Lorena’s features hardened as she shifted the barrel toward his chest. “Quiet!”
Sam softened her expression. “Think about it, Lorena. You said it yourself—you have history together. Why would you want to destroy that?”
“He took him,” she said, her features still hard as a single tear glided down her cheek. “He took him from me, and I want to kill him for it.” She aimed the gun at Ash’s head. She inhaled a deep breath and then her grin reappeared. “But I think I will hurt him another way instead.” She swung the gun toward Sam—
“No!” Ash leapt forward, crashing into Sam and tackling her to the floor.
The gun went off.
A searing pain invaded her skull and chest. She winced and bit back a scream.
Ash covered her body with his. She lay on her back, he on his stomach. His face buried in her shoulder.
He didn’t move.
His breathing was slow and deep.
Sam scrambled to get up, but he was so heavy. He pinned her to the ground.
Lorena’s heels clicked across the floor, circling their bodies. She locked eyes with Sam.
Lorena was coming back to finish the job.
Sam swallowed the enormous lump in her throat.
“Ash,” she hissed into his ear. “Do you hear me? We need to move
. Now!” She pushed against him, but he wouldn’t budge.
Something warm touched her shoulder and spread across her chest.
Oh God. Blood.
The sound of his faint breathing filled her ears, the only indication he was still alive. But for how much longer? She had no way of knowing how serious his injury was.
“Ash,” she said. “Ash, do you hear me?”
No movement.
Lorena raised her 9mm, the trajectory aimed between Sam’s eyes. She was a goner for sure.
I’m not ready.
Lorena’s lips curled into something resembling a gleeful sneer.
As a last ditch effort, Sam bucked her hips with all her might. Ash shifted atop her, sliding slightly, his arm falling to the side. Something clunked onto the ground next to her hip, so she reached for it. The cool metal of his gun touched her fingertips.
“Adios, Samantha.”
Sam gripped the handle and slipped her arm around Ash’s body, hugging him between both arms and pointed the pistol at Lorena’s chest.
As Ash’s slowing heartbeat tapped against her, his shallow breaths blowing into her ear, she closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Ash peeked one eye open, squinting at a bright light overhead. He blinked to clear his blurred vision. Voices echoed from a distance, a television talked on low volume, and a constant beeping sounded next to his ear.
He had trouble moving, his body feeling like he’d been whipped around in a blender. Everything hurt. Especially his left shoulder. He reached for it, but something held his right arm back. A cord connected to his wrist.
Ah, fuck. He was in a hospital. After being shot. Again.
How long had he been here?
Sam. Where was Sam?
He opened the other eye, trying to get his bearings, and attempted to lift his head.
“Take it easy, Coop.” Calder lounged in a chair next to the bed, his feet propped up, and a soda can in his hand.
“What happened?” He hated being a goddamn invalid. Lying on his back, helpless. He searched for the button to incline the bed but winced when a pain sliced down his left side.
Calder’s feet dropped to the ground, and he reached toward him. The bed inclined, almost folding Ash in two.
“Lorena used you for target practice again,” Luke said, slouching back into the chair. “This time she clipped your shoulder. Same side though.” He tilted his head all the way back and drank from the can. After swallowing, he said, “The hole Lorena’s got is a hell of a lot worse.”
Ash rubbed his forehead, trying to recall the events. He’d heard gunshots but that was all.
Luke placed the drink on the side table and laced his fingers behind his head. “You seem confused, so let’s do a recap. Lorena went after Sam. You took the bullet instead. Passed out like a damn wimp. Then your girl shot Lorena. Hell of a shot. Tyke was pissed he didn’t get to do it. It was all over by the time we got there.”
“What happened to you guys? How the hell did Lorena get away from you?”
Luke made a sound that was half grunt, half snort. “Because she’s a sneaky bitch. We were distracted by her men. She brought a whole damn fleet of them. Somehow while we were trying to contain them, she ran off. We tried to warn you, but all we got was static.”
“Is Lorena dead?”
“Hell yeah, man. That bitch took a bullet in the face. No way was she walking away from that.”
Lorena threatened Sam. Now she was dead. Jesus, Sam intentionally killed someone. Pointed the gun and pulled the trigger. The weight of that realization almost sent him into cardiac arrest. How was she coping? Was she racked with guilt? Knowing her, she was. Hurting another human being wasn’t something she could take lightly. He knew exactly what kind of mind-fuck killing someone did to a person.
Where was she? Likely somewhere far away. She probably couldn’t bear to look at him for dragging her into his shit with Lorena.
Or… Oh Christ. What if… What if she’d been shot?
He cleared his throat. “Sam. Is she…?”
“She’s fine. You were on top of her. Lorena couldn’t get a clear shot.”
“Where is she?” He had to see her. Wanted to see for himself that she was unharmed. He wanted to touch her. Hold her. Tell her.
“She went to grab a bite to eat with the guys.” Luke stood and opened the blinds on the window, letting in a steady stream of bright light. “Better bring me something back.”
Ash squinted and turned his head toward the hallway. Nurses and doctors buzzed past his room in a hurry. “Jesus, Luke.”
When he turned back, his friend shrugged and sat in the chair again. He reached for his soda, tilted his head back, and then tossed the can into the nearby trashcan like a basketball. “Your girl won’t leave. She’s been here since they brought you in.”
His body surged to life with that information. She won’t leave. “How long?”
“Three days.”
Three days. Sam had been here for three days, sitting by his side, waiting for him to wake up. She cared about him. She had to.
“What about Heinrich?”
“In custody,” Luke said. “Sawyer helped clean up the mess with Heinrich while Tyke, Reese and I handled the drugs on Lorena’s boat.”
“So the COMs came back up long enough to dispatch Sawyer and his boys?” A freight train of a migraine pounded its way through his brain at everything he’d missed.
Luke shook his head. “Nope. Sawyer got nervous when he didn’t hear anything but nonstop static. He pulled his men back and headed to the port to offer extra hands. We had Lorena’s men handled by the time they showed up, so Sawyer helped get the drugs into DEA hands.”
Movement by the door caught his attention. Sam held a tray of plastic cartons piled high in her palm. Her smile was wide and exactly as he’d dreamt over the last three days. His gaze raked her trim body, a warmth spreading through him at the sight. She was safe. And she hadn’t left him.
He smiled back, feeling absolutely no pain.
Tyke and Reese stood behind Sam, holding plastic containers of their own. They glanced at one another and shifted their weight from one foot to the other. “Guess we’ll chow down in the cafeteria,” Tyke grumbled.
Reese lifted his shoulders as if to say, Cool with me.
Luke glanced between Ash and Sam, a stupid grin on his face. “I’m gonna give you two some time to catch up.” He stood and turned to the door, craning his neck back. “Good to see you among the living, Coop.”
He stepped around Sam and reached for the plastic carton in Tyke’s hand. Tyke growled and yanked it back. “Get your own grub, Calder.”
“Aww, come on, man,” he said. “I’m hungry.”
The three stepped into the hallway and turned in the direction they’d just come from.
“You’re always hungry,” Tyke said as the group retreated.
Sam settled into the chair Luke vacated. She placed her cartons on the side table. “You’re awake.”
“I am.”
“I went to get food with Bryan and Jason.”
“I heard.”
The air between them thickened, charged with everything that had gone unsaid. She stared at her flip-flops, wiggling her unpainted toes. She wore one of her slim-cut tank tops again. He watched the rise and fall of her breasts as she breathed. She was nervous, though he had no idea why. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“You too,” he said, meaning it. If something had happened to her. If Lorena had hurt her… “Luke told me what you did.”
Her gaze slowly lifted to his. Worry blanketed her expression.
His lips curled. “I’m proud of you.”
A rush of air blew from her lips, and her blue eyes opened wide. “You are?”
He nodded. “I am.”
“You’re not mad? I mean, I killed your ex-lover. But I had to,” she rushed to say. “She was going to kill me. She
even told me good-bye. Well, she didn’t say good-bye exactly. She said adios. But that’s good-bye in Spanish. So I knew I didn’t have much time. And you were passed out on top of me. I could barely breathe. You’re so heavy. And your gun fell out of your hand. I grabbed it. And—”
He laughed at her rambling. “Sam.”
She paused and looked at him.
“Come here.” He opened his good arm, signaling for her to join him. He was so relieved she had saved them both, and she hadn’t been hurt, he couldn’t stand not touching her for another minute.
She paused, gazing at the monitors surrounding his body. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Right now, I don’t give a shit if you cut off both my arms. I need you with me.”
Her cautious expression changed, and the rigidness in her spine relaxed. She slid onto the bed, curling her body into his so perfectly.
He rested his chin on the top of her head. “You saved the day.”
Wrapping her arm around his stomach, she squeezed. “You saved my life. If you hadn’t jumped in front of me and knocked me over, she would have killed me. I saw it in her eyes.” She tilted her head up to look at him. “I can’t believe you did that. You took a bullet for me.” Her eyes were open and honest, making him feel ten feet tall. His goddamn ticker swelled in response.
“Of course I did. There was no other option. I wasn’t going to let her take you from me.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “You were right, you know.”
When her eyebrows scrunched in question he said, “I do need you. I should have told you before. I thought keeping you away was the best way to keep you safe. But now I see I was stupid. I’ve never needed anything the way I need you. I can’t imagine my life without you.” He paused, preparing for the right execution. “Sam.”
She peered at him, wearing the most beautiful smile.
He was finally whole again. Like a man who deserved her.
Tightening his hold on her, he looked into her eyes. “I love you.”
Her smile transformed into a broad grin. “I love you, too. And I hope this means you’re going to stick around for a while.”
His hand caressed her back, and he chuckled. “Yeah, I think I can work something out.”
On Her Six (Under Covers) Page 26
