"The armory. Tell me where the fuck he is," I said as I walked out the door.
"Wait. You just can't go running around half-cocked," she yelled from inside the room.
My anger wasn't trying to listen to any voices of reason. I just found her, and I wasn't about to lose her to some asshole looking for revenge. Opening the door to the armory, I was shocked to see Jackson strapping on a Kevlar vest.
"What are you doing?" I asked, brushing by him to grab what I needed.
"You think you're doing this shit on your own?" he asked, snapping a magazine into his gun.
"I'm not putting you in danger for my personal shit, Jackson."
"I'm not fuckin' asking," he replied, holstering his gun. "Besides, I'm tired of this family bullshitting with your time."
"Why?"
"Because your time is my time, and there's nothing I hate more than some fucker wasting my time. So whenever you're ready, get your shit together and let's go get your girl."
It had been a long time since I'd seen Jackson suited up and in the field. I had to admit, I was a little excited to fight alongside my mentor, but it came secondary to saving Celeste from the maniac who thought he could come into my house and take what he liked.
"You think you can keep up, old man?" I asked, strapping on my vest.
"I was doing this shit before you were even a twinkle in your mama's eye, son," he said, standing at the door waiting to leave. "You think you're gonna be ready in the next century?"
"I'm ready. I'm ready," I said, sliding an extra 9 mil into my leg holster.
He started down the hall. "Riley has already given me the coordinates of the meet."
"What if it's a trap?"
"Oh, you know this shit's a trap. No two ways about it," he said, pushing his way out of the side door.
"Whose car we taking?" I asked, staring at his gunmetal black Tesla Model S Limited seated on 22's.
"Don't even think about it," he said, standing next to his '69 Dodge Charger.
"Really? You're gonna take your baby out?" I asked.
The '69 was his pride and joy and only took it out on special occasions. And when I say special occasions, I mean the Pope or the President coming to visit.
He banged on the hood of the car, and said, "This baby is my good luck charm, and I'd say we need all the luck we can get today. Don't you?"
I nodded, walking away from the Tesla and toward the Dodge.
CELESTE
He smelled like an ashtray with a bit of whiskey and tequila mixed in. If I wasn't so scared, the smell alone might have made me throw up, but I wasn't focused on his smell. I was focused on the gun he was waving about as he erratically walked around the room.
Suddenly and without warning, he kneeled next to me. "I'm gonna take this gag off you. If you scream, you aren't gonna like the consequences. Nod if you understand," he said, standing over me, looking just like Rez.
I nodded, and he removed the gag from my mouth. "Why are you doing this to me, Ryker?"
"Why did you kill my brother?"
"Because I had to," I replied.
"Seems like we both have the same reason then," he said, walking toward the table.
"You can let me go. I won't tell them where you are," I begged with tears cascading down my face.
He chuckled. "You think I'm scared, baby girl?"
"You should be."
"I told that fucker right where I was. I got guys posted everywhere. He ain't gonna even make it out his car."
"Just let me go, Ryker."
"Shut the fuck up. Have some fuckin' dignity."
I couldn't hold back the tears any longer, and the wails that accompanied them. They burst out like a damn breaking forth.
"Shut the fuck up!" he yelled, running back over to me before backhanding me in the cheek.
The jolt sent my body flying to the left and on to the floor. I winced at the searing pain which radiated through my jaw to the back of my eyes.
"I don't know what my brother ever saw in your whiney ass. Sure you're pretty, but that's it. Must be a good lay," he said, eyeing me from above.
Using the tip of his boot, he pushed my shoulder back, allowing him to see my face. He trailed the boot down the length of my arm, over my hip, and down my thigh, sliding it between my knees.
"Are you a good lay?" he asked with a hint of curiosity in his tone.
"No," I replied through gritted teeth, trying to force my knees closed.
"It's gonna take a lot more than your word to make me think otherwise," he said, forcing my knees apart with his boot.
"Please don't," I begged profusely.
HUNTER
"This is it," I said, looking at the small dot on my GPS. "This is where Riley says it is."
Jackson looked around the abandoned industrial lot. "Yup, definitely a trap."
"What's your plan, boss?" I asked, scouring the rooftops of the dilapidated buildings, looking for hints of a sniper.
"Headshots. Headshots all the way through," he said, slowly coming to a stop behind a large dumpster.
I stepped out of the car and instantly a bullet zipped by me, lodging itself into the roof of the Charger.
"Fuck me!" Jackson yelled. "My, baby!"
"Shouldn't have brought her," I said with a slight chuckle as I panned the area the bullet came from.
There was a slight movement behind a stack of concrete blocks about a hundred feet from us. Inhaling a deep breath, I slowed my heart rate, focusing in on the area.
As soon as I saw a tuft of hair rising out from behind the stack, my fingers instantly squeezed the trigger, firing one round. The bullet made it over just in time to catch the man square in the forehead as he rose from his hiding place.
"One and done, baby. That's how the fuck it goes," Jackson said, firing his gun in the same direction I had just fired in, snagging himself an asshole who had popped up a couple seconds later.
A bullet snapped through the air, grazing the flesh of my arm. "It's like playing fuckin' whack-a-mole," I yelled, shooting the asshole off the roof with two shots to the chest.
"What happened to headshots?" Jackson asked, running over from the driver side to inspect my wound.
"Damn. You see how far that asshole was?"
"No excuses," he said, slapping the open gash from the bullet. "Eh, you'll be fine. Just a flesh wound."
I cringed but shook off the pain, jogging behind him toward the main building. Jackson fired off another round and shot at a man who jumped out from behind a wall, pointing an AK at us through a broken window.
"They're like roaches," I said, firing at an armed guard who was running toward us from inside the building.
My bullet took out one of his legs, but he got right back up and started firing at us. Jackson pulled out an extra 9 mil from his leg holster and began to fire both guns at him.
The man fell to his knees, convulsing as each bullet pierced his torso and head. By the time we approached him, he was dead on his knees. Jackson pressed the muzzle of his gun against the man's head and fired one last round. The velocity of the bullet caused him to fall backward onto the ground; his legs still bent underneath him.
"And I'm the muthafuckin' exterminator," Jackson growled.
"Shit, remind me never to piss you off," I said, handing him an extra magazine for his gun.
After snapping in the new magazine, he said, "Reminder…don't piss me off."
He pointed the gun straight at my head, my eyes widened, and my heart fell into my stomach an instant before he fired. The bullet whizzed right past my ear, hitting flesh and bone behind me.
I spun around just in time to see another man fall to the ground not two feet from me, holding a hunter's knife.
"Son-of-a-bitch," I said in awe.
"Looks like the old man's still got it, huh?" Jackson asked, scanning the area with his gun.
"Stop it!" the sound of Celeste's voice carried from the back of the warehouse.
Jackson locked eyes with
me. "Ready?" he asked.
"As I'll ever be," I said, pulling out a second gun from my holster, pointing it directly toward the origin of the scream.
Jackson started out in full sprint, his gun just as steady as if he were standing still.
This muthafucker is an animal.
CELESTE
"I know you hear all that gunfire out there?" he asked. "That's your boy getting' his ass handed to him."
I knew he was wrong. There's no way Ryker's men were a match for Hunter and his training.
Ryker pulled out a gun from the back of his waistband and slid out the magazine to check the bullet count. Suddenly, the door flew open, with Hunter and Jackson rushing in from outside.
I knew he would save me.
Startled, Ryker wrapped his arm around my neck, pulling me up to my feet, choking me along the way.
"Let her go, Ryker," Hunter yelled with his gun pointed straight at our heads.
"You mean like you let my brother go?" Ryker yelled in my ear.
"Your brother was an asshole, doesn't mean you have to be," Jackson replied calmly.
"I think we're a little too late for all that, old man," Ryker said, pressing the muzzle of his gun to my temple.
"Old man?" Jackson echoed as he stepped forward, cocking his gun.
Hunter stepped ahead of him. "I got this, boss," Hunter said to Jackson.
"You ain't got shit," Ryker yelled, pushing the muzzle hard into my temple, the force causing me to squeal in pain.
"I'm gonna give you one chance to let her go. After that I can't promise you're walking out of here with all your body parts intact," Hunter warned.
"Shoot me, and I shoot her. You choose," Ryker said.
"From where I'm standing I have a clear shot of your medulla oblongata which would render you paralyzed from the neck down. Coupled with the fact I got this gun loaded with hollow points, it's not lookin' like a good day for you, sir," Hunter explained.
"You ain't—" Ryker said right as a bullet zipped by my cheek.
Instantly his grip loosened from my neck, and a split second later he fell to the ground…dead.
I ran to Hunter, throwing my arms around him, burying my face in his chest. Safe couldn't even begin to explain how I felt at that moment.
"Are you okay?" he asked, as Jackson walked by us.
I looked up into his soulful eyes. "I love you," I said, pushing up on my toes to press my lips to his.
"I love you too, baby," he whispered.
"Pretty good shot," Jackson said, holding the phone to his ear, pushing Ryker's head to the side with his boot. "I could've done it without the warning, though."
Hunter smiled and shook his head. "This guy...nothing's ever good enough."
"Riley," Jackson said into the phone. "I need a cleanup."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Penelope Marshall was born in the Philippines, and raised in Southern California.
She picked up writing in early 2016 and instantly fell in love with the craft. Her writing runs the romance gamut from sweet romantic comedies, to tough alpha male military suspense thrillers, with a little young adult, and paranormal thrown into the mix.
A good plot twist is what drives Penelope's writing, striving for that jaw dropping moment at the end of each book.
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ALSO BY PENELOPE MARSHALL
DEADLY SIN SERIES
A BAD BOY MAFIA ROMANCE:
WRATH
For years I was a good wife, watching my husband, Christian, the mob boss for the Cerisi crime family, sleep with every woman in sight.
But all that changed after an impromptu girl's trip to Chicago which led me to a passionate one-night-stand with a handsome, blue-eyed, stranger who was everything Christian was not.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't be a stranger for very long.
All I wanted was to put that night behind me.
All he wanted was to relive it…
DEADLY SIN SERIES
A BAD BOY SECOND CHANCE ROMANCE:
ENVY (COMING SOON)
A year ago I lost the love of my life to a man who didn't deserve her. Honestly, I probably didn't deserve her either.
So, I started over. Ready to dive into my work and forget about women and the heartache they brought. Until my uncle died, yanking me back to a city I wanted nothing to do with—yanking me back to Kelley.
I had left her in my rear view mirror when I was a kid trying to make a name for myself, and seeing her again brought back every feeling I wasn't ready to deal with.
-LIAM
COMING SOON!!!
AN EX-SEAL ROMANCE:
INDECENCY
What happens when two alphas want the same woman?
Death...that's what happens.
Hunter is an ex-Navy SEAL who now works for Citadel, a private security company. A chance meeting with Celeste, after a car accident, leaves him drawn to the wounded girl, who is still covered in fresh bruises from being held captive by Rez, an iron-fisted mafia boss. Hunter promises her safety, but an old friend has the capability of ruining everything with one phone call.
A BAD BOY MILITARY ROMANCE:
BETRAYED
I'd been deployed for too long.
All I wanted was to get back to Sierra and the baby girl she was carrying.
Little did I know what kind of hell I would be walking into the minute I stepped off the plane.
Sierra was gone.
My baby was gone.
All that was left of them was a ransacked apartment and unanswered questions.
She'd left me. Betrayed me.
Well—that's what I thought.
Until I got the phone call...
MILITARY SUSPENSE:
MR. BLACK SERIES
ABSOLUTION
Cole Almen is home from the war, but he suffered a terrible loss…
Cole, a Navy SEAL, has returned home after losing his best friend Ezra right before his eyes. To make matters worse, Cole's roommates are his girlfriend, Catherine, and Ezra's fiancée, Adeline.
Adeline Chevallier blames Cole for her fiancé's death, and so does Catherine…
Adeline is devastated when she learns of Ezra's death, and holds Cole responsible, which makes them so uncomfortable they can hardly look at each other. At first, Catherine appears to be the only thing keeping the house from falling apart, but without warning, her behavior changes, forcing Cole to kick her out. Finally alone, Adeline and Cole form an unexpected bond.
Cole and Adeline are so caught up in these new emotions that they forget about Catherine—and her secrets…
Catherine is keeping big secrets which could destroy everything Cole and Adeline have built. When she finally reveals what she's been hiding, her dangerous inner demons take over. When Cole returns to war, Adeline feels betrayed by everyone she holds dear, and does her best to move on.
Cole is miserable during his deployment. When he comes home from duty, he is determined to be with Adeline, but doesn't even know how to find her.
Cole is trained to save people, but can't seem to save the people he treasures most. With his life in turmoil, he's running out of time to turn things around…
And Adeline might just be his last chance at Absolution.
UNLEASHED
Elijah Black, a hardcore Navy SEAL, eats, sleeps, and lives for his missions—and little else…The self-proclaimed playboy has no time for relationships, unless it's between the sheets. So he's more than happy to leave for his newest mission, a quick extraction of a terrorist believed to be responsible for a series of bombings in Europe. But the mission doesn't go as planned, and the terrorists take Elijah prisoner.
Nasima was only supposed to care for his body, not his heart
…
As the nurse charged with keeping the prisoner alive, Nasima is alone with Elijah every day. Sparks fly between them, but Elijah makes it clear he cares little for Nasima's traditions and only wants her for her body. Still, she grows to care for the broken soldier, and it isn't long before she begins to dream of abandoning her strict upbringing for Elijah's tempting embrace.
A passionate encounter leads to more than just feelings…
After Elijah's failed escape and another beating, Nasima is found comforting him and suffers the consequences. Just as Elijah realizes he will do whatever is necessary to save her, but before they can get to safety, Nasima reveals a secret that may be Elijah's undoing.
Will Nasima's secret keep her from breaking through Elijah's tough exterior in time for another escape, or will he decide to make the journey alone?
A VAMPIRE ROMANCE:
ROSALINE
Prepare to be thrust into the world of Rosaline and Gideon. The story of what happens when a vampire finds her soulmate in the most unexpected place...a place that will send her world crashing down around her.
After a few hundred years of vampire secrets are revealed to Rosaline, she runs away into the forest in search of the truth, only to find herself caught amidst the tragic death of an innocent. Rules have been broken and someone must suffer the consequences, but will it have to be her?
The answer lies in her choice: fulfill her duty to family, or follow the path destiny has laid out for her.
Teach Me: A Bad Boy Professor Romance (The Me Series Book 1) Page 18
