Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33310 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 167(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“If...” I pulled back, my face crumbling. “If something happens to Sasha, or the baby—”
“It won’t,” Sean said quickly, shaking his head. He put a hand on my hip, rubbing me softly. “I promise.”
He pulled me around as he kissed me then, different than Damien’s, but just as electric and just as passionate.
I turned and grabbed Hunter by the shirt collar, kissing him and feeling the shiver run through me at the deeply masculine growl that rumbled in his throat.
“Alright, let’s do this thing,” Sean said, nodding solemnly. “On my mark, we—”
The sound of gunfire had us dropping to the ground, Hunter scrambling to cover me with his body as the tree-branches exploded like fireworks around us. The house suddenly lit up with floodlight, illuminating men in black with guns running out of various doors and from around the side of it, all converging on the thicket of trees we were in.
“Now!” Damien roared, lunging to his feet with the gun in his hands blasting as he lurched out of the tree. Sean and Hunter exploded after him, roaring and laying down fire as they made a break for the house.
The gun was like dead weight in my hands, and sweat suddenly broke out on my back. I could feel my heart pounding like a truck engine as I watched the scene unfold as if in slow motion. Sean, skidding to a stop behind a tree stump, his expression grim before he whirled around and squeezed off a few rounds into three men in black running towards him. They dropped to the ground, and Sean ducked back behind his cover as another fresh spray of lead raked the wood beside him.
I could feel the cool of the gunmetal in my hot palm as I watched Hunter and Damien rush to cover him, hurdling over a fallen tree and bellowing like warriors as they rushed the group converging on Sean.
Then it was chaos, like little vignettes flashing before my eyes. Sean jumping back up, and slamming his gun into the gut of one of the goons who’d tried to dash around his cover. Hunter dropping four more bad guys in cold-blooded precision. Damien roaring as something hit him in the arm, spinning him around and dropping him to a knee before he lurched back up, face a mask of rage as he shook off the hit and kept advancing.
And for a second, it really looked like we were winning. The three men advanced steadily on the mountain lodge, and more and more goons fell under their honed skills. I made a move from the stand of trees where I’d been waiting, darting behind the men as they advanced on the big glass wall that faced the huge patio.
“Behind us, Ari,” Hunter said breathless, his jaw tight and his gun trained on the glass door to the still-dark-inside house. “Stay—”
“That’s far enough!”
The lights suddenly kicked on behind the glass wall, illuminating the scene inside.
And the whole world went cold and slow around me.
There was Mark, an arm around Sasha’s throat and gun in his hand.
A gun pointed right at her belly.
Her face was drawn but, it wasn’t fear I saw etched across my friend’s face, it was defiant fury.
Everything exploded in chaos after that. Damien and Hunter and Sean with guns drawn, roaring for Mark to drop his. Mark screaming back, a crazed, wild look in his eyes as he alternated between pointing the gun at Sasha and waving it them. I could still feel my blood pounding in my ears, the hair on the back of my neck prickling as the raw fear and fury of the moment blasted through me.
The screaming was getting louder and louder, every single second feeling more and more tense until there was no way it couldn’t shatter.
That’s when it all went dim around me.
That’s when I suddenly tuned it all out, ignored all of it, and concentrated on one thing.
I looked up, almost in slow motion, and locked eyes with my friend. I weighed the gun in my hand — cool, heavy, full of purpose. I squeezed it, running my thumb over the ridges of the grip and feeling my breath slow to a crawl. Everything around me slowed to nothing, the yelling and gun waving tuning out until it was just me, the gun in my hand, and my best friend.
I looked up and locked eyes with her.
She nodded.
Sometimes you just have to jump in.
I raised the gun in my hands, my fingers curling around it as I looked right at Sasha.
“Jump,” her lips said silently.
I pulled my eyes from her, locked them on Mark, centered the gun, and squeezed as hard as I could.
The gun exploded in my hands, and for one quarter second, everything was frozen.
And then just as suddenly, it roared back to full speed.