Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
The idea of handcuffs being slapped on my wrists had me shaking.
“Hold it together,” I whispered to myself. I couldn’t lose my shit right now. I needed to keep it together for JJ. I needed to make sure he got the attention he needed.
Despite the thought, I could already hear my cell door closing behind me. There was only silence.
I shook my head and forced the thoughts away. It didn’t matter. JJ was safe. I could survive in a world in which all of my rights and freedoms were taken from me. I couldn’t survive in one that didn’t include JJ.
He shifted next to me, his side briefly brushing mine. I thought he was going to collapse so I grabbed his arm, but he pulled it away.
“JJ—” I began as the scream of the sirens grew closer and closer. The cops were just seconds away.
“Shut up,” he responded, his voice sounding weak and tired.
Before I could say anything else, JJ did something I never would have seen coming. He stepped forward and swapped our guns so that mine was in front of him and his in front of me.
JJ quickly stepped back and held his arms up, his ID in hand. Whatever pain he’d been in seemed to have eased enough for him to be an active participant in what was happening.
“What are you—?” I began as I tried to make sense of what he was doing.
“Is your gun registered?” JJ asked.
“What—?”
“Cass, is your gun registered?”
“Yeah, it’s the one I owned before I went in.” I was sure JJ flinched when I mentioned the start of my incarceration. I had no clue what was happening. What I did know was that he had the perfect opportunity to do what he’d wanted to from the moment he’d confronted me on the canyon road.
Even though I knew JJ was going to let me hang out to dry, I couldn’t make sense of how he was planning on doing it.
JJ’s safe. He’s safe.
I couldn’t get the image out of my mind of JJ standing point blank in front of the gunman and not even attempting to defend himself. My heart was still beating so hard that the pulse point at my jugular actually started to hurt.
Too close.
It had been way too fucking close.
I was dimly aware of JJ identifying himself, which meant the cops had arrived. I didn’t move as strange hands began patting me down. I could hear the jingle of handcuffs.
“Bruce, it’s me,” JJ called.
“JJ?” a strange voice responded. “What the fuck?” the guy added, his voice sounding downright cheerful considering the scene he’d arrived upon. “How you been, kiddo?”
The interaction was so unusual that it snapped my attention back to the present.
A paunchy older officer with a scraggly beard was striding toward JJ. JJ had already lowered his arms so when the officer reached him, there was a brief handshake and then a quick embrace where the older officer patted him on the back.
“Been better,” JJ said. “Case went sideways,” he added as he glanced over his shoulder toward the body of the man I’d shot. As a formality, the paramedics were checking his vitals.
“Oh yeah, you’re working for your brother’s company, right? Heard you were babysitting that cute little thing with the big tits; the one from that show my girls can’t get enough of,” Bruce said with a hearty laugh.
“Jenna Masters,” JJ supplied. “She lives up the hill. She’s pretty shaken up. Not sure who the guy is, but he took a shot at me and my partner. I chased him on foot down here and cornered him,” he said easily.
“This your partner?” Bruce asked. His voice faltered when he finally got a look at my face. “Wait, aren’t you—?”
“He is and no, he’s not my partner,” JJ said.
I could feel the noose closing around my neck. One of the officers was already in the process of reaching for my arm so he could lower it to cuff my wrist. It was all I could do not to deck the guy so he wouldn’t be able to put those metal rings on my wrists.
“He’s my backup, though,” JJ added. “My brother felt sorry for him and hired him to shadow us so we’d have backup if we needed it. We needed it,” he explained. “My partner’s up at the house with the client. Like I said, she’s pretty freaked out about all this.”
“Understandable,” Bruce murmured as his cold eyes raked over me.
Yeah, I was fucked. I would have plenty of time to think about why JJ had made up the story about me being his backup. I doubted Sully had told his brother I’d been following him at Sully’s request. I hadn’t seen Sully since I’d walked out on him a week earlier. I also hadn’t told him that I was, in fact, still shadowing JJ. Sully had mentioned that he had people watching JJ twenty-four seven, but who knew if he was still doing that. As it stood, JJ’s older brother might already know I was still keeping my eyes on his kid brother.