Page 31 of Anchor (First to Fight)

“What are you gonna do with that, little girl?” Jones asks, but his hands ease fractionally and Gabe’s eyes find me over Jones’ shoulder.

“I’m going to blow your head off if you don’t let him go in the next ten seconds.” Surprisingly, my hands are steady for the first time in hours as I nudge his shoulder with the gun. “Now, I said get up.”

Jones waits a few seconds and then eases back on his haunches. “I should have killed you when I had the chance,” he growls.

“Too late,” I respond with a sickly sweet smile. Gabe coughs as he gets back to his feet. I offer him a hand up and say, “Are you okay?”

He does a weird shrug/nod that I take to mean yes. His feet are steady, but his eyes are still haunted. He gestures for the gun, but I hesitate for a second.

“I’m fine.” He gestures again, and I hand it over. The gun in his hand restores some of his confidence and he straightens. “Get Tyler up on the line and tell him we’re about fifteen miles northeast,” he says.

“What are you gonna do?” Jones goads. “I don’t think you actually have the balls.”

Gabe points the gun at Jones’ leg and fires off a round. I can’t help my shriek of surprise—or the flinch. Jones howls and collapses on the floor.

“If you don’t want me to give you an identical one in your other leg, remove this collar.”

I gasp. “Gabe, no.”

“It’s fine,” he says without looking at me.

“But he could detonate it.”

He shakes his head as he and Jones share a long look. “He won’t do that, will you Jonesy?”

“How could you possibly know he won’t kill us all?”

Gabe’s response chills me to my core. “Because he wants to see me suffer and an explosion would be over too quickly. Jones here says he’s been planning this for a while. He wouldn’t want it to end without having a little fun first.”

“I don’t—”

But Gabe doesn’t listen. Instead, he crouches to where Jones is now kneeling on the floor and says, “Get the goddamn collar off of my neck or I will shoot you.”

“Let me—”

“No,” Gabe interrupts. “Me first. He needs me. He’d be too tempted to hurt you to spite me. He’ll do me and then you’ll explain to me how he did it, so I can take yours off next.” When I don’t move he stands, gun still trained on Jones, and his dark eyes come to me. “You understand?” he asks.

The words are stuck behind a tangle of fear in my chest. I know my eyes are wild and wide, but I nod anyway. Instinctively, I trust him like I’ve never trusted anyone before, in spite of the news about Jones’ wife.

Gabe softens a little and hooks a hand around my neck. He forces me to look at him and then presses a soft, swift kiss to my lips, sending a shock throughout my entire body. My hands lift to guard against the onslaught, but end up gripping the still-slick material of his suit instead. Short though the kiss may be, it is unequivocally shattering.

When he releases me the barest of seconds later he positions me behind his back. I’m both numb and electrified and the combination short circuits my thoughts until I hear Jones working on the collar around Gabe’s neck. My breath catches in my throat as Jones carefully maneuvers around the inner workings of the collar. Gabe and I hold a collective breath when the catch releases. I can’t even bare to look.

A few seconds later, I peer through one eye and find Gabe rubbing his naked neck with one hand. The collar dangles from two long, tan fingers and he holds the gun loosely in his other hand.

Jones looks up at him, his face carefully blank. “What now, Gabe?”

Gabe sets the collar down carefully on the table, then gestures with the gun. “You’re not done yet, Mr. Jones. Her next. I hope you have steady hands.”

“Great,” I mutter as I move next to him.

“Did you talk to Ty?” Gabe asks as he moves behind me.

“No,” I hiss back, “I was too worried about the bomb around your neck.”

He puts a hand on my back and nudges me forward. “I’m right here, Chloe.”

I’m pretty sure I don’t breathe until Gabe leans forward and says, “That’s it. You’re okay.”