Page 35 of Beneath the Burn

The double gunshots stunned Jay in mid-stride, shattering his pace into a stumbling stagger. The man dropped to the ground, as did Charlee.

The echo of the blasts lingered in alley, ringing in Jay’s ears. A river of red seeped from beneath her face where it lay on the man’s chest. Not her blood. No, it couldn’t be hers.

Hands shaking, heart roaring, he skidded beside them, fell upon his knees and pulled her into his arms. Was she hit? Breathing? Other than the spots of crimson dotting her chest, her shirt was free of bullet holes. Yet, she hung lifelessly in his embrace, eyes closed.

Blood caked one side of her face. It also puddled on the pavement. Streams of it trickled from the hole in the Asian man’s chest, who lay on his back, unmoving.

Colson squatted and touched the meaty neck. “Dead.”

The validation did nothing to soothe Jay’s hammering heart. He let her legs drop to his lap as he groped for a pulse in her throat, uncertainty resonating in his constricting chest. Then he felt a steady thump against his fingers. He choked, exhaled.

Hand on her chin, he turned her head, wiped the blood from her cheek, and searched for injuries. There. A graze marred her earlobe and another at her hairline behind it.

Life was made up of a series of defining moments, but the instant his eyes rested on those wounds, the very second he realized how fucking close that bullet came to killing her, every harrowing moment of his life before it burned away.

Her lashes fluttered and she looked up, squinted. “My head hurts.”

He ducked his head and kissed her cheek. “Because you just used up another one of your nine lives. Problem is, I don’t have nine lives and I fucking die every time you do. No more near-deaths, okay?”

A small smile shook her lips. “‘kay.”

Momentarily paralyzed by her eyes drifting closed and the memory of the gun in her face, he blinked through the shock, and alertness snapped back in a painful spasm. He needed to get her the fuck out of the alley.

Gathering her close, he climbed to his feet and whirled in a circle, marking an overfilled dumpster, parked cars, an iron fence peeking through wild vines. Were there more men with guns out there, watching?

Around the corner, the parking lot woke with approaching footsteps and excited voices. At his feet, the blood was drying beneath the sun and breeze. And somewhere Roy fucking Oxford was orchestrating his next step.

Colson nodded to Tony and took off toward the lot and the growing crowd. Tony moved to Jay’s side with her gun hand out between them, muzzle pointed skyward. She tilted her head with a finger on her ear piece and glanced up at the top of the building.

Jay followed her gaze. Did the curtain move in one of the fourth floor windows? Charlee and Nathan’s apartment? If he couldn’t move her to the car, her apartment was the next safest place. “Which one is hers?”

Tony held up a finger. “Copy.” The way she continued to listen to her wireless com while wildly scanning their surroundings kept him rooted where he was, his heart beating a furious rhythm.

Her gaze flicked to him. “We’re on our way.”

“Was that Nathan?” He tucked Charlee close to his chest, her slight weight a comforting presence in his arm.

She nodded and spoke low in his ear. “He doesn’t believe the gunman would be here alone. Their apartment is secure, so we’re moving there until the rest of the team arrives.”

Charlee tensed in the cradle of his arms. Her eyes were closed, but a tremble rippled over her body.

The chatter in the parking lot grew louder. Multiple footsteps shuffled closer. Colson whirled around the corner and ran toward Jay and Tony. “Cover the principal. The shots drew a crowd.”

Jay’s blood heated and hairs on his nape bristled. Another gunman could be mingled in with the approaching crowd.

Colson and Tony shifted into their protective formation, pressing their backs to his flanks, closing in tightly with their gun hands at their sides.

Eyes sweeping the fence line, rooftop, windows, and blind corners, Tony applied her usual pressure signal—tapping her elbow beneath his—to set the pace and direct him to the back entrance of the building.

As dozens of wide-eyed, slack-jawed spectators filled the alley, all he could think about was holding Charlee as close as possible and how incredible it would’ve felt to have her arms wrapped around him, holding him back.