Page 41 of Gabe (Blue Team #2)

The dickhead who was beating on me grunted and stumbled back but Evette didn’t let up. Blow after blow landed on his head and face yet she kept going.

So fucking brave.

Acid flooded through my veins at the sight.

My gut churned and it had nothing to do with my concussion and every goddamn thing to do with my woman putting herself out there to protect me .

All fucking wrong.

So wrong that when the fury built I used it to push aside the pain and dizziness.

With more effort than it should’ve taken I pushed off the wall and two sets of combatants danced in front of me. One pair was Evette and Dickhead, the second pair a ghosted double.

“Stop!” I shouted and Evette stepped to the side as my fist connected to Dickhead’s jaw.

Searing, red-hot, pain reverberated up my arm, pausing to swirl around my gunshot wound, then it continued to travel to my ribs where, in case I’d forgotten, I was reminded my ribs were broken.

I pushed past the nausea and landed a left hook.

Dickhead wobbled back out of my reach and my beautiful, brave warrior slammed her metal club into the back of his head and Dickhead crumbled .

“Check him for a gun.”

Through a blur, I saw her kneel. Her hands moved over his prone body until she waved a handgun around in front of her.

Jesus Christ.

“Finger away from the trigger.”

“Right. Here, you want it?”

I reached out and she placed the gun in my hand. I didn’t need to see it to know it was a Glock. I didn’t bother checking the magazine because I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on counting ammo without vomiting.

It was getting worse.

We had to go.

“Check to see if he has a wallet, phone, and keys.”

Once again Evette made short work of following my orders.

“Wallet. No keys.”

She stood and shoved Dickhead’s wallet in her pocket and picked up her baton.

“All right, now listen. We don’t have much time. Run as fast as you can into the living room. Kitchen counter, table, couch, look around for keys. I’ll be right behind you. If someone comes in scream, then do the same thing and fight.”

This was a new kind of hell. The deepest, fiery, burning hell where instead of me clearing the house making it safe for my woman to follow I was sending her out in front of me.

What kind of man am I?

“Okay.”

“Go, baby, do it now. Be fast.”

Evette took off like a shot and just watching her swift movement had my stomach roiling and my eyes blurring until black spots dotted my peripheral.

I just had to make it out of the house and a few hundred yards away, then I’d be able to convince Evette to leave me behind.

Slowly, with my hand on the wall for support, I dragged my broken ass down the hall.

Evette came running back and did a skidding halt in front of me .

“No keys but I found a phone and I don’t think the other guy is here.”

Fuck .

Dickhead’s words came back to me— give her a ride to the nearest gas station.

That meant we were nowhere near civilization.

“Does the phone have service?”

“Yeah. One bar. I think it’s a burner. No code to get in it.”

“I need you to dial a number for me.”

“Oh-kay.”

Her voice was hesitant and a little shaky but for the most part she was holding it together.

“You’re doing good, honey. We’re almost out of here.”

I gave her Zane’s number and when she was done I asked her to hit send. She handed the ringing phone to me.

“Lewis,” Z clipped.

“Zane. It’s me.”

“Christ. Where are you?”

“No clue. A cabin somewhere. Evette said all she saw was trees all around. Listen, we need to get out of here. Evette took out one motherfucker but there are two, so before the second gets back we need to leave. But if we’re in the middle of nowhere I doubt we’ll get much service.”

“Leave the phone there. I’ll call in Garrett and he can track it.

We know who took you and the only remote property they own is in Big Island, Virginia.

Coop and I are two hours out. If I’m right, it’s a half-mile dirt road to Blue Ridge Parkway.

You’ll want to follow that east. Now here’s the issue—you’re high in the mountains and you’ll need to go twenty miles on that road before you hit anything.

Take to the woods and there will be a creek.

Stay near that creek moving east. We’ll find you. ”

“Copy that.”

“Gabe?”

“Yeah.”

“How bad?”

I swallowed before I admitted, “Bad.”

“Just you or her, too?”

“Just me. ”

“Fuck. Will you be able to hold on until we get there?”

“Negative. We’re hitting the woods and I’ll find the creek and get us as far as I can. But, Z, it won’t be far.”

I heard his swift inhale followed by a string of colorful curse words, most of which were nonsensical.

“Brother, I need you to hold on.”

“Just get my woman outta here, Z. I’m counting on you.”

“You know it. But I’m getting you, too.”

“Sure. I’m setting the phone down and we’re leaving.”

I didn’t wait for Zane to get the last word in like he normally insisted. I handed the phone back to Evette and told her, “Don’t disconnect the call and put the phone on the counter. Screen down.”

“Should we Google map our location or something?”

In a perfect world—one where I wasn’t going to pass the fuck out at any moment—yes, looking up our location would’ve been smart.

In a scenario where I wasn’t fucked-up and worried I wouldn’t wake up again after I was out we would’ve stayed at the cabin and waited for Zane and Cooper.

But the waves of dizziness were coming faster and lasting longer.

My vision was darkening. I needed Evette out before Asshole came back.

If Zane said he knew where we were, then he knew. He was rarely wrong and if he had any doubt he would’ve told me.

“No time. We have to be gone before someone comes back. Zane’s two hours out. We need to get into the woods and disappear.”

“Okay.”

Thank fuck.

Evette hustled across the room and set the phone down. Once that was done I grabbed Evette’s hand and without Asshole Associate there to stop us, we walked right out.

The problem was, we walked. We didn’t run. I didn’t cover Evette as we made our way to the woods. I wasn’t scanning, looking around, or examining our surroundings. I was concentrating on staying upright. That meant it was up to Evette to get us where we needed to go.

That hit my gut like a lead weight.

“There’ll be a creek,” I told her. “We need to follow it east. ”

“Okay.”

Her hand in mine tightened and she quickened her step, tugging me along.

“How bad is your vision?” she whispered.

Fucking hell.

Through swollen eyes, I fixated on the thick underbrush and couldn’t make out anything more than a blob of greenish-brown. There was no definition of leaves, grass, dirt, trees. I couldn’t see where one bush stopped and another began. Everything was a haze and with each step, it was getting worse.

I evaded Evette’s question and instead said, “We got two hours until Z and Coop come up the mountain.”

“Gabe—”

“We’ll find the creek, follow it east until we put some distance between us and that cabin, and wait.”

“Gabe—”

“Walk, Evette,” I snapped.

Then I stumbled, damn near taking her down with me. We would’ve gone down if Evette hadn’t shoved my chest upright and braced.

“God fucking dammit.” My vision darkened and swayed again. “ Fuck !”

“Okay, Gabe, I get this is hard for you but I need to know—”

“You do? You know how hard this is for me that I fucking failed you? That I can’t fucking protect you? That I had to ask you to fucking protect me? That I can’t even goddamn walk? That once again I’m powerless and this time with my woman in tow.”

“Yes, Gabe,” she hissed. “I know how hard this is because I know the man you are. I know whatever’s happening with you is worse than the cuts, bruises, and blood still oozing from your head.

I also know how fucking hard it was for me to listen to you getting beat to a pulp while I sat powerless to help you.

I get it. You’re a man, all man. Boy, do I get it, and I love that you are.

I love knowing you’d do anything including getting beaten almost to death to protect me.

But something you are not getting is that I am a woman.

All fucking woman, Gabe Harris, and I will protect what’s mine with my last breath.

And that means, right now, I get to repay what you did to protect me.

So tell me how bad is it so I can do my fucking job and get my man to safety. ”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Tell me how to tell which way is east,” she demanded.

“Fuck.”

“Sun rises in the east, sets in the west,” Evette mumbled and a few seconds later she continued. “This way.”

With a gentle tug, she tried to propel me forward but instead, I hauled her back so we were face-to-face.

Up close I could make out her pretty features.

The cuts on her forehead and blood caked in her eyebrow caught my attention.

Slowly and shakily I raised my hand. Ignoring the screaming pain in my shoulder and ribs I clumsily brushed my fingers from her temple down to her jaw then let my hand fall away.

“I have a concussion. The dizziness is getting worse and pretty much everything’s a haze. I need you to take the gun. And when we stop, I’ll explain how to use it. In the meantime, if someone approaches just aim and shoot. I don’t know how much ammo’s in the magazine though.”

Evette nodded and returned, “We’ve never talked about this but I’ve been going to the range with my dad since I was thirteen. He had guns in the house and his first priority as it should be was gun safety. I know how to shoot. Not great but well enough.”

Relief washed through me. Not enough to clean away the acid that had burned my insides but enough to know that when I passed out she’d have a weapon.

“Good. Take the gun and let's move.”

Evette reached around me and pulled the Glock from my waistband. After that, she brushed her lips feather-soft against mine.

“I love you, Gabe, and I promise I got this.”

Jesus fuck .

“I know you do, honey.”

Then she resumed her position in front of me, found my hand, and my woman did what she said she would do, and walked us to safety.