Page 127 of Protecting Peyton

He bent down to kiss me.

The enormity of today slowly sank in. There were a dozen ways Zane could have been a minute later, or not found me in this backyard, and I would have ended up being carried off by these thugs. I turned and kicked Baldy again. “Asshole.”

Yates pulled out his phone. “I’ll call 9-1-1 to get this filth picked up.”

Zane waved at him. “No. We have a chat with them first.”

Yates’s brows creased. “Should we check with Lucas?”

“This is the procedure,” Zane said. “We don’t take no for an answer, and we have methods of persuasion that the cops can’t use.”

A week ago, his statement would have put me off, but these thugs had been ready to deliver me to a murderer, and that altered my perspective. A dozen movie scenes of interrogations ran through my head, and none of them repulsed me.

“You aren’t talking about waterboarding, I hope?” Yates asked.

I noticed Long Hair cringe.

“Of course not.”

Yates relaxed.

Zane laughed. “That takes too long. Electricity works better. It’s easier to dial up until we get what we want.”

The three moaned, but I knew psychological intimidation when I heard it and added to Zane’s approach. “I want to help with the jumper cables.”

Zane looked confused. “Are you sure, Angel?”

“I want to see if they cooperate better if I attach the cables to their dicks or their balls.”

Our captives squirmed.

Yates did as well. He hadn’t caught on to Zane’s tactic. “Maybe I should call the police.”

Zane’s smirk said he got my drift now. “No need. Since they attacked Peyton, it’s only fair that she gets to take part in the interrogation.” He added a wink that none of the three stooges could see. “And her experiment is one I haven’t tried yet.”

Baldy puked. It sprayed across Long Hair’s back.

“Okay,” Yates said, smiling. “I’ve got a decibel meter on my phone, so we can see which one works better.” Now he was getting it.

A smell wafted up from the ground. One of them had shit himself.

“We’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Spider Tat said.

“Yeah, anything,” Baldy and Long Hair agreed quickly.

Yes, my badass SEAL had just gotten three hardened criminals to agree to spill their guts without even lifting a finger.

As he held me, I looked up into his piercing eyes. It was official. I was falling for this man. “Can I still do my experiment? Please?”

Take that, you assholes. I was only half joking. I’d happily watch the electricity turn their dicks to charcoal for trying to hurt my man.

Zane’s smile lit up my world. “You know I can’t deny you when you ask like that.” I’d remember those words when I asked him to take me later.

CHAPTER 30

Zane

After zip-tyingthe three dirtbags on the ground and with my woman safely in my arms, the world was finally right, at least for the moment.