Page 29 of Traitorous Lies (Prey Security: Charlie Team #6)

Chapter

Fifteen

Fear gripped him as Jax shoved Monique to the ground and flung his body protectively over hers, covering as much of it as he could.

Had she been hit?

He didn't feel any burning pain to indicate the bullet had struck him, but then again, adrenaline had flooded his system and could very well be masking it. Still, he was able to think clearly and move so if he had been struck, he didn't think it could be a life-threatening injury.

Already his weapon was in his hand, and he scanned the area where the shot had come from. Without shifting his body from where it kept Monique pressed into the ground, he spotted a shadow and lifted his weapon, firing off a single shot.

When no more shots came, he had to assume that he’d hit his target.

Hit that one, but there’d be more out there.

More coming.

And it was just him there to protect Monique.

Waiting another full minute to make sure there hadn't been another shooter within range, when no more shots fired he eased up an inch off Monique, just enough that he could look down at her and see her face.

Wide eyes stared up at him, and he could see her pulse fluttering in the hollow of her neck. But she was alive and breathing, and that allowed him to take a full breath.

“Are you hit?” he asked, keeping his voice pitched low.

It wasn't just a guess that the shooter wouldn't be there alone. He’d dealt with the teams her father kept sending several times over, and it was never just one man. At least another five would be out there somewhere, possibly in the woods already, possibly waiting in a van hidden somewhere close by. Wherever they were, they’d have heard the shots and be coming. Could already be on their way.

“N-no, I don’t th-think so. They followed you here,” she said, her voice shaking, and her body joining in, he could feel it trembling beneath him.

“Yeah, they did,” he agreed.

Now wasn't the time to get into a discussion on whether these men had been sent by her father.

Jax knew they had, but Monique wasn't in a place where she was ready to accept that yet. Although she was getting there. She’d been willing to talk, he knew she was even though she hadn't said the words, and he wasn't going to go and die, or let her die, until they had everything between them straightened out, and had hopefully lived a long and happy life together.

“We’re going to run for my car, okay?” he told her, still scanning the area so he was prepared for the next shot when it came.

“Why not my house?”

“Because there are more of them than there are of us, and I don’t want us to get trapped somewhere. My car can move, can get us out of here. If they contain us in the house, they can just call in more men, and I’ll never be able to pick them all off before they get to you.”

While Jax knew originally he had been her father’s target, since Monique had been dragged into this he had to assume that her father now viewed her as a liability who had to be eliminated.

Her father had to know that he’d told her everything, but had no idea that she was so far defending him.

All Samson Kerr had wanted to do all along was clean house and keep his secrets.

Unfortunately, his own daughter had now become a problem that needed to be cleaned up and disposed of.

Not going to happen.

Not on his watch.

“Okay,” Monique agreed, looking up at him with such a trusting expression that his heart squeezed painfully tight in his chest.

Already once before he’d let her down. In fact, he was the one to drag her into this mess to begin with. And yet she still believed that he could get her out of this alive. That trust humbled him even as he knew it didn't extend to anything other than him keeping her alive.

Still, if she could trust him to do that, he had to believe that with enough work on his part he could gain back all her trust.

“On three we’re going to move. You’re going to jump straight into the driver’s door since it’s closer and open. Then you're going to climb over to the passenger side and get down in the space between the front of the seat and the dash. Can you do that for me?”

“You can't drive and shoot back at them if they shoot at us,” Monique protested.

“I can and I will.” He would do whatever it took to get Monique some place safe.

He’d always known that her father would have someone watching her property, and that person would report back that he was there, still in contact with her.

It was a calculated risk since her father might only act if Jax was still there, but then again he might not, and there was no way he was going to leave her alone and unprotected.

“No, Jax, let me drive.” Her hands gripped the front of his shirt and clung to him. She was clearly terrified, but determination also shined in her eyes.

It would make it easier to be able to focus on eliminating threats if he wasn't also driving the vehicle, but it would also put Monique in a more vulnerable position.

“I can do it,” she said before he could disagree. “And we go on three, you get in first so you can get into the passenger side. One, two, three.”

Since she was already wriggling out from underneath him, there was nothing else he could do but move along with her, although he stayed behind her until they reached the car, then he hurried in, knowing if he refused, she wasn't going to budge .

Little minx was going to be punished for twisting his arm like that. Keeping her safe was his top priority, she should know that. Yet she’d made it impossible for her not to get her way without delaying their departure with an argument.

“Not cool, princess,” he muttered as she slammed the door closed and turned the engine on.

“I was just making the best decision for both of us,” she said stubbornly as she shot him a frown before gripping the wheel.

“The best decision is whatever keeps you the safest.”

“No. I might still be hurt that you weren't honest with me, but I don’t want you hurt and certainly not dead. I don’t … I don’t know what happens next. Between us, I mean. But I do know that a part of me would die if you did.”

For a second, their gazes connected, and he felt it zing between them.

The connection he’d felt that very first second he laid eyes on her.

She felt it, too, he knew she did, could see it in the emotion that flared in the stormy gray depths of her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Monique. For everything,” he murmured.

“I know. I forgive you. I don’t want to die holding onto that anger. I want you to know that I think we can work things out. I don’t want this thing between us to end the way it did.”

Relief had the air whooshing out of his lungs in a rush. It was everything he’d wanted to hear from her, but everything he hadn't been sure he ever would.

“Thank you, princess. I swear, you won't regret it.” Leaning over, he crushed his lips to hers in a quick kiss.

“But you should know, that little stunt that you just pulled to get your own way, you're going to be punished for that. I’m thinking I’ll keep you on the edge of an orgasm for hours, until you're begging and pleading to come, and only when I'm sure you understand that your safety is always going to be my top priority will I let you.”

Monique sucked in a breath, her eyes wide, but darkened with desire. His girl didn't want to be treated like a china doll, that’s what she’d told him, and he had no intention of treating his strong, sweet warrior like she was fragile when she was anything but .

“Drive, princess,” he ordered gently. They’d been lucky that no one else had come yet, but there wasn't just the one shooter out there, and they’d already tempted fate long enough.

With a shaky nod, she pressed on the accelerator, and they headed down her driveway.

Once they put a bit of distance between them and her property, he’d call his brothers, let them know what happened, and that they needed a flight out to Delta Team’s secure compound.

The Delta Team guys really did have to be annoyed with all the flying backward and forward they’d had to do for his family, but they were good men and wouldn't complain, even if they would have preferred not to have their privacy violated.

They were almost to the road when the bullets started flying, and as he opened his window and tracked where the closest shooter was, Jax prayed that Monique had what it took to drive under immense pressure.

If she didn't, if she panicked, if his decision to allow her to drive and him to shoot wound up backfiring and cost them their lives, he would die with that regret sitting heavily on his shoulders.

November 10 th

10:09 A.M

Panic thrummed inside her.

Buzzing about like a swarm of angry hornets.

But ruthlessly, Monique beat it back.

This was her plan, and now her and Jax’s lives were depending on her holding it together and driving them out of there. Not holding it together was not an option.

Especially with the promise of Jax’s intriguing punishment hanging in the air.

A stupid thing to be thinking about as she jammed her foot on the accelerator and zoomed them faster down the driveway, but it helped to give her a tangible reason to keep a lid on her fears.

Something small but pleasant to focus on.

Something that wasn't tied up in an emotional tangle like her relationship—whatever that was going to look like—with Jax.

Being brave isn’t about not being scared.

It’s just about doing what you have to do in spite of being afraid.

The reminder helped, and she sped up as they approached the turn into the road, anxious to get away from the bullets she could hear dinging into the sides of the vehicle.

“Slow down a little,” Jax coached as he leaned out the window and fired off a few shots. “You take that turn too fast and you’ll lose control and send us flying.”