by Jenna Jacob
Chapter 10
Caris
I jolted as a loud bang ripped through the air. The sharp echo was still ringing in my ears when I glanced up at Syd and watched in shock and horror as blood exploded from his shoulder and sprayed my face… Watched helplessly as he flew through the air, crying out in pain and landing on his back in the front yard.
Screams of raw terror tore from my throat as I started to stand and run to him. I was still crouched down when strong arms banded my waist and lifted me off the ground. A whole new level of horror thundered through me as I struggled and screamed and fought with all my might.
“I’m Cole, your bodyguard. Stop squirming so I can get you to safety,” the man growled in my ear.
Cole cinched me tighter as he pulled a gun from his side, hunched his massive body around mine, and whisked me off my feet and ran toward the limo. A second man, who had to be Mia’s other bodyguard, Brad, sprinted past us. Peering around Cole’s wide shoulder, I watched Brad snatch Syd’s limp body off the ground, toss him over his shoulder like a ragdoll, and sprint after us.
The limo door swung open. Ozzy—whose face was etched with the same level of fear pounding through me—reached out and pulled me into the vehicle as Cole released me. Mia, softly crying, wrapped her arms around me. Guarding the mouth of the door, Cole raised his weapon, squared his shoulders, and scanned the woods with a dark, threatening gaze.
When Brad, with Syd still draped over his broad shoulder, ducked toward the door, Cole leapt inside and helped guide his partner through the opening. Ozzy squeezed in behind the two men and slammed the door shut. As Cole and Brad eased Syd onto the floor, Ozzy turned and yelled to the driver, “Get us the fuck out of here, now!”
Blood gushed from the wound in Syd’s shoulder as I slid off the seat next to Mia and dropped to my knees beside him. The limo lurched as I shucked off my coat and, with trembling fingers, pressed the heavy cotton fabric to the angry bullet hole. Syd groaned but didn’t open his eyes.
“Ozzy, I need the first aid kit under the seat across from Mia,” Cole instructed.
“Heads up,” Ozzy called, launching a black duffle to the man.
Tears streamed down Mia’s cheeks as Ozzy wrapped his arms around her and whispered something in her ear. I wanted to break down alongside her, but the demand to keep Syd alive thwarted my weak, fragile feelings.
“Scoot out of the way, Caris,” Brad ordered in a low, calm tone. How anyone could be so collected at a time like this defied all comprehension. “I need you to move, now, Caris. I have to see if the bullet’s still inside and pack Syd’s wound. He’s losing too much blood.”
“I-is he going to die?” My voice cracked as a tear slid down my cheek.
“Not today,” Brad assured, jerking his chin.
Cole gently cupped my shoulders and eased me away from Syd’s body as Brad unzipped the duffle bag and started extracting bandages, tape, and scissors.
“Come here, Caris.” Ozzy reached out, offering me comfort.
I was too shaken, too scared, too lost to do anything but climb onto the seat beside him and huddle in. Silently, we watched Brad and Cole roll Syd to his side. His groan of discomfort coupled with the large puddle of blood staining the carpet made me tremble even more.
“In and out, thank God.” Brad exhaled heavily.
“Yeah, but he’s lost a lot of blood.” Though Cole whispered his concern, I heard him even over the road noise humming through the limo.
“Hey Ozzy, I need you to find me the nearest level-one trauma hospital,” Brad instructed.
“On it.” As the keyboard player lifted his arm from my shoulder, I eased off the seat and knelt down on the floor again.
Dismissing the blood staining my hands, I combed my fingers through Syd’s dark hair and leaned in close to his ear.
“Wake up, baby. Wake up and sing to me again,” I whispered as my tears dripped onto his forehead. “You know the song I want to hear. Wake up and sing it to me…just one more time. Please.”
He didn’t open his eyes, simply groaned again.
“We got a vehicle coming up fast on our ass,” the driver called over his shoulder.
“Son of a bitch,” Cole bit out.
Anger surged with the amalgam of fear and panic swirling inside. “Zattman’s not going to stop until we’re all dead.”
“He’s not taking any of us out today, Caris.” A nasty smile curled Cole’s lips as he turned toward the driver. “I need to go topside, Elliot.”
The sunroof started sliding open as Cole planted a foot on the edge of the seat, then gripped the rim of the opening above his head. Hoisting himself up, he placed his other foot on the edge of the shimmering wet bar, then lifted the gun from the holster and gripped it with both hands.
“Ease off the gas and keep ’er steady, Elliot. I just need three smooth seconds.”
“You got it,” the driver replied as the limo’s speed began to plummet.
“Three…two…” Brad counted down while wrapping more gauze around Syd’s shoulder. “One.”
The report of the shot ricocheted through the limo as I watched the expelled shell casing catch in the breeze and sail away.
“You can punch the gas now, Elliot. Thanks,” Cole called, still staring behind us.
“Lemme guess…tire?” Brad asked.
“Nope,” Cole replied with a slow shake of his head.
“Radiator?”
“Yeah, but damn, if I had my fifty-cal sniper rifle, I could have taken out the engine block, too.”
“They can’t all be winners, kid,” Brad countered. “As long as the threat is neutralized, that’s all that matters.”
“Neutralized nothin’. I cut the bastard’s balls off. I…neuteredized him. He’s limping off to the side of the road now.” Cole jumped off his improvised shooting perch.
“Nice. You definitely bought us precious time needed to get Syd to the hospital. Speaking of which…you find anything yet, Ozzy?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, don’t lose it. We’ll need to tell the pilot where we’re going.”
Glancing down at Syd, Cole sobered. “Shouldn’t he be awake by now?”
Brad shrugged. “Sometimes the shock is too much for the mind to process and it shuts down.”
“Come on, Syd, wake up.” Fear glimmered in Ozzy’s dark eyes.
I suddenly realized his were the same color and intensity of Syd’s. As I continued threading my fingers through his hair, the ache to gaze into his beautiful brown pools shredded my heart.
“Come back to me, baby. Open those eyes and look at me again,” I pleaded in Syd’s ear.
His black lashes fluttered but remained closed.
“Yes. That’s it. Open your eyes and look at me, dammit.”
“Come on,” Ozzy urged again. “Your girl’s right there, in front of your face, so close you can touch her. Don’t believe me? Open your damn eyes and see for yourself.”
Your girl? I’d give anything for that to be true again.
Biting back a sob, I cupped Syd’s cheek and brushed a kiss over his mouth. Another moan rumbled up from his chest and pulsed against my lips. Suddenly, I felt his hand cup my nape before he pressed his mouth firmly to mine. When he slid his tongue along my seam, I didn’t hesitate for a second. I simply parted and welcomed the glorious sweep of his tongue.
“Thank god,” Mia choked out on a watery laugh. “You should have tried giving him mouth-to-mouth when they first put him in the limo, Caris.”
He was awake…alive! Inwardly screaming in elation, I greedily savored his slick, hot tongue and kissed him back with all the passion I’d kept locked inside.
“I must be dead, ’cause I’m kissing an angel,” Syd murmured, lips still pressed to mine.
“I’m no angel, and you know it.”
“You’re my angel. That’s all that matters.”
The conviction in his voice, wrecked me, melted me, yet at the same time, I wanted to slap him for frighte
ning ten years off my life.
Sinking my teeth into his bottom lip, I tugged sharply. “Don’t ever scare me like that again, Sydney Joseph—”
“I’m sorry I scared you, Caris,” he said, cutting me off before I blurted out his real surname. “But you weren’t the only one scared. When I heard your scream, I was fucking terrified that Zattman had you…terrified that I’d failed you all over again.”
Biting back a howl of shame, I shook my head. It was plain to see that the guilt I’d heaped on him in LA had been festering and eating at him. The only thing my foolish payback had netted was more self-deprecating shame for both of us.
It was time to set the record straight.
“You didn’t fail me, Syd,” I sobbed. “I’m sorry for every vile word I said back in LA. I was just as scared out of my wits as you were the night we got caught. If I had turned and hauled ass like you—”
He pressed his fingers to my lips, darted an uneasy glance at the others, and gently shook his head. “We’ll talk about it later, angel.”
Shit. This wasn’t the time or the place to work our shit out. What the hell was I thinking?
“I’m sorry. Just…don’t take ownership of it, okay?”
“I won’t if you won’t,” he challenged with a crooked smile, then cringed as the limo hit a pothole.
“Don’t you have any pain meds you can give him?”
Brad shook his head. “He’ll have to wait until… Ozzy, where’s that hospital you found us?”
“Little Rock.”
“But that’s hours away,” I screeched.
“Not in a jet,” Ozzy replied. “It’s a matter of minutes.”
In all the commotion, I’d totally forgotten about flying to Texas.
“Speaking of jets…” Cole nodded toward the window. “We’re pulling onto the tarmac now.” He sent Syd a pained expression. “Sorry in advance, but we’re gonna have to move you, man.”
“Oh boy,” he muttered with zero enthusiasm.
“If you promise not to cry like a bitch, I’ll ask the nurses at the hospital to give you a sticker and a lollipop,” Ozzy smirked.
“I better get more than fucking stickers and suckers, asshole.” Syd cupped my face and studied my lips. “I’d want another kiss from this angel right here.”
“I think that can be arranged.” I smiled, heart soaring.
“What if I want more than kisses?”
My cheeks caught fire, and his words ignited a raw, hungry need to lick my body.
Chapter 11
Syd
“Cocksucker, motherfucker, and the raging fire of chlamydia,” I roared as Cole and Ozzy helped me from the limo.
“How do you know what the raging fire of chlamydia feels like?” Ozzy teased. “You always brag that your dick tests come back clean.”
“Suck my dick,” I growled between clenched teeth.
I was drenched in a cold sweat, and my legs felt like rubber, but nothing compared to the red-hot poker of pain stabbing my shoulder.
“No, way. My mouth’s not getting anywhere near your chlamydia-dripping inferno.”
“Shut it, cockbag, before I snag Cole’s gun and shoot you in the shoulder.”
“Syd Wilson, you shoot my man and you won’t need any more dick tests, because I’ll shoot your junk off,” Mia chided.
The stairs of the jet were only a few feet away, but they might as well have been miles. Squeezing my eyes shut, I sucked in a ragged breath. “Caris might bitch-slap you if you do that. Usually, I like a good catfight, but I’m in too much pain right now.”
It took an interminable number of agonizing minutes to climb the stairs. By the time we stepped inside the jet, sweat was pouring off me, my teeth were chattering, and my body was shaking uncontrollably. Ozzy and Cole, wearing matching worried expressions, gently laid me out on the long, padded bench seat before Caris moved in and carefully tucked a couple of blankets around me.
“You’re sweating buckets.”
“I know,” I panted.
Closing my eyes, I tried to process the pain slicing through me but failed miserably. I bit back the roar bubbling up from deep in my chest and slowly turned my head. When I opened my eyes, Caris was gone. I could hear her, Ozzy, and Mia talking from somewhere toward the rear of the jet, but before I could summon the strength to lift my head, the three were back, standing beside me.
Caris held a bottle of water, Ozzy a pillow, and Mia a towel.
“You forgot the bedtime story,” I murmured.
“I’ll tell you a story,” Ozzy scoffed as he gently lifted my head and placed the pillow under me. “Once upon a time, there was a smart-assed bass player from Detroit.”
“I already know that one.”
Caris knelt down beside me, took the towel from Mia, and blotted the sweat from my face. “Once upon a time, there was this insanely handsome boy who found a young girl huddled against a loading dock in the middle of the night. He was so beautiful with his long, dark hair and self-assured stride, and the first time she looked into his sexy, dark eyes, she swore he could see all the way into her soul.”
“I like this one. I definitely want to hear more.”
It wasn’t a lie. I was dying to go back and relive every amazing second I’d spent with Caris. Go back and change all the stupid mistakes I’d made. Go back so we could fill the empty years apart with love and laughter…and kids.
“Take a drink, and I’ll tell you more,” Caris coaxed, carefully tilting the bottle to my lips as the jet’s engines started to rev.
“The pilot says we’ll be in Little Rock in about thirty minutes,” Ozzy announced as my eyes slid shut again. “He’s radioing ahead for an ambulance and limo to meet us on the tarmac.”
“Good.”
“Hang in there, Syd. It won’t be much longer.” Caris’s voice seemed miles away as I floated back down into the darkness.
When I woke again, I wanted to be anywhere but hoisted up in Cole’s arms and jostled against his wide chest as he carried me off the jet.
“Are we eloping?” I grunted as fire tore from my shoulder to my toes.
“It’s tempting. You’re a whole lot more fun to work with than Ozzy, and I’ll kill you if you repeat that,” Cole mumbled. “But I’m gonna have to say no, only because you have a dick and your tits are too small.”
I laughed— big mistake—then nearly cried like a baby as he carried me down the stairs, rattling my bones, and placed me on a waiting gurney.
“Thanks, man.” I grimaced. “Where’s Caris? I want her with me in the ambulance.”
“She’s coming. Mia is talking to her right now.” Worry strained Ozzy’s face as he eased in beside the gurney.
“Listen, as soon as you’re patched up, we need to get back on the plane and to the ranch.”
“What’s happened now?”
“While we were sleeping, I called Quinn and told him we needed to cancel the tour again until your shoulder healed or until this shit with Zattman was resolved.”
“I bet he was thrilled to hear that.”
“He didn’t give a fuck about the tour. He’s freaking out that you got shot. When I was explaining what had happened, he added Reed to the call, so I filled them both in. While we were talking, Reed had his assistant contacted the Diamond City police and gave them the location of the car Cole took out.”
“Let me guess. When they got there, our shooter was gone, right?”
“They didn’t find so much as a footprint.”
“After that, Reed himself placed a call. Long story short… Zattman skipped town the minute he made bail. Even his own lawyers don’t know where he’s at.”
“We do.”
“Yeah, well, that brings us to our second problem. If Zattman was the shooter, which he probably was since you’re still breathing, he now knows we’re with Caris. He has to at least suspect we’re in on the plot to take him down. So that means—”
“He wants to take all of us out, too.”
&nb
sp; “Yep. Everyone, and I mean everyone, including parents, kids, and dogs, are now heading to Denton. Cole and Brad are bringing in the other guys from their team as well as a surveillance guru who’ll set up a wireless perimeter around the ranch. Then we’re all going to hunker down until they find Zattman and this shit show blows over.”
Fuck.
Caris was going to blame herself for all this. She’d toss a fucking shit-ton of guilt on her shoulders and likely crumble beneath the weight of it all.
“What is Mia telling Caris?”
“About this shit?” I nodded. “Not a fucking thing. Cole, Brad, Mia, and I decided you should be the one to tell her. After all, she is your girl.”
I wish.
“Pussy,” I groused as Caris hurried up beside him.
“Cole said you wanted me to ride in the ambulance with you.”
“I do.” I smiled, hoping it reached my eyes. “I want you with me at all times, angel.”
“I’ll find you some nose plugs for when he has to take a shit.” Ozzy smirked.
Caris wrinkled her nose. “Sorry, he’s on his own for that.”
“Ignore him, angel. We all do.”
When the EMTs started loading me into the ambulance, Ozzy flipped me off with a grin, slung his arm around Mia’s shoulders, and led her to the limo.
Caris climbed in after the gurney was locked in place and slid her slender fingers through mine. Then with sirens screaming and lights flashing, we headed to the hospital.
The doctor and nurses were professional but, as always, a bit star-struck when Ozzy, Mia, and two big bodyguards came into the room to check on me. After a wonderful injection that sent me straight to la-la land, they patched me up. Two hours later, I was wheeled to the limo with a bottle of pain pills, antibiotics, extra gauze, and a mile-long list of instructions and restrictions.
It was after eight p.m. when the jet finally touched down in Denton. And as we piled into yet another limo, I realized Caris’s suitcases were missing.
“Where’s your luggage?”
“Oh, shit.” She blanched. “Back at my house, if it’s even still there. I should probably call Trudy, but…what on earth am I going to tell her, Syd?”