Page 103 of Queen of Spades

Grady chuckles darkly. “You really think that’s going to matter? You act like I’m the only thing standing in the way of you and freedom.”

Ezrah twists my wrist so far, I truly believe he’s about to break my bones.

“Yup,” Grady says.

One second, he’s behind the wall, peeking around, and the next, he’s fully blocking the doorway while aiming and pulling the trigger. But two gunshots explode in the air, right along with Ezrah’s skull.

Blood splatters my face and eyes as I scream.

I don’t even know why.

Maybe it’s the sound.

It could be the warm gooey feeling now covering the right side of my face and chest.

Oh, fuck me, I think it’s even on my tongue.

His body falls to the ground as I shake off his hold on my arm.

“Fucking hell,” Kane says from behind me. “I thought you were going to let me handle it. What if we had shot each other?”

“We had this.” Grady chuckles. “I took out his gun hand. You went for the brain. We totally rock as teammates.”

My chest heaves as my vision goes spotty.

I’ve, honest to God, never seen someone pop out from cover and take a shot that fast.

If he was a few inches off, he could have hit me instead. Or if they mistimed their shots, Ezrah could have taken me out with him. Even if someone is dead, they can sometimes pull the trigger by reflex alone.

But they didn’t fuck it up. They landed those shots like a team that’s been working together for years.

I knew Ezrah wasn’t walking out of here with me. If I couldn’t find a way to get myself free, I trusted Ward, Grady, and Kane to take him out on our way to his vehicle.

I twist my hand on the wrist Ezrah almost broke, and it hurts.

Like really freaking badly.

Oh, God!

Cassian.

“Fuckfuckfuck,” I gasp, tripping over Ezrah’s feet. “We have to check on Ward and Cas.”

“Right here, lass,” Ward says. He’s got an arm under Cas’s, and he’s helping him hobble in our direction.

“Well, shit, princess.” Grady chuckles, looking at Cas. “How’d that happen?”

Cas groans as I jump over Ezrah’s legs.

“He jumped right in the way and took the hit for me,” I lie. “Seriously, he saved my ass. I think Ezrah wanted to tote me out unconscious, so I couldn’t fight back.”

I’m still so numb, I pray they can’t pick up the fib in the bond.

Cas is a lot of things, but he’s not as vicious as the others. And, to be fair, I kinda like that about him. Like, he balances out the rest of our crazy in some way. Also, any one of us could have been caught unaware.

Ward’s head tilts, but he doesn’t say a word. “There’s no doubt. We would rather take a hit so you don’t have to.”

“Are you okay?” I ask Cas, lifting my fingers to check his head wound. My hand is covered in Ezrah’s blood, and I pull it down without making contact.

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