Page 104 of Thirst Trap (Carter Brothers)

I executed one punch to the face, and the person went limp underneath me.

The person in black and yellow, with a black ski mask covering his face.

“Goddammit,” I grumbled darkly.

Standing up, I peered over my shoulder to check on Shayne, who was looking on with wide eyes. “You moved fast.”

“Fuckin’ gangs.” I looked around. “Do you see anyone else?”

She did the same, shaking her head. “No.”

I looked back to the person, bent down to pick the rifle up he was going to use to shoot me, then yanked his face mask off while I was at it.

My heart sank.

“God, I fuckin’ hate this job sometimes,” I snarled mostly to myself.

“He’s a kid,” she whispered, looking on in shock.

“A kid with a fuckin’ semi-automatic rifle,” I growled as I looked at the kid I’d just laid out with one hit. “Did you get ahold of the cops?”

“Yes,” she answered. “They’re on the way here now.”

I handed her my keys. “Take my car and get to work. I’ll stay here and wait for someone to take me back to the station after I’m done here.”

She looked at me worriedly. “But this is a brand new truck.”

As if the last ten minutes hadn’t just been the scariest of her life.

“Baby,” I couldn’t help the chuckle that left my lips. “The truck is just that. A truck. I don’t care if you wreck it as long as you’re okay inside it when you do. Go to work. Then pick up some lunch and bring it to the office, because I imagine I’ll be there for a while.”

She patted my shoulder, then leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss me. “Be safe, Quinn. You’re gonna break me if you leave a second time. Whether it’s intentional or not. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

With that heartbreaking comment she took one last look at the kid, then got in my truck and drove away.

The kid started to stir right when a police cruiser one of my brothers was driving pulled up.

“Auden,” I said as he came to a stop beside me. “Why were you in a bad mood last week that the cute bakery owner noticed and can’t stop herself from asking how you are?”

Auden glanced up at the bakery, his eyes lingering a little too long on the woman I could see behind the counter clocking every single thing that happened outside her shop window.

He glanced back to me before saying, “Bad day at work.”

He didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t force him to.

“What happened here?” Auden asked as he took in the kid with the busted up face now staring at us with fear in his eyes.

“Kid tried to shoot me.” I jerked my head toward the gun that was now unloaded and lying behind me. “Was wearing a mask, so I didn’t see that it was a kid, though. I might not have hit him so hard.”

“Play stupid games,” Auden said, and I finished with, “win stupid prizes.”

Auden crouched down and looked at the boy who hadn’t moved from his spot on the pavement. “Why aren’t you in school?”

The kid’s eyes went molten. “Don’t need no school.”

“Sounds like you might,” Auden quipped. “Why were you trying to shoot my brother?”

The kid’s eyes widened. “Was told to.”

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