Page 134 of Tempting Fate

Repeating the same motion, I shove it out of my way when it breaks.

The house is dark, except for the light over the stove and one in what I guess is a bedroom at the far end. Someone moves in that part of the building. I raise my weapon and edge my way toward the noise. Once I’m hidden behind a bookcase, I lean over and flick the switch on the overhead light. Figuring that it’ll take their eyes a second to adjust, I run through the kitchen and into the hallway.

Tangled blonde hair. Swollen face. Bloody torso. Bruised legs.

That’s all I have time to take in before Lily keels over in front of me.

She crumples to the floor, hitting hard, yet she doesn’t make a sound.

My feet are in action while my brain continues to grapple with the situation.

When I reach my woman, I drop to my knees next to her. My hands shake as I turn her over. I brush Lily’s hair out of her face and grind my teeth to bite back the howl of rage that bubbles in my chest.

Lily has been beaten.

Cradling her head, I lay my woman in the recovery position on the carpet so I can inspect the damage. When I can’t find an inch of her skin, a limb, or feature that isn’t bleeding, swollen, or bruised, I pull my phone out of my cut and use my thumb to type triple zero.

“No ambulance.” Lily’s voice is raspy. I drop my phone next to me and stare down at her. She’s nursing a swollen and bleeding jaw that hampers her speech as she tells me, “No… hospital. No d-doctors.”

“You need an ambulance.”

“No.” Lily’s gaze flits from my face toward a door that’s a little further up the hallway. She tries to move her arm to point as she says, “Killed him… can’t... have... cops here.”

It goes against every instinct to say his name, but I manage it. “Alex?”

“Dead.”

“Fuck, metukà shelì,” I blurt without thinking. “I don’t know what to do here.”

Lily groans when someone wearing boots runs inside the house.

She screws her eyes shut as the sound grows closer, then hisses with pain.

“It’s me,” Slash yells. “Figure it’s just us since there’s a bunch’a bodies all over the place and no gunshots.”

“Think it’s clear,” I shout back. “Can’t be sure. We’re at the rear of the house.”

“We?” The anxiety in his voice matches the anguish pounding a path through me.

“Me and Lily.”

As he approaches, I look from my woman’s naked body to the direction of the footsteps, then make the decision to drop my weapon to cover her with my t-shirt. I’ve only managed to peel off my cut, and I’m struggling to pull the cotton over my head when Slash reaches us.

He rocks back on his heels when he sees how bad Lily looks. “Jesus.”

“Yeah.”

After I grumble, he helps me free of my t-shirt then stoops over us to cover Lily from her chest to her thighs. Our eyes meet. Slash swallows hard and looks away. He shakes himself off. Mutters something under his breath. I drop my gaze back to Lily, stroking her face, then press my fingers to her pulse point when she doesn’t move.

“We need help,” Slash declares. I inhale once I’ve identified a steady heartbeat. “She needs medical attention.”

“Can’t call the authorities,” I tell him.

“Why the fuck not?” Before I answer, he spins on his heel and takes a step back in the direction he came. At the last second, he changes his mind and stalks into the bedroom. “Fucker’s lucky he’s already dead.”

Lily jerks in my arms.

She peers up at me.

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