Page 74 of Game On

“Joel,” she said. “We need to get to my car before somebody sees us, remember?”

Almost as if she’d changed the channel on a television, Joel’s demeanor shifted back to belligerence. He quickly looked around. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

He grabbed her elbow and they walked arm in arm into the hallway, the gun pressed to her side under her jacket. If anyone looked closely enough, they’d see it, but she wasn’t that lucky. Everyone in the busy hallway was like an ant, minding their own business, gathering food to take elsewhere.

Ten yards from the doorway, the hall was deserted. They were sidestepping a pallet of shrink-wrapped hot dog buns when Joel’s phone rang. He couldn’t hold the gun, answer his phone, and maintain the grip he had on her arm. Shoving her against the wall, he released her and answered the phone.

That’s when Carly spied Troy following behind them. He stood behind a six-foot-tall rack of CO2 canisters. He put his finger to his lips. Oh, God! What if Joel saw him? And where was Molly?

Stay back, she mouthed to him, hoping Joel was too preoccupied with his phone to see. There was no time to wait until the parking lot. Carly had to run now and lead him away from Troy. She couldn’t risk Joel hurting him. With both hands she shoved Joel away just as he answered the phone. He tripped slightly over his feet, allowing Carly to slip under the arm holding the gun. She took five strides before tripping, face first, onto the pallet of hot dog buns.

“Bitch!” Joel dropped the phone as Carly flipped on her back, struggling to get up. Joel knocked over the rack of CO2 canisters, sending them careening to the floor near where Troy stood. Carly looked for Troy but she couldn’t see past an angry Joel bearing down on her.

The door behind him opened, and a man with a gun stood silhouetted in the doorway. Carly didn’t have time to pray for him to be one of the good guys. Things were moving in slow motion again. Joel’s gun was leveled at her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Donovan holding a gun trained on Joel.

“Don’t even think about it, Thompkins!” he growled.

“You won’t take her away from me!” Joel shouted as Carly tried to burrow deeper amongst the buns. She started to call out to Donovan that Troy was nearby when . . . Ooof!

Dead weight landed on Carly, knocking her breath out, just as a gunshot rang out.

Carly tried to suck in a breath but a man was lying across her, pressing her deeper into her cushion of buns. A very big man. One that smelled and felt achingly familiar.

Shane! The gunshot! Oh please, don’t let him be shot. Or dead! She tried to gather air into her lungs as her hands traveled over Shane’s body looking for holes or blood or anything. Her right hand landed on his heart. It was beating. Strong and fast. Thank God!

Donovan yelled “Clear!” and Shane began to move. He pushed himself up on his hands, locking his elbows and staring down at her.

“Are you alright?” they both asked at the same time.

Carly bit her lip and nodded as his eyes roamed her body, checking for damage. He sank down onto his elbows. With one finger, he gently traced her chin. “Did Thompkins do this?” She must have a bruise where Joel had pressed the gun barrel there earlier.

“It doesn’t hurt,” she whispered. Her eyes stung from holding back tears.

“Christ, Carly,” he murmured as he sank into her, his warm lips taking her mouth in a fierce kiss. The kiss was aggressive and overbearing and not the least bit gentle, but she didn’t care. She reveled in the weight of his body, strong and hard, pressing hers into the soft bread. Running her fingers through his hair, she opened to him, letting her tongue slide against his, reacquainting her mouth with Shane’s. Oh, how she’d missed this. Missed him. She didn’t care if all he was offering was comfort. She soaked it up like dry soil soaks up rain after a drought. She wouldn’t think about him going home tomorrow, leaving her heart in pieces. Right now she just wanted to crawl inside him and bask in the safety that was Shane. And she was in the arms of the man she loved. There was no point in thinking about tomorrow. Better to enjoy the here and now. Molly was safe. Troy was . . . Troy!

TWENTY-FOUR

Kissing Carly wasn’t helping his already elevated heart rate, but Shane didn’t care. He’d almost lost her. He could still see Thompkins’s gun pointed at her head. Leaping between her and a bullet was exactly the dumb-ass thing Donovan thought he’d do, but Shane couldn’t regret it. Carly was safe and whole lying beneath him. Exactly where he wanted to keep her. Only not on a pallet of hotdog buns. With half of the stadium’s security force watching. Reluctantly, he pulled out of the kiss. Touching his forehead to hers, he waited until both their breathing settled. Her hands moved from his hair to his jaw. He pressed a kiss into her palm.

Joel was whimpering in the background, crying about being shot in the leg. Hell, if Shane had been the one shooting, the guy wouldn’t be around to cry.

“What the hell do you think you were doing?” he asked finally. He knew right away it was a stupid time to bring it up. Her body tensed and her blue eyes, still bright with unshed tears, snapped to his face. “Donovan and I could have taken him. That was a stupid thing to do! He could have killed you!”

“Well, I’m not dead, am I?” she hissed as she shoved him off her. “And pardon me for not knowing Crockett and Tubbs were on the case!” Donovan snorted somewhere behind them. Slapping his hand away, she struggled to get off the slick pallet of shrink-wrapped rolls.

Shane hopped to his feet, he wasn’t letting her walk away again. She went to push past him. “Troy!” she called, and Shane’s heart went to his throat.

“Where is he?” she asked, shoving him aside.

Donovan snapped to attention along with the security guards milling about. Joel continued to cry from his spot on the floor, but Carly stepped over him.

“Troy was here?” Shane asked in disbelief.

She stepped over spent CO2 canisters lying on the ground. “Yes, he was behind this.”

“Got him,” Donovan said from behind the rack. Shane leaped over the overturned rack to find Troy buried under several of the heavy canisters. Donovan was checking his pulse as Carly knelt beside him, tears in her eyes.

“I didn’t see Molly with him,” she said.

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