Page 44 of Savage Escape

“I’m not jumpin’ up his ass. Nate knows that he is a trouble magnet—it’s not unreasonable to assume that the idiot would live his life accordingly.” What was unreasonable was how many times he’d said the word unreasonable in the past three hours.

“Pfft.” Kade snorted and then moaned in pain, obviously forgetting about his broken face and how vibrations in his nose could hurt like a bitch. “Every fucking one of us is a disaster magnet—it comes with the last name. It’s only more obvious with Nate because he can’t help but get shot every six months. Now stop acting like he’s some newbie and start treatin’ him like an adult who’s capable of making decisions and accepting the consequences of those decisions.”

“I treat him like an adult.” Okay, so maybe that was only half true. When Nate was shot full of holes and looking like he was gonna keel over any second, it was easy to forget that he was thirty-something and capable of being an adult. “And shut up—since when do you spout pearls of wisdom?”

“Only when asses and heads are indistinguishable, grasshopper. You really oughta jot those pearls down.” He grinned and rearranged the ice pack on his face.

“You oughta jot your ass down.” Jackson knew, and was reminded frequently, that he was shit at comebacks. It was something he’d embraced long ago.

“God, Jack.” His tone was pitying and ashamed all at once. “It’s embarrassing that people know we’re related.”

“You’reembarrassing.” In his experience, ‘witty’ was just another word for being a dick. He could be a dick without all the frilly words just fine.

“Stop. Just stop.” Kade was groaning again.

“She woke up yet?”

The woman in question was on the couch, curled into a tight ball, protecting herself even in sleep. She was a big ol’ ball of blood and bruises. Baggy clothes hung off a too-thin frame. Long, dark locks were matted with blood and mud. Her face was all but indistinguishable with its multitude of colors, puffiness, and open wounds. Her nose was broken. Her left arm was positioned at such an awkward angle that made Jackson think it was broken as well. Long stripes of red colored the back of her gray-green shirt and it didn’t take Jackson much effort to discern what that might be.

“Nope.”

“Ya know,” Google and his brothers could collectively kiss his ass, Jackson could manage being a dick all by himself, “she doesn’t look like much.” Which was an outright lie. Sure, she looked broken and bloodied, but that just added to the whole assassin vibe. Unlike Daisy, this woman looked capable of extreme violence.

The slight, happily, didn’t go unnoticed. Kade’s head jerked up, the ice pack slid off his face and into his lap.

“You sure this is the same woman?” Jackson watched in satisfaction as Kade’s lip curled and his eyes narrowed into slits.

“Yes, I am fucking sure, asshole.” He all but seethed each word.

“All I’m sayin’ is,” Jackson very deliberately scanned the woman and then arched an eyebrow in Kade’s direction, “that she don’t look like much.”

It had the desired effect. Ten shades of offended and defensive, the man came out of his seat and jabbed a finger at him.

“Really? Do you think I did all this,” he gestured to all of himself, “to myself? You think I fell down some stairs?”

“Well... I mean, is she even tall enough to land a punch? And how much damage could it really do?” For the life of him,Jackson couldn’t keep the smirk off his face. Kade, of course, noticed and realized he was being played.

“You’re such a jackass,” Kade grunted and returned to his seat.

“Has she woken up yet?” Reid, lugging his pack and looking mildly annoyed, stepped into the cabin and made a beeline for the woman. Holden was on his heels and scowling.

“Where’s Nate?”

“Reid knocked him out with lots of drugs,” Holden grunted and flopped into the chair beside Kade.

Jackson didn’t want to sit and wait for Nathan to regain consciousness. He wanted to get to the ass-chewing pronto. But from the sounds of it, Holden had already done such a good job. Jackson decided he’d bide his time and strike when conditions were optimal. Maybe he could get his hands on a megaphone.

“What is her name?” Reid didn’t glance up from his examination of the woman, but then Reid rarely made eye contact.

“Caden, I think,” Kade volunteered, gently placing the ice pack over his face again. “That’s what Nate called her.”

“Caden?” Reid’s tone was clear and firm. A tone he saved only for the battlefield and patients. “You’re safe here. Can you hear me, Caden? You’re on a jet headed for the States. You’re safe here, Caden. Can you hear me?”

Everyone went silent when Reid paused to let her answer. She remained curled in a ball on the couch, breathing shallowly but evenly. Her eyes still flickered under her lids and her face was tense but relaxed in the way only sleep could do.

“My name is Reid Savage. We’re not in Russia anymore. You are safe. I’m going to help you out the best I can and to do that, I’m going to have to touch you, okay? Nathan told me about most of your injuries; unfortunately, I can’t do much about any of them until we get home and back on solid ground.”

“Reid, she’s out, she can’t hear you.” Holden sat forward and watched as Reid settled on the floor in front of her and started pulling things from his pack.

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