Page 3 of Dirty Dancer

Six.

Six shots in rapid succession. I didn’t close my eyes once. That was one of the first habits that Kel drilled out of me.Protecting yourself is a natural instinct. You are tempted to look away from what you’re shooting at—don’t. You know it’s going to be loud, so you’ll brace at the last second, which can pull off your aim—don’t. You may not want to keep firing even as you adjust your aim, but you have to trust your training.The weight of the gun and the action of firing it will affect your targeting, so use it to your advantage.

I’d taken the rules and the techniques, and made them my own. I didn’t need anyone to repeat them to me, I was already doing it. So while some of it was muscle memory and training, the rest had to come from putting my experiences to work for me. I would never be an expert shot and I’d rather never be in a position where I had to fire a gun again…

Shots streaking through the darkness. The pops accompanied by muzzle flashes as lights around me exploded. The guys were hauling me up on the emergency line, but the theater in Prague where I’d been performing turned into a nightmare of screams as gunmen raided it.

We’d planned for almost everything, even the full assault that we faced, and it still left me dangling, heart racing, and a little panicked until I had confirmation that all of my people were safe. My guys. Lainey. My brother.

Everyone.

“Hey,” Liam shifted his hold to slide his arm around my middle and he pulled me back against them even as he braced my right arm with his hand on my wrist. “Where’d you go?”

He studied me with flinty eyes. The severity of his expression and the fierce mask he wore would convince everyone of what a hardass he was. Liam could be an absolute dick if he wanted to be, but he also loved me with a kind of all-encompassing possessiveness that shielded me as much as it embraced me.

Me and his twin were his two favorite people. They were definitely two of mine. Like every other relationship I’d forged with the other Vandals, ours was unique. Liam loved to bait me and give me hell. He also taught me how to kick his ass and the ass of anyone else who needed it. His words.

“Nowhere,” I promised, resting my head to his shoulder. The warmth of him surrounded me, buffering against the aches fromall the shooting. “Just…” I paused when he tugged off my ear protection then his own. Fortunately, Liam had rented the whole range to give us privacy. He nudged me forward, and I kept my grip on the gun until he was ready to take it. Once he had it unloaded and on the table in front of us, he turned to face me.

“Want to try that again, Hellspawn?” He locked those stunning blue eyes on me, depending on the light they could go almost blue-green. They always reminded me of the Caribbean in some ways. As identical as he and Rome were, their eyes reflected different facets of their personalities. I loved just staring into their eyes, as silly and swoony as that sounded.

“Nowhere I needed to be,” I amended, but at his continued stare, I sighed. “Just—thinking about Prague. The shooting…”

His expression went grim. “Why are we thinking about that?” He didn’t tell me I shouldn’t or why I shouldn’t think about it. In fact, he didn’t tell me how I should behave or react at all. He asked.

“I love you,” I murmured and that earned me a curve to his lips and a faint softening around his eyes.

“That’s not why you were thinking about Prague,” he chided me, but his eyes remained gentle. “C’mon, Hellspawn, tell me what is upsetting you so I can fix it.”

“It’s not upsetting me,” I protested and when he cupped my chin to search my eyes, I met his gaze unflinchingly. “I promise, it’s not. I just dangled out there when the shots started firing and I didn’t freeze, but—I couldn’t do anything. It was a horrible few minutes to not know if everyone was okay or not.”

“Vaughn and Jasper had you.” Absolute confidence infused every word.

“Yes, they did,” I agreed, leaning my cheek into his hand when he shifted his grip from my chin to my face. “Vaughn pulled me up so fast and they covered me on the catwalk.But those people were firing wildly. Later, they said they’d deliberately started firing at me to distract all of you.”

Which just pissed me off.

“What makes you angrier? That you were used as a distraction? Or that it worked?” The blunt honesty in his voice demanded the same from me.

“A little bit of column A and column B.” I shook my head. “I hate when you guys are put into danger because of me.”

He snorted. “Hellspawn, if you took a bullet one of us could prevent, none of us would forgive ourselves. You’d take a hit for us if you could and youhave,” he continued, stressing that last word without allowing me to interrupt him. “You know it, I know it. Trust me, the guys know it too. The last thing I ever want is for you to be hurt again.”

“But it’s okay if you guys get hurt because of me?”

“In my opinion? Yes.” He made no apologies for it either and I sighed. Not because we were disagreeing but because it was the last thing I wanted. “Look, if I take a hit and you don’t, I’m okay with that. I’m more than okay with it.”

“If Rome took that hit instead?” I dared him and the corners of his mouth tilted a little higher. “It’s not funny,” I added with a scowl and thumped his chest.

“It’s not funny, but you are adorable.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed away, but he just dragged me back. “Liam…”

“Shh,” he hushed me then dropped a kiss on my lips. When I just glared at him, his smile deepened. “Hellspawn, it just makes me hot when you get mad.”

I scoffed but the comment managed to burst the bubble of my temper. “You’re impossible.”

“For you, I am anything but.” He winked. “Now, if Rome got hurt protecting you, I’d be pissed—at the people who were trying to hurt you and then hurt him. I’d be just as fucking mad if yougot hurt. Like I was when you two were taken and they were threatening you to keep‘me’ in line.”

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