Page 19 of Queen Of WildCards

That'sit!I'mhome free!Icould practically reach out and graze the taillights with the tips of my fingers.Mywhole body lightened with relief.Iwas going to make it out alive.Iwas going to escape.

Andthen a fourth body appeared seemingly out of nowhere in front of me, and two solid arms wrapped tightly around me in an embrace, tugging me against the lean, toned torso of a man who stood a foot taller than me.Ifelt one of his hands clamp around my mouth, and he turned me around to face my assailants with a chuckle.

"Whathappened to you three?" he asked with an air of disinterest, like he couldn't care any less what their answer was.

MisterMace, asI'ddecided to call him, looked fit to kill me as his eyes crawled over my immobilized form with fury. "Moretrouble than you're worth," he spat, his eyes still watering.

Iwaggled my brows at him, mumbling insults behind the hand over my mouth.

Blondiechuckled and peered around me and the tall guy to his friend with a knife in his chest, who was now on his feet. "Thatlooks painful,Spade."

"Serratedbutterfly," he grunted in acknowledgment. "Hurtslike a sonofabitch."

Theknife man moved to stand in front of me as he gripped the handle of my favorite knife and yanked it from the meaty flesh of his shoulder.Ismiled as he groaned, but my glory was short-lived asIwatched his dick harden behind those tight pants on his hips.

Sickfuck was getting hot over being hurt.

Hebrought the blade to my face, andIflinched away as much as possible in the iron grip ofJackand theBeanstalkbehind me.Thecool metal warred with the warm blood on its surface, and he dragged the damn thing down my jawline, over the pulsing artery in my throat.Thetrail of blood it left wasn't my own, because he didn't push the blade hard enough to break my skin.Still, his wild eyes fixated on the path the knife tip blazed, andIgrimaced as he leaned in and licked his blood off my skin, waggling his brows at me as he pulled away.

"Idon't thinkI'vebeen this hard for a woman in a long ass time," he groaned, rolling his hips into me pointedly. "Ihope you fight them the whole way."

"Backoff,Spade," the maced one ordered, and his obedient lap dog moved back with a dejected whine, pocketing my fucking butterfly knife.

Theone holding me moved the arm that held me in place and dragged me into the backseat of theSUV.Theinjured one climbed in behind the first guy, and the twoI'doutrun took the front seats.Maceman was busy trying to flush his eyes with a bottle of water in the passenger seat as blondie started theSUVand peeled out, carefully sticking to the dark alleys and back roads.

Thelast thingIsaw before a bag was slipped over my head was the look of apology blondie shot me in the rearview mirror.

CHAPTERNINE

SPADE

Thegaping hole in my shoulder hurt like a sonofabitch.Itbled freely into the threads of my black tee, and thankfully, the color of my shirt managed to mask most of the damage.

Didn'tmean it wasn't painful as all get out to move the fucking thing.

Ihadn't been injured by a target in a long ass time, andIcertainly hadn't pegged this girl for the type to carry a blade in herboot,for fuck's sake.Thedamn thing was gonna need stitches, andI'dbe lucky ifIhadn't done lasting damage whenIripped the fucking serrated edges from my muscle.Still,Ihad to commend her survival instincts.It'dbe a shame if we had to off her now.Girlslike that were rare.

Iwatched her kick atBlackJackas he slipped the hood over her head, smiling when he groaned and cupped his balls in pain.

"Betterwatch her; she's got a hell of a fire,"Idrawled lazily, grunting as the next pothole jostled my arm painfully.Thefucking thing hung there at my side, limp and useless, butIcouldn't even be mad at her.

Ifelt alive, perhaps more thanIhad in a long time.Ididn't want to analyze the feeling too closely yet, soIsettled in for a bumpy ride and letBlackJackhandle the spitfire in question.

Asthe lights grew brighter, then spaced themselves out in wider gaps,Iwatched the familiar streets of our neighborhood go zipping by.Behindthe bag, the girl we'd kidnapped was eerily silent, which was not only odd for someone who'd fought so spectacularly, but worrisome.Isignaled forBlackJackto swap me seats, and he shot the girl a scowl before nodding, probably eager to be away from the hellion's dangerous feet.

Icarefully positioned my injured arm away from her range of motion and laid my free hand on top of hers in whatIassumed was a reassuring move.Thespeed at which her hand yanked back away from mine devastated my ego.

"Fuckinghope we have something at home to take out the sting,"Acemumbled from the front seat, shaking his head like a dog as tears streamed from his closed eyes. "Goodthing this isn't my first rodeo being maced, and whatever she had in that can wasn't a full-strength solution."

"Companiesthat water down a self-defense mace for women should be ashamed of themselves,"Jokerquipped as he swerved to avoid another pothole, hitting two for his troubles. "Couldyou imagine?"

Acestared at him wordlessly through thin slits of eyeballs. "Theirony in the air tonight is thicker than fuck."

BlackJacksnorted beside me. "Idiots, the lot of you."

Whenwe finally arrived back at the compound,Imade to pull the girl out of the car but was jerked back byBlackJack, who gestured to my arm.

"I'lltake her.Youget the door."

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