Page 64 of Toxic Vengeance

She kicked the rifle away and reached down to roll the man to his back. “Not gonna get anything out of him,” she muttered, turning on her haunches to look at Zack.

He stood not fifteen feet from her, pistol hanging loosely at his side. His face was pale, his eyes almost haunted as he stared at the dead man.

“What?” she asked. “You know him?”

“He’s my handler.”

Eden whipped back around to stare at the man in shock, then turned to Zack. “Are you—” She stopped breathing when she saw the blood soaking the front of his shirt. “Zack.”

“I’m okay,” he said, pressing a hand to his side as he moved to lean against the brick wall beside him, as though he needed it to prop him up.

She reached him in three strides, took his weapon and grabbed the front of his shirt, searching for the entry wound. Oh, Jesus, if he’d been gut shot…

He hissed in a breath, his face contorting with pain. “Really, I’m—”

“Shut up,” she ordered, picking up the sound of distant sirens approaching. They needed to get the hell out of here, the cops would be here within minutes. “Just shut up and sit down.” She helped him slide down the wall, kept him propped up with one hand on his shoulder while she reached for the blade at her calf and cut his shirt open.

A wave of relief crashed over her when she saw he hadn’t been hit in the stomach, but his waist. There was no spurting, indicating the bullet probably hadn’t hit an artery or an organ.

She pressed his ruined shirt to the wound, earning a growl and a black look. “Stay still. I’m calling for an extraction.” With one hand she reached back to pull her phone from her hip pocket and dialed Trinity.

“Are you guys okay?” Trinity said upon answering. “We’re tracking you now.”

Eden scanned the alley. No one else had shown up yet, but it was only a matter of time and there could be more shooters. “We need immediate extraction. Do you have our location?”

“Yes. What happened?”

“Zack’s been hit.”

“How bad?”

She was surprised to see her hands were shaking. Her breathing was choppy, her stomach muscles quivering. “Critical, but not life-threatening.” She hoped.

“Hang tight. We’ll be there in under five minutes.”

Eden slipped the phone back into her pocket and pressed both hands to the shirt, blinking hard. Shit, she needed to hold it together. If more shooters or cops came after them—

“Hey,” Zack said gently. His bloody fingers curled around her wrist as he cupped her cheek with his free hand.

Eden blinked fast, trying to stem the rush of tears, but it was no use. Didn’t matter that it shamed and embarrassed her, she was fucking crying while he was the one bleeding all over the place.

“I’m okay, sweetness.”

Sweetness.

The endearment threatened to split her wide open. He’d called her that for the first time the night before she’d walked out on him.

A sob caught in her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, unable to speak. No, he wasnotokay, he was fucking bleeding from a bullet wound that might have done more damage than she realized, and could have killed him.

“Come here,” he whispered, drawing her head to his neck.

She went willingly, pressing her face to his skin, soaking it with her tears.

ZACK HELD EDEN close, absorbing the feel of her and trying to ignore how much the wound in his side hurt. “Don’t cry.” It shredded him to see her so upset.

“I hate crying,” she choked out.

“I know.” When she released a shuddering breath and kept her face pressed to his neck, he hugged her tighter, soaking up her embrace.

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