Page 133 of Sinning for Santa

And that’s the moment Jaxcen gives us away, her gasp and wide eyes darting over her shoulder to me, while Jason’s partner draws his gun.

Chapter twenty-nine

Jaxcen

The sound of gravel scraping from all directions has me moving to the side as guns are drawn, not just from the officer behind the one talking to me, but from Devon and his men.

“Whoa,” the officer at the back yells. “Let’s all calm down and lower the guns.”

“They know something about the facility,” the cop that questioned me yells back, his gun raised, shifting its aim between Devon, Finn, Miles and the guards.

“No, they don’t. No one said that,” the other cop steps closer to his colleague.

“She did,” the officer snarls over his shoulder while shifting the aim of his gun again, this time to me. “She reacted.”

This isn’t good. They are going to shoot each other, and all because I reacted.

“Hey! Don’t point a fucking gun at her. She isn’t armed!” Devon snarls, and I catch sight of his face, his eyes dark and zeroed in on his target.

The questioning officer.

He does as Devon demands, pointing his gun back at him, and my heart sinks.

No.

Don’t point a gun at Dev.

“Make him back off, Jas,” Devon stalks forward, his aim never wavering.

“Rick, seriously. Lower your gun.” The officer Devon called Jas hisses at his colleague, meanwhile his gaze is on Devon, a message in his eyes like he’s trying to convey something without speaking.

“Like fuck,” Officer Rick snaps. “They drew on us.”

“After you drew on them,” Jas points out, trying to calm the situation.

My heart is anything but calm, the organ hammering against my chest as my fear spikes. But it’s not fear for myself. It’s fear for Devon. Fear for his men.

When did they become important to me too?

What have I done?

“Are we going to have a problem here?” Devon’s voice, although calm, is scary as hell, and I can tell his monster is right there, lurking just beneath the surface, ready to come out at any second.

“No, man.” Officer Jas or Jason or whatever the hell his name is, shakes his head. “We were just following protocol. Rick is new. He’s not up to speed yet.”

“Well get him up to fucking speed before someone gets hurt,” Devon snarls and Officer Rick snarls back.

“You can’t talk to us like that!”

“For fuck’s sake,” Jas mutters, lowering his gun and approaching his partner to stand between him and us. “Lower your weapon, Rick.”

“No,” he snaps, and then, to my surprise, Jason’s hand shoots out and slams into Rick’s face, the crunch of bone loud as Rick wails, his gun falling from his grasp, only for Jason to catch it.

“What the fuck!” Rick screeches, his hands cupped over his nose as blood gushes out, onto his chin and the front of his blue uniform. “Why’d you do that?”

“For not following my order.” Jason shoves his shoulders and Rick stumbles back a few steps. “Get in the fucking car.”

“I’m gonna report this,” Rick cries, but he does as he’s told, rushing to the car and slipping inside.

---