Page 85 of Vendetta

Without thinking, I threw my leg into a high kick, a mix of cheerleading and the kickboxing that Cashton had shown me over the last couple of months kicking in to take over as my foot made impact, knocking the gun clean out of his hand as it flew across the room.

Holy shit, I had just done that. A smile bloomed across my face at the realization of what I had just managed to do. That was a total bad bitch move. Damn, I really was a badass—

A fist flew in my face, punching me straight in the temple as stars erupted across my vision. Pain instantly laced through my skull, the impact hard enough to send me flying backwards as I hit the hard ground.

“Landry!” Cashton shouted from somewhere, my vision slowly returning as I lifted my cheek off of the hardwood floor. Ispotted my knife a few feet away, and I watched in horror as the man a few feet away—The one who had tried choking me—Came to the same realization.

His large hand was pressed to the wound in his forearm as he tried to stop the bleeding, but his eyes landed on me and then the knife that sat equidistantly between us. I scrambled to my knees, shoving myself forward as he did the same.

I got there mere milliseconds before he did, my hand wrapping around the plastic handle as I turned to face him, his form landing directly on top of me in the next moment. I didn’t waste any time, jamming the blade up from underneath him as it sank into his side, before pulling it out and stabbing him again.

He howled in pain, his body rolling off of mine as I scrambled to my feet, turning back to face the others. The leader had found the gun that I had sent flying across the room, and any hope I had left came to a dead end as I watched him lift it once more and aim it at me. I was across the room this time, too far away to do anything. I would be dead long before I could reach him.

Time seemed to slow as his finger moved over the trigger, my life flashing before my eyes. At the last second, a hard body crashed into him, Cashton tackling him to the ground. I watched as the man I was falling for drove his fists into the man’s face, each blow coming harder and faster. He was a wild animal. Rage shone in his features, his muscles bulging as he beat the man into a pulp, and I couldn’t seem to look away.

By the time the man went cold, his face was unrecognizable. Cashton breathed heavily, his chest moving up and down as he slowly stood. The silence in the space was loud.

“Cashton...” I whispered, bringing him out of the trance he seemed to be in. We had both just killed somebody. Maybe two somebody’s, in Cashton’s case, considering the limp body at the other end of the living room.

His eyes met mine before roaming over me, assessing for injuries. Relief flooded his features once he realized that I was okay.

He stalked towards me, wasting no time as he grabbed my face with both hands and slammed his mouth to mine. My lips parted, letting him in as he devoured me. Butterflies erupted in my stomach.

Breaking the kiss, he kept his hold on me as his eyes met mine. “Landry, what are you doing here? Why did you come?” he asked, worry etched in his features.

“Did you know that this was a setup?” I asked in return.

A mix of emotions flashed through his eyes. “I had an inkling, but I didn’t know for sure,” he finally responded.

“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” I asked, anger flaring through me.

“Because I knew you would insist on coming, and I couldn’t risk putting you in danger. I thought that I could get some answers, especially since we hadn’t had any new leads lately, but they got the drop on me when I got here. I didn’t expect three of them to show up.”

I kept my mouth shut, debating if I should stay mad at him or just revel in the fact that we were both alive.

“Landry, when I saw them bring you in… I’ve never felt fear like before. And when I thought you were about to die right in front of my eyes, that was the worst moment of my life. If I had lost you, I would have begged them to shoot me next. I don’t want to live in a world without you, I couldn’t endure it.”

He looked so vulnerable, it broke my heart.

“Cash…” I whispered, our lips inches apart. “I love you.”

So many emotions flickered in his eyes, but right as I thought he was about to respond, a noise behind me caused his eyes to jump over my head. Before I knew what was happening, Cashton had his arms wrapped around me as he spun us around, right in the same moment as a gunshot pierced through the air.

CHAPTER 44

LANDRY

The gunshot broke through the silence, my heart stopping in its tracks. No, no, no…

I pushed back from Cashton, my eyes wide as they hurriedly raced down his body, trying to find where he had been hit. I didn’t see any blood, though his eyes remained closed. I searched his face, trying to find any semblance of pain, but found none. Slowly opening them, his green eyes met mine as a look of confusion crossed his features.

I moved to look past him, seeing Kaptan at the entrance of the living room, gun still smoking as it pointed down to the man who had tried to strangle me. A gun lay in the man’s hand, finger on the trigger and pointed in our direction as he lay dead at Kaptan’s feet.

He had been about to shoot, and Cashton had shielded me. He had been prepared to take a bullet for me. The realizationhit me like a freight train, my mind trying to process all of this. If Kaptan hadn’t shown up when he did…

“Kaptan!” I exclaimed, taking a step forward to greet him. Before I could take another step, Cashton’s arm whipped out, stopping my advance and pushing me behind him. Confusion flooded through me as I looked up at him, a question in my eyes.

“Cash, it’s Kaptan… What’s going on?”

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