Page 52 of Revenge & Ruin

“Oh, and tell Amos Rubio, if he insists on messing with Guild affairs again, the KOS will be mutual.”

14

ISABELLA

My heart is in my throat as I watch Teo throw Luis to the ground and step back through the gate.

The whole thing might have lasted less than a minute, but it was as if the entire world had slowed to force me to absorb every detail…

Teo had been shot. And it was my fault.

“If I die, my death can be on your hands.”

The bastard.

He knew what he was doing when he said that. He had been testing me the exact same way I was testing him. Because goddammit he’s hurt, and I did nothing, and I…

“Oh good, you actually do listen.” His voice snaps me out of the spiral.

Slumped against the doorframe, Teo still manages to look devastatingly attractive. Perhaps it’s the combination of bike leathers and dark hair that falls lazily to his shoulders, but those eyes seem all the more piercing, all the more endless.

It takes me a second to remember that he’s injured.

“Are you okay?” I gush as I run forward and begin to pry his jacket from his uninjured shoulder. “Let me see, I can stop the bleeding.”

“Belle.”

I ignore him, finally freeing his good arm and oh-so-carefully peeling the jacket away from his chest.

Only to find the Kevlar underneath.

My knuckles rap against it with a familiar dull sound and I freeze, looking up at him.

So close. I can practically feel those dangerously long eyelashes fluttering against my cheek.

He grins at me. “Were you worried about me?”

I smack his chest, regretting it instantly, before launching myself backward. “You bastard.”

“I’m sorry. Did you want to tend to my wounds and make me feel better?”

I glare at him as he removes the rest of his jacket. Sure enough, the shoulder padding of his tactical vest is torn up, no doubt covering the bullet lodged there.

But alarmingly, he doesn’t stop there. Teo simply holds my glare as he strips off the vest. My gaze snags on the strip of skin that’s revealed when his T-shirt rides up. Silky, smooth, and utterly delectable.

“See something you like?”

My eyes snap to his.

He has paused, hands gripping the bottom of his shirt as if to pull it over his head.

“I…er…” I swallow hard.

“Ice pack is in the freezer.” He nods toward the kitchen door.

I don’t need to be told twice. I scramble backward into the room, desperately trying to get a hold of myself.

The whole point of coming out tonight was to test a theory, yet all I’ve managed to do so far is let myself get kidnapped again and drool over the man who’s supposed to be my mortal enemy.

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