Page 149 of Hot for Hostage

When we reached the edge of the road, Bear stood sentry in front of me, and I braced myself before looking at Davian and Jake rolling around the dirt road in a full-out brawl.

Oh no.

Davian was clearly winning with the hits he was getting in. And he seemed to be the only one dodging. But nothing good could come of beating up a police officer.

“Dav!” I called, wincing at a particularly brutal hit. “I think he got the message.”

Instead of stopping, Davian grabbed Jake’s collar and threw another punch.

Ouch.

“Sock him in the throat, Reed!” Gladys shouted from next to the Dog-Mobile, followed by a hooting cheer. “Nice shot!”

“Gladys,” I hissed over my shoulder, not wanting her to encourage him.

She shrugged. “At my age, you gotta get the thrills where you can.You call that a punch, Murdock? My parakeet can hit harder than that!”

Ryan watched in horrified amazement from the other side of the van.

“Help me stop them,” I called to my friends, looking around for anything to use as a weapon. “I don’t want Davian to get hurt.”

And I didn’t want him to get into trouble for assaulting an officer, either—which he was apparently very good at.

“Sadie,” Gladys called, and I turned just as she lobbed something at me.

I fumbled to catch the clay pot, and immediately recognized my beautiful brown plant, Walter.

Perfect. His pot was solid enough to do some damage.

Hauling him behind my head for leverage, I waited until Davian shoved Jake into the side of the patrol car to make my move. When the timing was right, I aimed at the side of Jake’s head and let Walter fly.

… He missed.

Instead of hitting Jake’s head in an impressive display of my athletic skill, Walter went three feet to the right and ricocheted off the car’s back window. He fell to the ground with a sadplopand a cracked pot.

That wasn’t good.

I ran over and picked him up just as Davian clocked Jake in the jaw, earning a groan from Jake and another cheer from Gladys. It wasn’t even a fair fight as Jake swayed to the side and Davian pulled him back by the collar of his jacket. He was just playing with his food now.

I needed to stop this before Davian got into trouble. The police might’ve let what he’d done to Zain slide, but I doubted they’d do the same for one of their own.

Adjusting my grip on Walter’s broken remains, I tiptoed closer to the fight until I was a couple feet behind Jake. Bear hugged my hip, growling softly.

“Watch out, Dav!” I warned, just before jumping forward and bringing Walter down against the back of Jake’s head.

Walter did his job this time, and Jake dropped like a bag of rocks. Davian moved quickly and methodically, nicking the handcuffs off Jake’s belt before crouching and cuffing him to the rim of the tire.

He pocketed the key.

Jake moaned pitifully—his face an ugly mixture of red and blue, with one eye rapidly swelling shut—and Davian grabbed his jaw.

“Why’d you take Sadie?” He spoke so calmly—and devoid of any emotion—but the tension radiating from him froze me in place.

“Fuck you,” Jake rasped. He jerked against Davian’s grasp to glare at me, but it lacked any heat when he couldn’t even focus enough to maintain eye contact. “Thisis who you want, Sadie? A criminal asshole? He’s not?—”

“Don’t look at her. Look at me.” Davian’s grip on Jake’s jaw turned white-knuckled as he jerked it back to face him. “Where were you taking her?”

Jake glowered at Davian like there was nothing he’d love more than to make a Davian-flavored stew.

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