Page 77 of Lose Me In The Shadows

“Shut up,” one of the goons said.

Conor was going to kill him. But first he had to get that gun pointed away from her.

“You don’t want her, you want us,” he said.

“This whore? No, we want her. And we’re going to treat her real good together before we get her back to her new owner. See, he doesn’t care what condition the package arrives in, as long as its holes are still in the right places. In fact—” he shoved the gun closer to her face, “he’d probably pay us more if we added a fourth hole.”

Tension swamped the small holding space, Luke and Micah’s fear and rage layering over Conor’s, until it became almost too hard to breathe.

He had to stay calm. They all did. If he attacked, the gun could go off with Kara directly in the crosshairs.

Kara, eyes wide, blinked at him. Twice.

Shit.

She was about to do something brave and stupid. He glared at her.

She ignored him, eyes on the man who held the gun on her. “Why don’t I give you a preview?” she asked in a sultry voice.

The man laughed shortly. “Nice try, bitch. I’m not easily manipulated. But you’re welcome to deepthroat my gun.”

And then, to Conor’s horror, she did.

Or rather, the asshole who was going to die a horrible fucking death shoved the gun toward Kara’s mouth. Kara froze. Conor watched in shock as the reckless woman who had his heart gripped in her tiny hand, whose very existence was part of what kept him breathing, opened her mouth and fuckingsuckedon the gun.

The hitman holding the gun was just as shocked, because his jaw dropped open.

“Fuuuuuuck,” he groaned, loosening his hand on the gun.

Kara leaned in closer, swallowing the gun deeper. Conor’s heart was about to explode. He couldn’t lose her. Not like this.

As she sucked, she reached up a hand, fondling the man’s balls through his pants.

And twisted.

That was all it took. The man screamed. Kara, the fucking crazy idiot, who was going to get her ass handed to her, grabbed the gun from him, pulling the barrel from her mouth. Conor used the distraction to pull his arm back and punch the man in the nose, Kara still between them. There was a satisfying crack. As the man stumbled backward, his brave, stupid, reckless, idiotic, badass girl rose to her feet, flipping the gun and pointing it at him.

“I can give you a new hole, too,” she said sweetly.

The other attackers raised their own guns, but Conor, Micah, and Luke were already on them, punching them, one after the other. The assholes swung back, and he grappled with both, landing hit after hit before sweeping his leg out behind one’s knees. The first man fell, groaning. Conor twisted the other man’s neck, satisfied when he heard the telling crack. Behind him, he heard thumps and crashes as Luke and Micah fought and subdued the others.

And then he heard a quiet pop as the silencer muffled a gun shot.

Fuck.

His heart rushing, he dropped the dead man to the floor, looking to see what happened. The man who had threatened Kara was dead, blood spilling out from his brain onto the floor.

And Kara held the gun in her trembling hands.

“Kara, baby.” Micah released the man he’d also killed so he could approach her from the side. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, fuck,” she muttered. “I just… I just…”

“Yeah, you did. It’s okay, sweetheart. It was self-defense. Give me the gun.” Luke stood in front of her—and the gun, which was now pointed at his chest. Conor couldn’t help but flashback to the last time they’d been in a similar configuration. Right before she’d shot Luke.

Luke and Kara stared at each other, a wordless conversation between them.

Conor waited. Micah waited.

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