Page 22 of Protected By the SEAL

“There’s one thing I want to do before we go outside.” I grab Benji and pull him to me. “I need to kiss you first.”

The urge is overwhelming. I absolutely need one last moment of heaven before hell unleashes. I need one minute of just me and Benji in our perfect little bubble before the world crashes down around me and I lose everything.

His lips crash to mine, and we kiss passionately and a little wildly once more. I don’t want this to be my last ever kiss, but if it is, then I need it to be the most incredible one possible. It has to be everything and then some.

19

BENJI

This is irrational, probably not the right move, but I can’t sit around and let Cassie die. My aim is to get her out of here first and foremost. I’m a lot less worried about my surviving it. I just need her to live. It’s imperative, and not just because of my job but because I really might be head over heels in love with her. I think I spoke the truth, however crazy it was.

“Right.” I take Cassie’s hand in mine. “It’s time to go. I need to fight, so I might not be able to hold onto you all the time. So, Cassie, I really need you to focus on getting out of here. Ineedto know that you’re going to be safe. That’s most important.”

“But what about you?” she begs. “I don’t want to get out without you. I need you with me no matter what.”

Okay, so Cassie isn’t quite as prepared for me to die as I am, so I’m going to have to comfort her. “But if you get out, then you can get us help.” I hand her my phone. “You can call whoever you want and get someone to save us. You’ll be the eyes outside.”

“Right, yes.” She presses her lips tightly together in a thin, defiant line. “I can get out to save you, to save us.”

I give her one last tiny kiss before it’s time for me to slam the motel room door open. Once I do that, the protection surrounding us is gone and it’s time for action. But I’m giving Cassie a chance, and that’s all I care about. Her life.

Immediately, I slip my hand from Cassie’s and I fight. I jump on the man outside the door and attack. With the element of surprise on my side, he succumbs quickly, dropping his gun hard as he hits the floor. Unfortunately, the chaos has made it to our hallway, so it isn’t easy for me to locate it. I have to dive to the floor, barely missing kicking feet as I go, to wrap my fingers around it. With the cold metal in my hands, a brand-new confidence flows through me. We can do this after all.

“Cassie?” I call out, because all of a sudden, I can no longer see her. Holy fuck. “Cassie, where are you?”

It’s pretty dumb of me to call out her name, I know that much, because she’s the main target, but Ineedto find her. I can’t die knowing that she hasn’t gotten out. I won’t be able to hack that much. I’ve to see her escaping to know that it’s all been worthwhile. I yell her name out as I run, shoving people out my way as I go. Which way has she gone? Where’s she headed? How the fuck did she manage to escape without my seeing her? Oh, my God, this just keeps getting worse and worse.

“Cassie?” I spot a flock of red hair. I don’t know if it definitely belongs to her, but it’s the first clue I’ve had. “Cassie, wait up.”

Someone grabs me. I shake them off hard, but I keep getting pulled back. Someone’s hitting me as well, attacking me from every angle, during which time the flames of hair vanish from sight. I fucking lose my mind. A red-hot anger bubbles through me. I become like a goddamn animal, primal and flooded withrage as I fight back. These assholes keep trying their hardest to keep me away from Cassie, and it’s making me insane. I love her… Iloveher, and they won’t win. I won’t have it.

“Fuck you,” I scream in a guttural manner at the next guy I knock out. “Fuck the lot of you. You’re all bullshit.”

I don’t know if I’m going to get out of this fight. It’s starting to feel a bit like I won’t. There are too many people, too many attacks. I don’t even think this is all just the gang. Maybe someone started fighting back because they didn’t want to die and it erupted. It exploded like freaking fireworks and the wildfire just caught on. Now, no one might survive it.

Bang, bang!The chaos halts as rapidly as it began. Everyone falls apart as the gunshots ring out.Bang, bang, bang.

Blood splatters, I don’t know who’s been shot, but as long as it isn’t me, I’ll take it. Since I don’t know who’s shooting and who they’re aiming at, I duck down instantly. I cover my head and hold onto the gun tightly in case I need to defend myself. My breaths are sharp and ragged, my heart racing and pounding like crazy, but my nerves are on fire. I’m sharp and crazy.

“Get up!” someone yells. “You’re under arrest. Anyone does anything stupid and they’ll end up getting shot. Don’t fuck up.”

Cops? I think desperately to myself.Holy shit, is this for real? Are the police here at last? Was this… Max?

Hope blooms like a freaking flower. I can’t stop it from growing with every single second. My eyes dart upward, and I try to find out who the voice belongs to. I need to know if this is really linked to the police or something else. Even without the chaos, it’s hard to see anything. It’s challenging to see anything in particular. This is still as much of a mess as before.

And then the yelling begins. People are hit and knocked to the ground, people argue, and the fighting kicks off again, which means it’s time for me to get the hell out of here. I can’t stick around even if it is the police because I need to find Cassie. The urge to lay my eyes upon her and to see that she’s doing just fine is still overwhelming, and this might be my chance…

“Hey, buddy, you aren’t going anywhere.” Someone lifts me from the floor and grabs my hands behind my back. “You’re under arrest. Don’t think you’re getting away with this. This place is absolutely surrounded. Make it easy on yourself.”

I’m not fighting. I know that it’s better not to fight back with the cops. That’s how you end up Tasered and shot. I let them wrap handcuffs around my hands, just glad that I have some backup on my side this time around. As soon as they realize that I’m one of the good guys, this will be okay. At least the gang won’t be able to do anything to Cassie now.

“I’m not fighting back,” I gasp out, allowing the gun to drop to the floor. “I’m okay, I’m coming with you…”

I’m dragged roughly, being treated like a criminal even if I’m not one, which is pretty messed up, but the cops probably don’t know what’s going on, so they have to treat everyone the same. I go willingly until I’m dragged outside the building and slammed against the police car hard until my head hits the top of it and a dizziness overcomes me. God, that was agony. Have I not suffered enough pain today? Do I really need to go through more? I haven’t resisted arrest or anything.

“Benji, oh, my God, Benji!” I try to turn as Ifinallyhear Cassie calling out my name, but the cops won’t let me. They grab my head and keep it fixed forward as if I might flip out and dosomething crazy. “No, no, no, Benji isn’t one of them. Benji isn’t one of the bad guys. Benji was helping me. You don’t need to arrest him. He’s with me. Please, let him go. No, don’t do this. Let him go. I need to check in on him. I need to know that he’s okay. Stop this, why won’t you let me get to Benji?”

“Everyone who was a part of this has to be taken to the station, Miss,” one of the cops tells her in a calm tone of voice, much kinder than any of them spoke to me. “Including you. Even if he wasn’t a part of this, we need to get all the info.”

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