Page 73 of The Mercenary's Guide to Mishaps and Romance

“You fuckers went out on acar chaseand left me here with a boring dead body?”

“I’m more than positive that this wasn’t planned!” I protest.

“It’s fine,” Tavish says. “I have it mostly handled… Ellis, swap places with your father. He’s panicking too much.”

“And you think I’m not panicking?” I ask,veryuncertain how he came to that conclusion.

“No, I got this, don’t distract me,” Dad says. “I have this one hundred percent under control?—”

And that’s the moment a vehicle slams right into the side of this one. The car is shoved off the road, hitting the ditch before I’m flung forward into the seat in front of me before the seat belt I’d slithered half out of to help Tavish snaps me to a halt.

The world twists around me. My vision turns dark and then suddenly, I’m being dragged out of the car. Someone has their hands wrapped around my wrist, pulling and tugging me. I don’t understand what’s happening or why. All I know is that as my vision clears, the person standing over me is neither my father nor Tavish.

Are they caught in the car? Are they okay? Tavish didn’t have his seat belt on, did he? Did my father? What if something’s happened to them? I need to get to them. Will the car catch on fire like they do in the movies? I need to get them out before they do.

I try to twist, and when I do, I see that my father isn’t trapped in the car, he’s about fifteen or so feet from me. How the hell did he get so far away?

“Keep running, Zachary, and I’ll put a bullet in your son’s head unless you turn back around and come here,” the man calls.

“You’ll shoot us both,” Dad retorts. “You’ll shoot us both.”

“You know I won’t. We need you, Zachary. So stop this nonsense. Get back here and I’ll let your son trot on free.”

“You’ll kill us both,” Dad repeats. It seems to be the only thing he knows how to say.

And I watch in disbelief as my father turns from me.

“Ha, what a fucking laugh,” the guy says. “You think he’ll stop if I shoot you in the leg? Maybe he’s not sure how serious I am.”

I’m not sure anyone could mistake how serious he is. “No, no, please. I don’t know anything about this. I don’t even know what’s happening. I haven’t seen him in twelve years.”

“You want me to shoot him instead?” he says, and I know if he could, he’d have already done it, but I still slowly shake my head.

“No, please… I don’t want anyone to be hurt.”

“How fucking sad. You’d defend that man after he left you? I almost feel guilty shooting you.Almost.”

Suddenly, I hear a noise before someone slams right into the man. I realize it’s Tavish who is practically riding the man to the ground. He slams his fist into the man’s face with enough force that the man’s head is snapped backward and then he just keeps whaling on him. Blood is spraying out as the man’s head is slammed back again.

“Get up and run,” Tavish yells.

I get up, but how the hell can I run? He’s over here protecting me, saving my life; there’s no way I could just leave him. But… I’m also not sure what help I am here. The man throws Tavish offhim before lifting his gun as I scramble for the taser that Tavish had tucked into my pants. Tavish and the man are brawling as I hold the taser gun with unsteady hands. I’m shaking so much that I have no fucking idea how to steady it.

Stop panicking. Stop panicking. For fuck’s sake, stop panicking!

Tavish jerks back and I fire, not expecting that he’d gone back just to throw himself forward again.

Tavish yelps.

“Did I miss you?”

“Aye! You nearly got me in the bawbag! You might be cute, but there’s only so much cuteness gets you!”

“S-Sorry! I don’t know what the fuck a bawbag is, but it sounds serious,” I say as I watch the guy spasm before hitting the ground. It looks horrific. It looks almost as bad as the guy’s finger being shot. What am I going to do next? “Tavish, am I becoming a bad person? I think I’m being a bad person! I keep having to hurt people and I don’t like it!”

Tavish tackles me so fucking hard to the ground that I’m not expecting it. I lose my grip on the taser as something flies over his head. Then he wraps an arm around me and just starts dragging me, and all the while I’m just lying there confused, slightly terrified, and more than a little upset.

“My father left me,” I say.

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