Page 78 of Burning Secrets

Crew didn’t move. Just slapped Viper’s hand away, jutted out his foot, and rolled, sending both fists into Viper’s back.

Momentum sent Viper to the ground. He howled, jerking, and as Crew backed away, blood pooled under him.

He’d landed on the scissors.

Feet slapped in the hallway, and security burst through the door. Crew held up his hands, stepped back.

Two men, and they fell upon Viper, rolled him over. He’d stuck himself in the gut, blood pouring through the puncture.

He swore at Crew, but they secured him and got him on a table, zip-tied his hands, then Darren showed up with gauze, and the nurse returned and pulled the curtain.

And Crew stood in the hallway, alone.

No, not alone. “Are you kidding me?”

He turned, and Rio stood there at the door of the ER. “How’d he get free?”

“That’s on me.” The voice came from the ER bay, and Crew looked over to see Mills holding a cold pack to his nose, blood on his uniform. “I didn’t secure him properly. He caused us to crash.” He lowered the cold pack.

Yeah, that nose was broken.

“I owe you an apology, Crew,” Mills said. He glanced at Rio. “Apparently, you’re?—”

“One of the good guys.”

Crew looked over to see JoJo walking down the hallway, shaking her head. “I leave you for five minutes, and this is what happens?”

He reached out for her, and she walked into his arms. “Then you’d better not leave me.”

Then he lowered his head and kissed her. Sweetly, not lingering because, well, he was hungry.

And not just for pizza.

But the last place he wanted to kiss her was in the middle of an ER unit.

He grabbed her hand, glanced at Rio. “I’m done.”

Rio nodded. “Thank you.”

Huh. Then he took JoJo’s hand and led her out into the sunlight.

THIRTEEN

JoJo still couldn’t shakethe image of Crew and Viper fighting, again, from her mind, even as they sat down at Northstar Pizza.

The smells of tomato sauce and baking pies drifted out into the lazy evening, and music played over the speakers attached on the deck, the bench with the live musician empty, his guitar on a stand. Twinkle lights shone despite the light of the day, and a few patrons sat at the yellow-painted picnic tables.

It felt like a date.

Crew held her hand across the table. “You okay?”

She’d come in on the tail end of the fight, paralyzed at the repeat of what had gone down at the compound.

Or…not. Because as she’d watched Crew dodge Viper, trip him, land a punch, she realized…

He’d taken the beating for her. To give Tristan time to find her. In fact, he’d even said that, but she’d thought he was joking.

Not.

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