Page 56 of Heartless
Across the room, Reaper groaned and scrubbed his hands down his face. He’d bitten his tongue so far, but I knew he was full of pent-upI-told-you-so’s. After this, I had no doubt he’d only be extra protective of Mari.
“Then he said, ‘General Tash wishes you a long and prosperous life’.”
“That fucker,” I cursed under my breath. It was what the general said after every meeting back when we traded goods.
“And then Jandro moved.” She looked over to the man in the hospital bed, chewing her lip. “Like he was trying to grab his leg or something, and the guy kicked him. I took that as my chance to pull the knife.”
“Good girl,” I praised, my grin returning. “Where’d you get him?”
“Well I shoved his arm first to get the gun away from me, so I just nicked him here.” She dragged a touch along the side of my ribs. “It caught him off-guard and I didn’t want him to regain balance, so I jumped on him and we went falling.”
“How’d you get the gun away from him?” Shadow asked. He sat next to Reaper against the far wall, but was entranced by her story as I was.
“I honestly don’t know.” She shook her head. “It’s such a blur. I just remember being so desperate to keep the gun away. He had a smashed ankle too, but was still a lot stronger. If I kept wrestling him on the ground, I know he would’ve been able to overpower me. At some point I just had my finger on the trigger and pulled it. For all I knew, I could’ve been pointing it at myself.”
“You did good, baby girl.” I pulled her into me, rubbing her shoulder as I kissed her forehead. “You saved your man, and probably all of Four Corners, again.”
“Jandro took care of the first one,” she sighed, leaning into me. “If it was just me, I would’ve kept riding.”
Shadow stood and crossed the room in two long strides as Mari pulled away from me. I stepped back to give them space, the two of them in their own world for a moment as Shadow nudged his hips between Mari’s legs and placed his hands on her waist.
“I’m proud of you,” he said, forehead leaning down to hers.
She tilted her face up to return the contact, a small smile lighting up her face as her petite hands glided over his ribs. “Thanks, love.”
I did that thing Reaper always told me to do—check myself for jealousy and try to figure out why. With a woman like Mari, it was most likely my own head trying to find something wrong, rather than anything she was doing.
But I was pleasantly surprised to find none, watching them embrace and kiss quietly. Shadow had been just as worried about her and Jandro, if not more. If the situation had turned out any worse, he could have lost his two favorite people in one swoop. The relief was clear in how his shoulders sagged when Jandro was wheeled out of surgery, and now, leaning over Mari like he wanted to shield her from the world. A world that seemed determined to take us out, no matter where we ended up.
“Gun, what’d you find out about the fucker with the car?” Reaper stood, stretching his arms over his head with a grimace. His stab wound was healing just as quickly as we expected, the fresh scar tissue still itching. Mari had already okayed removing his bandage while we were waiting on Jandro.
“Just some poor Four Corners worker that was bribed,” I said. “He swears up and down that he never wanted to be bait in the first place, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“They all say that,” Reaper growled.
“It’s true,” Mari piped up. She hopped down from the counter, her arm still around Shadow’s waist as she leaned into his side. “He was visibly nervous from the start, and told Jandro to run.” She released Shadow to stand next to Jandro’s bed, and reached for the VP’s hand. “If he hadn’t given us a head start, we might not have survived.”
“If he hadn’t been there at all, you wouldn’t have been hunted by those fucks,” Reaper spat.
Mari turned her head sharply to look at him. “If they hadn’t gotten him, they would’ve preyed on somebody else. I believe he was a victim in this too, Reaper.”
“I’ll take that into consideration,” Reaper said carefully back to her, his rage clearly on a short leash. I didn’t blame him, even if what Mari said made sense. My instinct was always to spill the blood of anyone who hurt my woman, and my brothers.
“You gotta stop doing this, man.” I turned to Jandro, trying to lighten the mood. “You, burned up and shot. Reaper almost blown up and stabbed. Shadow harpooned and poisoned. I’m due for something bad.”
“Yeah,” Jandro mumbled drowsily, proving he wasn’t knocked out after all. “‘Bout time your pretty face got fucked up.”
“Hey, I wasalmostsold into sexual slavery. That shit is traumatizing.”
“Right. If you take out thealmost, I’d believe you.”
Rapidly approaching footsteps in the hallway ended our ribbing, with General Bray poking his head through the doorway. “Hey guys. Is this a good time?”
“‘Course, Dad.”
Reaper turned to give his father a brief hug, but it was Mari, approaching with her arms open, that made the older man’s eyes light up.
“Oh, sweetheart.” Bray sighed heavily with relief as he hugged her against his chest. “My heart stopped when I heard. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
