Page 29 of Savage Temptation
Bang.
My heart stops.
Reality pushes front and center in my brain when I see Jagger take a knee, clutching at his side. My muscles coil. Since action before thinking seems to be the theme of the evening, I move. Shoving away self doubt and the knowledge that I don't know what I’m doing I dive into the office and grab the gun from the wooden chest.
Still on my knees, I whirl before Oliver has a chance to stop staring at his handy work. The second those beady eyes find me, I pull the trigger.
Disbelief filters out all other emotions from Oliver’s face.
Three hundred pounds of demon falls to his knees and Oliver meets the same fate he offered to so many before me.
Trembling from head to toe, I drop the gun back in the chest and rush to Jagger, who looks pale but is still upright.
“Where are you hit? Where?” I run my hands over the expanse of his chest. Nothing. Thank you, Jesus. I throw up his shirt and that is when I see the entry point. I scramble over to the chest, grab a handful of shirts and I am right back, pressing the wad of cotton against the wound.
“It’s nothing serious, baby.” Jagger stops me from trying to get his shirt off.
“No, you gotta let me look. I have to stop the bleeding.” Crazy man was just shot. Okay? Is he for real? My inner monologue spirals as he shrugs off being shot at point-blank range, as if it’s nothing.
“Emilia. Stop, baby. Slow down.”
He draws me up until he can put an arm around me and uses his other hand to grab my chin. “Stop worrying about me. Are you okay? Did he touch you?”
My world slows down. My heart doesn’t, but yeah, my world does when I look into Jagger's worried eyes.
“I’m okay. Oliver is not.”
Jagger shakes his head. “Don’t feel bad. He had it coming either from me or someone, but he was not living through the night.”
“We need to call the cops.” I look around at the mess and at poor Acadian’s lifeless body. His mother will suffer from so muchheartache when she finds out. “Oh, Jagger. This is just one big-ass shit show.”
“I know, baby. I know.”
I throw his arm over my shoulder just as the pounding of boots on asphalt hits my ears.
“Storm? Emilia?”
“In here,” I call out. The next half hour is filled with Reaper stepping in and getting the scene under control. He makes the call to the authorities, too. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of badges who are going to be secretly happy Oliver is the one who is gator bait now.
The irony. As cold-hearted as that makes me sound, I like how fate turned the table on a man composed of so much poison.
“The boy’s name was Acadian,” I offer Reaper, and then I tell him everything we found out this evening. From the list of scheduled deliveries, how orders are placed, and down to the other piece of paper with the port deliveries. “Your friend's brother will probably know a lot more about that, though.”
Reaper grunts his agreement. “I’ll get it taken care of. I’m sorry this had to be part of your coming back to us.”
I shrug. “If it hadn't happened, maybe I would be on my way to another city right now, and still under Oliver’s thumb.”
Reaper pulls me in for a hug and tells me, “Welcome back, Emilia. The rest of the crew and I will take over from here. Jagger needs you. Go be with him before he comes looking for you.”
The tough biker smiles down at me in a way that makes me wish I had a father like him. If I had, I would have never had a problem with a man like Oliver.
I walk back to the office to find Venom, who is the club medic, patching Jagger up with two sets of stitches and a good amount of gauze pads. “Went through and through. He’ll be as good as new in no time.”
Jagger pulls me to sit on his lap, earning us both an irritated grimace from Venom. “No wild sex, you two. Not even a little. Two weeks, and then you can go back at it like two wild rabbits.”
A bucket of heat hits my cheeks. “Look how pretty you are so flushed.” Jagger’s lips claim mine and I half hear Venom excuse himself, but I am way too busy savoring the taste of my man’s kiss.
I break the connection. “I love you.” My eyes bounce between Jagger’s. “Before someone else breaks in, shoots at us or interrupts us, I love you, Jagger “Storm” Malone. Now, forever and always.”
