Page 46 of Nauti Kisses (Nauti 6)

He would only have a second.

He had to find a way to take out Gerard, and hopefully to disarm Marlena in no more than a second or two.

That first moment of surprise would be the only chance he had.

“I’m going to need to check the electronics,” he sighed, glancing back to Gerard.

“And that would be where?” Gerard asked icily.

“Below the controls. ” John nodded to the small door at the bottom of the console.

“Move back. ” Gerard waved the gun at him.

John and Sierra did as he said as Marlena moved closer, her weapon pointing toward them, her gaze hardening.

“Please don’t try anything, John,” she warned him quietly.

Gerard knelt, worked the panel loose, and John moved.

As he did, mayhem suddenly exploded through the boat.

The long, wide window at the side of the console shattered as a hard male form launched itself into the room. The front door burst in and John jumped for Gerard.

He had almost moved too late. Gerard was coming up with the weapon when John jerked hold of him and slammed his head into the console as the gun went off.

John felt the bullet tear along his bicep, the fiery blaze of pain shocking him for a moment, giving Gerard the opening he needed to come back.

Another gun fired.

Gerard stared at John in shock, in surprise, as a bloom of red began to stain across the perfectly pressed white silk shirt he wore.

In the distance, he heard Marlena screaming in denial as Dawg Mackay quickly restrained her. She was fighting him tooth and nail, screeching when Sierra walked up to her and smacked her full handed across the face with enough force to immediately shut her up.

Gerard fell to the floor of the boat, his gaze sightless. Marlena shut up, thankfully, and Sierra turned back to John.

“It’s over now,” she said softly, those gray eyes so filled with pain that his heart broke for her.

TWELVE

Sierra felt John lift her in his arms and move to the couch where he sat down with her, holding her close against him, breathing deep and hard as Dawg Mackay pushed a restrained Marlena into a chair on the other side of the room.

“How fucking romantic,” she snarled. “You’re so weak, Sierra. So stupid. Do you truly believe fucking him is going to hold him to you?”

She didn’t. She had always known better. It wasn’t fucking him that would hold him to her.

“Loving him will be enough. ”

Marlena laughed at that.

“Shut the fuck up, Marlena. ” John’s voice held a vein of weariness. “Your little games are over, and I’ve simply had enough of your mouth for the moment. ”

“You stupid country hick,” she cried out. “You could have had everything with me. ”

“He could have had nothing. ” Sierra pulled herself from John’s grip, stood, and glared at the other woman in rising fury. “You’ve destroyed Gerard, yourself, and now you actually believe you would have done anything but destroy John?”

“You moralistic little bitch,” Marlena screamed as the Mackays and Timothy Cranston stared at her in loathing and pity. “You’re as ignorant as he is. He fucked you and passed out, he didn’t even remember he’d had you. ” She laughed as Sierra flinched. “You’re such a stupid little whore. ”

“I remembered. ”

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