Page 35 of Wicked Duty
I stare at his elbow, which now bends back at an unnatural angle.
Callum just broke that guy’s arm and dislocated his shoulders. Both of them. So quickly that Tattoo is still folded in half, clutching his crotch and catching his breath.
My bodyguard shoves my would-be kidnapper’s head against the cement wall with a loudcrunch. I’m almost certain he’s dead when he slides to the ground.
Even though Callum did all the work, we both stand panting over my attacker’s crumpled body like it was a team effort.
Out of nowhere, Tattoo straightens and lunges at Callum in one quick motion. My stomach swoops. “Callum, move!”
Callum reels back.
Tattoo shoves a blade through the air where Callum’s spleen was only a second ago. But my wicked fast bodyguard grabbed the guy’s wrist before the knife could slice flesh.
They tussle, Callum’s thick, strong fingers holding tight around Tattoo’s wrist to stop the blade from stabbing him through the cheek.
My eyes lock on a nearby fire extinguisher strapped to the wall.
I unstrap it and swing. The heavy steel connects with the other guy’s skull.
Tattoo grunts, shaking his head like his brain is vibrating.
Staggering as if he’s ingested one too many shots of whiskey, his gaze slides to where his partner lies sprawled on the concrete. He spins around and flees toward the emergency exit. His beefy body slams against the door as he stumbles out.
The fire extinguisher slips from my quaking fingers and falls to the ground with a clang. Tremors shake me, head to toe. Alarm rearranges Callum’s features.
“Are you okay?” His calm tone contrasts with the club’s pounding bass.
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I wrap my arms around my waist. “Can we…just get out of here?”
“Not yet. We need to take care of Baldy here.” He glances at his phone. “Reinforcements should be here soon.”
The emergency exit door flies open.
I jump hard, flattening myself against the wall.
Veronika. And Darren.
“We caught the one trying to escape.” Darren strides to Callum’s side, dragging Tattoo by the neck. The man’s hands are restrained behind his back, and blood streams from his nose. “Ran into him by accident on our way in.”
“Are you all right?” Nika rushes over to hug me tightly. She’s like another older sister to me, though not as smothering as Maya. She squeezes me while I tuck my head into her shoulder, my nose buried in her low ballet bun.
“I’m okay.” I return her hug, thankful for the familiar touch. “Where’d you come from?”
“We were headed out to dinner when Darren got Callum’s call. Good thing we were so close.”
“It almost happened again,” I say in a low, shaky voice to Nika.
She pulls back to look at me while brushing tendrils of hair from my face. “We caught the guys. We’re taking them in for questioning. You’re lucky Callum was here, huh?”
I swallow the knot in my throat. “Yeah.”
Five minutes later, three of Darren’s guys arrive to haul off my would-be kidnappers, both of whom miraculously survived the encounter. Darren and Veronika hang back with us as we exit the building. We put The Black Box behind us and soon find ourselves headed down eighty floors in a high-speed elevator.
I’m in a daze and can’t stop thinking about Nika’s words.
“You’re lucky Callum was here, huh?”
He taunts me and then turns around and rescues me from a pair of goons in a back hallway. Not because he cares, but because I’m a job to him. I’m not suffering from any delusions about my value to him. Despite knowing that, his words from earlier still hurt me, and his heroic actions still win me over.
