Page 37 of 1 Last Shot

I freeze when I get a look at the person who grabbed me.

"I—I’m s-sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"Give me all your money," the hooded man snarls. "And your phone."

I'm too stunned by the situation to truly understand the severity of it. My mind feels foggy, and I don’t understand what he's asking.

"My what?" I ask in a daze. "You want my number?"

He lets out a bark of laughter. "Lady, you wish I'd take out an uptight cunt like you." His expression hardens and he gestures hurriedly at my purse. "Give me everything you have."

Enough brain power finally clicks into place that I realize he's not hitting on me. But I'm still only able to look down at myself in confusion. "My… what?"

"Jesus Christ," the guy growls, finally seeming to lose all of his patience. His arm snaps toward me. "Just give me that."

It's when his hand wraps around the strap of my purse and yanks, forcefully jerking me into his body, that I hear a new voice sound beside us.

"Let her go."

My attention turns toward the newcomer at the same time that the stranger's does. And I think we're both shocked to see Kane—all 6'2", two hundred pounds of him—standing at the corner of the street, a growling Oscar by his side.

"Get lost, man, this is between me and her," the hooded stranger snarls, though his eyes are darting to the pitbull. His words—and the tone they're spoken in—are enough to make me shrink back into my skin.

But not Kane. Kane just looks like he's taking an evening stroll in the city, his expression lax and Oscar's leash loose in his hand.

His eyes dart to me. He doesn't even hesitate before he says, "Whatever happens to her concerns me. So let's figure out a way to solve this without anyone getting hurt."

And while I'm frozen to the spot, his words seem to light a fire under the guy that still has a hand wrapped around my purse strap.

"Let me put it in a way you'll understand," he taunts.

And then he does something that makes me pale on the spot. That I'll never forget in a million years, no matter how badly I try to erase it.

With a gun pointing at Kane's head, the stranger growls, "Get lost or you'll be the one getting hurt."

I'm frozen. Slack-jawed, staring in disbelief at the scene in front of me.

Kane can't get hurt because of me, he justcan't—

But just as I'm about to step between the two men, Kane's voice pierces my subconscious.

"Okay. You're in charge. I don't want any trouble. Here, take my wallet. I just don't want the girl to get hurt." He tosses his wallet at the guy's feet and steps back, one hand in the air in surrender, the other tugging Oscar further away from the scene. "Nobody wants anyone to get hurt, so just take the money and go. No one's stopping you."

The mugger's gaze snaps to me in disbelief. Like he can't believe he got a two-in-one, that he gottwo—

The second his attention strays toward me, Kane acts.

He leaps forward and knocks the gun out of the guy's hand, at the same time that Oscar charges to stand in front of me, his teeth bared and barking viciously. At the sound of the metal clattering to the ground, both my and the mugger's attention snaps to Kane.

Kane, who is already pressing his forearm to the stranger's throat against the brick wall of the building.

"You piece of fucking shit," he snarls, his face only an inch away from the guy. "You were going to hurther? I couldkillyou."

And when his face contorts in rage, and Oscar's barks turn into blood-chilling growls, my instincts tell me to step in.

"Kane," I say softly. Pleadingly. "Please don't. Let's just call the cops. I'm okay, we can just—"

But at the wordcops, the mugger's eyes go wild. And at the same time, Kane's attention strays to me. As he turns, Kane's forearm loosens from the guy's throat. Who immediately takes advantage of the situation and shoves Kane's body away from him, then turns to bolt down the street before either of us even realize what's happening. By the time Kane's gaze jerks away from me and toward the mugger, he's already turning around the corner and disappearing out of sight.

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