Page 9 of Callum
Blood roared between her ears, but she still heard the gasps of the people around her. The rush of footsteps as people shuffled back, to get away. Because they saw what she felt. The muzzle of the pistol to her head.
She stopped, pressing a hand to her chest, trying to force air in and out of her body. But it wasn’t just her lungs that felt tight, it was her throat too. The air itself was too thick to breathe.
The music had stopped. Everyone stared. Then a girl was talking to the man holding the gun to her head. The woman’s words were too quiet to hear over the roar of blood between her ears.
She tried to pull herself back to the present. People hadn’t stopped. The music still played. And there was no man behind her with a gun.
Two more steps.
The pressure of the gun to her head began to lessen. Was he letting her go? Would he release her? Her knees began to tremble with relief.
Then the sound of a gunshot cracked through the rush of blood between her ears. For a single heartbeat, she wondered if the bullet had hit her. If the shock and fear were numbing her from the pain of it cutting into her flesh. Then the body behind her disappeared, thudded to the floor.
The man who’d held her had been shot…not her.
Her gaze lowered to her shoulder to see wet, crimson blood. It coated her. Bathed her. Choked her.
CHAPTER4
Callum watched Fiona’s back as she headed to the bathroom. He’d been damn well unable to take his eyes off the woman all night. She wore a short red dress that clung to her curves and made her creamy skin look so smooth that he yearned to run his hands over it. She’d paired the dress with red heels, drawing attention to her toned calves and thighs.
It was fucking torture.
The second she disappeared, he dragged his gaze back to his team. Tyler, Liam and Jason sat around him. Together, they made up half the guys who ran Blue Halo. Logan, Blake, Flynn and Aidan had decided to stay home with their women, and for Blake, that included his five-year-old daughter, Mila.
“How’s Emerson doing after everything that went down?” Jason asked Tyler.
Tyler’s partner had recently been through hell when both she and her brother were targeted by a deranged psychopath.
He lifted a shoulder. “I think she’s doing okay. Her brother’s doing well in the care facility where he’s receiving therapy, so I think that’s helping her. She’s still coming to terms with everything that happened with her ex, but she’s handling it well.”
Callum nodded, lifting his beer to his lips. “I’m glad she’s safe and you’re both happy.”
His friend was different since meeting Emerson. There was a new lightness about him. He smiled more often, and longer, and left the office earlier.
“Iamhappy,” Tyler said quietly, his lips curving into a smile. “Love will do that to a man.”
Liam shook his head. “What is it with this town? It’s like a damn love trap.”
Jason bumped his shoulder. “The beautiful, strong women help.”
Oh yeah. The women his teammates had found were strong. They’d had to be, with everything that had been thrown at them. Each had gone through their own nightmare in one form or another.
His gaze shot to the bathroom. Fiona was strong also. He still didn’t know her as well as he wanted, but he planned to change that.
He was still looking that way when the bathroom door opened and Fiona came out—only she didn’t look like she had when she’d stepped in there. Her skin was too pale and her eyes too wide.
What the hell?
She bumped into someone, then stopped and touched her chest.
Shit. Something was wrong.
He rose from the booth, ignoring the calls from the guys. As he walked toward her, he saw her attempt to step forward again, but she didn’t get far before the last scrap of color leached from her face and she looked like she was going to crumble.
Fuck.
He moved faster, sliding past groups of people and bar tables until he reached her. He grabbed her upper arms, hating the violent tremble in her limbs. “Fiona?”
