Nic swung his truck into the brewery parking lot, the safety lights casting an eerie glow through the low-hanging fog.“I’ll make this quick, I promise,” he said, putting the truck in Park.“Eddie’s still gone so I need to sign a check for a vendor coming in later.”He glanced sideways, grinning at Cam in the passenger seat.“Since I don’t plan on coming back in today.”
“Why’s that?”
“I’ve got something besides paperwork in mind to keep me busy.”
“Oh, is that right?”Cam grabbed his collar, yanking him half over the console and into another searing kiss like the one in the stairwell.“What exactly have you got in mind?”he whispered against his lips.
“That whole fucking-the-local-ASAC thing unless you have an objection.”
“No objection here.”Cam gave him another quick hit of those lips, then shoved Nic back in his seat.“Grab a case of the pilsner while you’re at it.”
“Thought you were partial to the stout?Only a few cases left.”
Slouched sideways in his seat, Cam lolled his head, a soft smile playing at the corners of his reddened mouth.“I am but the pilsner is your favorite.”
A cluster bomb exploded in Nic’s chest, heat pinging all around, expanding, filling his chest and forcing words up his throat he hadn’t uttered, much less considered, in almost three decades.He lifted a hand, palming the side of Cam’s face, the stubble rough and wonderful against his palm.“Cam, I?—”
And then a bomb went off for real, outside the car.An explosion blasted in front of the truck, smoke and fog combining for zero visibility, which made seeing where the gunshots cracking the windshield came from impossible.
Cam didn’t have to tell him to hit the deck.They both crouched, heads nearly colliding.Another round of shots and the glass windshield splintered, popped, then rained down over them.
“Who the fuck is shooting at us?”Cam shouted.
Nic had a pretty good idea.He popped open the console between them and withdrew his Beretta.He cocked the weapon and switched off the safety.“Cover me.”
“Cover you?”Cam protested, readying his own sidearm.“I’m going out there, not you.”
“This is my problem,” Nic replied, reaching for the door handle.
Cam grabbed his trailing arm.“What fucking problem?”
Another round of shots raced up the hood and through the windowless front, shattering the one behind them.
“Fucking hell,” Cam cursed, ducking low again.
“Just cover me, and I’ll explain when this is over.”He needed to get out there before the shooter got on top of them.Given the angle of the shots, the sniper was high, so Nic had time, but every second Cam kept him here was one more second Cam got closer to death.
“Dominic!Let me go instead!”
Nic reached his hand out through the rain of glass and palmed Cam’s cheek once more.“I can’t risk you.Not for this.”
Hard black eyes clashed with his but ultimately shuttered.Cam turned his head and kissed Nic’s palm, wisely not risking lifting up to kiss over the console.“Go!I’ll cover you.”
Withdrawing his hand, Nic scooted toward the door, yanked the handle, and kicked it open.One last glimpse of Cam, at the face of a man who had grown to mean more to him than any other in a long time, before Nic slid backward, rolling out of the truck and hiding behind the door.He waited for Cam to start shooting, then raced for the side of the brewery building.
Gunfire nipped at his heels, but not as relentlessly as it had struck the car, the return fire from Cam diverting the shooter’s focus.
He reached the side of the brewery building, flattening himself against the dark wood.There was a break in the gunfire, followed by the smash of metal across the parking lot, like someone jumping down onto a car hood from someplace high.When the gunfire resumed, it was on the same level as them, aimed right at Cam in the truck.
Mouth dry, skin burning hot, the memory of sand and blood trying to steal his attention, Nic forced it back and scrabbled along the wall, feeling in the dark for the breaker box.His fingers finally hit metal and he busted open the lock with the butt of his pistol, his utility keys inside the main building.Lock clattering to the ground, Nic ripped the door open and grasped the big red handle, levering it up and turning on every light inside and outside the brewery.
Light cut through the early morning dark and the hail of gunfire ceased.
Nic readied for battle, for the shooter and possibly more of Vaughn’s men to charge them.Cam did too, scrambling out of the car, weapon raised.But the shadow on the edge of the fog disappeared back into the bank, footsteps fading.
Cam took off after the shooter, and Nic, propelling off the wall, barely caught him.“Boston, no!”He grabbed Cam’s wrist and swung him back against the main building wall.
Cam struggled against the hold.“What the fuck, Nic?He’s getting away!”
