My breath catches as a near-blinding heat shoots through my bicep, causing me to lower the pistol while I wince and glance down. More warmth floods the area as blood weeps from the fresh wound.
It’s a graze, at least.
I grind out an irritated sound to push down the way it aches. “Son of a bitch…”
“Are you hit?” Kat asks, sounding more concerned than I expect.
“It’s just a scratch…keep going.”
She absolutely knows I’m lying, but she continues to race down another street while I don’t falter, raising my opposite arm to continue firing at Yuri’s men.
They’re damn determined, but so are we.
Eventually, Kat cuts into a narrow alleyway too small for the car to fit through, causing them to come to a screeching halt while their brake lights illuminate the space.
I continue to watch as the Panigale races out of view, easily gliding through the tight area before shaking them entirely.
Even I wouldn’t have taken this way.
The vehicle tries to follow, but as we get out of range, following an impossible path, the drive becomes quiet once again.
I wait several minutes before I exhale, registering the pounding of my heart while I tuck the pistol away. With the threat put on pause for the time being, I can feel the brunt of the graze mark, along with the way my body immediately responds.
With my hand firmly against her stomach, I lean into Kat more while I catch my breath and try my hardest to ignore the fire pulsing in my arm.
Once the coast is clear, Kat veers back onto the main road, gunning it back to the house before we find ourselves in another chase.
Luckily, she pulls into the driveway before long, slamming the Panigale into park before killing the engine and pulling her helmet off. She turns, glancing down at my bleeding arm as her eyes widen slightly.
“Inside. Now.”
As much as I want to put on a brave face and reassure her that it’s nothing, I don’t have it left in me.
Instead, I get off and follow her in, mindlessly discarding my helmet somewhere. My arm throbs while more blood tricklesdown to my wrist, and try as I might to keep my head on straight, a subtle wooziness courses through my system.
By some stroke of luck, I hang on long enough to reach the closest bathroom, where Kat pushes the door open and guides me over to the steps in front of the tub. “Sit.”
For once, I obey without question, wincing as I’m lowered onto the cool stone. I don’t have the energy to argue.
As carefully as she can, Katya pulls my jacket off without grazing the wound as well as she can before tossing it aside and taking a closer look.
With her brows knit together, there’s a gentle fury in the way she inspects it. Then, she huffs out a breath and grabs the first aid kit from beneath the sink.
Wordlessly, she pulls out the necessary materials before starting to clean the cut, a touch rougher than she needs to be. I don’t say anything at first, but I almost need the excuse to fill that silence.
“You could be gentler, you know,” I murmur, attempting to hold in my sounds of protest.
“And you could be smarter,” Kat snaps back, looking at me with a storm behind her eyes, then she shakes her head and continues dabbing alcohol at the cut. “We saw one of Yuri’s men, and instead of dealing with it, you dragged me around the casino to gamble.”
Touche.
Frowning, well aware that she has a point, I exhale deeply. “I didn’t think he’d make a move so soon…not on a whim like tonight.”
“You didn’t think. That’s the problem,” she returns, using a light enough hold on my arm to keep it in place. “And we endedup being chased through Vegas like fugitives. This is exactly why I wanted no part in my family’s business.”
As she utters those last words, she presses the gauze against the wound to make me bite back a pained groan.
After a moment of furious silence, Kat pulls in a breath and continues, voice giving away the truth behind her feelings. “This is why I stayed in New York and built my own life. I knew the second I got pulled into Yuri’s bullshit, it would end up like this, one way or another. With bullets being exchanged and blood spilled. That’s not the life I want.”
