He coughs, wobbles, but stays on his feet despite the thick black smoke. I lunge forward, yank him down.
“Crawl,” I order. “Get over the fence, head to the front. Officers. Paramedics. Go.”
Ray points at the pool, then tosses his Taser aside. There’s no gun in his belt.
Shit.
He salutes—fucking salutes—then scrambles away.
I pull my shirt up over my mouth and nose, then push forward, eyes locked on the pool.
My eyes dart to the house. A hand clamps around my shoe. I whirl, gun raised?—
Angelo.
He hauls himself out of the pool, dripping, breathless. In two strides, he’s on me.
He yanks off his soaked shirt, since he bothered to put one on for once, and tries to wrap it around my face. I shove at him. “What the fuck! I tell you to stay alive and you hear ‘burn down the house’?”
He chuckles and pulls me against him,kissing me. “I’m sorry I worried you, Topolina.”
“Angelo, don’t you even-”
He shoves me down as bullets fly by over our heads. We’re in a bush together. Great.
Angelo’s gaze flicks sideways.
Then—CRACK.
He kicks a plank of wood, snapping it. Another splinters under his boot. His jaw clenches, swallowing a yell.
I follow his gaze?—
Shit.
A bullet wound. Too high, too close. Blood blooms, spreading fast.
“Oh, fuck this.” I grab him. “The one part of you I like and they’re trying to ruin it.”
“Luisa,” Angelo starts.
I roll onto my belly, peek through the bush, and ignore Angelo’s sharp ‘no.’
Then—I fire.
Non-Lethal. Just enough to make them stagger.
The two guys—not his family, from what I remember—scramble back.
Before I can fire again, Angelo yanks me away from the edge, dragging me back.
He shoves me through the hole he madein the fence. I reach in, grab him, haul him up. He grunts, wincing as he gets to his feet.
Angelo—my Angelo, bleeds from his shoulder, his thigh. Too much blood. My jaw locks. He presses a kiss to my forehead. “Anger later, mighty mouse. Get me to the paramedics, please.”
“I told you-”
He cuts me off with a soft kiss. Then fists his hand in my hair, tightening just enough.
