“No. I think I caught ricochet.”
When he moved his hand there was blood, but I quickly knocked his fingers away and wiped at the spot between a tear in his trousers so we could see what we were dealing with. He grunted but held his leg still. There was a wound I ran one finger along—earning myself a small moan that I tried to tell my body not to take the wrong way—but it was shallow, thank God.
“Think there’s metal wedged in there?”
“Maybe. Not sure. Hurts.”
“Fuck.”
More gunfire blasted off in our direction, and it sounded like Nunzio had more men because voices echoed around the large space. All at once I was regretting my arrogance at only giving us thirty minutes to get the fuck out of here. I took a good long look at Hunter, how pretty he was, and thought on how sweet he’d been with me, and I knew I wanted him to make it. Fuck, I wantedusto make it. I wanted more time with him.
“Can ya walk?”
“Probably.”
He slung his arm across my shoulders. I wanted to yell at him—scream. Say a lot of fucking things, such as,“What did ya think ya were doing, ya silly fuck?”But I was just glad he was warm against my side.
Several men crept into view from the direction we’d come, and I had to laugh as my heart settled back out of my throat when I recognized the one in the lead. Tadgh, a redheaded boy who was only twenty and still wet behind the ears, gave me a wave. His gap-toothed smile was too cute for the line of work he was in.
I nodded at him as he ran and skidded to a stop on his knees on the cement floor beside us. The rest of the men spread out and took cover behind stacks of pallets, boxes, and even a few barrels in one corner that hid skinny Mickey McCorkell, another shocking ginger. Hunter leaned against me, and I hugged him close.
“What do ya want us to do, Boss?” Tadgh asked.
“Kill them all.” I smiled at him.
His eyes widened. “Allof them? The men are here, but… that’s a tall order, even so.”
“All. They’re more trouble than they’re worth to everyone.” Tadgh nodded and sort of slithered and army crawled his way off to Mickey. I laid down some cover fire for him toward a clump of boxes in a corner where I thought maybe the pricks were hiding. Beside me, Hunter reloaded his gun. Mickey continued slinking around and there was more gunfire. Hunter bared his teeth and stripped his shirt up and over his head. I took a few precious seconds to stare at his chest before I shook myself out of my daze.
“What are ya—”
“Help me tie this.” He had a knife out of his pocket, slicing his shirt in record time, and I wasn’t much help as he used a strip of cloth to tie around his bloody thigh, but I forced myself to move as he had trouble pulling it tight over his leg. I made the knot, and he let out a long, shaky breath. The gunfire around the room petered to a couple of potshots.
Hunter got his feet under him, and I yanked him back down. “What the hell are ya doing? Ya shouldn’t even be here.”
He glared. “They hurt you. You want them taken care of, right?”
“Not by ya. Ya should be back at the Virtue sitting poolside, sippin’ drinks. Ya shouldn’t be in a place like this. Feck, I was thinking of asking if ya might want to stay at my house Upstate. It would only be improved with ya for scenery.”
His face ran red, which was a feat because he’d gone pale when we tied his leg up. “Me. Stuck in some rich house sitting on my ass?” He grimaced, and the way his pretty lips twisted had me transfixed. “Are you nuts?”
“Clearly we haven’t discussed our life goals yet.”
He shook his head and then a smile twitched across his face. He stood faster than I’d have given him credit for, and he was off into danger—just like fucking Corbin said, faster than a hare. I followed him around a few stacks of boxes, and he was heading right toward the gunfire in the corner. Mickey and I only just managed to catch up to him, my heart beating almost out of my chest, but he was already up to the cluster of boxes and barrels the wannabes had been using as a hiding spot.
Hunter didn’t hesitate, and had a set of balls on him, I had to admit. His face was flushed all the way to his chest. He slowed and crouched, moving directly around the side of the pile of industrial debris, gun out. My men stood up from their own cover spots to watch, gaping. He waited right there. The second a head popped up and an arm came out to aim at where we’d been hiding not long before—both owned by Jacob Thiel, the second-in-command of this ho-hum organization here—Hunter put a bullet between his eyes. He disappeared from sight. Tadgh and Mickey hustled in on the other side and fired several more times. They stood up and gave me satisfied nods.
“Corbin. The man of the hour, David Nunzio, is missing. Take the men. Go find him. And hurry. We need to be clear of here in….” I checked my phone. “Five minutes. Six minutes bombs go off. There is no time to fuck off.”
“Fucking bombs. Ya kidding?” Corbin spun around, and his usually placid face rippled with anxiety as his lips went firm and pale.
“No. Go.”
“You’re never to do anything like this again,” I snarled as I stalked over to Hunter and snatched the gun from his hand. I wanted to throw it away from him, but that would have been stupid, and I might need to give it back to him before we got out of here, besides.
“I’m only doing this because of you!” His hands shrank into fists and his normally sweet temperament transformed into a beast. His nostrils flared, his chest heaved, and I could almost see his brain switching off as he got ready to spar with me. I’d made him angry, but who cared?
“I never asked ya to do something this boneheaded. I never asked ya to put yourself in danger.” I jabbed the butt of his gun in his direction, in lieu of pointing. “What the fucking fuck was going through your thick head?”
