“You still won’t,” Cody said weakly.A soft click of metal against metal made Quin snap his eyes open.
Cody’s body lay slouched against the bumper of Quin’s car.In his good hand was a gun.He smirked and pointed the weapon at Josie’s back.
Josie stiffened and jerked her gaze over her shoulder.
Cody’s finger moved on the trigger.
Crack!
Quin covered Josie, turning her so that his body surrounded hers.His shoulder jerked, and searing pain spread across his chest and back.He grunted and threw Josie to the ground, landing on top of her.Heat pounded his flesh.Weakness overtook the right side of his body, stealing the strength from his arm.He lifted his head and met the cocksucker’s face.Cody’s hand wavered as he tried to aim again.
Quin pushed himself off Josie, forcing the agony from his body, and dove on top of Cody, locking his hand around the weapon and twisting it away.Cody lifted his leg and kicked him in the chest, loosening his hold on the gun.He pulled the trigger again.
Another shot rang out.
Josie’s shrieks filled the night.
***
“Quin!”Josie’s screambellowed from the depths of her chest, the force of it tearing a path up her windpipe.No, no, no.He’d already been shot once.She didn’t even know where he was hurt.If he’d been struck again, he might not survive.
She got to her knees and scampered across the earth to where the two men lay, Quin slumped on top of Cody.Headlights lit the gravel road.One set then another.Their glow made her blink and prevented her from seeing Quin clearly.A horn blared and tires skidded over the rocks.
Relief washed over her but she didn’t take her eyes from the men on the ground.Reaching Quin, she seized his shoulder.He stirred and lifted his head.His eyes found hers, dreamy and unfocused.
“Oh my god,” she wheezed.“Help!”she cried to the newcomers.A woman—Desiree?—and the sheriff ran toward her.
The gun.
She shot her gaze to Cody, but he didn’t move.The gun wasn’t in his hands.She searched the damp ground, patting it with her palm.
“Babe.”Quin’s soft voice broke through her panic.He lifted the weapon and dropped it back down to the grass beside him.She sighed then cupped his cheek as he pushed himself further away from Cody.He slumped against her, his body weight almost taking her down.“I’m fine, it’s okay.”
Tears flowed down her cheeks.“You’re not fine.You were shot.”
“Yeah, but so was he.”He nodded at the ground.She snapped her attention to Cody’s still form.Blood blossomed on his abdomen and his gaze was on the sky.
Her pulse beat against her temples.Terror had made her mouth as dry as cotton.She smoothed her hand down the front of Quin’s shirt.The spot above his heart was clear, no wound to show.She moved over his abdomen next, but he caught her fingers.
“I almost lost you.”The timbre of his voice touched her soul.She let her head dip to his neck, inhaling his scent of spice and earth.
His fingers found the back of her head, his hold weaker than it’d been earlier but still comforting.
“Where are you hurt?”The words came out on a wail.She needed to find the wound.
“Just my shoulder.I’m fine.”
“You’re shot because of me.He was trying to shoot me.”Her stomach clenched, and she wanted to bend over and empty her stomach, but she couldn’t find the strength to move her head.
He could have been killed because of her and still might not make it.She couldn’t lose another man she loved.Quin’s fingers turned rigid on the back of her head.He shifted and slid his hand under her chin, forcing her to face him.“And I’ll take a bullet for you any day of the week.”He nodded toward his injury and she spotted the blood-soaked material at the front of his shoulder.“This is nothing.But you,” he said, wetting his lips.Her heart skipped three beats.“You’re everything.”
She cupped his cheek, dragging her thumb over his bottom lip.
The crackle of a radio reached her ears, breaking the moment.“We need an ambulance to Whistlemore Logging,” the sheriff said.
“Josie, what happened?”Desiree cried, rushing up.She knelt beside Quin and her.
Josie shook her head, dashing the tears from her cheeks.Dez shined a flashlight on Quin’s body—the wound was blackish red and sticky looking.His complexion was sallow gray.
