“We didn’t,” Fangs said.
That quickly turned my attention back to him. “You didn’t know?”
He cupped my cheek. “I had no fucking clue, Julia.”
I cupped my hand over the back of his. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t let you do this alone. And when I heard that engine, I thought that maybe you had a change of heart and was coming back to get me.”
He stroked his thumb along my cheek as explosions continued to rock the dock. “Stay here with Reaper, all right?”
I shook my head. “I’m not leaving you out there to struggle by yourself.”
He growled. “God damn it, you have to stop saying shit like that.”
In a flash, he crashed his lips to mine. He pulled my face to his and within the blink of an eye, our tongues were intertwined. I fisted his shirt. I pulled him closer, wanting nothing more than his naked body flush against my own. But yet another explosion rumbled the ground beneath us, rocking the van in the process.
Which jarred our lips from their lock.
“Fangs, I—”
He pressed his forehead to mine. “You have no idea the decision you just saved me from. So, please, just stay here and stay safe so I can properly thank you.”
The sincerity of his words held me hostage, and I found myself nodding my head. “Okay, I’ll stay here with Reaper.”
He kissed the tip of my nose. “Thank you. I’ll be back soon. We’ll all be back, okay?”
Reaper cleared his throat. “I’ll keep the explosions coming.”
“Good,” Fangs said as he backed away from me, “and make sure you stay in touch with Angel. We’ll need his eyes in the sky for this to work.”
I furrowed my brow. “For what to work?”
Fangs chuckled. “Spoilers, beautiful. Wouldn’t want any of those now, would you?”
Then, Fangs looked over at Reaper before pointing at him.
“You defend her with your life. Got it?”
Reaper smiled. “Of course.”
Then, Reaper reached for the van doors to close them as Fangs turned his back and ran straight back into the heavy smoke and gunfire.
“Come on,” Reaper said as he patted my shoulder, “let’s get you a seat pulled up. We’ll have some great views from back here.”
I craned my head over my shoulder and studied the six monitors he had going at once. “Huh. Interesting.”
Reaper patted the seat beside him. “Seriously, you’re going to want to watch this. Fangs is always at his best when chaos is around him.”
I stood on my wobbling legs and tried not to think about much as I eased myself down into the seat beside him. I looked at all of the screens and cameras while Reaper rattled off all sorts of things to me about buttons and what they controlled. I didn’t care, though. All I cared about was Fangs getting back to me safely.
“Would you like to set off the next explosion?” he asked.
I whipped my gaze in his direction. “What?”
He pointed to a big, purple button. “When Viper gets to the other side of that building, that’s my cue to press this button. Would you like to press it instead?”
I smiled brightly. “I’d love to.”
“I see why Fangs likes you.”
