But, I had one last thing to do before I could move forward.
“I thought I’d find you in here, pretty girl,” Troop said.
I opened my eyes and found him making his way toward me. Seeing him pulled a smile across my face, but it was a weak one. My mind was much too preoccupied with other things. That didn’t stop Troop from sitting beside me, though. It didn’t stop him from pulling my legs into his lap before his hands gracefully massaged my feet.
“Ugh, that feels amazing,” I groaned as my head leaned against the painted window.
“Figured you could use one. It’s been a long day.”
“For all of us,” I murmured.
“Dutch wanted me to let you know that you’re not going to be the one to kill him, by the way.”
My gaze snapped toward his. “What?”
Troop held his hand out. “So, give me the gun you picked up in the hallway.”
“How could you possibly--?”
He wiggled his fingers. “Come on, don’t make me come over there and take it from you.”
I grinned. “And if I make you?”
His gaze grew dark as he moved my legs off his lap. He stalked toward me, his hands and knees pressing into the cushion of the bay window as I leaned myself back. He quickly wrapped his arm around me, shaking his head side to side as he held me hostage with his gaze. And as he slid the gun out from the back belt loop of my pants, he captured my lips in the softest kiss.
“Wouldn’t want that going off unexpectedly on you,” he whispered.
“I want to kill him so badly,” I said breathlessly.
He hovered over me, quickly ejecting the bullets from the gun before popping one out of the barrel. “I know you do, and you have every right to. But, we can’t let you do that.”
“You guys took him, didn’t you?”
I watched as he continued to take the gun apart, piece by piece. Then, he threw the contents onto the ground at our feet before he pulled me quickly into his lap.
“Come here, I gotcha.”
I tucked my tired head beneath his chin. “You guys took him, didn’t you?”
He rocked me softly in his embrace. “Just breathe for me.”
“I can breathe just fine. Just tell me what you guys did.”
“What you don’t know won’t kill you.”
And that was all I needed to hear.
“Knock, knock,” Ranger said as he rapped his knuckles against the door.
I snickered. “Since when do you knock?”
Dutch chuckled. “That’s a damn good question, if I ever heard one.”
I reached up with my lips and kissed Troop’s jawline. “Let me up for a second.”
“Anything for you.”
He released me from his embrace, and I planted my feet squarely into the floor. I pushed myself up, leaning toward Dutch as I damn near threw myself into his arms. He caught me, his entire body cradling my fall. And as I got my feet underneath me, I pressed myself up to my tiptoes.
