“Ellena, no!” Gabe held up his free hand. “It’s okay. He’s with me.” Moving slowly, he began walking toward her. “Sweetheart, I need you to give me the gun.”
She was confused by his sudden change in demeanor. He appeared to be approaching her with caution, almost as if he was afraid of whatshewould do.
That’s not right. None of this is right.
“H-he broke in here. I-I didn’t…” Ellena licked her desert-dry lips. “I didn’t m-mean to shoot him. It just…h-happened.”
“I know, baby.” Gabe came a little closer, his voice becoming more and more clear as the incessant ringing began to dull. “It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It’s him.” She slid the man on the floor another glance. “H-he’s the one.”
“The one?”
Ellena nodded woodenly. “He was there. Outside my car.”
Fury burned behind Gabe’s darkening eyes. Spinning around, he used both hands to steady his gun as he started for the stranger on the floor.
“You were the one who crashed into her? She could’ve been killed, you son of a bitch!”
In an unexpected—and terrifying—move, the other man she didn’t know put himself between Gabe’s gun and his intended target.
“Dawson, wait!”
“Get the fuck out of my way, Ryker.”
Ryker…Ryker…Why does that name sound familiar?
While Ellena’s shock-filled mind worked to remember where she’d heard that name before, Gabe and the man called Ryker continued their standoff.
“Listen to me, Gabe.” Ryker stood with his hands up to keep Gabe from going after the other guy. “I know how it all looks, but Walker’s not who you think he is.”
“Walker?” Ellena’s eyes went to the man she’d shot. “Adrian Walker?”
The man gave her a pained smirk and a wink. “In the flesh, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call her that,” Gabe spoke through a set of clenched teeth. “Better yet, don’t even fucking lookat her.”
“Seriously, Gabe.” Ryker moved into Gabe’s line of sight again. “You don’t want to do this.”
“The fuck I don’t!”
Ellena watched as Gabe got right into Ryker’s face.
“That bastard went after mywife, Jason.”
“I get that, but—”
“No.” Gabe shook his head. “You don’t fucking get it. You heard her. She remembers the night of the accident.” He slid his murderous gaze—and his gun—back onto the man on the floor. “She remembersyou. You rammed your car into hers, and then you left her there for dead.”
Ellena couldn’t believe it when the injured man actually began to laugh. “You think you have it all figured out, don’t you?”
“Oh, I know I do.”
Gabe sidestepped Ryker, stopping directly in front of Walker. Ellena felt like her heart was going to explode with fear as she watched him point the gun directly at the other man’s head.
Oh, God.
The sweet, fun-loving man who’d been joking and dancing around in the silly apron he was still wearing had been replaced by someone else. A warrior, ready and willing to kill to protect her…again.
