Page 9 of Rescued

She could almost hear his thoughts, like a voice in her head. Fuck if I know. But what he did say was, “Only one place to go. Back to my base.”

He got to his feet and, surprisingly, took her hand to help her up. “If we have enough fuel.”

Oh, great. That was comforting.

She said, “What if we don’t have enough fuel?”

He grinned at her. “We crash. At least this isn’t my bird.” They started walking across the field and he added, “And if we’re out of fuel, we probably won’t hardly explode at all.”

The girl was quiet on the way back to the Ridge, leaning back in her seat with her eyes closed. Switch didn’t bother her—if she was still feeling sick, he didn’t want her tossing her remaining cookies in the helicopter.

He couldn’t believe he was doing this. He was supposed to pick up the little ducklings, put them down somewhere else, and fly away.

Not take them home with him like stray kittens.

He couldn’t wait to pass her off to Gunn and Michelangela. Mikey was due back in a couple of days—she’d know what this girl needed. What to do with her next.

Unfortunately, Switch was forced to radio in when he got near Outlaw Ridge, only so they wouldn’t shoot him down as an intruder. So much for sneaking the helicopter back in. But he took the headset off before they could start yelling at him.

Even so, by the time they touched down, the landing field was lit up like a Christmas tree—and it seemed like everyfuckingbody was there.

Didn’t they have anything else to do on a Saturday night?

He could see the shock of bleached white-blond hair that belonged to Thanatos’s right-hand man, Sugar. Named that because of the coke he used to deal back in the day, not because of his sweet nature.

The guy was a bastard. And if he was here, that meant Thanatos knew about Switch stealing—um, borrowing—the helo.

He hoped the bullet holes didn’t show much.

As soon as the skids were on the ground and the rotors stopped, they all tromped over like a bunch of schoolteachers, to find out what he meant by this outrageous behavior.

He made them wait while he did his after-flight checks, just to be a dick. For once, the girl didn’t say anything. Just clutched her bag and watched him, eyes wide, like he was going to take care of her or some shit.

Well, she might be his ticket to not having to listen to a fucking lecture. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” he asked her.

“Um. Breanna?”

Switch finished his checks, opened the door and slid out of the pilot’s seat. Gunn started in as soon as his boots hit the tarmac. “Jesus, Switch! What the hell do you even think you’re doing?” He looked closer at the side of the helo. “Fuck. Are those bullet holes?”

So much for the hope no one would notice. “Those weren’t my fault.”

Luckily for that discussion, right then Gunn got a good look inside the cabin. He blinked. “Who the hell is that?”

Switch held up his finger in a ‘one second’ gesture, and then walked around and opened the girl’s door.

He helped her out, and led her around to where they all could see her. “Hey everyone,” he said cheerfully. “This is Breanna. Everybody say hello, and try not to shoot me in front of her. She’s had a bad day.”

Chapter 5

Breanna looked around at all the hostile faces. The man talking to her pilot—was his name really Switch?—was tall and incredibly good-looking in a hard, dangerous, don’t-fuck-with-me kind of way. Red-brown hair with gold highlights, gray eyes. Pissed-off expression.

In fact, practically everyone there—including Switch—was incredibly hot. It was like a bunch of male models had gone rogue and formed a militia.

A lot of them were wearing military fatigues, and most of them were wearing guns. All of them were staring at her and Switch. And beyond them… dogs. Big, scary dogs with huge sharp teeth and golden eyes. No collars or leashes.

Then one of them let out a howl, and she realized.

Not dogs.