He tensed over her, and she twisted the knife. Then she pulled back and shoved him off her, needing to find the other man.
A shot sounded, and he fell next to her.
“Dammit. Quit playing around. We’re on a job, Tinker Bell.” She blinked up in surprise at the sight of a large, annoyed male looking down at her.
“Keegan?” She took his hand and rose to her feet. “I thought Jack said not to come.”
“Please. Since when do James and I listen to Jack?” At mention of James, she noticed an SUV in the distance suddenly on fire. Her pyrokinetic friend was obviously at work.
“Oh shit. What’s James wearing?”
“Same thing as me.” He crouched low and kept his eye out for the enemy.
To Xavier and Josh, she sent, “There are two friendlies out here. Keegan Price and James Foreman. They’re wearing jeans and dark sweaters, black caps on their heads. Keegan looks like a six foot six monster. James is more slender. Brown hair.
Looks like a model.”
“Seen ’em both. Would have taken the model out, but he shot one of our friends in black instead, so I stayed my hand,” Josh answered. “Oh good. There’s Arlo.” Xavier sent an affirmative. “Got it. Make sure to tell them not to shoot at us.”
“Keegan, I have some friends out here. They—”
“Avery told us about your twins. No problem.” He grinned at her. “Now all those jokes you made about me, Rory, and James are gonna bite you on the ass, ain’t they?”
“Shut it, cowboy.” Yet she couldn’t contain a grin.
“How about you quit flirting with the giant and get your head in the game?” Xavier snapped.
Another SUV burst into flame.
“Hell. Let me grab James before he sets the whole fucking forest on fire,” Keegan muttered and moved away from her.
She buzzed with the rush, loving the thrill of the hunt, despite the danger that had yet to pass. She still had no idea how many of the enemy remained on the mountain, but having Keegan and James as backup sure helped even the odds.
She swept more of the area, on guard not to be taken unaware again. Time passed in silence; only the crackle of flames could be heard.
Then Xavier returned to her, his face grim.
“What’s wrong?”
“Otis has Josh. Come on.”
Josh swore up and down as Otis Werlin and two men he didn’t recognize dragged his sorry ass deeper into the woods. They didn’t stop until they came to a small clearing by the large boulder he and Xavier used as a landmark, the one close to the drive where he’d left his truck. He wondered if Werlin had done anything to it and promised himself he’d make the man really pay if Werlin had so much as scratched his precious rig. He quickly sent his location to his brother, minus the extreme pain he suffered. He didn’t want Chloe to know, but by now Xavier would have felt it.
Xavier swore. “Such a dumb-ass, getting caught. Just hold on. We’re coming.
And remember not to kill Chloe’s friends if you see them.”
“Sure thing. Because I could easily kill everyone with this handy knife in my friggin’ leg. Hurry up!” Sometimes sarcasm worked on Xavier, and sometimes it didn’t. But hell, Josh’s calf really hurt.
Otis Werlin looked around and scratched his scraggly gray beard. The old man’s eyes looked like sunken holes, and his face seemed thinner than it had been.
Tired and worn down thanks to him, Xavier, and Dana. Good. The things Werlin had done to the people in his own community were atrocious. Lynching, killing, stealing. The man had murdered kids, for Christ’s sake. He deserved to look tired, at the very least.
“Not bad, Cannon. I didn’t think you had it in you, but you whittled my force down to nothin’.” Otis twisted the knife he’d stuck in Josh’s leg. “Not that I liked Arlo all that much, but he was kin.”
One of the bastards in black punched him in the jaw.
He blew out a curse. “Fuck you, Werlin.”
“’Course, now I own everythin’. Lock, stock, and barrel.” The bastard cackled.
“What’s left of it, anyhow. So where’s your brother? I know better than to think he blew up with your cabin.” Werlin smiled, exposing a bloodied lip and missing front tooth. “Shame about that, eh? Boy, you know this ain’t gonna end until you’re dead.”
“Or you are.” Chloe shot a hole through Werlin’s forehead.
The men with him fired back at her just as Xavier flattened her to the ground.
Josh’s heart pounded. The little idiot had nearly killed herself!
The sting across his shoulder told him Xavier had been hit while saving her.
Annoyed all over again at Werlin and his people, Josh yanked the knife out of his leg on a roar and jammed it into the back of one of the bastards guarding him.
The other turned his gun from Xavier and Chloe to him when Xavier suddenly plugged him full of holes. The man’s gun went off but missed Josh by a hair. Thank God.
Chloe raced to his side and ran her sexy little hands all over him. Then she punched him in the chest.
“Ow.”
“Who said to be careful? Jesus, Josh. You took ten years off my life.” She hugged him tight.
“Just ten?”
“Idiot.” Her kisses made him feel much better.
“Uh, wounded over here? Remember? I saved your life taking you down, sweetcheeks.” Xavier tried to sound pitiful, but Josh could feel the wound as no more than a burn. The bullet had just grazed him.
Chloe snorted. “Oh please. That barely touched you. I would have been fine and taken both of those assholes down if you hadn’t interfered.”
“Hadn’t interfered? Woman, they shot at you!” Xavier’s temper wound up. But before he said another word, he raised his gun to confront the men approaching with loud footsteps.
Josh took Chloe’s weapon before she could protest and aimed as well, shoving her behind him.
“Well, well.” The hulking mass of muscle stopped and stared at Josh and Chloe. “Little bit has finally found love. Ain’t that sweet, James?”
The handsome guy next to him grinned. “It sure is, cowboy. I can’t wait to see what the boss thinks of Chloe’s new friends.”
She groaned. “Am I in big trouble?”
“Hell, yeah.” The twang on the big guy made sense of his name.
“So, cowboy,” Josh said. “What the hell are you doing up here? Not that I mind, exactly, but I’m curious.” He stood with Chloe’s help and tried not to cry like a girl when he put a bit of weight on his leg.
“You’re bleedin’, son.” The guy frowned.
“No shit,” Chloe muttered. “Captain Obvious, meet Josh and Xavier Cannon.
Guys, the big lug is Keegan Price. The other one is James Foreman.”
“The other one?” James looked wounded. “Chloe, my dove, I’m so much more than that.”
Keegan snickered, and Josh relaxed. Neither man seemed too intent on Chloe, which was fine with him. Josh caught the easy camaraderie between the three, and he recognized them on closer inspection.
“You work with them.”
She nodded.
Xavier joined him and put his uninjured shoulder under Josh’s arm. Chloe moved to his other side, and together they maneuvered back through the woods to the private drive, where his vehicle sat, covered in snow but otherwise undamaged.
“The truck is good, but I can’t say for sure Werlin didn’t wire it. We’ll have to check it out before we leave.”
“How do we know there aren’t more of them out there?” Chloe asked. A legitimate question.
“Good point.” He looked at Xavier. “Can you go ahead and scout it out?”
“Yeah.”