“Fuck. Run!”
I’m up and running for our meeting spot before Jace has the chance to finish his yell and I get there, breathless and shaking just as Paulie pulls in and dashes from the car and into my arms.
Case is there in a second and my fears are confirmed a minute later when he crawls beneath the car and starts cursing.
“Bomb. It’s set for thirty minutes, bro. You want me to remove it?”
“No! No, you can’t. They obviously want me dead and they’ll know that I’m not alone if that thing doesn’t go off,” Paulie yells, burrowing deeper into me with a muffled cry. “This could be a test, Jared, one for Roman.”
Shit.
“Goddammit, she’s right. Case, leave it,” I say, starting to pace when Paulie pulls away and stands staring at the car with wide eyes.
“Bro, we can’t allow that thing to go off. It would kill or injure innocent people,” Jace points out, making me curse anew.
“Dammit. Here’s what we’ll do. Paulie, you and I are in the Aston, baby. I’ll stay low while you get us to that abandoned gas station we saw driving in. we’ll let the bastard blow there and get the hell out of Dodge. If Jerry calls you, you tell him you stopped to use the restroom and the car exploded. Tell him you think it’s Rydell or Huley.”
“But, but he’ll know.”
“No, he won’t. The man is an imbecile and a cheat. All he’ll see is that you had a near miss. Case, I want you and Jace to hang back and follow at a discreet distance just in case they’ve got someone on Paulie. Come on, baby, we need to get going, the clock is ticking,” I say, feeling rabid at the thought of putting my girl back in that hunk of metal.
She obeys and I slide the front passenger seat forward and jam myself between the floor and the dash, wincing when my knees knock together. I’m a big guy, way too big to be doing this, but there’s no way in hell I’m letting her drive alone.
Like I told her before, if she dies, I die. It’s that fucking simple. If her participation in this thing takes her from me, I’ll go in there guns blazing and take as many of those animals with me as I can before they shoot me to hell.
“I’m scared,” she whispers after putting the car in gear and pulling out slowly.
Her knuckles are white from the way they’re gripping the wheel and I’m so furious at the look of sheer terror she’s sporting as the precursors to an attack quake through her muscles that I want to yell and fuck something up.
I nod instead and pretend not to be worried at all.
“Nothing to be afraid of, baby, I’m right here and you know I would never let anything happen to you, right? Now let’s stop focusing all our energy on this shit and talk the real deal here.”
That gets a smile and she casts me a sideways glance from the corner of her eye as she puts her foot down.
“Real deal? This wasn’t real enough for you, Sugar Bear?”
I shrug and give her a “meh.”
“It’s just a job, baby. What I’m wanting to talk about is the real stuff, the stuff that I want us to have from here on out. Like babies. And maybe if I’m a really lucky sonofabitch, you’ll let me finally marry you and put my ring on your finger, huh?”
“Yeah? You trust me not to skip out on you again, Lane?” she asks hopefully and I see the fear she’s been carrying around for hours.
I want to pull the car over and kiss the hell out of her for ever doubting that I would still want her or that I trust her with my whole heart. I trust her more than I have ever trusted another human being in my life.
It’s amazing what love can do for a guy. And it’s a miracle what love can do for a guy like me who lived only for the next mission and the chance at glory.
The only glory I want now is sitting across from me, pretending to be brave when I see the way she’s trembling and the tight grip she has on the wheel.
“I would trust you with my life, baby, and the lives of our unborn children, too. You’re so brave and strong. How can I not?”
That makes her eyes go moist and I see her lips thin as she concentrates on the road.
“I’m not brave, Jared. I’m terrified,” she admits and her recalcitrant tone makes my own mouth thin into a soft smile that’s more for her benefit than anything else since I don’t want to smile at all right now.
No, I want to mess some shit up and then make Jerry hurt.
“Cupcake, bravery is not about being fearless and lionhearted, it’s about being so afraid it hurts and doing it anyway because it’s the right thing to do. You’re the bravest woman I know for even thinking of doing this shit after what you’ve been through, and especially knowing that they don’t trust you and are out for blood. You’re even braver for what you just did in there because even though your nay votes are keeping you in the council, I know why you did it and didn’t take the easy way out.”