Duct tape was no joke. After fighting with it for a while, I was sweating and my wrists felt raw. I understood why they chose to use this rather than rope. It was better and you could buy it anywhere.
I stiffened when the closet door flung open and I squinted against the sudden bright light. Two men led me through the house and out into the garage.
My eyes went directly to Blue, and relief crashed through me so heavily that I would have moaned if I could. But then I noticed his appearance. He was bloody and bruised. Parts of his face were swollen and one of his hands was scraped up and raw.
What happened to him?
New anxiety pummeled me.
Were we going to get out of this?
Yes, Blue was trained for these kinds of things, but we were sorely outnumbered.
I listened as they flung words back and forth, trying to make sense of it all. They were making a trade. Me for the drugs.
Blue was going to hand over all those drugs just to get me back? Maybe it would have been noble to say—to think—that I wasn’t worth all the damage that those drugs could do. Maybe I should have found a way to let Blue know that under no circumstances was he to compromise this case just to save my life.
But I kind of wanted to be saved.
I didn’t want to die.
Not here. Not now. Not like this.
The fact that Dom was now holding me at gunpoint only made those feelings stronger.
“You so much as sneeze and I will blow your brains out.” Blue growled, pulling out a gun and pointing it at Dom.
Suddenly everyone was holding a gun. Most of them were trained on Blue. I realized then that maybe I was more noble than I thought. Because I was willing to die right now.
If it meant saving Blue.
Knowing that I could die at any moment was probably the scariest feeling I’d ever felt, but fearing that Blue could die?
That was worse.
“You’re under arrest for kidnapping, possession, and murder,” Blue told Dom, giving away the fact he was undercover.
“He’s a narc!” someone yelled as a team of police converged on the house.
Everyone began scrambling around, scattering like leaves in a windstorm. “Cops!” a few yelled as they ran off into the night or back through the house.
The man in the back of the truck jumped down and pulled out a gun that looked just like Blue’s. He aimed it right at Dom, who surprisingly hadn’t moved.
“Pigs,” he spat, looking at Blue and the other man.
“Drop your weapon,” Blue ordered as men in black SWAT jackets converged.
I felt the change in the air; I saw the decision in Dom’s body before he even acted. Dom swung the gun away from me and aimed it directly at Blue.
And then he pulled the trigger.
I screamed, the sound vibrating my tongue and throat because the tape confined it inside, as I rushed forward, desperate to stop the bullet.
I barely heard the gunfire that erupted around us; I was so intent on getting to Blue.
I wasn’t going to make it. I was too far away. I was going to watch a bullet totally destroy my entire life.
The man beside Blue acted fast, jumping in front of Blue and shoving him out of the way. Both men fell, with Blue landing at the bottom.
I made a sound and dropped to my knees beside the men, reaching out with my bound hands, trying to help them, trying to see who was hurt.
A pool of red was rapidly forming around them both, and I desperately wanted to know who was hurt.
Beneath the man Blue shifted and rolled.
“Slater!” Blue said, laying out the man on the ground and bending over him. Slater’s shirt was rapidly turning red.
“I need a medic!” Blue roared and then looked back down at the man who literally took a bullet for him.
“You trust me now?” Slater said.
Blue cursed. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Least I could do after you came in here and kicked this case’s ass.”
Blue made a strangled sound. “Don’t you dare die.”
“Flesh wound,” Slater said as a pair of medics rushed over and began administering first aid.
Blue moved out of their way and turned to me.
Our eyes connected.
His filled with tenderness and mine filled with tears. He pulled me up to my feet and frowned at the tape covering my mouth. Then he ripped it off in one great tear.
“Ow!” I yelled as my skin stung. If I had a mustache, I wouldn’t have to worry about bleaching it out ever again.
Blue palmed my face. His skin felt warm against my icy cheeks. He didn’t say anything, but he pressed light kisses to the corners of my mouth where the tape had ripped the most. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured between kisses.
I brought my still-taped hands between us and gripped his shirt. “Are you okay?”
He looked awful. He was a bloody, swollen mess.