I saw two front teeth fall out to the dirty parking lot ground before the rest of the man’s body joined them.
The kid was yanked down with the body but quickly got back up and ran to her mother.
The mother who was busy trying to keep another child out of another kidnapper’s clutches.
I arrived just in time to snake my arm around his neck and choke him out.
The man let go of the kid quickly and started to clutch at his neck.
Most people in this particular situation didn’t stop to think. Didn’t plan out how to get away. No stomping on the insole of someone’s foot. No using the elbow that was close enough to use. Nope, they panicked. Just like this guy was doing.
It helped that I was at least a foot taller, and probably a hundred pounds heavier than him. So there wasn’t much fighting he could actually do at this point.
The moment he stopped fighting, I dropped him to the ground, too.
He landed with a meaty thump right beside the stunned mother.
Her mouth opened and closed like a fish, but I didn’t spare her the time or my attention.
I backed away and looked around to make sure that I’d gotten them all.
“You missed one.” Belle absently reared back and kicked the one I’d punched in the back of the head. The man slumped back to the ground, unconscious all over again.
I looked backward and grinned. “Thanks.”
CHAPTER 6
Never ask a woman who’s eating ice cream straight from the carton how she’s doing.
-Pro tip
BRUNO
“Looks good as new, Bruno,” the doctor informed me as he patted my chest.
I patted my chest where my pacemaker—the new one I’d just gotten a few months ago—lay underneath my chest.
It didn’t feel weird to me anymore.
Hadn’t since I had first gotten it when I was fifteen.
But it still looked weird as fuck.
“I can return to regular exercise?” I asked.
I’d already returned, but it was good to make sure, just in case.
“Yes, sir,” Dr. Haygood responded. “Just don’t be dumb.”
I rolled my eyes.
I wasn’t going to be dumb. At least not on purpose anyway.
After offering my hand and settling my bill, I walked out into the hallway and nearly ran right over a pacing brunette female.
My heart skipped a beat when the woman—Belle—jumped back like she’d been burned.
“Oh.” She placed her hand over her heart. “What are you doing here?”