“They’re ripping apart my race track. I have to get down there and stop them!”
He shakes his head, placing his hand on my arm. “There are too many, sweetie.”
“I don’t care if there are twenty of them. I can’t afford to fix the damage they’re inflicting on my home. I won’t let them demolish what I’ve worked so hard for.”
“I get it, but we have to wait, just a little longer.”
I’m ready to argue my case more when sirens wail off in the distance. “Is that?” I gesture with my thumb toward the sound.
“Sounds like it,” he agrees.
“Thank God. Never thought I’d be this excited to see the cops before.” I release a breath and crawl toward the way we came in. Pressing my head against the thin panel, I try to listen for anything that’ll clue me in on anyone nearby. After a few tense moments, I don’t hear anything coming from the other side, so I lightly push the panel.
“Be careful,” Mercenary scowls from behind me.
“I am,” I mumble. Leaning my head out of the hole in the ceiling, I peer around the maintenance room. I pause a few more seconds to listen for talking or footsteps in the hallway. It’s hard to concentrate with my heart beating so loudly in my chest; it feels like it could burst out at any moment. “All clear,” I say, leaning back up.
“Let me lower myself first. You can jump down into my arms.”
I agree, backing away a bit more. His thoughtfulness doesn’t go unnoticed on my part. He’s willing to jump down and risk his neck. He could easily let me go by myself, but he doesn’t. Instead, he’s going to catch me in his arms like some fairytale prince. I doubt princes wear leather and ride Harleys, but clearly, mine does.
He eases through the hole, dropping lithely like a ninja and holds his arms up for me, just as he’d offered. His muscles bulge from all the exertion he’s putting on them, and it has me wanting to lick his biceps. “Ease your legs down first, babe. I’ll be able to reach them and work your body down without you getting hurt.”
He acts like I’m a china doll, but yet he forgets I flipped him flat on his ass the first time we met. Regardless, I find myself following his instructions, even though I don’t need them. But for some reason, I want to please him, I want him to think I need his guidance, and that I value it. It’s pretty damn sexy having a man that acts like a real fucking man doing man shit. He’s nothing like these weak beta males floating all over the covers of magazines right now. I don’t know what ever made them suddenly interesting, but I take pleasure in making those betas my bitches.
His thick arms wrap around my legs, carefully sliding me downward along his body. I’m breathing heavy when I come in line with his face and it’s not from nerves. It’s from his touch. He presses a tiny kiss to the tip of my nose and keeps lowering me until my feet hit the ugly scratched tile floor.
“Stay behind me.” He pulls the tranquilizer gun from his back pocket and hands it to me. I’d completely forgotten about it in my rush and then with the sex. He yanks his Glock from his holster attached to his jeans, and opens the door a crack, peeking out into the hall.
The siren outside stops and then a shout comes from the lower level. I race around Mercenary, passing my office door and around the corner. It’s reckless, but I have to see what the hell is going on below. Keeping my body pressed against the wall, I lean my head forward just a smidge until I can make out the men at the very bottom. There’s a group in the center, all their weapons pointed toward a lone cop walking into the main area.
“Put your weapons down!” The officer shouts sternly, and before I can blink, a random gun discharges a bullet. It slams into the cop, and he immediately hits the ground.
I utter a whispered, “Fuck,” just as Mercenary steps beside me.
“What is it?” he murmurs quietly.
“They just shot a freaking cop! He’s on the ground.”
“Fuck, this is bad.”
“Surely there are more police with him?”
He shrugs. “Not if it was one that’s in Viking's pocket. He could’ve been closer than the guys and stopped in to be a distraction.”
“Damn it. More like a dead distraction, the poor guy. What if he has a family?”
“Viking will help take care of them; he’d never leave them on their own.”
A roar combined of various engines comes from outside, the sound echoing in the dome shaped building.
“Hopefully that’s our backup and not theirs.”
I nod, holding my breath as moments after the engines quiet, a few bikers edge their way inside, weapons drawn. The guys below automatically begin popping off bullets like it’s the goddamn Wild West and the Oath Keepers all dodge in several directions to take cover behind rows of seats. They exchange fire as another group of Oath Keepers silently enter The Pit from the back entrance we use for deliveries.
I watch with rapt fascination. The drama below unfolds so quickly right before my eyes. I can’t seem to look away no matter the danger.
The door down the hall next to my apartment creaks opens, and Mercenary pokes his head back around the corner, Glock ready to shoot. He relaxes his gun filled hand, pointing it toward the floor to click the safety in place and leans back next to me with a deep exhale.