“It’s okay.”
I gripped the edge of the bar top and shook my head. “It’s not, though. I should have stayed and talked to you, but running away is my default. When I get scared, I run.”
“What scared you, Jack? Was it the situation with Greco? If so, I totally get that. It’s why I offered to send you someplace safe until this blows over. But that doesn’t explain leaving without saying goodbye.”
“It’s not that. I just…I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
How could I explain this? I didn’t know how to do any of it—how to allow myself to be vulnerable, how to be in a relationship, how to take a chance and risk heartbreak.
I turned to face him as I searched for the words. Reno was standing about five feet away, and there was so much pain in his eyes. I wanted to run to him and grab him in a hug and apologize. But just then, I noticed something behind him and shifted my gaze to the picture window.
Four huge men were right out front. They were dressed in black, and they were armed. Fear and panic slammed into me as they raised their weapons. Then time seemed to slow down.
When they began to fire the guns, it didn’t sound the way it did on TV. Not really. It was more of a popping sound, followed by the crackle of glass. The first three shots hit and created concentric circles in the window, like drops of water making ripples in a pond.
That window wasn’t going to hold, and Reno was just starting to react. He flinched, and then he began to turn toward the sound.
He was right in the line of fire.
I lunged at him and shoved him to the floor, a split second before the window shattered. Suddenly, there was searing pain, and I was falling.
Then there was nothing at all.
14
Adriano
At first, I didn’t know what was happening.
Jack was standing with his back to me, trying to explain what was going on, why he’d left. Then he turned around, and a moment later there was pure terror on his face. That was followed almost immediately by the sound of gunfire and a weird, crackling sound I couldn’t place.
In the next instant, he lunged forward and shoved me to the floor—right before the front window shattered. I covered my head as glass rained down on us.
When I looked up again, Jack was face-down on the floor. There was blood, and he wasn’t moving.Oh god.
I yelled his name and tried to go to him, but two men grabbed my arms. I shook them off and punched one of them in the face.
The last thing I saw was a third man swinging the butt of his gun at my head, right before everything went black.
15
Jack
As near as I could tell, I’d ended up slipping, falling, and knocking myself unconscious. When I came to, I was all alone.
I got up and staggered to the broken window. There was no sign of Adriano or those men with the guns. Fucking hell.
My head and my arm were pounding. I touched a spot on my bicep that felt like it was on fire. There was blood on my fingertips when I pulled my hand away.
I took a few shaky steps back into the bar and dropped to my knees. The room was spinning, but I couldn’t pass out again. Not when Adriano needed help.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and called the first person I could think of. Romy answered on the second ring with, “Hey, Jack. Did you and Reno kiss and make up? He called me this morning, and—”
“Romy, I need help. They took Reno.”
His tone of voice changed in an instant, from cheery to dead serious. “Who did?”