The three of us froze as the dozen or so guns trained on us.
Mr. Pike laughed. “Oh, now you’re indeepshit. Hand her the fuck over.”
“Not a fucking chance,” Roman growled.
Mr. Pike pulled the hammer back on his pistol. “I’ll ask you once more, and then I’ll shoot you and your little friend here through the legs, tie you to chairs, and make you watch while every single guy here takes a turn with this bitch. Understand? Now hand her thefuckover.”
I felt the world dim around me, and slowly, I reached down to pick up the little black remote Colt had dropped in the confusion.
“Put that down, girlie,” Mr. Pike hissed. “You don’t know what you’re—”
In slow motion, the button pressed down under the weight of my thumb.
In even slower motion, Colt and Roman’s eyes went wide, and they grabbed me — yanking me down and throwing their bodies over mine in the dirt.
And then the roar.
I can remember the belching heat hissing over us and the sound of wrenching wood and screams as the barnexplodedin a massive fireball. Smoke and ash and burning wood showered down over us, and I’d barely caught my breath when the two of them hauled me up.
“Are you hurt?”
I blinked, my eyes wide in stunned silence as I stared at the blazing barn behind them.
“Johanna!”
I snapped my attention back to them.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
“Then let’s move.”
We ran full tilt towards the garage at the other end of the compound, each of them holding one of my hands.
“We didn’t want you to to be the one to—”
“Hey,” I stopped, and suddenly yanked Colt towards me, kissing him hard. I turned to Roman and did the same thing.
“It’s done, and we’re all here, and safe.”
Their faces were white.
“Were those men as bad as you say they were?”
Roman looked away. “Worse.”
“Then I’m fine. My conscious is clear. Look, I know you’re worried about me, but trust me.” I threw my arms around them, pulling them close and burying my face in their chests. “So long as I have you two, I’m fine.”
We glanced back at the smoking barn, some of the other guards now running towards it, others running away just like us.
“Now, we’re free,” Roman said quietly. “Free to go wherever.”
“Am I free to come with?”
They grinned, pulling me close.
“So long as you swear to never leave,” Colt murmured into my hair.