Chapter 16
Quin’s pulse thundered through his body. His heart banged against his ribs like a lion in a cage. Josie’s wide, terrified eyes were caught in his headlights.
Cody’s form advanced on Josie. He had an axe in his hand. All the blood drained from Quin’s head. He was too late.
No.
He hadn’t fought to find Liam’s killer only to watch the psychopath slaughter Josie before his eyes. Josie screamed, and the sound split the night like a battle cry. He steered the car toward them. If he hit Josie, he’d never walk away from it. But he had no other option.
Alarm turned Josie’s skin alabaster. Then awareness flickered in her eyes. She dove over the lawn, flinging her body out of his path. Cody skidded to a stop. Confusion contorted his face. Quin stepped on the gas.
Cody darted to the side, but Quin’s bumper slammed into Cody’s hip. His body rolled up the hood of the car and connected hard with the windshield. The axe smashed on the glass, splintering it into a shattered web. Quin stomped on the brake and Cody’s body landed on the ground with a thud.
Trembles overtook Quin’s hands as he wrestled off the seatbelt.
Josie.
With the windshield marred, there was no way to see all of his destruction.
She could have been caught in the crossfire.
Hit within the short distance he’d driven with Cody on the hood.
He shoved open the driver’s side door and rounded the vehicle.
Cody lay on his back, blood coating his face and his arm twisted at an unnatural angle.
Pain-filled moans broke from his lips, and his eyes rolled around as if he were waiting for the angel of death to greet him.
He’d make sure Cody was finished—as soon as he found Josie.
The beams of the headlights illuminated the grass and long weeds. “Jo—”
“Quin!” Josie launched herself at him from the shadows. Her arms circled his neck, and her face smooshed onto his chest.
He folded his arms around her and his insides swelled with relief. He closed his eyes and breathed in her sweet scent. She shook against him, the clank of her teeth chattering making him move his hands up and down her spine. “It’s OK. You’re fine now.”
The wind picked up but didn’t do anything to cool down his body, still fueled by adrenaline and rage.
“I thought I’d never see you again.” Her voice, tight and small, pulled at his heart.
“You still won’t,” Cody said weakly. A soft click of metal against metal made Quin snap his eyes open.
Cody’s body lay slouched against the bumper of Quin’s car. In his good hand was a gun. He smirked and pointed the weapon at Josie’s back.
Josie stiffened and jerked her gaze over her shoulder.
Cody’s finger moved on the trigger.
Crack!
Quin covered Josie, turning her so that his body surrounded hers.
His shoulder jerked, and searing pain spread across his chest and back.
He grunted and threw Josie to the ground, landing on top of her.
Heat pounded his flesh. Weakness overtook the right side of his body, stealing the strength from his arm.
He lifted his head and met the cocksucker’s face.
Cody’s hand wavered as he tried to aim again.
Quin pushed himself off Josie, forcing the agony from his body, and dove on top of Cody, locking his hand around the weapon and twisting it away. Cody lifted his leg and kicked him in the chest, loosening his hold on the gun. He pulled the trigger again.
Another shot rang out.
Josie’s shrieks filled the night.
* * *
“Quin!” Josie’s scream bellowed from the depths of her chest, the force of it tearing a path up her windpipe. No, no, no. He’d already been shot once. She didn’t even know where he was hurt. If he’d been struck again, he might not survive.
She got to her knees and scampered across the earth to where the two men lay, Quin slumped on top of Cody. Headlights lit the gravel road. One set then another. Their glow made her blink and prevented her from seeing Quin clearly. A horn blared and tires skidded over the rocks.
Relief washed over her but she didn’t take her eyes from the men on the ground. Reaching Quin, she seized his shoulder. He stirred and lifted his head. His eyes found hers, dreamy and unfocused.
“Oh my god,” she wheezed. “Help!” she cried to the newcomers. A woman—Desiree?—and the sheriff ran toward her.
The gun.
She shot her gaze to Cody, but he didn’t move. The gun wasn’t in his hands. She searched the damp ground, patting it with her palm.
“Babe.” Quin’s soft voice broke through her panic. He lifted the weapon and dropped it back down to the grass beside him. She sighed then cupped his cheek as he pushed himself further away from Cody. He slumped against her, his body weight almost taking her down. “I’m fine, it’s okay.”
Tears flowed down her cheeks. “You’re not fine. You were shot.”
“Yeah, but so was he.” He nodded at the ground. She snapped her attention to Cody’s still form. Blood blossomed on his abdomen and his gaze was on the sky.
Her pulse beat against her temples. Terror had made her mouth as dry as cotton. She smoothed her hand down the front of Quin’s shirt. The spot above his heart was clear, no wound to show. She moved over his abdomen next, but he caught her fingers.
“I almost lost you.” The timbre of his voice touched her soul. She let her head dip to his neck, inhaling his scent of spice and earth.
His fingers found the back of her head, his hold weaker than it’d been earlier but still comforting.
“Where are you hurt?” The words came out on a wail. She needed to find the wound.
“Just my shoulder. I’m fine.”
“You’re shot because of me. He was trying to shoot me.” Her stomach clenched, and she wanted to bend over and empty her stomach, but she couldn’t find the strength to move her head.
He could have been killed because of her and still might not make it.
She couldn’t lose another man she loved.
Quin’s fingers turned rigid on the back of her head.
He shifted and slid his hand under her chin, forcing her to face him.
“And I’ll take a bullet for you any day of the week.
” He nodded toward his injury and she spotted the blood-soaked material at the front of his shoulder.
“This is nothing. But you,” he said, wetting his lips.
Her heart skipped three beats. “You’re everything. ”
She cupped his cheek, dragging her thumb over his bottom lip.
The crackle of a radio reached her ears, breaking the moment. “We need an ambulance to Whistlemore Logging,” the sheriff said.
“Josie, what happened?” Desiree cried, rushing up. She knelt beside Quin and her.
Josie shook her head, dashing the tears from her cheeks. Dez shined a flashlight on Quin’s body—the wound was blackish red and sticky looking. His complexion was sallow gray.
Josie’s stomach plummeted. “Just keep looking at me, okay?” She moved her free hand to his wound.
“Here.” Dez handed over her sweater.
Josie pressed the cream-colored material to the bullet hole. Quin winced, but she didn’t ease the pressure. He took the garment in his free hand and shifted so he sat up straighter.
“Well, that looks like it hurts, huh boys?” The sheriff crouched between Cody and Quin. “Care to tell me what happened?”
“It was Cody,” Josie blurted. “He killed Liam. He started the fire at the bar, and he tried to frame Quin.” The words rushed from her mouth faster than water over Niagara Falls.
“When Quin came back to town, Cody came after me. He’s the one who ran me off the road and broke into my house and kidnapped me.
” She nodded at the weapon a few feet away.
“He was going to kill me with that axe before Quin showed up and hit him with his car.” If they tried to pin this on Quin, she’d—
Hank held up his hand. “It’s all right, darlin’. I believe you.” He leaned forward and checked Cody’s pulse. “He’s still alive.”
“Don’t fucking save him,” Quin said, his voice hoarse.
“That’s up to God to decide, son.”
A siren sounded in the distance. Josie slid her gaze to Cody’s motionless body. Anger still flared inside her, but she didn’t want him dead. He needed to pay for his crimes, not get the easy way out.
An ambulance pulled up. Paramedics rushed to Cody’s side then two more came to Quin’s. Josie got elbowed out of the way while they cut off Quin’s shirt and went to work cleaning the gunshot wound and stabilizing him.
Dez pulled her back a few feet and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. “It’s okay. He’s going to be fine. Look at him. He’s too big and strong to let one measly bullet take him out.”
Her friend’s words were meant to lighten the moment, but there was nothing that would take the weight off her chest except Quin leaping to his feet. Josie swallowed one breath of air after another. She needed to be close to him, to see for herself that he was hanging on.
The paramedics sat him up and shifted him away from the car so they could get to his back. The sight of the bloody exit wound made her shrink. “Oh my gosh. He’s lost so much blood.”
Dez murmured more words of encouragement. Cody was loaded into the ambulance as the shrieks of a second ambulance split through the night.
With his wound now covered, Quin batted away the paramedics. “All right, that’s good.” He extended his uninjured arm, and Josie crushed herself to his side.
The second ambulance came to a halt and she got in with Quin, keeping her hand tucked into his. Dez yelled out her promise to call soon.
Quin’s grip on her fingers loosened. The doors slammed shut and Josie looked down at him. His face was relaxed, his eyes closed. She smoothed her fingers over his cheek. “Hey,” she said.
He didn’t move. She pressed her palm to his stubble and gave him a little shake. His skin was cold. “Quin?”
The world spun around her and she shook his arm. She turned to the paramedic. “Help! He’s not responding!”