Chapter Thirty-One
B ullets hit G arrett and I screamed.
Then everything went slow motion.
My hand reached out for him. Blood sprayed all over my arm and the wall, and Garrett’s face twisted with anger.
I grasped at air because the father of my son was already falling.
One arm holding his rifle, the other dangling limp, his eyes on me, his lips moved, but I couldn’t hear his words over the sound of gunfire.
He hit the ground with a sickening thud.
“ Garrett! ”
His eyes closed, and he went impossibly still.
A strong arm wrapped around my legs and pulled. “We’ll get him, darlin’. We’ll get him. Get your head down. One hand over the other, your son needs you. Come on, come on, down you go.” The arm moved to my waist, and I was dragged from the top of the wall.
Tears streaming, gunfire everywhere, shots echoing in my head, I let go of the rope and the man Garrett called Talon took us down the wall.
Huddled in a frightened squat on the ground, still wrapped in his blanket, Mav looked at me with wide, tear-filled eyes.
Seeing his face kicked me into gear.
I scooped him into my arms. “It’s okay, baby. Momma has you.” I kissed his hair. “I got you. We’re okay.”
Talon picked up his rifle as he spoke into this earpiece. “Ivy, you copy?” He muttered a curse, then his arm was around my shoulders and we were moving. “Come on, darlin’, we gotta move.”
Keeping us close to the wall that separated Nathan’s estate from the one to the south, Talon led us at a quick pace through the neighbor’s yard, around a hedge, and into the next house’s yard as the sound of gunfire filling the dark night started to recede.
I didn’t ask where we were going when he cut us across the backyard of the house two doors down and led us toward the water. I didn’t ask if Garrett was still alive, and I didn’t ask what happened to the blond man who was with us.
I was holding my son, and my heart was breaking at the last sight I’d had of his father.
Talon scanned the yard then took us the last fifteen feet across open grass to the dock where a large boat was idling.
Rushing us down the dock, Talon swung his rifle behind him before reaching for me and Mav. One arm went behind my back, the other under my knees, and quicker than I could blink, he scooped us up and lifted us onto the boat.
Setting me on my feet on the deck, he glanced at the mammoth-sized man behind the wheel as he grabbed a black bag from one of the seats. “Neil, Brooke. Brooke, Neil.” Talon hopped off the boat and shouldered the bag before he undid the ties. Throwing the ropes on the boat, he glanced at Neil. “I’m goin’ back for Ivy. I’ll hitch a ride with Sawyer.” Talon’s gaze cut to me. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I know somethin’.” He tipped his chin at Mav. “Take care of the little man.” He turned and ran back the way we’d come.
Desperate, I glanced at Neil. “We can’t leave him.”
“He will be taken care of.” His deep voice had an accent. “Have a seat.”
Intimidated by his expression, by the sheer size of him, I held on to Mav tightly and sat, but I didn’t want to leave Garrett behind. Not that I had a choice.
Neil maneuvered the huge boat into the main channel in the intracoastal and took on speed. It wasn’t a cold night, but when he opened up the engine’s throttle, the wind whipped through my T-shirt.
Hugging Mav to my chest, I kissed his short-cropped hair. “You’re okay, sweet boy. We’re safe. We’re just going for a boat ride.” He’d been on Nathan’s boat before, but not for a while, and I didn’t know what he was thinking. He was being quiet, not that he wasn’t usually pretty quiet, but I was worried about everything he’d seen tonight.
Rubbing his back to keep him warm, I kept speaking softly to him as Neil drove us who knew where. All I knew was that he wasn’t heading south, so we weren’t going to Garrett’s condo. Which was good, because that would probably be the first place Nathan looked for me… if he was still alive.
A few minutes, an hour later, I didn’t know how long it’d been, but Mav was asleep in my arms and Neil was slowing the boat down as he brought us into a half-empty marina.
I didn’t notice the raven-haired beauty standing on the dock until Neil backed into a slip. She took the ropes he tossed to her and tied the boat down while Neil picked up a rifle by the barrel like it was a baseball bat.
Same as the entire boat ride, he said nothing to me, but when the pretty dark-haired woman smiled at him, he spoke in another language.
“You’re welcome, babe.” She looked at me and smiled. “Hi, I’m Ariel. You must be Brooke.” She glanced at Mav in my arms and her smile softened. “And this must be Maverick. Poor boy, he must be exhausted. Let’s get you two to the truck. Love your boy’s name, by the way.” She took my arm to steady me as the boat rocked, and helped me onto the dock.
“Thanks. I’m sorry, Garrett didn’t mention you.” He’d never mentioned any of these people. Not that he’d ever had a chance. A wave of despair hit me wondering if he ever would, and I fought tears.
Ariel laughed easily as she nodded up the dock to indicate I should follow her. “That’s because he’s not one of the gossips at Luna and Associates.” She looked over her shoulder at me and winked like I knew what she was talking about. “Not like the other guys.” She glanced over my head. “Isn’t that right, babe?”
Following her glance, I was surprised to see Neil right behind me. He hadn’t made a sound. Not even his footsteps echoed on the wooden dock.
“I do not pretend to know what Luna’s men speak about.” His voice, so deep it was quiet, still somehow managed to cut through the night.
Ariel half laughed, half made a short, derisive sound. “Women and guns, in that order. That’s what they talk about.” She pulled a key fob out of her pocket and unlocked a full-sized pickup truck. “Car seat’s in the back, and there are some clothes and diapers in the bag next to it. I didn’t know what size he was, so I grabbed a couple different things.” She handed the keys to Neil.
I didn’t know what to say. My eyes welled.
“Oh, girl.” She put her arms around me and Mav and lowered her voice. “It’s gonna be okay. You’re in good hands, trust me. Just let them do their thing, and I promise it’ll be okay. These guys are the best at what they do.” She pulled back and squeezed my arm.
“What do they do?” I managed to ask past the lump in my throat.
Her expression turned deadly serious. “Whatever they have to.”
Neil’s hand landed on the back of her neck in a show of dominance. “It is time to go.”
She smiled up at him. “Okay.”
He handed her the key to the boat then, for one brief moment, he focused such an intense stare on her that I felt like I was intruding by even being in the same zip code. Then just as quick, his chest rose with an inhale, and he dropped his hand from her neck. “Go.”
She nodded, and he opened the back door to the truck’s cab.
Ariel smiled at me one last time. “Good luck, Brooke.”
“Thank you.” I barely got the two words out before Neil was taking Maverick from my arms, and panic hit me. “What are you doing?”
“Putting the boy in the car seat.” He deftly lifted a still sleeping Maverick, and cupping the back of his head, he secured Mav in the car seat in two swift movements. “Get in. Passenger side.” Without sparing me a glance, he quietly shut the door and got behind the wheel.
I scrambled around the front of the truck and used the running board to step up and get in.
Looking even bigger up close, Neil turned the engine over.
I had to ask. “Where are you taking us?”
His ice-blue gaze, cold and merciless, cut to me. “Safe house.”