Chapter 6
Jennifer
Screaming. So much damn screaming. That was all I could hear with Gus on top of me, my instincts telling me to push him off and find the assailant. Yet the rest of me raged to make sure he was okay.
I could feel his breath on my neck, so I knew he was alive, but from the blood pooling beneath us, I also knew he was hurt.
So stupid. The man was so stupid. And I was also stupid for nearly falling in love with him—something I wasn’t going to let myself dwell on as the world burned around me. I had to make sure he was okay. I needed to ensure that my team was all right.
Things moved quickly after that, with Noah and Ford pulling Gus off me, and Daisy taking my hand.
“Are you okay?”
I put my other hand over my stomach, aware that it wasn’t just me. I needed to tell the team. Because it wasn’t just me anymore.
Daisy’s gaze went to my hand, her eyes wide, and I shook my head. I felt fine. Gus had even cushioned me from the fall the best he could with his arms. I wouldn’t forgive him if he got hurt because of me.
I would never forgive him for that.
“Gus?”
My heart raced, and I bent down, cupping his cheek. There was blood beneath him, but I couldn’t see where it was coming from. Why did he throw himself on top of me like that?
He had to be okay.
“Let’s get you checked out.”
“What happened after we fell?” I asked, trying to clear my head. Daisy pulled me away from Gus. I tried to stop her, but the others were there, and she was checking me out. She was certified in emergency first aid and could help, but all I wanted to do was get to Gus.
Because he wasn’t moving.
“It was one man,” Daisy said, keeping her gaze on mine.
When her attention moved down to my stomach again, I shook my head.
I didn’t want anyone else to know. The fact that she knew from that one hand movement told me how close we were.
The problem was, I knew Gus would also figure it out.
Because we were that close, too. It didn’t matter that he didn’t have the feminine intuition Daisy had. He would know.
I needed him to be okay.
I tried to look behind me, but Daisy took my face in her hands and forced me to look at her.
“Talk to me.”
“We saw the man coming through the east door. I don’t know what tipped Gus off, but I moved at the same time he did, trying to get to him. Kingston was behind him.”
I tried to look for Kingston, but Daisy wouldn’t let me move my head. “And?”
“I don’t know. The guy threw the bomb. I don’t even know what kind it was. I couldn’t exactly see what was in his hand. But then Gus threw himself on top of me.”
Rage and worry warred with each other. Worry for Gus. The baby. Everyone.
“Why would he do that?” I asked, my voice shaking. “He shouldn’t have done that. I would’ve been fine.”
“Does he know?” Daisy asked, her voice low.
I shook my head. Of course, she knew it was Gus’s. She figured it out just by looking at me.
“Okay. Kingston’s fine. He tackled the guy. Everyone’s being evacuated. We’re searching for more explosives, and the authorities are here, including the bomb squad. It’ll be out of our hands soon.”
I nodded, knowing Noah would have a headache to face with the paperwork.
“And Gus?” I asked, swallowing hard.
“They’re putting him in the ambulance right now.”
I whirled away from her. My fear had let her keep me from seeing him.
There was still blood on the floor where he had covered my body with his, and the bomb had taken out the wall, or at least part of it.
But that was mostly it. Tables were overturned beyond that, but from what I could tell, it was because of people running, not the bomb.
I looked around, checking for any other injuries, trying to get a sense of what the hell had happened, but I couldn’t. Our team was working like they should, getting everybody out. And I was here with Daisy because she hadn’t wanted me to see Gus being taken away.
“Was he awake? Was he alert?”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, and I knew that was an answer in itself.
“We need to go to the hospital. I need to go to the hospital.”
“Yes, you do. Because we need to get you checked out. You were knocked out, too.”
“I didn’t lose consciousness,” I snapped.
“But we both know you need to go.” She tapped her earpiece, and I knew we were being recorded. I didn’t need the team to know I was pregnant before I had a chance to tell Gus.
I needed to be able to tell Gus. He had to know.
“Let’s get you to the hospital to get checked out, and then we’ll see Gus. He’s going to be fine.”
“Why did he do that? Why did he push me out of the way? I would’ve been fine.”
“I think you need to ask him that.”
“He broke protocol.”
Daisy shook her head vehemently. “Protocol is to stay alive. We’re not the Secret Service here. Yes, we have to protect our charges, but we have to be alive in order to do that.”
“I need him to wake up and have the doctors tell us he’s all clear.”
“Of course. And then we’re going to have a talk.” She glared at me, and I nodded.
Pregnant women were of course allowed to work for the company.
First, it would be illegal if we weren’t, and second, the Montgomerys were a breeding family.
My lips twitched at that thought, even with the situation.
Because they were constantly having children.
Daisy had like ninety cousins and second cousins.
And all of them came from families who owned businesses.
They worked hard, played harder, and took care of their own no matter what.
But we were the first security company in the family.
I might not be a Montgomery by birth, but they had taken me in when I joined the company, and I counted them as friends.
But being pregnant while in the line of duty where my unborn child could get hurt was a risk I wasn’t sure I could take.
I had wanted to talk it out with Gus and my team before making any decisions.
Today should have been easy. It should have been an in-and-out. Nobody should have gotten hurt.
“Let’s go. Noah and Ford have it,” Kane snapped, glaring. “That was a clusterfuck. We never should have taken this job.”
“Any word on Gus?” I asked, my words coming fast.
“No.” He froze when he got a good look at me. “You’ve got blood on you. Is it yours?”
I shook my head, feeling slightly woozy. Then again, I’d been feeling that way for the past few days.
“No, I’m fine. Maybe a bruise from hitting the ground, but Gus took the brunt of the damage from above. He’s going to make it through this.”
“Damn straight. Crap,” Kane growled, and we made our way to the SUV.
The authorities stopped us, and I sighed, wanting to get to the hospital, to get to Gus. But first, we had some questions to answer. People to deal with.
And a shit ton of paperwork to come.
I hoped he would be fine. No, he would make it.
Because there wasn’t another outcome. I would never forgive myself if it happened any other way.
I let out a deep breath and swore I would yell at him for putting himself in danger for me. And then I would tell him everything, even if it broke me.
But first, he needed to wake up.
* * *
“Let’s get you checked out,” Daisy said after a minute, but I shook my head, pacing the hospital waiting room.
Once we’d finished with the authorities, we made our way to the emergency room.
I was the worst off, covered in dust and blood.
The nurse had taken one look at me and decided that I needed to go back to see someone.
I shook them off, saying it wasn’t my blood and that I was fine.
I just wanted to hear about Gus. However, since we weren’t family, and Gus hadn’t told them or been able to tell them that we were allowed to hear any information, it was a waiting game.
We literally had no idea what was going on back there, only that he was at this hospital.
“Are you sure no one else was hurt?” I asked as Kingston rubbed the back of his neck.
“No one else was hurt. I’m just pissed off that I didn’t see the guy in time. That he was able to get the dumbass homemade bomb in at all.”
I continued to pace as Daisy stood against the wall, watching me as if I might fall at any moment.
I didn’t blame her because I was still slightly woozy.
Noah and Ford were still on-site, as were a few of our other team members.
Kingston had come with us because he had watched the wall come down over us.
I was fine. Not even a bruise—at least yet.
All because Gus had taken the brunt of it.
I was going to kick his ass. He was not allowed to sacrifice himself for me. Who the hell did he think he was?
“He got through because his cousin worked at the hotel. Apparently, they look enough alike that he got past our contract worker.” Daisy snarled the last words, and I knew Noah and Ford were dealing with whoever had made the mistake.
We were human, it happened, but Gus had gotten hurt.
And I knew nothing about what was going on back there.
My phone rang, making my heart race, somehow thinking it was Gus calling me from the other side of the double doors they’d barred us from.
But no, it was my mother. I didn’t want to talk to her right now. Not because I didn’t love her, but because she had probably heard about the incident on the news. And I hadn’t called her.
“Answer. I already have the family group chat on alert because they’re afraid I’m going to get myself blown up again.
Thankfully, it was just you this time,” Daisy said lightly, but I heard the hurt behind it.
She had nearly been killed. And Kingston had been there, nearly getting hurt himself.
Their families had been through so much, while mine was relatively normal.
Their daughter just happened to like putting herself on the line.
But I was pregnant now. Which meant I needed to think about what I was doing with my life.