Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,189

a bit now, and I was still screaming, but Colt was in his own world, his own head, and the crowd was retreating, everyone running for the exits and someone was pulling me with them.

And then, suddenly, Colt was rushing at his uncle and the gun went off, a flash bang noise that reverberated through the room and I was screaming and running toward him, but those arms were around me, and I couldn’t get to him.

It was like I was in a dream, one of those dreams where you’re trying to do something and you can’t because you’re stuck underwater or you’re trying to call 911 and you can’t remember the number, only this was so much worse because it was so real, every color vivid, every feeling so sharp that it was impossible to pretend it was a dream.

“Colt!” I screamed and I was trying to get to him, and I could see blood on the floor, but I couldn’t tell if it was Mick’s or Colt’s.

The crowd had completely dispersed into pandemonium now, and those hands were still around me, pulling me to the exit, but I could see flashes of Colt and his uncle tangled together, their limbs flying as they wrestled on the ground. The gun was still in Mick’s hand, and I saw Colt hit his wrist and the gun skittered to the ground.

Colt had him pinned now, and he was on top of him, and he began to hit him, to pound his face, punch after punch.

“Colt!” I was screaming again, screaming his name, but my ears were ringing so loudly that I wasn’t sure if I was even yelling or if my screams were only in my own mind.

And then I remembered.

My necklace.

It was a direct link to the FBI.

I leaned down and spoke into it.

“Please!” I begged. “Caleb, please, you have to come, please! There’s a gun, please, you need to come! Hurry!”

And then I remembered something else – the trick I’d learned from countless years in foster care, the one thing that was guaranteed to hurt a man bigger than you if you got the opportunity to do it.

Kick him in the balls.

I turned around and kicked the man holding me right in the balls.

“Oof!” he groaned and fell to the floor and I whispered a silent apology as I broke free and ran toward Colt.

When I got to him, he was all alone, his uncle laying on the floor as Colt pounded his face.

“You son of a bitch,” Colt spat as he punched him. “You son of a bitch, I was a child, I was just a kid, you fucking sick fuck.”

“Colt,” I said, and I was grabbing his arm, but Colt was in a zone, his eyes glassy, and I knew where he was, because I’d been there myself. He was remembering all the things his uncle had done to him, all the times his uncle had beat him.

My eyes filled with tears as I tried to pull him off, but I couldn’t. He was too big, too strong.

Finally, he took a break, eyes wild as his gaze fell on the gun that was sitting on the floor.

He lunged for it, his eyes filled with hate as he pointed the gun at his uncle.

“Colt,” I pleaded. “Jesus, Colt, no.” I was crying now, the tears sliding down my face. The room smelled like smoke and alcohol and tobacco, and it was so intense I felt like gunpowder was entering my skin through my pores.

“Colt,” I whispered. “Please…”

I don’t know why, maybe it was the change in my tone, but he turned to look at me.

Mick moaned from the ground, his face bloody and bruised, his eyes rolling back into his head. Colt’s own face was bruised too, an ugly purple welt under his eye and a cut on his cheekbone.

He was breathing heavily, his broad chest heaving with the exertion of the beating he’d just given his uncle.

He looked at me.

“Go away, Olivia,” he said. “You don’t want to see this.”

“Colt.” I swallowed. “Colt, please, don’t do this.”

He cocked the trigger and turned back toward his uncle.

“Colt,” I said again. “Colt, if you…please, if you do this, it’s...you’ll ruin your life, you’ll go to jail, you’ll…” I shook my head. “Colt, you can’t.”

“I don’t give a fuck. He deserves it.” His hand tightened around the trigger and he licked his bottom lip.

“You’ll destroy me,” I said, the words pouring out of me before I could stop them. “Please,