“Quiet, Princess,” he whispered.
It was my turn to freeze.
Gently his hand moved away and he jackknifed off me but once he gained his feet, he leaned over and brought me up with him.
He kissed me swiftly then said, “Get dressed. Get your gun. After I leave, arm the doors and windows and call the control room.”
Then he let me go, went across the room, tagged his sweater off the floor and pulled it on. I stared at him, stunned immobile as he pulled his hair back into a ponytail.
He looked at me. “Now, Jules. Someone’s out there.”
My body came unstuck and I dressed quickly. I had my pants on when he made a noise like a half-whistle. I looked up at him and he tossed me his phone. He had his jacket in his hand.
“Control room,” he said low and then he pulled his gun out of his jacket, dropped the jacket on the armchair and he took off on silent feet.
I yanked my shirt on, following him down the hall. By the time I made it to the kitchen, he was gone.
I locked the door, armed the alarm and went to the dresser under my bed platform and got my gun. I stood in the hall and I started to scroll his phonebook but it was the first choice. I hit the green button. It barely rang.
“Yo,” someone answered.
“This is Jules,” I said into the phone.
“Shit. Do you have another pick up?” It was Mace. “I thought you and Vance were out tonight.”
“No. Listen. I’m at my house and Vance says someone’s outside. He’s gone –” I stopped talking and my body went stiff when I heard gunfire. It was close.
Quick as I froze, I unfroze, started talking again and I bent down to pull at the buckle of the ankle strap of one of my shoes. “Gunfire, Mace, f**k.”
“We’re on it,” Mace’s voice wasn’t teasing, it was all business.
“Do you need my address?”
“No. Stay inside, stay safe –”
I heard more gunfire as I kicked off a shoe.
I interrupted him. “More gunfire.”
“Stay inside. Keep your house armed.”
“I’m going out there.”
“Stay inside, Law,” Mace ordered. “We’ll be there in five.”
I kicked off the other shoe. “We don’t have five,” I snapped, flipped the phone shut and threw it on the bed.
I ran to the closet, pulled out my Pumas, yanked them on and tied them as quickly as I could. Then with my gun I ran through the house, unarmed the alarm and went out.
I barely cleared the backdoor when Sal Cordova careened into me, I went backward and his arm went around me.
“Fuck, he shot me,” Sal groaned, looking up at me and leaning deep into me. I took on most of his weight and staggered with it. “Your f**kin’ partner shot me in the ass.”
With the arm not locked around me, Sal was holding onto his backside.
“Jules. God dammit,” Vance was standing a few feet away. I spared him a glance; he had his gun trained on Cordova.
I bent at the knees, taking Sal down with me and planting his ass on the ground. He gave out a howl and rolled to the side. I shrugged off his arm, bent down to yank his gun out of his hand and took a step away.