Mine to Keep (NOLA Knights #3) - Rhenna Morgan Page 0,91

on finding a parking spot.

Roman put himself between the buildings on their left and the cars on his right.

The 4Runner slowed and signaled for a spot.

Behind them another car pulled in.

No, not a car. The Froyo van with its ridiculous logo of a frozen yogurt cone dressed up like a Brazilian dancer.

Forty more feet at most and she’d be inside. The back exit was covered by Kir and Sergei. He’d have the front.

Just ahead of them, the Froyo van had no choice but to stop, waiting for the 4Runner to get its awaited spot.

Two more steps and a gunshot rang out. High and on his right.

Roman spun toward the sound and pulled his firearm, keeping his body in front of Bonnie. The sun slanted across the parking lot, blinding him from the shooter.

A car door slammed.

Another gunshot.

Roman urged Bonnie back toward the street, but a brown sedan whipped into the parking lot and blocked them in.

The Froyo van door opened.

And just like that four men were on him. He landed a shot to the first man’s leg. A second to another man’s shoulder. Before he could fire a third, one of their attackers kicked his gun from his hand.

Footsteps sounded on the asphalt. Either his men closing in or more enemies to replace the others. He couldn’t stop to evaluate. Could only keep himself between Bonnie and his adversaries and fight for all he was worth.

Bonnie shouted behind him. “No!”

He whirled on instinct, ready to engage—but caught the butt of a shotgun to the temple.

Everything stopped. Rattled and echoed in what seemed like slow motion as the world tilted and his body slammed against the pavement.

And then, there was nothing.

Chapter Twenty-One

Bonnie leaned against the hotel bed’s padded headboard, re-crossed her ankles atop the thick down comforter beneath her and crossed her arms over her chest. She hated sitting still. Hated any form of idleness. But having absolutely nothing to do but pretend the four-star digs around her weren’t a prison cell and stare at a hotel television was brutal. Especially, with the awful reruns that played at five o’clock in the morning.

Not that she’d been able to really watch anything. Her thoughts were too tied up in how Roman was. On the dazed and pained look on his face as he’d fallen to the pavement and imagining how furious he’d be when he woke up.

You mean if he wakes up.

No. She couldn’t think about that possibility. He would wake up. Roman was made of tough stuff. If nothing else, he’d come to and find her just to give her hell for insisting on talking to Jennette.

Jennette.

“Hmmph,” she scoffed to the room at large.

The guard sitting in the chair just inside her door cocked an eyebrow at her like she was nuts.

Bonnie didn’t care. Jennette had set them up. Had all but confessed as much when she’d begged and pleaded with the guys who’d thrown her in the van behind Bonnie, screaming that she’d made a deal with someone named Rossi. What that deal entailed, Bonnie had no clue. What she did know was that Jennette hadn’t been hauled into the hotel with Bonnie, so if she was still breathing at this point, it would be a miracle.

Served the bitch right.

She uncrossed her ankles then crossed them the other way. Fuck but it was cold in here. The first thing the jerks who’d nabbed her had done was scan her for tracking devices, leaving her sans one jacket. The headset had been jerked out of her ear and tossed out the window, too.

“You should sleep,” her guard said. He wasn’t a big guy—at least not compared to Roman—but Bonnie wasn’t about to fuck with him either. Pure evil shone behind his black eyes, the effect made more prominent by the sharp edges of his cheeks, nose and jaw.

Bonnie shook her head and slunked a little lower against the headboard. “Like that’s gonna happen.” She rolled her head to meet his stare. “You seriously think I’m gonna strip and get all cozy under the covers while some crazy dude who snatched me off the street watches?” She scoffed again and focused on the television. “Fat fucking chance.”

In her periphery, the guard shrugged. “Up to you.”

Up to you.

What kind of bullshit answer was that, anyway? She cocked her head and looked at him again. “Where the hell’s my brother and my dad? I know you’ve got ’em, so I wanna see ’em.”

The man gave her the same creepy smirk he’d aimed at her