Shameless - Sybil Bartel Page 0,60

I begged, grabbing Shade’s arm as he reached for a rectangular cutout in the floor. “Don’t do this.”

“The hatch will lock after me.” Ignoring my plea, he pocketed the cell phone off the desk he’d messed with earlier. Then he lifted the door and a burst of frigid air rushed into the small room, stealing all the heat. Dropping into the hole that looked like it opened directly into a crawl space under the cabin, he stood in the waist high space and grabbed the edge of the hatch. “One-three-two. Don’t forget.” His intense gaze pierced me. “This is my job.” Dropping his voice to a low and threatening growl, he held his rifle. “It’s also personal.”

He disappeared into the crawl space and the hatch door slammed shut.

HER WORDS ECHOED IN MY head on repeat as her expression haunted me.

So, I’m a job now?

This whole fucking mess was my doing, but somewhere along the way shit went FUBAR and now it was exactly as I told her. Personal. I didn’t know when it’d first happened—the kiss on the side of the highway, hell, the look in her eyes when I pulled up in front of that rehab, but this woman had gotten under my skin. Then I’d fucked her.

Fucking hell, that cunt.

My dick got hard just thinking about sinking inside her, which only made me an even bigger asshole as I stood here with her blood on my hands.

But goddamn this woman was in my head. Vulnerable and not ashamed to show it. Bold as fuck when it counted. Summer Amherst was a hell of a lot more than all the zeroes she probably had in her trust fund, and I wasn’t finished with her. But that didn’t change the fact that I had a job to do.

Protect her.

Get her off this mountain in one piece, no matter what the fuck happened to me.

I’d never given a shit about dying, we all went some time. But now that I knew what the woman inside my cabin tasted like, I wanted more. I wanted it bad enough that I gave a shit about getting back to her, and that was a dangerous slope for someone in my line of work. Giving a shit made you hesitate. Hesitation got you killed.

I wasn’t going to fuck with Luna or his company’s reputation by losing a client, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let those two fucks walk off this mountain. But more than anything, I was going to protect what I had upstairs.

No one fucked with me or my property.

Dropping under the crawl space, I pulled out the cell I’d synced with the cameras and glanced at the screen.

Those fucks didn’t know what was coming.

I shot off a text to Ronan. ETA?

He replied almost immediately. 30 mins. Luna says you have a breach. Two guns inside the cabin.

She’d fucking called Luna already.

I typed a quick reply to Ronan. Window closing, not waiting 30 mins.

Ronan replied. Copy. Harm MIA. Candle should’ve been there by now. OMW.

Moving under the house, I glanced once more at the security feeds and positioned myself.

Double checking the screen on the cell, I aimed my rifle at the foundation above me.

“You fuck with me, motherfuckers, I fuck back.”

I pulled the trigger.

Three rounds pierced the foundation and wood floor I’d laid myself. Asshole number one dropped, the weight of his body hitting the living room floor with a muted thud. Three seconds later, rounds started raining down into the crawl space.

I was already on the move.

Rolling out from under the cabin, I landed on my back in the snow and aimed up at the front windows.

The second fuck in my living room caught my movement and trained his scope on me. His laser dot hit my chest and I smirked.

“Go ahead, you amateur fuck,” I muttered, sighting my rifle. “Pull the trigger.”

His shot pierced my glass slider the same time I rolled.

Going to one knee as the bullet whizzed past my head and hit a tree, I held up my middle finger. Then I single-handedly aimed and fired.

My shot hit him in the middle of his forehead, his head snapped back and he dropped.

Cursing the fucking mess the bodies would make in my cabin, I stood and pulled my cell out. The call went through just as an unnatural, but unmistakable wind whipped past my head.

Motherfucker.

I dropped and rolled back under the cabin as another shot plunked into a nearby tree.

Both hands on my rifle, my cell forgotten, I