Without Fear - Reese Knightley Page 0,1

rolled off the guy and the suspect moved away, moaning in agony.

Gunfire echoed between the other suspect and his team. A force and then burning pain slammed into his arm and he toppled backward.

Fuck!

Even through the burning pain, he kept his gun pointed at the moaning suspect.

“Boss! Fuck!” Felix shouted, and he heard the panic in the man’s voice.

“Stay put!” he barked and let out the breath he’d been holding.

Sweat dripped into his eyes, but he didn’t move to wipe the sting away. Instead, he continued holding the gun steady on the suspect.

A few seconds later, all gunfire died out completely, sending the alleyway into an eerie silence.

“Second suspect is down,” Ryder snarled flatly into the quiet.

Thank fuck.

Tyler Brick was on the guy with the wounded shoulder in seconds. They called him Brick, not so much for his last name, but more for his size. The guy was a mountain standing well over six feet and weighing in at over two hundred and fifty pounds of pure muscle. His clients felt very safe when Brick was on the job. The massive mountain of a man flipped the suspect over and handcuffed his hands behind his back despite the perp’s screams.

Logan lowered the gun and dropped back to the wet pavement.

Gazing up at the star-filled sky, he panted through the pain in his shoulder.

Felix was at his side in seconds.

“Logan, talk to me.” Felix reached down and ripped his button-down shirt open looking for the bullet wound.

“Hey! That was one of my good shirts,” he bitched.

“You’re shot!” Felix scowled, helping him to sit up and lean against the tire of the brown car.

“Yeah, in the arm,” he groused back, fingering the tears along the button holes.

Felix dropped the shirt tails and instead, tore off the shirt’s arm.

Logan snorted and Felix shot him a furious glare, and then tied the torn shirt sleeve around the wound before sitting back on his haunches.

Jaxon and Ryder came jogging down the alley.

“Where’s the other guy?” He squinted.

Ryder pointed at Jaxon. “Head shot. He’s gone.”

“What? Was I just supposed to wound him?” Jaxon asked innocently. All tattoos and attitude, the hot as fuck, long-haired bodyguard cracked his neck and smirked.

That the other guy was dead didn’t surprise him, Jaxon was one of the best shooters he’d ever come across.

“Ambulance is on its way,” Ryder murmured.

“I don’t need a damned ambulance.” He frowned and moved to stand up.

Only, he couldn’t manage it when the world swayed and dipped. Felix reached out and gripped him around the shoulders and brought him back down into a sitting position.

Truthfully, Logan was glad for the help.

Macy

“What’s good?”

Macy stopped tapping the pencil against his pursed lips and glanced up from the order form. The tablet was more of a prop, he didn’t really need to write the order down to remember it, but the cook in the new kitchen appreciated it.

While Bailey’s Café specialized in flavored coffee and baked goods, they had had a new kitchen put in after the fire.

The fire had demolished half of the front room and needed rebuilding anyway. Macy was just glad nobody had been hurt. The place really did look nice since his boss, Justin Cobalt, had put the café’s manager in charge of fixing up the place. And even though it sucked that Justin’s psycho ex-boyfriend had tried to burn the café down last Christmas, Macy had to admit Ashley had done a brilliant job with the remodeling.

“Hello?”

“Oops, sorry!” He plastered on a wide smile, knowing it accentuated his full, pink lips. For good measure, he widened his charcoal-outlined eyes. The man at the table smiled at him.

“Today’s special is fish and chips.”

“I’ll take that.” The man drew in a quick breath and gave him a flirtatious smile.

Almost tempted to stay and flirt away his lapse in customer service, Macy turned away. No flirting with customers; it was one of his rules.

Besides, he already had his eye on a certain someone.

Jotting down the order, he tugged his buzzing cell phone from his pocket. The number and short text message sent his stomach dipping.

Check in.

Reaching the counter located in the back near the pastry and coffee area, Macy slapped the order on the marbled granite surface.

“I’m taking a break,” he told Ashley.

She looked up from the restocking list and flipped her hair over one shoulder. He could see a lot of Elijah in her frown. Ashley was Elijah Cobalt’s little sister; Elijah just happened to be Justin’s husband. The café was a family affair.

“But it’s almost