Hero Book 3 - The Battle: Military Romance (16 page)

Then, behind me, I heard the scrape of a step and I ducked. The missed jab threw my attacker off balance, and he stumbled to face me. What he lacked in gun skills, I saw he made up for in boxing talent as he righted himself with a shuffle of his feet and came back swinging.

I didn't want to turn my back on Leighton, but I had to put the man down so I could concentrate on freeing her. All this passed through my mind in a few quick seconds. I circled him and waited for his next move. He came on hard with a lightning fast combination, but I snaked to the right and caught him hard on the knee with a sharp kick. There was a sick crack and he let out a pained sound as he stumbled, his leg at a strange angle.

I didn't wait to see if he'd fall or recover, I spun around and delivered another hard kick to his sternum before cracking my forearm against his face. He fell to the ground, gasping for air, and held up two hands to show he was staying down.

I turned back. Leighton's attacker hadn't gotten her any closer to the van, and I was horrified to see her struggles renewed. Even with the gun scraping across her face, she kicked and elbowed, doing everything she could to try to get free.

“I'll shoot you in the face,” he growled.

“You're not going to shoot me, and we all know it,” Leighton snapped back, a grim look in her eyes. “Especially since the safety's on.”

“How do you know that, bitch?” he snarled.

“I don't. You just don't look that smart,” Leighton said.

The man growled again, flicking off the safety with his thumb. Instead of replacing the muzzle against her cheek, however, he aimed directly at me.

“I might not shoot you, but I can put a bullet in your boyfriend there,” he said.

“I'm her bodyguard, not her boyfriend,” I snapped at him. “What do you think she pays me for, you moron? I might take a bullet, but you'll never get her in that van.” I tried to reason with him. “Why make your prison sentence any longer?”

For a moment, I thought it might work, but then I realized Leighton had stopped struggling. The problem was, he realized it too.

“Seems to me somebody has a little crush,” he said. “So, now, she's going to be a good little heiress and get in the van. Otherwise, I'm going to shoot her big bad boy toy.”

Shit.

I didn't even have to look at her to know she was going to do it. She was going to obey the fucker and let him drag her to that van. Hospital security would probably be blocking as many exits as possible until the cops arrived, but it wouldn't be enough. They could get out. With her. And I'd die before I let that happen.

“Haze, don't do it,” Leighton begged as soon as I took a step toward her.

“Don't worry, Leighton.” I kept my voice even and my eyes on her, willing her to trust me. “He'll only get one shot off before I reach him.”

The attacker paused and eyed the distance between us. I didn't need to. I already knew. It was no more than six feet. The second time his eyes dipped to the ground, I lunged.

The attacker shoved Leighton out of the way, and brought the gun up with two hands. My body slammed into his, and then we were on the ground.

I heard a sharp report echo through my mind before Leighton's scream stopped time.

Chapter 18

Leighton

I
stumbled and turned just in time to see Haze hit the man who'd held me. There was a heavy thud as the two of them hit the utility van. The tires squealed as the driver took off. Haze and the man fell to the ground and the gun exploded its release.

I had no idea I'd screamed until I realized the sound I heard was me. Then Haze reared up from the ground and grabbed my attacker by his collar. He cracked the man's head against the concrete and then pulled himself to his feet.

“Are you okay?” he asked, breathing hard.

I stared at him. “I'm fine.” I brushed off his concern. “I didn't even fall. But who, what, the gun went off?”

“By accident when we hit the ground,” Haze said. “I don't think they even knew how to use them.”

He took a step towards me and then swayed. A dizzy spell, I assumed, until he reached a hand across his heart, his palm coming away coated in blood. He looked at it without surprise, and his knees buckled. Before he fell, hospital security swarmed around us.

I fought off my rescuers, pushing through the crowd to where Haze had fallen. No one had touched him yet, and I froze a step away from him. Blood was slowly blackening the ground behind his left shoulder and inching its way towards my shoes.

I shook my head. No. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't end like this.

Three of the security guards ran past Haze to the man on the ground behind him. I was dimly aware that two other guards were handcuffing the man with the broken leg.

None of that mattered though. Not with Haze's face going pale.

I dropped to my knees, my hands going to his chest. I lifted his jacket and found the bloody tear in his shirt, the hole oozing blood beneath it. Not knowing what else to do, I pressed both hands over the wound, and prayed the bleeding would stop.

“They're on their way. They're on their way,” I chanted, but the words cut off as a sob caught in my throat.

He hadn't hesitated, even for an instant. He'd thrown himself directly at a loaded gun to make sure I wasn't taken. He told my attacker it was what he'd been paid to do, but I'd seen his eyes. I'd known saving me meant more to him than his life. The enormity of that knowledge tore the sobs from my chest even as I tried to choke them back.

Suddenly, I heard a phone ring. I looked around automatically and saw it on the ground near Haze's head. My grandfather's name popped up on the screen, and I reached out with one hand to punch the answer button.

“Haze has been shot!” I blurted out before Grandfather could say anything. “They shot him!”

“Who? Leighton, who shot Haze? Are you okay?”

A sob tried to escape, but I forced myself to take a breath, to focus. I had both hands pressed to Haze's wound again, and his blood was thick between my fingers. “Two men in masks attacked me and tried to force me into a van. Haze stopped them, but he got shot.”

“Hold tight, sweetheart. I’m tracking your phone. I'm on my way,” Grandfather said.

The phone went dead and I heard pounding footsteps. When I looked up, Dr. David dropped to the ground next to me, and brushed my hands away. I sat back on my heels, my bloody hands resting on my thighs as I watched, helpless.

“Jesus, it's worse than I thought.” Dr. David shouted orders over his shoulder as sirens blared.

The police had arrived.

The chaos around me blurred as my world narrowed down to Haze's face. I reached out and brushed my fingers across his pale cheek.

“I wasn't going anywhere. You weren't going to lose me. You're never going to lose me,” I whispered. Around me, paramedics started to work. “Please, baby, don't leave me. Stay with me.” As the paramedics moved Haze onto a stretcher, I leaned close and spoke firmly in his ear, “That's an order, Soldier.”

Chapter 19

Haze

Everything in the room was fuzzy, but the familiar beeping of the heart monitor told me where I was. The hospital room slowly came into focus and as images and thoughts flashed through my mind, my pulse began to race.

Gunfire. A young soldier falling back. Blood. An explosion.

Another hospital room.

Or was it the same one?

I struggled to orient myself, my body throbbing with aches and pains. A new pain, sharper, more real, radiated from the place where my shoulder met my chest.

Not the same hospital room. I hadn't been shot before.

Why had I been shot now?

Leighton.

The memory hit me all at once.

I'd charged the man and shoved him hard back against a white wall...no a white van. The van had left. The gun went off. I'd felt the pain but hadn't acknowledged it. She was more important. I had to know that she was safe. When I'd seen she was unhurt, that help was coming, I'd tried to walk to her, but the combination of blood loss and vertigo had driven me to the ground.

She'd whispered to me then, begging me not to leave her.

“Haze?” Her voice came from the shadows. “Are you awake?”

I immediately searched the room for her, finding her as she rose from a chair in the corner. Relief flooded through me, a better painkiller than any meds. She was okay. I felt myself relax and heard my pulse start to drop back to normal. As she reached the side of my bed, I saw the circles under her eyes, the worry on her face.

“He's awake?” Devlin's voice came from the doorway.

“Yes, sir,” I said as I hit the button to raise the bed.

“How do you feel?” Devlin asked.

“Like I've been shot.” I gave him the cliché with a half-smile.

“Not funny.” Leighton scowled at me, but since she threaded her fingers between mine, I figured she wasn't too angry.

“I'm fine,” I said, squeezing her hand as I glanced at Devlin for confirmation.

“The doctor said you were extremely lucky,” Devlin said. “No major arteries hit. No bones, no nerves. The muscle's torn up and you might need to give it a bit before engaging in hand-to-hand combat again, but you only needs to stay overnight.”

“You’ve been unconscious for hours,” Leighton added.

“I'm guessing blood loss, shock, and a nice bout of vertigo.” I looked at Devlin again. “Am I right?”

He nodded. “See? Nothing serious.”

“Are you okay?” I could hear the tender note in my voice as I turned my eyes back to her.

“I'm fine.” She brushed aside my concern. “You're the one who was shot.”

“The only time she left your side since you got here was to wash off your blood and change clothes,” Devlin answered for her. “And only then because I told her it wouldn't be good for you.”

“You need to go home,” I said to her even as I pulled her hand closer to me. “Get something to eat, get some rest.”

“I'm not leaving.” She narrowed her eyes. “And you can't make me.”

“Leighton...”

“Enough!” Devlin's voice was sharp enough to startle us both. “I thought I could just wait until the two of you got over whatever the hell it is keeping you from seeing what's right in front of you, but apparently, I could be dead before that happens.”

“Grandfather...” Leighton's voice was weak.

“Dallas is posted outside the door, along with two very nice policemen,” he continued. “I'm going to give them specific instructions that neither of you are to leave this room until you've figured this out.”

I stared at him as he left. If it had been anyone other than Devlin, I would've wondered if he was serious, but I had no doubt that if either Leighton or I tried to walk out now, the men in the hall would stop us.

As the door closed, an awkward silence fell. Still, I didn't let go of Leighton's hand. I didn't want to. This wasn't how I'd planned for my life to go, not even after I'd been discharged, but I could see now that, from the first moment I'd met her, everything had been leading me back to her. Everything I thought I wanted didn't hold nearly as much sway over me as the young woman standing next to me.

“You told me to stay with you,” I said quietly.

“I did.”

I looked at her, but she was looking down at our hands.

My chest tightened painfully as I asked the question that would determine where things went from here. “Do you still want me to stay with you?”

She nodded as she raised her eyes to meet mine. “Please don't leave me.”

I raised our hands to brush my lips across her knuckles. “A good soldier never disobeys orders.”

Chapter 20

Leighton

When I woke, the sky outside the hospital room was pink with the rays from the rising sun. Haze's breathing was heavy and regular under my cheek, and his good arm was wrapped around my waist. I carefully moved my hand away from the white gauze that covered his wound, not wanting to cause him any pain.

I never wanted to hurt him, physically or in any other way. After our brief exchange after Grandfather left, we hadn't done much talking, but we hadn't needed to. I'd given him a light kiss and he'd pulled me onto the bed next to him, tucking me against his side. And we'd laid there, not talking, not moving, just being with each other.

The nurses and doctor who'd checked in periodically hadn't been pleased to find me in his bed, but they didn't say anything. Being a Machus did have its advantages.

I gently ran my hand down the firm ridges of his abdomen, and then back up his bare arm. The feel of Haze's skin beneath my fingertips was electrifying, even more so now that I knew he was mine. I wriggled closer to enjoy the sensation of his body pressed to mine.

“If you keep that up, I'm going to embarrass myself in front of the doctor,” Haze murmured, his arm tightening around me.

“He said he'd check in at five o'clock,” I countered, running my hand back down his stomach and enjoying the way the muscles tensed under my touch. “We still have a few minutes.”

“Leighton...” My name was equal parts warning and wanting.