Page 45 of Fighting for Scarlett

Denying her sex would have been the right thing to do. Scarlett wasn’t thinking clearly, had been traumatized, and might very well have been trying to distract him so she could escape. Only deep down he knew she wasn’t, that she just wanted to forget for a while, but he should have been the clear-headed one. He’d taken advantage no matter that Scarlett had been the one to initiate things.

“What am I going to do with you, little fighter?” he whispered as he stroked her back. He kept asking himself that question, but he was no closer to figuring out the answer.

A beep on his phone had his attention snapping away from the sleeping woman.

The alarm for his security system had just been tripped.

Reaching over, he snatched up his cell phone from the coffee table beside the armchair where they were sitting—Scarlett had suggested the couch, but he thought he had a better chance of remaining awake in case she tried anything in the armchair—and looked at the alert.

Someone was in his driveway.

The entire property was rigged with sensors that would allow him to know the second anyone set foot on a single inch of his property. Call him paranoid, but his ex-stepmother knew that he knew his father was innocent and that she was the one dealing drugs. There was a chance that she or one of her gang friends would try something stupid to silence him. So, he had upgraded his system with cameras and sensors everywhere.

Better safe than sorry.

Now the camera showed four men slinking down his driveway.

Not law enforcement or men from any of the agencies.

Raul’s men.

Had to be.

But how had they found him?

Throwing a gaze at the sleeping woman. There was no way she could have alerted anyone that she was here, he’d been with her the entire time. Even if he hadn't, her luring Raul’s men here to kill him didn't vibe with the incident in his car earlier, she could have let them kill him and gone with them.

Even though doubts tried their best to shove their way into his mind he did his best to shove them right back out again. He’d brought her here because deep down he knew he could trust her, knew she needed protection, that was what he had to focus on. Nothing else.

Gently he shook her awake, then set her on her feet before him.

“Tate?” she asked sleepily, her hands grabbing onto his forearms to steady herself as she swayed, still half asleep.

“Get dressed,” he ordered. There was no time to talk anything through with her, they needed to get out of there while they still stood a chance.

“What? Why?”

“We got company,” he growled as he shoved past her to grab his weapon. Thankfully, no lights were on, and there was every chance that whoever was about to break in believed both he and Scarlett would be upstairs in bed.

“Company?” Scarlett whisper shouted as she lunged for her leggings and sweater.

That move wound up saving her life.

The roar of gunfire combined with shattering glass as his front windows were destroyed filled the night.

Throwing himself to the side, he grabbed Scarlett’s wrist, ignoring her pained yelp as he pressed too tightly on her wounds and dragged her with him behind the couch. Not much protection but better than nothing.

Or was it?

Scarlett was still there, and wherever she went gunfire seemed to follow.

She hadn't been lying when she’d said someone had been in her home right before she went running out of it. The bruises on her neck corroborated that story. And it was true that she had saved his life in taking that bullet, yet here they were again, same story, different page.

The problem was, he couldn’t get a read on Scarlett because his emotions kept getting in the way and that allowed the only crack it needed for his issues with his dad and the role he’d played in them to creep in.

From the first moment he laid eyes on her, he’d known she was different and had the power to shake up his life and change everything. He just hadn't known she was going to wind up shaking up his life like this.

“Put your clothes on,” he ordered as he ran scenarios through his mind. He didn't have enough weapons on him to handle a full-scale assault. He had to get himself and Scarlett out of there. That was the priority. Get Scarlett someplace safe and then he and his team could go and hunt down Raul Castillo and every single one of his men.

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