Page 50 of What He Wants

Why was he taunting them?

“Shut up!” the unseen robber ordered. “Get back!” Had Big John made a move toward him? The next thing I heard was a shot, followed by screams.

I screamed, and then reacted without thinking, rushing down the hallway toward the commotion, afraid of what I would see on the other side of the wall. If something had happened to Big John…my heart was in my throat. Everything happened so fast after that. I had time to see Big John draw a gun that I hadn’t known he had on him, and the two Sentinels leave their booth. The waitresses and few customers who were still there dashed for cover, but there was nowhere for them to go.

One of the robbers was on the floor, out cold. My eyes flew to Big John and connected with his, seeing the rage in his eyes. “Daisy, move!”

I’d forgotten about the other robber, and by the time I realized that he was behind me it was too late. A skinny arm slithered around my waist and I was jerked sharply back against a bony body. The stink of unwashed clothes and body odor made me gag. It didn’t matter that I probably outweighed him, the fear and adrenaline that was pumping through his blood had made him freakishly strong.

I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Big John, even though his focus was on the man behind me. I drew strength from his larger than life presence, knowing that he’d get me out of the situation I’d found myself in, and that everything would be okay.

“Stay back or she dies!” the robber threatened, using me as a shield against the three guns that were aimed his way. I could feel him trembling against me, probably from a combination of drugs and fear, and from the realization that he was in a bad position. Suddenly I had the barrel of a gun against my temple.

I hated the position that I was in and cursed myself for my stupidity. I should have remained hidden, but my fear that Big John had been hurt had overshadowed my common sense. I was nothing to the Sentinels, their expressions remained passive as they calmly waited to make their move, but Big John was beyond furious. His dark eyes looked like cut glass, and his expression was darkly menacing. A muscle twitching in his square jaw revealed that he was barely holding on to his control.

“You just made the biggest fucking mistake of your life,” Big John grumbled threateningly. He kept his eyes on the man that was holding me.

The man behind me sniffed as if he had a cold. “Looks like I’m the one with leverage,” he said bravely, his voice slightly slurred. “Brody!” he yelled, in an attempt to wake up his partner.

Big John snorted. “Won’t do any good, I broke his fucking neck.”

I could feel the man behind me stiffen, his gun hand was shaking, and intuition warned me that he was not going to react well to that news. He was backed up into a corner, and right now I was his only way out of there. He began to drag me toward the door, and I knew that I had to do something. It was obvious that Big John and the Sentinels weren’t firing because they didn’t want to take a chance that I’d get hit. There was only one thing I could do, and I prayed that it didn’t backfire on me. I went completely limp, my dead weight too much for the robber to hold. Before I knew it, I was slipping through his arm.

Before I hit the floor, a shot rang out and the robber flew backwards, slamming against the entrance door. Big John reached me before I could get to my feet again, wrapping a strong arm around me.

“Fuck, babe, you took a risk doing that.” He slipped his gun behind him, into the waistband of his pants. “You okay?”

I nodded, beginning to shake. “Yes.” I glanced past him to the two Sentinels. “Thank you.” I wasn’t sure what they’d done to help, but just the fact they’d been behind Big John, ready to make a move, was enough. I watched them holster their weapons.

He shot a quick glance at them. “Thanks for the backup, I owe you.” Sirens were heard coming in the distance. “You might want to get the fuck out of here.”

“I think we’ll take you up on that,” one of them said. They both left without another word.

“Won’t the police want to question them?” I saw his lips quirk above me. “Question who? They weren’t even here.” Oh. “Jesus, fuck, babe. When I heard you scream and then run into the room, I almost had a fucking heart attack.”

“I thought you’d been shot.” Crap, I could feel my eyes tearing up.

Willy walked over to the robber by the door and gave him a kick. “Bastard,” he groused. He moved behind the counter. His waitresses were still too shell-shocked to move, a couple of them sinking onto a chair. The few customers began to relax when they realized that the threat was over. The fact that there were police cars with flashing lights rushing into the parking lot probably helped. One cruiser pulled right up to the front door, all but blocking it.

Several police charged into the diner, guns drawn and on full alert. Their gazes seemed to take everything in at once.

“Someone called in a shooting,” one of them said, looking down at the body next to his feet. His eyes shot up toward Willy. “What happened, Willy?”

Another cop moved around the first one, coming further into the diner, his gaze instantly narrowing on Big John, before dropping to the man on the floor. “He dead?”

“As a doornail,” Big John smirked.

“You kill him?” Big John nodded. The cop looked closely at the body from where he stood. “With what? I don’t see any gunshots.”

“With my hands.”

The cop took a minute to digest that. It was clear they knew one another, but there was no love lost between them.

“Killed the other fucker, too,” Big John admitted. “Had to use my gun on him, he was about to hurt my woman.”

The cop glanced my way. His mouth turned down at the corners. “Standard procedure, put your hands behind your back.” He holstered his gun and grabbed for his cuffs.

What? “It was self-defense!” I explained in a panicked voice.

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