Page 53 of Sniper

A fight? He was being facetious, obviously. “No, because this is my problem. Not yours. Not the Steel Demons. Definitely not the people you all care about.”

“You’re one of those people Katey.”

I wished that was true. “I’m not. I’m just baggage that comes with even more baggage. You should go,” I gripped the door handle. “This is my problem.”

“I’m not going anywhere without you.”

I nodded. “You are because you have to. I’ll win or Ethan will. Either way it’ll all be over.”

“I’m not gonna let that happen. I promised Cal.” His words sounded so anguished I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost. Not quite. “You don’t have to die just because my brother saved your life a million years ago!” I shook my head. “You kept me safe until now, I’d say you guys are even.”

His jaw clenched and his nostrils flared. The signs of strain all over his face had sympathy welling up for him. “Just come back to the clubhouse with me Katey. Please.”

“I can’t.” I thought about it more than once over the past three days, but I refused to let myself go back. “You were right to be upset with me. I withheld a vital piece of information from you which could have resulted in one of your buddies getting badly hurt. I shouldn’t have done that and I’m sorry.”

“Forget about that.”

“I can’t,” I answered with a small smile. “You’re still angry now and you’re only here because you feel obligated to protect me. Well I’m relieving you of that obligation.”

“I’m not.”

I folded my arms and arched a brow. “I might not know a lot outside of the ER but one thing I’m an expert on is anger. I know it well and I can identify it easily because it means survival. And you can’t hide your anger for shit.”

His mouth pulled into a tight smile. “You ran away.”

I nodded. “I did it to keep your friends from getting caught in the middle of my mess. You should get an annulment on the basis of fraud, or whatever.”

His nostrils flared more obviously, and his jaw gripped even tighter, but his green eyes darkened like a storm. He was upset but he was trying to hide it for my sake. “I’m not gonna do that.”

I shrugged. “Well if I survive, we’ll be married and living apart forever. If I don’t, you’ll become a young widower.”

Sniper glared at me for a long minute and then his gaze swept across the room, made smaller by his presence. He spotted my bag and lifted it onto the bed before he started scooping my clothes into it. He went to the bathroom and came back, tossing toiletries on top of the clothes. “We’re getting the fuck out of here. Right now.”

I stepped aside and motioned to the door. “You should go. Ethan probably still has the hit out on you, and I don’t want you dying for me.”

He took several steps forward and got in my face. “You have five minutes to get your cute little ass downstairs where Iwillbe waiting or I’ll come back up here, toss you over my shoulder and damn well carry you down.”

Annoyance flared fast and white hot as I glared at him. “Or you can go and forget about me.”

His lips curled into a devious smile. “I couldn’t forget you even if I tried.”

I let out a shaky breath, unsure what the fuck that even meant. “Sniper, please.”

“Five minutes Katey.” He picked up my bags and walked out the door, which effectively started the clock.

My pulse raced and I gave myself one minute to get my breathing under control and then I scanned the room for any leftover belongings. There were none so I stepped in my sneakers, tied them tight, and counted to sixty. I wasn’t ready to leave the relative safety of this room, but it was time. I couldn’t let Sniper wait too long out in the open parking lot, not with Ethan lurking somewhere ready to strike. “Okay, here we go.”

I stepped outside, instinctively looking left and then right for any signs of trouble. I took a tentative step towards the stairwell and then another. And another. My legs felt like lead as I descended the stairs slowly. When I reached the bottom, my heart skipped a beat.

Okay, you can do this. You got this.

I couldn’t do this, and I didn’t have it. Not even a little bit, but I was here now, and I couldn’t go back.

Could I?

I urged my feet to move forward until I spotted Sniper, and my feet came to a sudden halt. Ethan was here. He’d finally found me.

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