Page 88 of His to Protect

“Don’t talk to her.”

Kevin pressed the gun against my temple again, but kept his eyes on Declan.

“Here’s what is going to happen,” he said, enunciating each word. “My wife and I are going to leave and you’re going to stay there, doing nothing.”

Declan tilted his head to the side and smirked. “I am?”

Kevin grinned, a sick-looking, cold, twisted grin that made bile rise in my throat. “You are. Because if you so much as move a foot toward us, I have no problem shooting this gun at either you or her, or her dog,” he chuckled and looked down at Boomer. I couldn’t. A sob tore from my throat as he laughed at my dog, bleeding on the ground. “Again.”

“Take her,” Declan said, and I caught the tail end of his shrug as I looked at him. “You can have her.”

I searched his face for any clue that he was lying, that he didn’t mean what he just said. The he wasn’t just handing me back over to this sick prick I’d called my husband. He didn’t give anything away, and I closed my eyes after I saw nothing hidden in his dark eyes.

He looked like he meant it.

“Declan.”

“It’s been fun, Trina,” he said. I opened my eyes at the way he said my name. His lips were pulled into a tight line and his dark eyes were on me, expressionless. “But I didn’t sign up for this.”

“See?” Kevin sneered, shoving me into the wall to get my attention. “Just a whore who spread her legs.”

The reality of the moment seeped into my lungs and I choked out another sob as my knees buckled. Kevin gripped me tighter and pulled me toward him, my back to his chest and his gun at my temple, using me as a shield. “We best be getting on home then, shouldn’t we, darling?”

I stared at Declan, waiting for some clue that he was going to fight for me, fight for us…what I thought we were building.

What did he just say a little while ago?

Take the time to figure out you…we’ll figure us out together.

I recalled the way he looked at me, the way he spoke to me. How could he be so cold now? So unaffected?

I sniffed and licked my lips. “Don’t let him take me,” I whispered in a hoarse voice. “Please, Declan.”

“Shut up,” Kevin hissed in my ear. He jerked me to the side, and as I flinched, I caught it—a small tightening around Declan’s eyes. It was just a flash of a movement, but I saw it nonetheless.

He was not unaffected by this. He was just trying really hard to hide it.

I didn’t know what hurt more. That he didn’t care, or that he did, but was still willing to throw me away.

“Mr. Morgenson.” Tyson’s voice rang out from behind us, forcing Kevin to take a step away from Declan.

Kevin’s back was almost to Declan as he shifted to see someone new enter the alley from behind the dumpster.

“Fuck,” Kevin whispered, taking several more steps back.

“I wouldn’t move any further,” Tyson said, making himself seen.

A breath forced its way out of my chest. Tyson held a gun, aimed directly at Kevin and me, and in his other hand, he was holding out a badge.

Relief began to replace my fear.

“Who the fuck are you?” Kevin asked, pressing the gun harder into my temple. My body began to shake as adrenaline coursed through me, and I lifted my hands to wrap my fingers around his arm at my throat.

“Agent Blackwell, FBI. I’m going to suggest you drop your weapon and you won’t get hurt.”

“Take another step and I’ll blow her fucking brains out.”

“No you won’t,” Tyson said, with all the confidence in the world.

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