Page 30 of Braxton

“I need to get up there.” He started to move away when Gray grabbed his arm. Above them, Quinn cried out as the guard heaved her up above his head and tossed her like a ragdoll. She came sailing over the edge and Brax moved fast, catching her. They fell to the ground, his body taking the brunt of the impact, and rolled.

Bodies tangled, breathing hard, she pushed her hair out of her eyes. “Ohmygod,” she whispered all at once, green eyes locked on Brax.

“You guys okay?” Gray asked.

His arms held her a moment too long. A little too tightly. He breathed in her honey-jasmine scent, relief pouring through him. “Yeah, I think so,” Brax answered, and she shifted in his arms, pushing off him. “You sure know how to make an exit, Cherry.”

Her mouth edged up, but he could tell she was shaken. She kicked off the platform shoes, ready to run, if necessary.

“We need to move,” Gray said.

The words barely left his mouth before a spray of machine gun fire peppered the ground in front of them, ripping out chunks of grass-covered dirt.

Brax jumped up, helping Quinn, and they turned and ran for cover. They headed toward the small outbuilding while Gray ran in the opposite direction.What the fuck?Brax wanted to yell at him, make him go with them, but he knew it would be useless.

Demon was going hunting.

“Where’s he going?” Quinn asked, looking over her shoulder.

“To find Mesa. Do you know where he went?”

They reached the edge of the small building Brax assumed housed maintenance tools and paused, breathing hard.

“I don’t know, but he found my gun and told that guard to take care of me before he disappeared. And, thanks. That was a nice catch.”

Seeing her go sailing over the edge of the balcony and into the air had nearly given him a heart attack. “You’re welcome. Just don’t make it a habit, okay?”

“I won’t,” she promised. “Now what?”

“I’m not leaving without Demon.”

Gunfire echoed and a bullet hit the side of the building. Brax fired off a few shots in return, but he knew they needed to find someplace to hunker down until they could rendezvous with Gray.

“We can’t stay here. C’mon.” Quinn hurried forward and Brax followed, close on her heels, providing cover. They jogged back over to the netting and she stopped, bent over, and took a closer look. “What is this?”

“I don’t know,” Brax admitted.

“The dock is that way. If we cut through here, we can get there quicker.”

“You wanna steal a boat?”

“Hell yeah,” she answered, and he smirked.

Goddamn, he’d missed her. Because life with his Quinn? Never a dull moment.

???

Braxton grabbed a stake and pulled it out of the ground, lifting the netting so Quinn could crawl underneath. She didn’t want to think too hard about why it was there, only that cutting through would shave off time to the dock, and hopefully provide them some extra cover.

Scrambling up to her feet, she grabbed the net, holding it up as Brax made his way beneath it. Once he was through, she let it fall back in place. Everything had grown strangely quiet. Almost too quiet.

“C’mon,” he said and jogged forward.

Not sure where the uneasy feeling was coming from, she ignored it and followed him. While he communicated with his team, she stayed alert, eyes sweeping every dark corner. She didn’t know if the ripple of fear resulted from not knowing if more cartel soldiers lurked nearby or if her nerves were still just unsettled from getting tossed off the balcony.

Thank God Brax caught her. Otherwise, she probably would’ve broken her damn neck.

Suddenly, a spotlight lit up the darkness and began to sweep the area. Brax grabbed her arm and tugged her behind a tree. Caught between the rough bark and his hard body, she held her breath, waiting as the light passed over their position…and kept moving.

---