Page 62 of Rescuing Josiah
Whether he confronted and accepted those feelings or not, they were there.
Something he’d have to remind himself of later.
For now, he just needed her to be safe.
“Don’t get distracted,” he murmured into her hair when he was able to drag his lips from hers.
“Hey!” she exclaimed. “I don’t get distracted.”
“You care about everybody, a little too much sometimes,” he told her, palming her cheek. “Stay safe. That’s your only job.”
Even though she nodded her assent, Josiah knew there was every chance she would do something to put herself in danger. Having a big heart was a good thing, but it could also be a dangerous thing.
“Your job is to stay safe, too,” she told him, fisting his T-shirt, a tremor in her bottom lip letting him know most of the sass she’d been giving him was bravado.
He gave her a single dip of his head, because he didn't want his last words to her to be a lie if things didn't work out the way they hoped, and he didn't make it back to her. As far as he was concerned, his job was to ensure she lived. His life was optional.
Because Josiah knew if he didn't go now he might not be able to make himself walk away from her, he touched one last kiss to her forehead before turning and heading out the door.
It was quiet in the hall. While he would have liked to be able to lock all the couples in their rooms so he knew where they all were, from what they’d gathered, none of them had any military or law enforcement training, so none should present a threat. Likely they’d all just panic and hide in their rooms once the shooting started.
Before it did, he needed to take care of Dr. Gant.
The horror in Chelsea’s eyes when they came back from that meeting with her “donor” would forever be etched in his mind, and that growing anger fueled him as he strode silently through the halls.
From what he could gather yesterday, when they were up on the third floor, the medical personnel had rooms in the opposite wing from the medical suites. That was where he headed now. Prey would enter as quietly as they could, avoid as much of a firefight as was possible, but sooner or later, someone would realize what was happening and he wanted the doctor dead by then.
There was no way to know which room belonged to the head doctor, but he was able to count out any of the rooms that were locked. They’d belong to whatever doctors and nurses weren’t there of their own volition.
Double doors at the end of a corridor caught his attention. Whatever was on the other side of them would be grand, exactly the kind of room a man like Dr. Gant would commandeer as his own.
Stealthily, he hurried down the hall. Easing the doors open, he spotted an enormous four-poster bed in between two floor-to-ceiling windows. The curtains hadn't been fully drawn, and enough light filtered in to illuminate the figure in the bed.
Dr. Gant.
Revenge had been something he’d dreamed about for six years. That revenge had been intended for the men who killed his team, but now it would come to another man who liked to play God for his own amusement, for his own power and money.
Bloodlust set his body on fire as he crossed the room and wrapped a hand around the man’s neck. When terrified blue eyes popped open, he grinned.
“Hello, doctor.”
May 18th
1:13 A.M.
Watching Josiah walk out the door had so many emotions swirling inside her.
Too many.
They tangled together, getting clogged, stopping the words she wanted to say from coming out, not even letting the tears that burned the backs of her eyes fall.
It felt wrong to let him go alone.
Of course, she understood that he had way more training and experience than she did. She also got that she wouldbe a liability, that having her with him would divide Josiah’s attention between her and the guards who would be swarming inside the house as soon as the first gunshots were fired.
But she didn't want him to go out there alone.
What if there were too many guards for him to fight against?
