Nelson took the bag with a wink. “A deal’s a deal. I’ll leave you two lovebirds here.” He started toward the door. “I took care of your brother’s goon. You’re all alone in the house. Oh, by the way, your brother was very good with explosives, and he never liked to leave anything behind. He wired this whole town house to blow in the event that he wasn’t coming back. I set the timer. I believe you’ll find you have less than three minutes to get out. I think it will be interesting to see if Miss Charles stays with her lover or runs. And if you do survive, let Ian Taggart know I’m not done with him yet.”
He turned and walked out, and Avery ran to Liam. She got to her knees. He was so pale. “Was he serious?”
He’d lost so much blood, but his eyes were open. “He was. Get the bloody hell out of here, Avery. That’s an order.”
She wasn’t losing him. She would rather get her ass blown up in this damn house than live without trying to save him. Death didn’t get to take someone else from her. Not one more person she loved. Not today. She would go down with him. She would pray there was something beyond this place because she wasn’t staying here without him.
“Come on. Can you walk?” Avery looked down at his leg. She couldn’t see his pants for all the blood soaking them. It spilled over onto the carpet. She bit back a cry. He looked so bad.
“I can’t walk, love. Get the hell out. I mean it. I’m going to spank you so bad if you don’t get the fuck out right this second.”
That was a Dom. “You’ll have to spank me in the afterlife if you don’t get a move on.”
His hand gripped hers. “I can’t, love. Baby, you have to run. I love you. You have to live. Please.”
Her heart hurt, but she couldn’t let begging work this time. She got up and pulled on his arm. She was weak. She knew it, but she couldn’t let it stop her. She had to get him out of here. She had to be the strong one now. He’d taken those bullets for her. He could have gotten away at the apartment, but he’d reached out for her. He hadn’t left her alone. He would never leave her alone.
“I’m not leaving, Liam. I’ll stay here with you,” she choked out. “I’ll sit right here and hold you until those minutes are up. I won’t ever go without you.”
“Fuck all, woman. Give me some room.” He gritted his teeth and turned over, forcing his knees to move. A low groan came from his mouth as he pushed up and got to his feet. He held on to the desk, his face a sheet of pure white. “Did you find the tablet?”
She nodded and scurried to grab it. She tucked it under her arm.
“Do you have any idea how gorgeous you are?” He swung an arm around her shoulders. “I love you, darlin’. And I will spank you in the afterlife.”
She wasn’t going to the afterlife. She held on to him and moved to the window. It was the fastest way out. Three agonizing steps and they were there. She forced the window open.
“This is going to hurt, baby.” She couldn’t imagine the pain he was going to go through.
“Push me out and then follow me.” His face was set.
He barely groaned, and she forced him through the window. He hit the bushes outside and rolled. Avery followed. How much time was left?
She started through the window, but a big hand reached out to grab her. She shrieked as she was pulled out of the house and lifted into strong arms. She looked up and saw Ian Taggart’s face staring down at her.
“How are you here?” Avery asked.
“When Nelson didn’t show up, we figured out something had gone wrong on this end. We found a dead thug at your place and couldn’t get Li on the phone. This was the first place we thought to check. Alex? You got him?” Ian didn’t seem to even notice her weight.
“I got him,” a deep voice shouted. “And if he’s not insane, then we need to fucking run. He says the whole place is going to blow, and we need to get him to a hospital ASAP.”
She looked over Ian’s broad shoulder and saw that Alex McKay had slung Liam over his shoulder.
Ian took off, catching up to his partner and running through the garden gate. Jake was waiting, holding the gate open.
“Fuck, is Li alive?” Jake asked.
“Move, Dean. There’s a fire in the hole,” Ian yelled as he ran past. “Take cover.”
She was suddenly on the ground, Ian covering her with his big body. She couldn’t breathe, but she felt another weight on her. Jake Dean lent his own body to protect her. In the moonlight, she managed to move her head, looking for Liam. Alex covered him. Liam reached out, his hand threading among the protective bodies to find hers. He gripped her hand.
She wasn’t alone. She would never be alone again.
A loud boom filled the world and the night lit up. Avery held on to that hand as the world exploded around her.
Chapter TwentyTwo
Three months later
Dallas, TX
Liam looked down at the little scrap of humanity wrapped in a pink blanket. It was actually pretty cute, but it was so damn small. Given who her father was, he’d expected more substance to the kid. “Are you sure she’s yours, Sean?”
He grunted a little as Avery’s hand came out to slap him in the chest. His wife didn’t mind telling him when he was being dumb. “That’s horrible, Li.”
Sean just rolled his blue eyes. “It’s not entirely unexpected. Marriage hasn’t curbed your sarcasm, man. It’s kind of refined it.”
Marriage had refined everything. He looked over at his gorgeous wife, his lover, his best friend, his sub. “I’m better at everything now.”