Chapter 22

REUBEN

I rubbed a hand over my forehead. A headache threatened. They usually did on nights like this.

I reached into the SUV to pull out a gun for myself. Reluctantly, I handed one to Mina.

I should insist she stay in the car, but under the circumstances, we needed her, and knives would not be enough. Not unless they got a lot closer. None of us had any intention of them getting anywhere near her.

She eyed the gun, but slipped the knives away and took it. As I would have expected of her, she checked to make sure it was loaded and the safety was off. Old, well-learned skills were hard to forget. Impossible with our lifestyle.

I turned my attention back to the new vehicles. Two people stepped out of each one, all on the opposite side, keeping their vehicle between us and them.

Unless others hid in the back, then it was six against seven. Three crouching on the other side of the SUV and four out on the street. We'd faced worse.

Gianni dropped down low and crab-walked silently to the end of the SUV. After a moment, Damon followed. They slid around the front, their movement followed by a painfully loud gunshot, then another.

They threw themselves back behind the SUV.

"One down," Gianni grinned. "One of them almost took a couple of hairs off my head."

Lucky the shot wasn't lower than that.

Without a word, Mina dropped to her stomach on the concrete. For half a second, I thought she'd been shot. That was until the gun in her hand flashed once, twice.

Shouts of pain came from the other side of the vehicle.

"My fucking foot!"

Laughing, Gianni darted back around the front of the SUV and finished off the last two attackers with a shot each.

Damon grunted his approval of Mina's tactic. Injuring them by shooting them in the feet or ankles was the perfect distraction. Unorthodox, but perfect.

She stayed down on the ground, her gun trained on the last two sedans. They were too far away to get a good shot under them, but if the attackers stepped out from behind them, they'd be fair game.

"I told you she was fucking hot." Gianni joined us behind our vehicle. "Foot shot. I'm going to remember that one."

She glanced up at him, but her expression was unreadable. Half a shrug and her attention was back on the car park in front of her.

"We need to draw them out," Damon said. "Can you make it over to the twins' car?"

I nodded. They were a handful of metres away at most, probably growing irritated that they hadn't killed anyone yet. Or at least maimed them. They weren't the kind who got off on killing either, not exactly, but if anyone attacked any of us, they'd want to make them pay. They were a pair of clowns at times, but they had zero tolerance for enemies.

All of us Brantley men had that in common. Even Zeke, although he wouldn't admit it.

"Mina," I said.

She glanced up like she might argue.

"Go with them," Damon told her. When he took that tone, not even I would bother to argue with him. He wouldn't budge.

With a sigh, she rose. She and Gianni bolted a few metres to the other car.

I followed along more slowly. Confident if anyone stepped out to shoot me, they'd end up dead first.

"Nice of you to join us," Hunter said with his usual smug grin. "We were getting lonely over here."

"Hunter was getting lonely," Parker said. "I was getting bored."

"Sorry to disappoint you with the lack of excitement tonight," I said sarcastically. "Next time, I'll organise three explosions and twice the amount of enemies."

Both twins laughed and Gianni chuckled. Mina's expression remained unchanged. She was completely focused on those other two sedans. Laser focused like nothing else in the world was happening right now. I'd only seen her look like that on— I shook my head. That was something I'd have to think about later.

I turned back to my SUV as the engine turned over. Damon put the car into reverse and backed up to the edge of the car park. He revved a couple of times before the car surged forward, flying across the concrete towards the two sedans.

"Holy shit," Gianni said in disbelief.

I silently agreed with them. When Damon suggested a distraction, this wasn't what I thought he had in mind.

The engine roared, the SUV not slowing a hair as it drew closer to the sedans.

At the last second, all four attackers leapt out from behind them, scattering in different directions.

The SUV slammed into the sedans, driving into the gap between them. The front of one and the rear of the other crumpled. They were forced apart with a squeal of steel and the smell of burning rubber.

I was still trying to process what Damon just did when Gianni and Hunter darted out from behind the vehicle and shot two of the attackers before they could flee.

"Reuben," Mina said in warning.

I turned.

One of the attackers had run around and came up behind us. They barely raised their gun before a knife appeared in the centre of their forehead. Blood blossomed on their skin and their eyes widened before they slumped to the ground.

Mina stood with the other knife in one hand, gun in the other, her hair caked to her temples with sweat. She looked fucking beautiful.

"I don't know where the last one is," she said, eyes scanning the area.

"A long way from here if they have any brains," I said.

She shook her head, the movement so brief I almost missed it. "They're still here."

I knew better than to question instincts when it came to things like this. Instincts kept us alive. Her instincts saved my life. If she said they were here, then they were.

I stayed perfectly still, also scanning the area. Whatever she sensed, I felt nothing, but I was better at giving orders than I was at this. I had no trouble admitting that. My skills were different, not flawed.

"Stay there," she whispered.

"I don't—" I started to say.

She cut me off with a look. "I can do this. Stay here."

If anyone else spoke to me that way, I'd growl at them. Her tone and the look on her face convinced me to nod and stay back near the car.

"Be safe," was all I could say.

She nodded in return and slipped away into the darkness.

"Where did she go?" Gianni asked. He had one eye on me and the other on the SUV. Clearly torn between protecting me and staying near Mina, and seeing if Damon was okay.

"I don't—" I was interrupted by a grunt from several metres away. That was followed by a thud. "There, I think. Go check on Damon." It was clearly not a female grunt. Not Mina's anyway. That should account for all of them.

Gianni hesitated, then nodded. "On it, boss." Gun still in his hand, he trotted to the SUV, followed by the twins.

I waited until Mina returned a minute or two later. She looked exhausted.

"That's the last of them," she confirmed. "He was trying to sneak up on you. Or on me." She shrugged. "Either way, he won't be sneaking anywhere again."

She made to trudge past me towards where the others were helping Damon out of the SUV. As far as I could tell, he was unhurt, apart from a few bruises.

In spite of the impact, the front of the SUV protected him. Of course it did, I paid good money to have vehicles that would stand up to anything we put them through. Bullets, crashes, explosions. That was money well spent.

I reached out and grabbed Mina's elbow. Even when she flinched, I didn't let it go.

"Take a moment," I said softly. "Damon is okay."

"I'm not—" she started to say.

"You're as tired as the rest of us," I said. "More so. You're still recovering."

She stopped and turned back to me. Her focused, professional mask eased somewhat, if it didn't melt away completely.

"Everyone is okay." She blinked as though suddenly realising that.

"Everyone is fine, thanks to you," I said. "And Damon." And Gianni too, but she and Damon were exceptional tonight.

She seemed to crumble a little. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard.

Taking the chance that I wouldn't freak her out, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to my chest.

She hesitated for a moment before leaning into me and letting herself be held.

I rubbed a hand up and down her back and held her as tight as I dared. If she was anyone else, I would have expected her to cry, but she didn't. She just let me hold her while she composed herself again.

She fit perfectly into the circle of my arms, like she was made to be there. The scent of her was more addictive than anything I'd ever experienced before. I wanted to inhale enough of it to imprint it on my mind forever.

She finally pulled back and looked up at me. "Just another regular Tuesday?"

I snorted softly. "Fuck no. This is more like a regular Thursday. Tuesdays are usually quieter."

She grimaced but managed a short laugh. "Remind me to stay in the library and read on a Thursday night."

"And miss a chance to see Damon crash a car like a fucking rally driver?" Gianni had his arm over Damon's shoulders as they approached us. "That was fucking epic. I don't know who made me harder tonight, Mina or Damon. It might be a tie."

"We all know it was me," Hunter said from behind them. "I have that effect on everyone."

"You don't have that effect on me," Parker told him.

Hunter made a face. "Thank fuck for that."

I rolled my eyes at them. "Both of you can get out of here now."

They gave me identical, meaningful looks.

I sighed. "Thank you for coming to help. Even though it's what I pay you for. And neither of you did what Damon did. Or what Mina did. Or?—"

"You're welcome," they both said before I could finish. They high-fived each other before getting back into their car and driving the car up a section of gutter, over grass and back onto the street.

I shook my head. If anything in my life was constant, it was those two and how ridiculous they could be. But they were here when we needed them and that was what mattered.

I made a mental note to give them both a pay raise. In a week or two, when all of this was forgotten.

"I'll drive," Gianni said. "Damon can sit in the back and relax."

"I should be grumpy about the scratches on my SUV," I said. "But, good work. That took some balls." I didn't really give a fuck about scratches or dents on a piece of equipment. They were easily replaced. The people I could trust were not. They were few and far between as it was.

Damon nodded. "I had to prove mine were bigger than Gianni's somehow." His expression was perfectly deadpan.

"If you wanted to compare ball size, you only had to ask," Gianni said. "I'd happily show you mine." He patted the front of his jeans.

"Maybe later." Damon trudged back to the SUV and all but fell into the back.

"That wasn't a no," Gianni pointed out. "Maybe I could rub your back for you when we get home. We'd hate for those muscles to tighten up after crashing a perfectly good car."

He grinned and opened the other back door for Mina.

She let me walk over with her and help her into the back. I didn't want to let her go, but I had to step back and let Gianni close the door. The feeling of holding her like that was going to linger on my senses for a long time.

I was going to need a long shower and my hand on my cock to get any sleep tonight.