Page 54 of Ghost

“He won’t succeed.” The cold promise beneath my answer made her pupils widen, but she stayed close. I gave her the rest without softening any part of it. “You stay beside me at the range. If I say down, you hit the ground, cover your head, and wait until I reach you.”

“I hit the ground and wait for you,” she repeated, her fingers gripping the front of my shirt. “No questions.”

I raised an eyebrow. “No arguing?”

“Not when you’re trying to keep me alive.”

I watched her for another beat, seeing certainty instead of bravado in her expression. She knew my everyday unreasonable shit from an order meant to keep her alive, and she trusted me to know when the difference mattered.

My hand tightened at her neck. “That’s why you’re coming.”

The softness that moved through her face wrapped itself around me, and I lowered my mouth and kissed her slowly. I took my time with the first taste before my grip tightened and the kiss turned possessive. Tamsin’s mouth opened beneath mine and she rose onto her toes, fisting both hands in the front of my shirt while I backed her against the closed door.

Her body pressed into mine, the vest between us doing nothing to stop the heat rolling off her or the way my dick throbbed against her stomach. I slid one hand down to her ass and hauled her closer. The low sound she made into my mouth suggested she would let me fuck her right here, which made stopping a brutal exercise in priorities.

A fist struck the other side of the door before I found enough discipline to lift my head. Hawkeye’s voice followed, loud and entirely too amused. “At this rate, the assholes at the range are gonna die of old age before we get there.”

I raised my head to glare at the motherfucking cock blocker, even though he couldn’t see it.

“Then the problem solves itself,” I barked before kissing Tamsin again.

21

TAMSIN

Len was waiting for us when we arrived at the range. Several of the Black Crowns walked in with Gavin and me. Even more covered the roads and surrounding area. They weren’t hiding that I was protected.

“Tamsin. Ghost.” His gaze drifted over the rest of the men before coming back to me. “The inspector is waiting.”

A man holding a clipboard stood near the storage building, but I didn’t recognize him from previous inspections. Skimming my glance over him so I didn’t make Len suspicious, I spotted several company vehicles positioned around the firing field.

“Let’s get to it, then,” I murmured, trying to sound normal while acutely aware of the vest beneath my jacket.

It became increasingly difficult not to react visibly as I spotted more issues. The safety flags were in the wrong order. A storage door that should have been sealed stood open. Emergency access was half blocked by a rack that did not belong there. Past the firing field, a vehicle I did not know sat on the far side of the painted line.

And the man Len claimed was the inspector didn’t have the required identification to even be at the range, let alone assess it.

I tapped my pen against my lip and murmured, “I need the updated site map.”

Gavin’s palm pressed against my lower back, but his smile didn’t dim as he put himself between the supposed inspector and me.

His club brothers spread out around us without appearing hurried.

Len lifted a hand toward the storage building. “We’ll start there.”

Before Gavin could get me away, the world tore open near the main entrance. The blast knocked the air out of me and put me on one knee. Dust and grit filled my mouth. Gavin had been blown a few yards away but was already turning toward me.

Gunfire cracked from the storage building before either of us closed the gap. The Black Crowns returned fire.

I didn’t sense anyone behind me in the chaos, but an arm locked around me from behind. Then the muzzle of a gun dug into my ribs.

“Don’t,” Len growled against my hair.

Fury gleamed from Gavin’s eyes as he got to his feet to head in my direction. But a burst of fire between us drove him behind a concrete divider.

That was all Len needed to badge the nearby blast-rated door and haul me toward it. I drove my elbow into his ribs and stomped on his foot, but he didn’t let go. I swung the metal edge of my clipboard into the wrist that held the gun, and his grip almost broke. But it wasn’t enough.

Then a second man reached through the open doorway and caught my arm. Together, they dragged me over the threshold.