She moved past the rigid woman and returned to the couch while Liz went to stand in front of Jackson. “You can’t go around firing shots off,” she snapped. “Your neighbors probably called the cops already.”
“There’s a firing range just down the road,” he retorted, waving off her concern. “We’re leaving here anyway. You were right about now being—”
The musical sound of the doorbell jerked Gina’s head up from the computer screen. Jackson stiffened as Liz whirled around. “I told you!”
“The fucking cops wouldn’t be here that soon.” He sidestepped over to the couch and jerked Gina to her feet by the arm. Pulling her back against his front, he put his left arm across her throat. She instinctively grappled for his forearm with both hands to keep him from closing off her airway, only to have her breath hitch when the cold barrel of the gun touched her temple.
Swallowing hard, she strove to remain calm when his harsh command assaulted her eardrum. “See who it is.”
Dean.
But in the next second, she prayed it wasn’t him—not with Jackson so tense and trigger happy.
Liz crossed to the door and rose on her tiptoes to peer through the tiny eye on the door. She twisted to face them with a frown as the doorbell rang again, a couple times in a row. While she turned back and reached for the door, Jackson covered Gina’s mouth and pulled her backward with him, into the shadowed hallway leading to the bedrooms.
“Keep your damn mouth shut,” he rasped in her ear.
Mike’s voice registered from the front door at the same time Jackson bumped the door of his bedroom open with his shoulder.
Gina caught a split second glimpse of Dean pressed back against the wall and immediately let her body go limp. The unexpected shift of her weight threw Jackson off balance and dislocated the tip of the gun from her temple. He stumbled and let her go as Dean lunged forward.
His hand locked on the wrist with the gun as the two crashed against the footboard of the bed. She’d scrambled to the side and heard Dean grunt as his ribs took the brunt of both men’s weight.
Strong hands reached out to pull her farther away from the violent struggle as the
gun went off, shattering one of the bedroom windows. Her mind registered her new captor as a tall man dressed in military gear, and she struggled against his grip.
He tightened his hold and set her behind him. “I’m with Dean.”
She tried to push past his solid bulk. She needed to help Dean. He should help Dean!
Police sirens sounded in the distance as Liz and Mike burst into the room. The redhead cried out Jackson’s name. With the distraction, he managed to bring up a knee into Dean’s side, causing him to stumble backward. Pain twisted his features as he gasped for air.
Gina watched in horror as Jackson raised the gun. The man in front of her shouted as he lunged forward at the same millisecond Liz’s momentum put her between Dean and Jackson.
The gun went off and her body jerked before tumbling to the floor. Jackson froze long enough for Dean and the military guy to take him down. Mike rushed to his sister’s side.
Blood welled up from the wound in her chest as Gina stripped off her coat and wadded it up to press against the wound as she knelt beside her. Liz’s already drawn features twisted as she cried out in pain. Once she caught her breath, she met her brother’s tear-filled blue eyes.
“I’m sorry. I thought…” She coughed and gasped. “I thought he loved me.”
“Shh,” Mike comforted. “We’ll sort it out later.”
Keeping pressure on Liz’s wound, Gina glanced over to see the military man scoop up the gun as he straightened with the phone to his ear. “Cops are coming in,” he said to Dean. “I’ll meet them out front.”
Dean had a knee planted in the middle of Jackson’s back, and one arm wrenched up high enough to make him gasp in pain. He nodded to the guy in camo pants before turning his concerned brown eyes to her.
“You okay?”
She gave a nod and a shaky smile. Her heart thumped at the way his gaze still greedily took her all in, as if making sure for himself she hadn’t been hurt. “You?”
“I’m good now,” he assured her, his voice low and gruff. He shifted slightly and she noticed an involuntary grimace tighten his features.
She met his gaze once more, doing nothing to hide her feelings. “You got my message?”
The light in his eyes answered before his mouth, and her heart soared as he smiled. “Yeah, I—”
Noise from the living room grew louder and quickly rushed down the hallway. He gave her a rueful smile as the police entered the room.