Torch (Unbreakable Bonds 3)

Rowe shoved to his feet, clenching his teeth against the pain that shot through his arm at the movement. He paused behind the bulk of the fountain, waiting for another shot at him, but it never happened. The shooter had moved on thanks to the cover offered by the arsonist.

“We head in at one and two o’clock. Noah cuts north. I’ll head northeast. Andrei, cut east. We go until we hit the main road. Call in if you spot anything.”

Noah flashed Rowe the most excited, wicked grin—one that sent his heart beating harder from more than just adrenaline. Fuck, the man really got to him. He couldn’t help but return the look so he didn’t miss the flash of heat that came and went in Noah’s eyes.

And then they were off at a jog, breaking cover and cutting across the driveway and the lawn to the tree line. The dancing light cast by the car fire quickly dimmed as they were surrounded by trees. After a few more steps, there was only thickening darkness and the soft crunch of dead leaves underfoot. The air was sharp and cold, slipping through the new hole in his coat to chill the blood slicking his arm. The wound throbbed with each heartbeat, causing him to grit his teeth.

He wasn’t as worried about the shooter putting one in his head now. The explosion was obviously cover so he could get away. Rowe would have preferred to get his hands on the fucking arsonist, but he’d take the sniper and then possibly lean on the bastard to get info on the firebug before dragging his sorry ass back to the cops.

Rowe’s heart picked up as he glimpsed Andrei moving off on his right, disappearing in near silence into the shadows as he headed east. The man had to be part cat to move the way he did. Noah, on the other hand, stuck close to Rowe’s side, moving just a step behind him on the left.

“I thought you were going north,” Rowe griped, ducking under a low tree branch.

“Changed my mind.”

Rowe paused to slowly step over a fallen log. The thick ground cover of dead leaves hid all sorts of dangers and he didn’t want to risk twisting his ankle while hunting down a shooter in the dark woods. “What the fuck do you mean you changed your mind? You can’t do that.”

“Of course I can,” Noah whispered, sounding as if he were fighting back a laugh. “This isn’t the Army.”

“I’m your fucking boss. You do what I say.”

There was a soft shuffling of leaves as Noah followed behind him. “Then I quit.”

“You can’t quit,” Rowe growled. “Not in the middle of a damn job. That’s unprofessional.”

“Fine, boss. You going to punish me when we get back to the office? Bend me over your desk and spank me?”

Rowe sucked in a sharp breath as the image filled his brain and he choked. He stopped in the middle of the woods, grateful that it was too damn dark for Noah to see that his face was likely beet red. No, he had no desire to spank Noah, but the vision of him bent over, moaning and begging Rowe, had come in far too clearly. Blood seemed to switch gears suddenly, rushing from his arm to his groin so that something else throbbed painfully. They didn’t have time for this.

“I wouldn’t be averse to the idea,” Noah murmured, voice low. “Just so you know.”

He glared at Noah, hoping his friend could at least see that as he resumed their trek through the woods, picking up their pace.

“Why did you follow?” Rowe demanded when he was sure that he could speak clearly.

“You’re a magnet for trouble and this person already took a shot at you.”

Rowe nearly groaned. Fucking Noah was playing the odds that Rowe’s luck was going to continue to run bad—not that he could really blame the man. His luck had been pretty piss poor recently.

Pushing the rest of the world to the farthest reaches of his brain, Rowe let years of training and instinct take over. With the gun held tightly in his right hand, he carefully moved through the woods, shifting from deep shadow to deep shadow while scanning the area for movement. There were no sounds but the soft rustle of leaves as they moved and the wind brushing against the trees. It was still early enough in the season that most of the leaves had yet to fall, blocking out what little moon and starlight that would have brightened the woods. But Rowe didn’t mind working in the dark.

Noah moved next to him, falling into their familiar pattern of easy stop and start. A small part of Rowe was worried over his friend’s safety but it was overwhelmed by a greater sense of peace and relief to have Noah at his side again, as if some piece had been missing over the years and he suddenly had it back.