Until Death Do We Part (Sex and Vows 1)

I was fervently hoping the makeshift bomb would go off when the kill squad was in the house searching. If it took too long, they’d be headed for our little hideout. Our weapons were already packed up in the car, since we knew we’d have to have them carefully concealed to get them on the ferry. I felt fucking naked without my Sig.

We heard the cars screech to a halt before we saw them. The loud crash of the front door was followed by a swarm of movement we could barely make out through the windows and open back door. I stared hard at the jar, willing it to ignite. A bullet whizzed by my head and I jerked back. “Fuck! If the acetone doesn’t ignite in a minute, they’ll be on the shed in seconds.”

“What if Heron is in there with them?” Evie asked, her face thoughtful.

I narrowed my eyes at her, wary of the calculating look in her eyes. “It’s a definite possibility,” I reluctantly agreed. Another hail of bullets sprayed above our heads where we were crouched.

“Friction or shock will set it off too, right?” she whispered furiously.

“Yes, but—” Before I could finish speaking or had any kind of clue as to what was on her mind, Evie shot to her feet and positioned the pipe, her stance meant to absorb kick-back. I realized she’d concocted a fucking zip gun from pipe, a bottle cap, and a nail or screw of some sort. If I wasn’t so fucking terrified, I might have teased her about her own MacGyver skills. However, at that moment, Scarlett stepped into the doorway and I felt my world stop. When it started moving again, it was in slow motion. I watched in horror as it played out in front of me, and I could only move as fast as the world around me. Which meant there was nothing I could do to prevent what was happening.

Scarlett took aim, and in a surprisingly accurate shot for such an unstable weapon, the single bullet went flying. As bullets began to fly, so did I. Barreling into Evie, I knocked her to the ground, barely aware of the stinging pain on my arm or sound of the blast as it blew the house and engulfed any remaining pieces in flames. Including its occupants.

The stark terror inside me suddenly morphed into blinding rage like I’d never felt before. I lifted myself up and shifted to look out the door. I spied two unmoving bodies a few feet from the burning structure. There was no way anything inside had survived, so I stood, pulling Evie up with me and throwing her over my shoulder, ignoring her protests and hauled ass to the car.

I threw open the car door and set Evie inside, then sprinted around to get into the driver’s side. I started the ignition and screeched to the far side of the property to get to the road, avoiding the flames.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Evie?” I thundered.

“I was thinking about accomplishing my mission and saving our asses. If Heron was in there, it solved both our problems!” she snapped.

I should have cared that she’d chosen to use our situation to complete her mission without any protest from me, but I was too focused on what could have happened.

She said something, but I didn’t know what. I couldn’t hear over the roaring in my ears, fury and fear as explosive a mixture inside me as the acetone peroxide when it met her bullet. I glanced at her and her eyes became as wide as saucers as she took in my expression. She abruptly twisted in her seat and faced forward, remaining silent.

It was clear the storm inside me was showing on my face, but I didn’t give a fuck. Let her see it. Maybe it would scare some fucking sense into her. She could have been killed, I could have lost her. It took everything in me not to lose control at those thoughts. I held the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip.

A gasp from Evie brought me out of the red haze long enough to see her staring at my arm. I took my eyes off the road long enough to look down and see what she was looking at.

The long sleeve of my black Henley looked wet and there was a small tear in the fabric.

“Alex! What the fuck?” she shrilled. “You were shot?”

Of course, after she pointed it out, the wound started to sting like a bitch. However, another quick inspection of it showed the blood was already clotting and the fabric was only torn the tiniest bit.

“I’m fine, Evie. Calm down and look at it again. I was only grazed.” My expression turned thunderous once again and my voice was dangerously low as I continued. “Which is a fuck of a lot better than what you’d be suffering from if I hadn’t gotten to you in time!” By the time I was finished, I was shouting. But, our conversation came to a halt as I pulled into the Park and Wait. I searched for my phone but couldn’t find it, then remembered I’d given it to Evie. She must have sensed what I needed because she handed me the small, black burner.

I punched in a number and it was picked up before it even had a chance to ring. “What the fuck, Colin?” I bellowed. “How the fuck did they know where I was?”

“Justice! Dude, it’s Martin. Calm the fuck down!”

“You get that motherfucker on the phone, right now!” I was going to kill him. Slowly. With as much pain as humanly possible.

“He’s in a meeting with Donovan and the other suits trying to figure out what happened,” Martin grunted in frustration. “Colin and I were tracing a lead when it led us to an encrypted com. I broke it and we realized Heron had hired a mercenary team. Colin flipped his shit, certain they were heading for you, then he and Donovan tried to head it off. But they weren’t able to catch the wire transfer before the group was paid. Don’t know how they found out about the house, but we think they were tipped off by someone who let them know when you’d arrived.”

“How, Martin? How did they find the damn house?!” A thought hit me. “Check into the people who lived across the street.”

“Will do, man.” Martin got quiet, then asked in a low voice, “Justice, are you stepping out on your wife?”

Now was not the time to resurrect that line of thinking, it only added fuel to my fire.

“WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. FUCK. MARTIN?” I was as close to screaming as I could be without drawing the attention of the people standing across the parking lot.

“Justice!” Evie hissed. “I don’t think the people in Spain heard you.”

“Chill, man,” Martin said tiredly. “I read something else in the cable. But, you owe me, Justice, because I kept it out of Colin and Donovan’s eyes.”

I took a deep breath, shut my eyes, and pinched the bridge of my nose. “What?”

“Someone must have spotted you because the team was warned to be prepared for a man and a woman.”

I sat in silence, having no ability to respond. My life had been officially turned into a shit show.

“Um, Justice?” Martin’s voice was very hesitant. “Are you with your Scarlett?”

My spine shot ram-rod straight and my eye lids tore up as I registered his question. “What do you know about Scarlett?”

At my inquiry, Evie sat up straight too, her eyes narrowed on my phone in suspicion.

“Just that she was on the contract too. I thought maybe you were working together because I couldn’t see you running around with a civilian while on a mission. Especially a female.”

“Their information was faulty,” I told him.

Something was wrong. It was all wrong. But, I needed focus, so I steered back to Heron. “Was he with them or was he only the financier?”

“We weren’t sure, but one of his aliases pinged five minutes ago at a bar in

Barcelona. We sent an agent, but he’d cleared out by then. Looks like Colin’s ass-et was right though,” he snickered at his joke, and I rolled my eyes. The asshole must have been bragging to Martin. So professional.

“I’ve got a five o’clock ticket for the ferry,” I informed him. “I’ll be in Spain tomorrow, around one in the afternoon.”

Martin didn’t respond right away, and I knew he was trying to decide whether or not to let me change the subject. But, he must have known me well enough to figure out he wasn’t going to get anywhere by keeping at it.

“I’ll let you know if he pops back up on the radar.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” I snapped. “You’ll hear from me later. I’m ditching the phone.” I hung up.

I drove up to the ramp of the ferry. We were early so there was no line. They checked our tickets and waved us on.

Evie reached into the back and grabbed one of the jackets we’d tossed back there earlier. “Here,” she said, handing it to me. “Cover it up and we’ll take care of it in our room.” I nodded, still too livid to speak without shouting.

After donning the jacket, I picked up my briefcase and Evie slung her backpack over her shoulder, then we set off to find our private room. The trip would take about twenty hours, and while I wouldn’t normally have booked a private space, I didn’t want to spend the trip separated from Evie, out in the open. As we entered the room, I was immensely grateful for my choice.

We set our things down, and Evie went into the miniscule bathroom to get the first aid kit. I took off my shirt and tossed it into the corner where I’d set our bags. The room was tiny and I was a big guy, so maneuvering in it was a bit of a challenge. I kicked off my shoes and went ahead and ditched the pants too, then sat on the side of the bed and inspected my arm. It was little more than road rash, the broken skin wouldn’t need stitches.

Evie came back into the room with a wet cloth and the white kit, pausing when she looked at me. I took the opportunity to run my eyes over her as well. I’d had a knot in my stomach since we’d learned about the wet work team. It was becoming a slow burn, growing hotter as my eyes landed on her full tits and slim waist, the flair of her hips and the juncture between her thighs.