Deeper (The Deep Duet 2)

The other guy looked at the one Rafe was holding. Ah so this one was the ringleader.

The guy said, “We need information she has. So I would rather neither of us dies at the moment.”

“Could have fooled me. You were choking her out when I walked in.”

“Well, she angered me. You know how it is with whores.”

Again with the stroking of the trigger, but he knew if he killed the guy in his arms, Diana would be gone. And that would be on him. He had to get his shit under control. He couldn’t let his emotions rule the moment.

The guy holding Diana smiled. “Easy now, killer. Let him go. Gun down. You can’t win this fight today. We’ll come for you both another day.”

“You can come for me all you want. But come near her, and I will put a bullet between your eyes.”

“You’re welcome to try. But in the meantime, gun down. Or little Miss Blond-tits-and-ass goes.”

Motherfucker. Diana’s eyes went wide, and she shook her head. “Rafe. Don’t.”

He wasn’t sure which one she was telling him not to do. Not kill the guy? Yeah, he was already with that program. Not to save her? She was crazy if she thought that. Like he could just walk away from her after everything? He fucking loved her. Which was inconvenient at best.

He put the safety back on and lowered the gun, letting the other guy fall to the floor. “You shoot her, and you don’t walk out of here. Neither does your brother. You make your choices.”

“Not to worry, I’ll be back for the both of you.” The other guy threw Diana down on the ground with enough force to make her bounce.

Rafe sprinted toward her while the other man dragged his brother out the door. Rafe wanted to go for his gun, to shoot the retreating forms, but Diana was his concern now.

She groaned as she tried to sit up. “How did you find me?”

He held her gently even as he systematically checked her for wounds. She would have severe bruising on her neck tomorrow. “I tagged you with something when you were at my place. While we were… busy.”

Her eyes went wide. “Are you fucking serious?”

“You can yell at me for that later. I’m taking you somewhere safe. You need to be checked out better. Right now you can talk a little, but I don’t know how long that’ll last. The bruising on your neck is ugly.”

“I can’t come with you. You heard him. They’re going to keep searching for me. I have to go. I need to run.” Then she frowned as if she remembered something. “Did you erase the flash drive?”

He swallowed and then nodded. “Yes. I have a device that lifted the data off of it while it was still on you.”

“How did you know I’d have it on me?”

“I figured you came to either give it back or blackmail me. And since you’re on the run, the safest place to hide it would be on you. I took a calculated risk.”

Her lips trembled. “How am I going to get out of this?”

He stared down at her and brushed a lock of hair off her face. “With me. I’m going help you get out of whatever this is. But first you and I are due to have a long conversation.”

Chapter Six

It had been a long time since Diana had felt this kind of pain. She reached up to touch her throat only to have her hand tapped by the doctor examining her.

“You will experience a significant amount of pain and bruising. We’re giving you a shot to help with that, and I’ll leave you a prescription to take over the next few days while you’re healing.”

Diana nodded that she understood. Rafe had really known what he was talking about when he predicted that she wouldn’t be able to talk soon. Luckily, he’d called for a doctor as soon as he’d gotten her to safety because her throat had swollen so much she’d feared she wouldn’t be able to breathe.

“Did you have any questions for me?” The doctor held out the notepad they’d been using so she could respond to his questions.

She’d already forgotten his name, but he was handsome with kind eyes. Rafe had mentioned something about a helicopter, so she could only imagine that he’d had to fly him in from somewhere. He hadn’t looked at all surprised when he arrived to find Rafe with a woman who looked like she’d been beaten. Diana couldn’t help wondering what his usual patients looked like. Did he only work on shady underworld characters? Just what kind of doctor was he?

After she shook her head that she didn’t have any other questions, the doctor turned away to clean up the syringe he’d used to give her the shot and the gauze he’d used to wipe up the blood.