His features twist. "I am going to kill you, asshole." The man throws himself at me.
I take the full brunt of his weight, allow my body to go limp as we crash to the floor. We roll away from the dressing room, toward the body of the third guy, who remains unconscious.
The man jumps up, just as I stagger to my feet. He buries his fist in my face. My neck snaps back and Ava screams; blood drips from my mouth. He hits me in the side, and I lurch back. Hits me a third time, and I stumble to the side toward where the gun had slipped from his grasp earlier. I sink down to my haunches and grab the weapon. I train it on him and he instantly throws up his hands. He shifts his gaze from me to his friend who holds Ava captive. The guy turns his gun on me, but Ava screams, "No," and renews her struggles.
Taking advantage of the commotion, the first guy bolts.
I train my gun on the man holding Ava. By now, they are standing, his arm pinning her to his body.
He stares at his friend on the floor, then at me. His hand shakes, as he presses his gun to her temple, "Come closer and I’ll shoot her." He swallows. "I mean it."
"Of course, you do." I turn the gun in my hand, hook my forefinger through its ring. "See, I am going to put it down now."
Sweat beads the guy’s forehead. I hold up my other hand, palm face up, then bend slowly.
"No tricks," he growls.
I place my gun on the floor, then straighten. "See, that was easy."
"Kick it aside."
I take in his flushed features, the way his hand trembles. Shit, this man is a loose cannon.
"Do it." His voice shakes.
I kick the gun and it skitters to the side.
He bares his teeth, then turns his gun on me. I angle my body to the side but he's already firing. I duck and the shot misses me.
There's a thunk as the bullet embeds in the wall somewhere behind me. He presses down on the trigger again, and there's a clicking sound, and again. Thank fuck, either he's out of bullets or his gun is jammed. I don’t care which.
I rush toward him, just as he shoves Ava at me.
I close my arms about her as he brushes past us. He races across the studio floor, out the main doorway.
I pull Ava into my arms. "You're safe." I murmur, "you're safe."
She glances past me and her gaze widens. I turn to find the guy on the ground staggering to his feet.
Shit, I didn’t check him for guns. I was too focused on Ava. Fucking fuck.
"Don’t do it," I warn as he pulls out his gun. He aims it at us.
Ava freezes in my arms. I release her and she clings to me, "No, Baron, no."
"Let go of me," I snap.
"No, I won’t."
"You must."
"I can’t."
"You have to."
"Baron, please don’t do this. I can’t live without you."
"You can." I glance down at her, "Do it for him."For Edward.
