Shane just smiled. He’d taken on far worse thugs than these pathetic wannabe gang members. He wasn’t afraid of them; he was just seriously pissed off.
“Kid, I suggest you run like hell. Leave the purse,” Shane said, keeping the boy locked in his vision along with the two more hardened men who were still standing.
“I…” The kid was obviously terrified, and he was at a loss for what to do.
“Don’t listen to this piece of shit, Andino!” the other guy said. “This will be your first kill.”
“No one is dying today, unless it’s you,” Shane told him. “It’s your choice.”
Shane didn’t back down, and he noticed a glint of fear in the man’s eyes. Of course he was afraid, as he should be. These street thugs were so used to using intimidation; they didn’t know what to do when their usual tactics didn’t work.
“You come into our territory, mess with our business, and then threaten us?” the man said incredulously.
“This isn’t a business. This is theft and terrorizing. Real men don’t go after innocent women. I lived on the streets. We never hurt women!” Shane thundered.
“Whatever. You haven’t known a hard day in your life. But you’re about to,” one of them said as he braved up and charged Shane.
One kick to the man’s throat and he sank to the ground, holding his bruised windpipe, gasping and gaping like a fish out of water as he desperately tried to draw air.
“Do you want to go, too?” Shane asked the third man, who looked properly afraid.
“Screw this,” the last man yelled and ran from the alley, dropping his electroshock weapon to the pavement in his scramble to get away.
The kid, Andino, was left standing there in a stunned daze with the knife barely grasped in his shaking fingers. Shane moved quickly, removing the weapon from the kid’s hand and tossing it in a nearby trash bin before he moved to Lia and carefully disconnected the probes that had probably sent two or three hundred thousand volts of electricity through her body.
“I need to get her to the hospital, but you have a choice to make, Andino. You can keep living this life, being a thug who goes after innocent women, or you can turn it around.” Shane tossed his card at the kid before gently lifting Lia into his arms.
“The first step would be giving back the purse.”
With that, he walked from the alley. From the terror in the kid’s eyes, he thought he might have gotten through. It just depended on whether Andino walked away now or went back to the safety of his thug friends. Shane didn’t have time to talk anymore. He had to get Lia help.
Coming out of the alley, Shane moved down the street quickly until he found a cab, then had the driver rush him to the hospital.
They got her in immediately, and the damage was minimal. The thugs had hoped to have their way with her, instead of committing murder. If they’d had a gun… Shane didn’t even want to think about what would have happened then.
He never should have chased that kid, never should have put Lia in that kind of danger. He hadn’t thought; he’d just reacted. He’d seen the fear on the kid’s face when he’d snatched the purse, and he’d run like hell.
Shane knew there was hope for Andino, knew the boy could change his life around. Those were the kids he tried to help — the ones who could break out of the life they thought they were destined to live.
He hoped the boy would call.
“Shane?”
His head whipped around, and he saw Lia looking at him full of fright.
“I’m right here, baby. You need to rest.”
“What happened? How did we get away?”
Shane sat there, not wanting to tell her about his life, not wanting her to know his secrets. He was trying to figure out a way around this. If she knew him, truly knew him, he was afraid he would lose her forever.
“They got scared, Lia.”
She looked at him with her brow furrowed. Even Lia knew the dangers of gangs. They didn’t often get frightened — at least not by one unconscious woman and one unarmed guy.
“Why did they get scared? They had weapons. We didn’t.”
Shane sighed.
“There are parts of my life that you don’t know about, Lia. Some things I’m not at liberty to talk about, and other things I haven’t wanted to share. I just…I just want you to know me — Shane. The same boy who showed up on your doorstep as a college student.”
“What don’t I know about you, Shane? What else could there be?”
“It doesn’t matter right now, Lia. We’ll talk more about it later,” he promised, but he hoped it was a talk they’d never had to have.
The medication the hospital was giving her made her tired, and though he could see she was fighting it, her eyes closed and she fell back to sleep.
Shane leaned back, thankful to have some more time. He needed to figure all of this out. He was afraid that if Lia knew everything about him, she’d just give up and walk from his life for good. There was too much — far too much for any sane woman to handle.
Knowing he might not have much time left with her, Shane kicked off his shoes and climbed into her hospital bed, right next to her. He had to hold her, had to grasp on to what they had for just a while longer. Tomorrow, when the sun rose, his life might be much different. For now, he had everything he needed right in his arms.
Tomorrow.
Well, tomorrow might be another story entirely.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Ari
The elevator lurched, and Ari looked at the door with trepidation. They’d been sitting in the cold metal car for about two hours and her bladder was full — darned soda! — and, even worse, they were out of chocolate.
Still, she didn’t regret getting stuck. Thoroughly content in Rafe’s arms, she experienced wonder and desire and a sense of safety. Yes, it was amusing that she felt safe trapped in a contraption that was on the fritz, but he’d opened up to her. Her overarching feeling was one of trust, both for him and by him.
Suddenly, the box began moving with the doors still open a few inches, and Ari and Rafe watched as they passed the different floors. When the elevator stopped again, the doors groaned before they opened halfway and then seemed to get stuck.
Rafe pushed Ari to her feet, then leapt up, wedged himself in the doors, and held out his hand.
“Let’s get out of here before it decides to lock us in again,” Rafe said.