Defending Harlow (Mountain Mercenaries #4)(91)

She looked down at Lowell.

He was staring up at her as if he could use mental force to lift her out the window to safety. She was coughing nonstop now. She brought her hand up to her mouth and blew him a kiss.

Instead of responding in kind, Lowell spun and jogged down the alley in the direction he’d sent the children. He was limping badly, and Harlow hated that he’d been hurt even the smallest bit when he’d caught the others.

“He’s leaving?” Jasper choked out.

“No.”

“He is,” he insisted. “He’s leaving us here to die!”

“He can’t catch us,” Harlow explained. “We’re too big. We’d probably kill him.”

Jasper’s eyes were huge in his face, which was streaked with soot. “I thought he was different. But he’s just like my old man! No one’s reliable. No one! Not even Loretta. She’s kicking us out too!”

Harlow didn’t know how Jasper had found out about the shelter closing, but she had to do damage control. Even if they only had minutes to live, she didn’t want this boy who’d already been through way too much in his young life to think that so many people were unreliable. “Lowell is not leaving us,” she said sternly. “Look at me, Jasper.”

He did, and she saw his anger had turned to sorrow. More tears ran down his cheeks, and not because of the smoke in the air.

“He’s not leaving. He’d never leave me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. I believe in him. He’s going to do everything in his power to get us out of here. He’ll die trying. Do you believe me?” Her voice was husky from smoke damage, but she had to make Jasper understand.

It took a few seconds, but finally he nodded.

“I love him. But more importantly, I trust him. With my life. And yours.”

“Okay,” Jasper croaked.

“And if there was any way Loretta could keep the shelter operating, she would. But it’s expensive. It’s not about you. I hate to say this, but everything isn’t about you, Jasper.” She smiled to ease the rebuke.

He looked down for a second, as if embarrassed, but then quickly rebounded. “It’s not? Well, it should be,” he said.

Harlow smiled and coughed. Then something caught her eye, and she looked past the teenager toward the end of the alley.

And breathed a sigh of relief.



Black knew he’d fucked up his knee. He’d felt something pop when he caught Milo, but he ignored the pain. The second he fell that last time, he knew he wouldn’t be able to catch Jasper or Harlow. He needed to come up with a solution, and fast. He looked up and saw both of them leaning dangerously far out the window. Black smoke rolled out from behind them.

He watched as Harlow blew him a kiss—and he snapped.

No.

No fucking way was he going to watch the woman he loved burn or choke to death.

Something clicked in his brain, and he abruptly turned and headed back down the alley the way he’d come. Limping badly, he forced himself to endure the pain and keep going. He turned the corner and headed for the white delivery truck that was, thank God, still sitting in the parking lot. He wrenched open the passenger-side door and jumped in. “Drive,” he barked, pointing toward the alley.

“Dude! You can’t just get in my truck.”

“I just did. Now, fucking drive,” he said again.

The man lifted his hands off the steering wheel as if surrendering to Black. “I don’t want no trouble.”

Knowing Harlow’s and Jasper’s lives were literally hanging in the balance, Black pleaded, “My woman needs help. She’s in that burning building. I need you to drive! For the love of God, please! I’m begging you.”

The older man behind the wheel must’ve seen something in Black’s eyes, because he nodded and turned the key in the ignition.

He followed Black’s directions and listened as he told him the plan. He jumped the curb in the parking lot and drove as fast as he dared down the alley.

Black looked up and was relieved to see both Harlow and Jasper still hanging out the window. “There!” he said, pointing. “Get as close as you can.”

“The building’s on fire,” the driver said stupidly.

“I realize that,” Black said impatiently. “As soon as you hear the second thump, drive like hell away from here. Got it?”

“Oh yeah, man. That I can do.”

Black waited until the truck had stopped directly under the window. He quickly pulled himself out the side window and climbed on top of the truck. The height of the truck put Black less than a story and a half below the window, rather than the three stories he had been.

He stood, looked up at Harlow, and lifted his arms once more. “Come on, baby,” he whispered, knowing she couldn’t hear him. “Jump.”



The second Harlow saw the truck coming down the alley, she knew what Lowell had planned. The big white delivery truck would give them something to jump onto. They could do this. They were saved.

“See?” she choked out. “Told you he’d be back.”

Jasper was beyond talking. He was coughing so hard he was dry heaving, and Harlow grew increasingly alarmed.

She watched Lowell haul himself out of the passenger-side window and climb onto the top of the truck. He held up his arms, and she saw his mouth moving.