Mercury Striking (The Scorpius Syndrome #1)(19)

Cruz scrambled around a dented truck, as did his men who were still standing. Two lay dead in the burning weeds, their eyes open and their blood filling the dirt around them.

Jax ran for the barricade. Blood sprayed from his right arm, but he didn’t falter.

He jumped around the van and set the girl down, his hands doing a cursory check of her arms and legs. Then he grabbed his weapon, jumped up, and started firing.

Cruz and his soldiers backed away, still firing, many of them bleeding. The survivors jumped into two of the trucks and sped away, trash and weeds flying from the spinning tires.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, the gunfire stopped. Only the crackle of fire and echoes in the air remained.

The three Vanguard men behind the van held some sort of meeting, the big black guy picked up the woman Jax had knocked out, the blond guy picked up the girl, and Jax tilted his head until his blazing gaze met Lynne’s.

She instantly fumbled away from the window. Shit, shit, shit. Her hands shaking, she grabbed the board she’d removed and tried to shove it back into place. Damn her curiosity. Swirling around, she eyed the door. Locks. Although she was locked in, she could lock this side, too.

Instinct ruling, she ran forward and locked the door. Yeah, she knew he had the key to all the locks, even the interior one, but she couldn’t help herself.

Silence ticked around her, so odd after the overwhelming firefight. Her shoulders shook, and she shoved away all panic, backing toward the bed. She’d handled bureaucrats, she’d dealt with scavengers, and she’d overcome monsters. But Jax Mercury was all soldier—all man—savvy and dangerous.

She took a deep breath and held it. Okay. Obviously he had a lot to do, especially with the fight and all. Surely he wouldn’t come looking for her just because she’d opened a window.

Locks disengaged, and the door flew open to slam against the wall. “What the fuck were you thinking?” he bellowed. He stood in the doorway, stance wide, big and powerful. Dirt marred his cheek, and blood flowed down his left arm.

She swallowed, her entire system going into overdrive. Without moving her body, she eyed the weapon she’d left on the counter.

“Try it,” he said softly. Too softly.

A shudder blitzed down her spine. “I, uh . . .” There wasn’t anything to say.

He stepped inside and shut the door.

Any breath she still had whooshed from her lungs. “I . . .”

“If they had seen you, do you have any fucking clue what a shit-storm would’ve descended on us here? What they’d do to get to you? Half of them want to kill you. The other half think you can save them. Hell. They’d call in anybody they needed, even the Mercenaries.” He stalked toward her, menace in every line.

She backed away until the bed at her thighs stopped her. “They didn’t see me,” she choked out.

“I did.” He moved into her space. “What part of ‘don’t let anybody see you’ did you not understand?”

Fear began to dissipate, replaced by anger. Just who the hell did he think he was, trying to intimidate her? She’d survived a hell of a lot worse than Jax Mercury’s formidable temper. She lifted her chin to meet his gaze. “I stayed out of the way. I just wanted to see what was happening. Nobody but you saw me.”

“You hope.” If possible, his face hardened even further. “Do I need to bind you to this bed to keep you from making stupid choices?”

Heat flared through her cheeks, and an inappropriate flare of desire skittered inside her abdomen. At the very thought, anger roared through her veins. Finally. “Not a chance, you lowbrow dick.”

His chin lifted, while his eyelids lowered to half-mast. “I don’t think you understand the lengths I’ll go to here, or what kind of danger you’re putting yourself in right this second.”

Oh, he did not. “You don’t scare me, jackwad.” Once her mouth started, she couldn’t stop. “You might know how to choke a woman out, but we both understand unconsciousness doesn’t last long. And I don’t think you’d hit a woman.”

“Don’t you?” he murmured.

Her heart stuttered. Everything she’d learned about him said he wouldn’t. “No.”

“You’re wrong.”

The very fact that his voice had softened somehow bolstered her courage. “I don’t think so.” She kept his gaze, her jaw setting hard.

Then he moved. So fast she didn’t see it coming, he somehow spun her around and planted a hand on her upper back, shoving her head down toward the bed. A boot kicked her legs apart, and the sound of a leather belt yanked through loops swished through the room.

The first hit landed on her ass before she’d put two and two together. The second hit had her crying out, pain flaring her neurons alive. The third hit made her struggle uselessly against the hand holding her too easily in place.

Blows rained down and spread agony across her butt. Finally, he grabbed her arm and hauled her around. “Any questions?”

Her breath panted out, and tears filled her eyes. Both hands went to her seriously smarting ass. That did not just happen. “No.”

He slowly slid his belt back through his pants, his gaze on hers, until he buckled the leather together. “You’re correct that I wouldn’t punch you. Ever. But I think we both understand the parameters here now, right?”