Page 26 of Jonas

Vicious.

And I’d be lying if it wasn’t a total turn-on how fearless this woman was. But not at my expense.

“Roll off.” My murmured command was ignored.

“Not until the boss⁠—”

Before she could finish, her body weight disappeared and her mouth ran away.

“Put me down, asshole.”

Her words were mixed with grunts—both hers and whomever picked her up.

I quickly rolled to my hip, then to my feet, and came face to face with a dark-haired man, his Chinese ancestry clear, but he had no accent. Either he was extremely talented at hiding it or he hadn’t been raised in the place of his lineage. His suit was expensive, as were his shoes, and the gold watch that peeked out from under the cuff of his jacket.

That was as far as I got before the room shook and the lights went out.

The cavalry had arrived and the timing couldn’t’ve been more fucked. I couldn’t see where Derrika was though I could still hear her struggling. With that, I lifted my arms as high as I could with them zipped together, bent forward, and slammed my wrists down on my lower back as hard as I could while jerking my wrists outward. The plastic ties popped open. My first instinct was to get to Derrika. That instinct was proven unnecessary when a man’s howl of pain was followed up with what sounded like a body hitting the concrete.

“He’s down,” Derrika called out.

I switched targets and moved in the direction of shuffling loafers. I didn’t have to know the man in the expensive suit to know he was the type of man who would recoil to the corner when shit hit the fan. He was the type of man who employed others to get their hands dirty. He was the boss, untouchable because he surrounded himself with morally bankrupt assholes who had no compunction when it came to harming innocent women.

In other words, Boss Man was a total pussy who was fixing to learn an important life lesson. That lesson started and ended with my fist to his throat. I was close enough to smell the man’s cologne when a door banged open.

“Cover,” Cooper’s voice rang out.

I didn’t drop and cover like Cooper had instructed. Instead, in the pitch black I turned in search of Derrika. She had no clue what was coming. Not that covering her face would do much against the effects of the tear gas Coop was going to employ, but if she could get down, curl into a ball, and cover her face with her shirt, it would help…a little.

However, I didn’t know where she was, and unlike Coop and the team I didn’t have on NVGs, which would make finding her difficult. Seeing as I didn’t want to call out and alert the two men in the room what was about to ensue, I was stuck fumbling through the darkness. As it would happen, I didn’t need to find Derrika, she found me. With a tentative brush over my arm, which was obviously all she needed to ascertain I wasn’t the douche in the suit, she all but tackled me. I twisted Derrika, bringing her back to my front, dropped my mouth to her ear, and didn’t hesitate issuing demands.

“Cover your face with your shirt, drop into a ball, and close your eyes.”

She didn’t miss the urgency nor could she miss the hiss of the CS canister filling the room with toxic gas. As soon as Derrika was on her knees I curled around her the best I could and shoved my face into the side of her neck. I closed my eyes, trusting my team to have my back.

It took a second for the room to fill with noxious vapor. Derrika’s body bucked under mine. I held on tighter listening to the sounds of grunts, coughing, and ultimately gagging and groans of pain.

“Clear,” Coop called out. “On the move.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I unfolded, taking Derrika with me, turning her again so I could position her where I needed. She said not a word when I scooped her up into my arms.

“Keep your eyes closed,” I told her. I felt her nod against my chest. “Ready.”

Coop’s hand wrapped around my upper arm, then with my eyes watering, nose burning, lungs feeling like they were on fire, I carried Derrika out.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Fresh air filled my lungs but it did nothing to stop my eyes from feeling like I’d taken a bucket full of acid to the face. But that was the least of my worries—the snot that was pouring out of my nose like a faucet turned on full blast was top priority. One, I didn’t want it in my mouth because gross. Two, I was surrounded by big, tough men who looked like taking acid to the face wouldn’t turn them into mucus factories and I really didn’t want to embarrass myself by choking on phlegm.

I was still bent at the waist, hands to my knees, sucking in clean oxygen when Jonas approached. Incidentally, this was the same position he’d left me in a few minutes earlier after he’d set me down. This after he carried me through a building. As instructed, I’d kept my eyes closed so I had no idea how he found his way in the darkness. Though it wasn’t dark outside, the sun had just begun to set. This was unfortunate, and when I glanced up at Jonas when he called my name, I knew just how unlucky I was that there was still daylight left when he flinched.

“That bad?” I asked, noting his face was red and blotchy, but with his beard covering a good portion of his jaw and cheeks, I was positive I looked worse since he could see my entire face.

“It’ll clear in about ten minutes. Here, this will help.” He held out a bottle of water. I reached for the bottle but he shook his head. “Stand up and tilt your head back, I’ll pour.”

As I stood, I took in his wet shirt. Not even the stinging in my eyes could distract me from the way it molded to his chest, specifically his pecs which were clearly defined. Obviously, he’d rinsed his face. Another sweep over his broad shoulder, wet tee, and my embarrassment grew tenfold.

How was it possible the man still looked hot after a face full of CS gas? If anything, the red rimming his eyes made the blue of his irises pop.