Page 7 of Crossfire Creek Vengeance

It had to be.

She steadied her breath, ready to fire the second she caught a clear silhouette. A figure finally stepped into a slant of moonlight. Not Wynn though.

Corbin Knox.

Jessa’s stomach dropped, a cold different from the winter air slamming into her chest.

Corbin wasn’t subtle. He never had been. Broad shoulders crowding the space around him. That cocky, too-sure swagger. Eyes scanning the dark with predatory focus.

Deacon exhaled sharply. “You’ve got to be kidding,” he whispered. He knew Corbin. Everyone in her life knew Corbin, knew that he was Roman’s former foster brother before Lauren had adopted Roman and Jessa.

Corbin was Creed Response’s resident hurricane. A man with unmatched tracking skills and an uncanny ability to be everywhere she didn’t want him.

And yeah… the man had a thing for her.

Corbin took one slow step closer to her SUV, head tilting as if he sensed them. Jessa tightened her grip on her weapon.

Deacon reached out, fingers brushing her sleeve. “Jess,” he said like a warning.

A warning that he didn’t have to spell out. Corbin Knox wasn’t a friend. He wasn’t an enemy. He was something worse. Unpredictable. And he was between them and their only way out.

Corbin moved closer to her SUV, head shifting, scanning the trees as if he could smell trouble in the air. He wasn’t supposed to be here. And Jessa didn’t trust him.

She never had, not completely.

She eased Deacon lower behind the log, her hand sweeping across his shoulder in reassurance before she rose up just high enough to aim over the bark.

“Corbin,” she called softly.

He froze. His hand dropped to his sidearm but didn’t draw. His head snapped toward her voice, zeroing in with unsettling ease.

“Jess?” he whispered back.

She straightened slowly, enough to show her face but not enough to give up her cover. “What you doing here?”

Corbin stepped forward, moonlight catching the edge of a smirk that wasn’t really a smirk, more like the ghost of one. “Same reason you are. I got a ping from Shade.”

The hacker. The dark web phantom who had fed her the initial tip.

Her stomach tightened.

Shade rarely contacted anyone directly. So, contacting Corbin meant something else was happening, something Shade thought Corbin needed to know.

Or something Corbin arranged.

“I was told Deacon was gonna get lit up tonight,” Corbin continued, his voice low. “Figured I’d show up before someone had to scrape him off the pavement.”

Behind her, Deacon grumbled, “Appreciate the vote of confidence.”

Corbin’s gaze flicked past her, locking onto Deacon’s slumped form. His face hardened. “Damn, Raines. You look like shit.”

“Feel worse,” Deacon muttered.

Jessa cut in, her tone sharp. “Why did Shade contact you?”

Corbin shrugged one shoulder. “Why’d he contact you?”

“That’s not an answer,” she snapped.