“Please, don’t,” she managed to get the words out through swollen lips.
“Reaper! Stop! We need to get the fuck out of here before reinforcements come. Jesus, just shoot the fucker if it’ll make it quicker!” Cash shouted as he, Viper, and Rider tried to get him away from Allerton, while Hammer tried to drag Allerton in another direction, away from Reaper’s vicious kicks.
“Good idea.” Gavin’s struggles stopped as he raised his hand to point a handgun at Allerton.
“Gavin ….” Ginny sobbed at the pain of shouting for him. “Gavin, please, I need you.”
Gavin’s eyes flew in her direction. “Get him to the plane before I change my fucking mind!” he roared, moving toward her.
Hammer lifted Allerton over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift, then took off running out of the room, while the three agents supported Collins out as well.
“Let me have her,” Gavin demanded.
Shade moved away, and then Gavin was there, kneeling beside her. Ginny looked him over carefully, feeling a tear slide down the edge of her nose. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?” she whispered through mostly closed lips, so her jaw wouldn’t hurt as much.
“No, nymph. They didn’t hurt me,” he said gently, reaching out to move her hair away from her face.
“Reaper, we have to go!” Viper was at the desk, looking at the computer screen.
Ginny saw Gavin reach out to lift her. “Don’t. I can get up.” She attempted to pull herself into a sitting position, but her hand collapsed under her weight at the searing pain in her shoulders and upper back. At her mewling cry, Gavin slowly slid his arms under knees and lower back to gradually lift her into his arms.
“Shade, you go first. Cash, Rider, watch the rear,” Viper ordered when Gavin had her in his arms.
Ginny let her head fall to Gavin’s chest as they ran down the hallway, expecting them to go to the elevator, but they moved past it as Knox ran out from behind Allerton’s assistant to run on the other side of Gavin.
Embarrassed by the pain-filled whimpers she couldn’t help coming from her lips, Ginny clutched Gavin’s shirt to shove it into her mouth to smother her cries. The vibrations of his movements sent shards of stinging pain through her body.
When he stopped walking, Ginny raised her head from his chest to see what he was doing. Embarrassed that Gavin saw her biting his shirt, she pulled it away from her swollen mouth to take a shuddering breath.
“This is going to hurt like a motherfucker,” he warned, not showing an ounce of sympathy for her.
His pitiless regard had her wanting to burst into the tears she was trying to hold back. Would it hurt the big jerk to show a softer side to her just one time, to show that he freakin’ cared about her? Soul mates could cry alongside each other, couldn’t they?
Gavin could put her down, then. She could just walk. She didn’t need his help.
Anger boiled up, displacing the pain she felt … until she parted her lips to tell him to put her down. She looked in his eyes to show him how serious she was and saw all the emotions his face wasn’t expressing. His eyes were mirrors to the pain and torment she was suffering.
Unable to bear his suffering, Ginny looked over his shoulder, taking another shuddering breath as she saw Cash and Rider with their guns pointed with deadly intent toward the stairwell door, waiting for someone to ambush them. When Cash turned his head to see what the holdup was, Ginny read the urgency on his face.
Returning her gaze back to Gavin’s, she forced a smile to her lips, ignoring the pain the movement made. “I’m good. It barely hurts.”
“Shut up.”
About to chastise him for being rude, she decided it wasn’t worth the pain it would cause, especially when he went down the first step. Gavin was right; it did hurt like a mother. Her body was already on fire, and as he continued down the steps, it was like adding gasoline to the flames. She was too weak to even lift her head when she heard a metal door being swung open.
As Gavin went through the door, her eyes collided with Desmond Beck’s as he held the door open for Gavin.
“This way … hurry … I have a Moke waiting,” she thought Desmond said but couldn’t be sure, her thoughts becoming fuzzy when Gavin started running with her.
The blue sky, palm trees, and beach umbrellas swirled in a dizzy mesh of colors until everything coalesced and she couldn’t make anything out. She tightened her grip on Gavin’s shirt when he came to a stop and then she could tell from his movements that he was getting inside the Moke.
“I’m … Throw up.” Feeling the bile rising in her stomach, she flared her hands out to throw herself away from Gavin.
“No, you’re not. You’re too tough to throw up.”
She desperately gulped lungsful of air, battling the nausea down. “I … hate throwing up.”
The rocking motion of the Moke when the other men jumped in made it even worse. She was going to lose it, make a mess all over Gavin and her, and he would never let her live it down.
“Then don’t,” Gavin told her matter-of-factly.
The welcome rush of air when the Moke began moving dulled the rising tide of nausea welling inside of her.
“I’m dying.” All thoughts of being brave in front of Gavin deserted her. She was hurting more than when Allerton had beat her, unaware that she was even talking out loud.
“You’re not dying. You’re losing the adrenaline rush.”
Was the jerk laughing at her?
Disgruntled at the thought, she managed to lift her head. “Are you laughing at me?”
“No.”
Ginny laid her head back down. “You better not,” she warned.
“Or else?”
“I’ll throw up on you.”
“You wouldn’t. You hate throwing up, remember?”
“I’m becoming comfortable with the thought.” She tried to smile at him, then wished she hadn’t when he grimaced at her.
“How bad do I look?”
“Nymph, the same as you did the first time I saw you. You look beautiful.”
“Aw … that’s so sweet. I do feel better. Where are we—”
The Moke came to an abrupt stop, wrenching a startled, high-pitched scream from her throat. Nothing had ever hurt so badly in her life.
Opening her mouth, Ginny thought she said something but didn’t know what or if she’d succeeded in speaking before a thundercloud burst in her head, releasing a flood of darkness that swept her away into oblivion.
A bright light shining in her eye had Ginny trying to turn her head in the other direction.
“Stay still while I finish checking you out.”
Thankfully, the light moved away from her eye and she saw Train leaning over her.
“What happened?” Had Train shoved cotton wool in her mouth to keep her from screaming again? Ginny thought dazedly.
“You fainted.” Train twisted a narrow, plastic bag in his hand, then laid it gently over her lips. “That should help with the swelling.”
“I’ve never passed out before.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
As he ran his hand carefully over her body, Ginny felt uncomfortable under his exploratory touch.