Chapter 6: Just the Beginning

Kade’s lips were warm and soft against his own. His touch was gentle aside from the harsh grip he had on his jacket. It was probably the most sensual touch Jamison had experienced in some time. Unable to remember the last time he shared such a touch with anyone. If Jamison hadn’t known what this was for, he would have compared it to the way someone would kiss their lover. Which led him to believe that either Kade had some other type of experience or he was just a natural.

Jamison moved his good hand up to grip gently at Kade’s shoulder while he held his lips captive. It was mostly to block the woman’s view of his other hand, which he slowly and quietly slipped into the front of Kade’s jacket. Bloodied fingers felt blindly along the inner lining until they brushed over the cool steel of the hilt. Just as silently, he slid the blade out and pressed the metal to his palm to keep it hidden from view. He knew they’d sold their show when he heard their attacker hiss in disgust.

“Alright, that’s enough, save it for the prison yard,” she barked, and tugged Kade out of his grip.

Jamison was left in a daze for just a brief moment after Kade was torn away from him. The love sick spell that had unknowingly been washed over him was gone as soon as Kade’s captor started to reach for the door handle. All at once his senses returned to him. The sounds of the sirens, now loud and screaming through the streets, just minutes away from their location and Kade’s fixed gaze on him in a silent plea.

He acted almost on instinct. The knife he’d slipped from Kade’s pocket was sent slicing through the air before it made contact. The point of it stuck into the woman’s shoulder on the arm she was using to reach for the door. At the bite of the blade in her arm, she cursed and her hesitation was all Kade needed to send a sharp, hard elbow to her ribs. The impact of his hit caused her to double over and loosen her grip on her gun.

Two things happened at once the moment that they were given the opportunity. Kade reached for the revolver and yanked it from her hands, while Jamison drew his own gun with his good arm. He had it loaded and aimed at her before she could so much as make a move to get her weapon back or retrieve the knife.

“You have two options,” Jamison said coolly. “Come with us right now or I can leave you here for the police.”

“You have no idea who you’re messing with,” she sneered.

“We have ways of finding out,” Jamison snapped. His finger moved to rest on the trigger.

“Jamison, take us back to the manor. We’ll have her interrogated,” Kade said, and the sound of his voice brought Jamison’s blue eyes to his. “I’ll handle her the rest of the ride. We don’t have time to waste now.”

Jamison wanted to protest, but said nothing and turned back to face the front. Kade was his boss, he wouldn’t defy a direct order even if he thought it might not be a good idea. Besides, the police were closing in and they were going to be looking for the cause of the crash and likely the reported gunshots. Not just that, but he needed medical treatment before he bled out and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have Kade checked out either. So, he put the car back into drive and ignoring its protest, headed for the manor.

By the time the car came screeching to a stop in front of the steps up into the manor, Maya, Kit and Tiago were already rushing out to meet them. They probably could hear their approach before they caught sight of the battered car. It was lucky that they made it back without being stopped. Jamison imagined that was probably because the police were busy investigating the scene and taking witness statements. Damage control with the police chief would have to be arranged or else they’d have to suffer the consequences like any other criminal.

The entire ride back, Kade kept their captive quiet by keeping her revolver carefully tucked against her ribs. Neither of them moved once Jamison pulled to a stop. Instead, they waited for the other three to make their approach. Jamison was unsure if Kade was acting on instinct or if he was just far more clever than any of them anticipated, but he didn’t move because by the time they reached the manor, the pain in his shoulder made every move unbearable.

It didn’t take long for both their doors to be opened. Tiago and Kit were at the back doors and assisting Kade and their prisoner out before Maya could even situate herself in a comfortable way to help pull him out of the front seat. When she finally managed to hoist him up, Jamison grunted at the pain it sent through his body.

“What happened?” Maya huffed after she pulled Jamison from the car and slung his good arm over her shoulders.

“We were ambushed after the meeting,” Kade replied, and motioned to their shooter who was being held by both arms between Tiago and Kit. “Take her and find out what she knows, do what you have to. Maya, please look after Jamison’s wounds. He’s been shot. I will be in my office, I have some work to do.”

“No…” Jamison started to protest.

“No? All that adrenaline had to have worn off by now and you’re as pale as a ghost,” Maya responded first. She sounded exasperated by his attempt to resist.

“You can report to me when your wounds have been taken care of and after you’ve regained some of your strength,” Kade said with a nod to Jamison, and then he turned and headed into the manor.

Jamison could only watch Kade disappear into the manor, ignoring the curses the ambusher threw while she was dragged inside after him. He didn’t have the strength anymore to try and fight Maya’s grip. She was right. Since the adrenaline of their attack wore off, he had become aware of how much the gunshot hurt and his body had become weak from the loss of blood. Even if he wanted Kade to be looked after first, he didn’t have the strength to express that concern.

Instead, he was taken into the manor and into one of the many spare rooms. His own personal room was upstairs, but Maya didn’t think it would be a good idea to try and haul him up a staircase in his current condition. So, he was brought into the first one she could find on the first floor and gently dropped into one of the chairs that occupied the room.

“Jamison,” Maya gasped at him once she managed to peel off his jacket.

“I had to get us out of there,” he huffed in response, his voice strained by the pain from the movement.

The plain white button up shirt he was wearing under his jacket was drenched on one side in blood. From the shoulder, down to his waist, it looked as though the shirt had been dipped in crimson dye. He knew it had been bad when he felt the blood trickling down his arm and noticed his body becoming sticky with it. This only confirmed the amount of blood he’d lost and the reason why he now had no strength left.

“You’re lucky you didn’t die,” Maya muttered, and started to make quick work of unbuttoning his shirt, only for a second gasp to be torn from her once she peeled the fabric back from his chest. “Does he know about this?”

“No. Better to keep it that way. I took two shots out of the three that she fired at us. The first killed our driver, the second was meant to injure me and the third was meant to kill Kade,” he explained with another wince.

The wound she was gawking at was the lesser of the two and one he got when he forced Kade down into the floorboards. The bullet that had come soaring through his broken window grazed his ribs and left a deep gash in its wake. If Jamison hadn’t thought to force Kade down as quickly as he had, it easily would have gotten his Don in the chest or stomach. The fact that it missed its target was the reason the second back window shattered.

“Kade was right,” Jamison continued after a pause to maintain his composure while Maya worked to remove his blood soaked shirt. “It was an inside job. That woman that attacked us, she’s a sharp shooter.”