Where the wild Hearts Ride

Chapter 4

A bullet through a cheap kitchen window has a wonderful way of reminding you that dying in a dusty shack is a terrible career move.

"Get down on the floor right now, Jesse, because that second shot is going to punch straight through this thin wooden partition," I hissed, dropping flat onto the dusty floorboards and pulling my heavy revolver from its holster with a sharp click.

Jesse did not even hesitate. He hit the ground right beside me, his broad shoulders pressing hard against my side as his dark eyes scanned the fractured remains of the kitchen window. The air in the room was thick with the sharp stench of burnt powder and floating drywall dust.

"That was not a warning shot, Ava, and whoever is out there has thermal optics dialed right into our position," Jesse whispered, his voice dangerously low as he c****d his pistol. "They tracked our oil trail from the docks all the way to this godforsaken dirt road."

"I told you to wipe the engine block before we pulled into the yard, but you were too busy trying to look tough on your motorcycle," I snapped back, keeping my tone ice cold despite the adrenaline hammering against my ribs. "Now we are locked inside a wooden box with two professional executioners outside."

He turned his head slightly, glaring down at me with a dark, intense scowl that would have made any other person in the county back away. But I held my ground, staring straight back into his eyes without blinking an inch.

"Do not start blaming me for this mess when you are the one who insisted on playing detective in a dark alleyway tonight," Jesse growled, his face inches from mine in the dark. "You think you can handle the real world just because you wear a sharp suit and carry a gavel, but the streets do not care about your legal degrees."

"I am the only reason your entire charter is not sitting in a federal penitentiary right now, so save your tough guy routine for someone who is actually impressed by it," I replied, my voice dropping an octave into a calm, deadly whisper. "You want to flex your authority? Go outside and argue with the sniper. Otherwise, shut your mouth and help me find a way out of here."

For a second, the heavy tension between us stretched so tight it felt like a live wire ready to snap. His jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek, and his hand shifted on his gun grip. Then, a slow, grudging realization flickered in his dark eyes, cutting through his an

"You really do not know how to back down, do you, counselor?" he murmured, the hostility in his tone melting into a strange, raw edge of respect.

"Backing down gets people killed in our line of work, Thorne," I whispered, shifting my weight against the dusty floor. "Now look at the back wall. Is that exit door still bolted from the inside?"

"It is bolted, but the frame is rotten," Jesse said, his focus snapping instantly back to survival. "On three, we break through it and run for the drainage ditch behind the woodpile. Ready?"

"Ready," I said.

One. Two. Three.

Jesse threw his massive weight against the wood, and the old door splintered outward with a loud crash. We tumbled together into the muddy grass outside just as another heavy round tore through the kitchen wall behind us, chewing up the floor where we had been lying a second before.

We did not look back. We scrambled on our hands and knees through the tall weeds, diving headfirst into the deep concrete drainage ditch that cut away from the property toward the river. The cold mud soaked instantly through my jacket, but the stinging dampness was the last thing on my mind.

"Keep moving," Jesse urged, his hand gripping my elbow to help me scramble up the slick concrete slope on the other side. "The tree line starts fifty yards past this ridge. Once we reach the timber, their scopes will lose us."

"I am right behind you," I panted, wiping wet hair out of my face as my boots slid in the wet clay.

The sharp crack of the sniper rifle echoed across the open field again, the bullet kicking up a spray of dirt just inches from my heel. We pushed harder, our lungs burning from the cold night air and the sudden burst of frantic motion. Every muscle in my body screamed for rest, but the sheer danger of the pursuit kept my feet driving forward through the thick brush.

We dove beneath the low hanging branches of a massive oak tree just as the trees grew thick enough to block out the open sky. The canopy of leaves swallowed us in deep, suffocating shadows, hiding us from the ridge behind us.

We collapsed against the rough bark of the trunk, both of us breathing hard, our chests rising and falling in rhythm.

"Did they follow us?" I asked quietly, pressing my hand against my side to catch my breath.

"No," Jesse whispered, his head tilted back against the tree as he listened to the silence of the woods. "We lost them. For tonight, at least."

I let out a long, shaky breath, letting my head fall back against the wood. My charcoal blazer was ruined, my boots were caked in thick mud, and my hands were smeared with black dirt. Yet, sitting here in the freezing dark beside a wanted biker who drove me crazy, I felt more alive than I had in years.

Jesse turned his head, looking down at me in the faint moonlight filtering through the branches. The tough, aggressive scowl that always seemed glued to his face was completely gone.

"You saved my life back there, counselor," he said, his voice dropping into a low, quiet rumble that barely carried over the sound of the wind in the leaves. "Most people would have frozen up the second that window shattered."

"I told you before, Thorne," I whispered back, turning my face to meet his gaze in the dark. "I do not freeze. And I do not run."

He reached out slowly, his calloused fingers brushing gently against my cheek, wiping away a smear of dirt with a surprising gentleness that made my breath catch in my throat. His thumb lingered near my jawline, tracing the edge of my skin just enough to send a hot, unexpected jolt straight down my spine.

"You are something else, Ava," he murmured, his eyes dropping briefly to my lips before locking back onto mine with a heavy, unspoken intensity.

"Just remember that before you try to tell me what to do again," I whispered, though I did not pull away from his touch.

A faint, wicked smile touched the corner of his mouth, breaking through his dark expression.

"Deal," he whispered, his fingers sliding down to grip my hand in the mud as we sat together in the dark, waiting for the sun to rise over a city that had no idea what was coming for it.