Arran’s Obsession (Body Count, #1)

The low drone of an engine pierced my consciousness, the fast-moving vehicle I was in bumping on a road. Darkness surrounded me, a thick blindfold over my face. I raised my hands—goddamn it—cuffed to my seat belt.

Furious, I wrenched in my seat with a growl of rage, but it was like I was in a hole, the drug I’d been injected with clouding my senses and muffling sound.

“Fucking hell, hold still,” Shade’s voice came from nearby.

Another needle stabbed me, the small prick of pain enraging me further, though I was defenceless to avoid what I couldn’t see. I waited for the horrible ebb of unconsciousness, but it didn’t come.

Instead, my brain fog cleared. My breathing evened out.

“I’m going to remove your bandanna now.”

A hand touched my face, the material pulled away. Instantly, I took in my ex-best friend at the wheel of the car we’d arrived in.

He scowled at me. “Don’t fucking panic, and stop looking at me like that. Everything is fine.”

Fury darkened my vision. “You fucking stabbed me, Connor.”

Shade rolled his eyes then returned his focus to the road. Around us, dark countryside sped by. “A necessary evil. And don’t forget ye gave me permission to do exactly that if ye were about to do something stupid.”

I recoiled. “Permission?”

“Don’t ye remember?” He put on an English accent. “If I ever do something stupid for a woman, stab me.”

I stared at him in absolute outrage, unable to connect the dots of what had just gone down. I had said that, back when I’d taken Gen to the Great House for our week’s hideaway. “I didn’t mean it literally.”

“Bit late to tell me that.”

I lifted the handcuffs. “Am I a prisoner?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. That was just to stop ye from lashing out and making me crash. Here.”

He tossed a set of keys to my lap. I grabbed them up and undid the cuffs.

Confusion filled me. If it was anyone else in the driver’s seat, I’d strangle them with my bare hands, but Shade was the last person I’d ever thought would betray me. Nothing made sense. “I’ll give you thirty seconds to explain what the hell you did and why.”

Shade sighed. “What do ye remember?”

His drug was messing with my head, but the scene returned. The dark car park after a downpour. Our target ahead. Another man creeping in from the shadows.

“Gen’s father,” I spat.

“Good. It’s useful for me to know that particular drug doesnae fuck up memory too much. Okay, we were poised to take down Peters, but then Genevieve’s father appeared out of nowhere, and instead of stopping and waiting, ye were moving on him.”

“Because she’s been looking for him for weeks.”

The streetlights flashed over him. “I’m well aware. Ye weren’t listening to me. Ye were about to blow our cover, then her old man raised the gun and fired. Remember what happened next?”

Blue flashing lights. “Cops?”

“A patrol passed by, right at the wrong second. Instead of beating a retreat, ye lurched forward, right as shite went down. In a heartbeat, I saw exactly how it was going to unfold. Peters dropped, the two men he was supplying jumping into their car, the cop calling in for hasty backup, us trapped. I had no choice but to take control and save ye from yourself. I took ye down, knocked ye out, and hid your arse in the tree line. I did everything necessary to keep ye safe, using that permission you’d given me. I knew you’d be pissed off, but it’s better that than arrested outside the safety of Deadwater or dead.”

I scrubbed my face, dirt on my hands from that fucking hedgerow. “How the hell did we get away?”

“Because I’m damn good at my job. As the two in the car rammed the cops, disabling both their vehicles, I scooped up the old man and spirited him away. Then I returned for your heavy arse and got ye to safety, too. We stole away along the next warehouse’s rear exit right as a fuckton of cops swarmed.”

My mouth opened. “Her dad…?”

Shade ticked his head towards the rear of the car. “In the back.”

I spun around. There, in the back seat, was Adam Walker, Genevieve’s father. Out cold but breathing.

When I came back to Shade, he wasn’t smiling.

“Revoke the right, and I’ll never do it again, but don’t blame me for saving ye in the best way I could in a split second of thought. You’re my best friend, and you’ve put your neck on the line for me on more occasions than I can count. I love ye, man. So shut the fuck up about it and think about how you’re going to make your girl happy when we’re home.”

He stopped talking. I did, too.

A snore from the rear seats pierced the silence, and Shade’s lips twitched like he wanted to laugh, but concern was constraining him. Perhaps that he’d overstepped so far he couldn’t come back. But Shade was my boy. For him, I’d take a bullet, and in his way, this was him taking mine.

Begrudgingly, I gave him what he needed. “Permission revoked, asshole. And thanks.”

At last, my friend smiled.