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to get to her too.
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Is that why you re running? Kyle kept pace with them. After all, as Chris s best
friend, his woman would be in Roberts s path too, had the man actually shown his face.
They rounded the corner just as a loud crash erupted about thirty feet ahead of them.
Seven or eight people jumped back from the short black iron fence surrounding the
outdoor portion of the café. Jon s heart thudded and stopped momentarily.
A table flew up and over, toppling dishes and throwing silverware in an arc into the
air. A woman screamed, a dog barked, a baby cried.
Call the police, a man shouted.
Jon took off running, his buddies close behind. He vaulted the three foot tall fence
without blinking and took in the scene. What they found surprised them. Robert hadn t
come after his daughter.
Carter had come after his sister.
What are you doing, Carter? Chris s obscenely calm voice echoed in his head.
Christ. He s got a gun, Jon. Right hip, TJ said softly and headed to the left.
Jon nodded. Yep. They kept their voices low so they didn t alert Carter to their
presence and reverted to hand signals ingrained from their years in the Special Forces.
Kyle s feet made no sound as he moved off to the right.
You killed her, you fucking bitch. Carter launched himself at her, his hands raised,
ready to go for her throat. Chris stood still, looking completely bored, and Jon feared she
wouldn t be able to get out of the way in time.
She didn t have to. Aislinn s foot shot out, sending Carter sprawling to the concrete
in a drunken mess. He spluttered and screeched, crawling to his hands and knees,
stunned.
Chris picked her way between a fallen chair and bits of glass and ceramic to stand in
front of the man her brother had become, and Jon breathed a sigh of relief. Christina
Marshall wasn t a woman to be treated with kid gloves. Not that he d ever thought she
needed to be, but still.
I wasn t even there, she hissed. Jon, TJ and Kyle edged closer. She glanced up and
directly into Jon s eyes. Hers widened, and Jon gave a quick shake of his head and
covered his lips with a finger to keep her from giving them away. He watched her gaze
flick to Kyle and TJ. She knew she wasn t alone. Aislinn saw them too if the look on her
face was any indication.
That s right, you bitch, Carter snarled.
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Jon saw the miniscule flinch and the narrowing of Christina s lips and eyes and
could have groaned.
If you had been, she wouldn t have fought with me day and night. She wouldn t
have alienated her son and I wouldn t have had to kill her.
Jon was less than four feet away, separated by the overturned table, but he saw the
way Chris s face blanched and heard her sharp intake of breath. Robert Marshall hadn t
killed his wife. Her own son had. Because he d felt ignored.
Kyle and TJ flanked Jon but stayed back so they wouldn t be seen. No one wanted to
give Carter a reason to draw his gun and possibly get a shot off in the middle of the
crowded café. A couple of men scooted closer, trying to be heroes no doubt. TJ warned
them off in some silent way Jon didn t see with his focus on Carter.
She never fought you, you bastard. She took our father s meaty fists against her
face and body every night and forgave him every morning. She protected us both from
his hands and if she had left like I did, she would still be alive. You killed her because of
some deflated ego. The crowd gasped at her revelation while sirens sounded in the
distance.
Christ, he would tan her sweet little ass later for taunting her brother like this. TJ and
he would take immeasurable pleasure in doing so too. Despite the situation, Jon felt his
cock harden as he envisioned her cheeks pinkened by his hand and how wet her pussy
would be by the time he sank deep inside her.
Carter gave a guttural cry and reached for the gun.
It barely cleared the waistband of his filthy jeans before TJ, Jon and Kyle were on
him. Jon didn t even remember leaping over the table blocking his way. He saw metal
and something in him snapped.
He gripped Carter s wrist and slammed it against the ground. An agonized cry
erupted from the other man. The gun clattered across the concrete, safely away.
The takedown was almost too easy. Perhaps because Carter was drunk and off his
full faculties. A police car squealed to a halt on the street behind them and the crowd
started in on what they d seen.
Jon kept his knee planted squarely in the small of Carter s back.
Get off me, he shrieked, tossing and turning and trying to shake Jon loose.
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The Strength of Three
You okay, baby? TJ wrapped Chris in a bear hug. Jon signaled one of the officers
over. He needed to be in on the touching TJ was receiving, not here bent over the raving
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