Unbridled and Untethered [The Double Rider Men's Club 10] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Elle Saint James Read Free Book Online Page A

gunman framed in the open doorway of the vault. She moved from behind him slightly.
    Blood dripped from a wound that sliced across his upper arm. Emma Rae couldn’t believe he wasn’t unconscious from the blow to his head. He put his hand flat against the wound and pulled away a blood-smeared palm.
    With malevolence in his stance, the gunman in the doorway then leveled his weapon at Zeke’s head.
    Battling Zeke’s sudden protest to the contrary, Emma Rae stepped completely from behind the shelter of his body. “Don’t you dare shoot him again.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Zeke couldn’t keep Emma Rae protected behind him for long. She sidestepped around him to first look at his wound and then to apparently guard him from further injury. Blood smeared his fingers when he flattened his hand against the injury on his upper arm. The bullet had skimmed the flesh, and the furrow there burned like a son of a bitch.
    The pain was manageable, and he knew it couldn’t be life threatening. His head hurt worst of all from hitting the wall, but he shook off the pain, fought to get upright again, and turned toward the doorway, trying futilely to get Emma Rae behind him.
    The gunman at the vault entrance started moving forward, closing in on them. The still-smoking gun was pointed at Zeke’s head. Emma Rae stepped in the path of the gunman even as Zeke lifted away from the wall and tried to push her behind his body.
    Without any warning, Emma Rae dropped to the floor, leaving him open to whatever the gunman planned. Relieved she wasn’t in the immediate path of the gun, Zeke thought the floor was the best place for her given the nasty glint in the robber’s eyes. She was safe and out of the line of fire, where she belonged. If the gunman fired at his head, she had a lesser chance of getting hurt by a ricocheted bullet.
    However, Emma Rae didn’t stay on the floor for long. She sprang up quickly with her arm extended. The other bank robber’s gun was now clenched in her hand. It might have been threatening if her unsteady arm hadn’t reminded him of a palsied eighty-five-year-old trying to keep hold of the weapon.
    The third gunman actually laughed at her. Apparently, he didn’t feel the least bit threatened. At least not until he advanced a step toward them and she pulled the trigger, firing off a shot in his general direction.
    The bullet went wide and missed their foe.
    Before Zeke could even take a breath, the gunman aimed lower, pulled the trigger, and hit Zeke in the chest. The pain was sudden, sharp, and excruciating. Shit . He fell against the wall once more, narrowly missing hitting his head again. However, his legs went weak this time, unable to hold his body straight. He started a weary slide down the metal surface of the vault wall. He was no help to Emma Rae now. Each breath he attempted felt like a red-hot poker was jammed in his chest wall. He was losing consciousness. Damn it .
    “No!” he heard Emma Rae scream as if in a primal rage. Then he heard three more gunshots fired. At least this time he didn’t feel them hit his body before the black splotches consumed his vision.

Chapter Four
     
    Luke Benton hadn’t ever spent much time worrying about his best friend, Zeke. Or the fact that he had a government job that on occasion threatened his life. His friend had been a field agent for years but had never to Luke’s knowledge been in any violent altercations.
    His job with Treasury hadn’t afforded him many dangerous situations beyond paper cuts from analytical reports and computer screen eyestrain. Even though he tracked, searched, and located money launderers, tax evaders, counterfeiters, and the like, Zeke had always been involved with more white-collar crimes than busting punks in the mean streets. However, the new taskforce he’d recently volunteered for definitely added a bit more intrigue. It also put him on the road, in the field, and out of town frequently. Luke worried about him more these days, but Zeke