Bad Boy's Touch (Firemen in Love Book 3) Read Free Page B

firefighter.
    Maybe he was a hometown hero, but he was also a bad boy – precisely the type of man I wanted nothing to do with.
    “Ugh, it's not working.” Ian threw the bobby pin down. “Yo, sweetheart. Do we got any bolt cutters around here?”
    The stripper let him have it, calling the poor idiot every nasty name in the book.
    Brett jangled his cuffs. “All right, MacGyver. Enough. Let's just bail and worry about getting these things off after we're home free.”
    Shots rang out in the main room. Candy howled and dove beneath her makeup table.
    “Aw, it's the pigs!”
    “What about Rico?”
    “Forget about him, man. I'm not going down for him.” More gunfire. “Hurry up and barricade the front door. We'll get out the back way.”
    Out there, staff and guests screamed in terror. My stomach sank. Whenever you involved civilians in a mess like this, it was never pretty.
    The station had sent backup, but it wasn't going to be enough. I counted about a hundred different ways this whole thing could go horribly wrong.
    Ian shrank back. “Dude, what do we do? I'm just a bouncer. I can't stop bullets.”
    Brett's jaw set. “Nobody is getting shot. Not us, anyway. Those thugs are busy trying to fend off the cops so they can escape. I say we follow their lead.”
    “You wanna shoot a cop?”
    “No, damn it! We use the distraction they're causing and slip out unnoticed.”
    I'd let them have their fun and games long enough.
    “You two aren't going anywhere.” I stepped out, pistol at the ready in case they tried something funny. “Move it. We're leaving.”
    Brett didn't look altogether surprised to see me. He offered me that oh-so-charming smile of his and held his hands out to me.
    “Just the lady I needed. Mind unlocking these for me? My wrists are getting sore.”
    “Unlock them? You're in my custody, Silver. You're getting in that car and we are getting out of here.”
    He dared walk right up to me, unafraid of my gun. His bravery was both stupid and unnervingly impressive.
    “You're seriously more worried about taking me in than Rico? He's a dangerous, violent criminal.”
    “And you aren't?”
    Somewhere nearby, bullets fired in rapid succession. Oh God, was that an automatic weapon?
    “Guys, what are we doing here?” Ian cracked his knuckles and paced. “We're sitting ducks. These walls are like cardboard.”
    “Then we're moving. We'll go out the way I came in, get in the car, and leave. Simple.”
    Brett scoffed. “Just one problem with your plan. How you gonna get out of the alley when it's blocked on all sides?”
    Crap. He was right.
    “We've got to reach the other officers outside.”
    “Oh, the ones currently being shot at? Yeah, wonderful idea.” Brett shook his wrists. “C'mon, help a guy out. How am I supposed to protect you with these cuffs on?”
    “Protect me? ”
    “It's clear y'all are losing control of this situation.” He nodded at his friend. “Ian and I know this place. We can get you out safe.”
    My cheeks burned. “I'm not losing control of anything. If you'd have just got in the car when I told you to, we wouldn't be here right now, about to get turned into Swiss cheese.”
    “You guys are morons! You thought it was a good idea to shoot at the police? ”
    “But we were just trying to get you out, R.”
    Rico!
    Brett leaned against the wall. “Tell me again why you're harassing me when he's the one you should be after? Bigger fish to fry, and all that.”
    It annoyed me that he had a good point. Rico had a long history of clashing with the law, and he'd only recently gotten out of jail for dealing drugs to high-school kids. Soon as he went free, he was right back at it again. The guy was a real bastard who deserved life behind bars.
    What if I were the one who helped put him away?
    All those people who doubted me – friends, family, even other officers – that would shut them up quick.
    “Tell you what.” Brett's gruff voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “You