Fighting Dirty

Those icy-blue eyes smiled at him—and a second later both men bolted.

Armie started to follow, but Merissa fisted both hands in his shirt. “Damn you, no!”

He heard the awful fear in her voice, and reluctantly obeyed her order. When the men disappeared out of sight, Merissa went limp against his back. Soft, warm, safe. Armie swallowed, closed his eyes for only a moment, then turned to her.

She could have died.

He clasped her shoulders. “You’re okay?”

Mouth firmed, she nodded. Then she thwacked his shoulder. “Are you insane?”

He touched her cheek, and her expression softened. “Oh God, Armie, you’re bleeding.”

The bastard had hurt her. “It’s nothing.” Using his shoulder, Armie cleared the blood from his eye, then lightly touched a bruise on her jaw. “Rissy...what happened?”

She crushed herself closer to him, her face in his neck. “Just...give me a second.”

Hands shaking, Armie stroked up and down her back. He didn’t want his blood on her. He didn’t want her tainted in any way. “It’s over now.” Knowing he could have lost her, his eyes burned as he kissed her temple. “It’s over.”

“Yes.” He felt the deep breath she took and the way she stiffened her shoulders. Suddenly stepping away, she swiped her face and, visibly gathering her thoughts, looked around the bank.

Armie did the same.

The college guy finally retrieved the gun from under the kiosk, but he didn’t look keen on using it, thank God. Gingerly, he set it on a stack of deposit slips and was quickly backing away when his eyes widened. “They left the money.”

There, on the floor, was the bag with the money still in it. “Unbelievable.” Armie grabbed it up, put it in Rissy’s office and shut the door.

The tellers were plenty shaken. The little kid clung to his mother, whimpering.

“Everyone okay?”

Pale faces blinked at him. Yeah, unlike Merissa, they probably weren’t used to seeing bloody fights. He lifted the hem of his shirt to clear away more of the mess.

“Thank you, Armie.” All business now, Merissa hurried to the front door and locked it. “I’m sorry,” she said to one and all. “In case those sirens aren’t for us I have to call this in. We all need to stay put until the police get here.” Brisk, she strode toward her office. “Armie, the bathroom is through there.” She pointed. “Valerie, could you show him, please? He needs to...” She swallowed hard. “To clean up the blood. Could someone find a first-aid kit, please?”

Armie stood there, staring after her. He watched her use the phone, saw her nod and replace the receiver. She went to a cabinet and a few seconds later returned with papers in her shaking hands. “The authorities are on their way.” Hastily, she handed out the papers to the other bank employees.

Impressed by her, Armie asked, “What do you have there?”

“Post robbery packets,” she answered, and then to her employees, “Read these again and follow procedure.”

It amazed Armie to see her like this, so take-charge, so in control despite what had just happened. She got a lollipop for the little boy, cans of Coke for the other customers.

With that handled, she turned back to Armie and blew out a breath while looking him over. Neither he nor Valerie had moved. “Oh, Armie.” She took his arm and, treating him like an invalid, started urging him forward.

“Uh...where are you taking me?”

“The bathroom.”

“Why?”

“You’re hurt and bleeding and just standing there.” She stripped his flannel off him and liberally doused the hem under running water in the sink.

Expression far too grave, she gingerly dabbed at the blood from the right side of his face, over his eye and up to his temple. “It looks terrible.”

Valerie silently set a first-aid kit on the sink for her.

When she reached for it, he caught her wrists. “Honey, I’m fine.”

Her throat worked and she shook her head, her gaze going just past his shoulder.

“Rissy, talk to me.”

“I can’t believe you did that.” Her brows pinched together and her lashes lowered. “You almost dared him—”

“Shh.” That small, broken voice squeezed like a vise around his heart. He stepped closer, letting her feel his strength, proving he was unharmed. Because he needed to know, and she maybe needed to talk, he said, “The bastard hit you?”

She nodded.

Glancing at the popped button on her sweater, he strangled on fury but kept his tone soft. “He attacked you?”

Her face tightened and she swallowed convulsively. “He... He said he wanted to—”

“Cops are here!”

“College boy,” Armie said, hoping to lighten her mood. “I like him.”

Her tensed shoulders loosened with the interruption, and she turned brisk again. “Yes. He was helpful.” She rinsed her hands in the sink. “I have to go.”

“I know. We’ll talk later?”

At that she half laughed.

“What?”

“You always want to talk.” Shaking her head, she left the small room and hurried to the front to unlock the door. Two uniformed cops came in, guns drawn, but after a few questions and a quick look around, they holstered their weapons and began separating everyone. One of them tried to insist on calling an ambulance, but Armie shut them down on that. Merissa refused, and nooo way in hell was he leaving her. Besides, he knew his own body well enough to know the thump on his head wasn’t anything serious. He might need stitches, but he’d try taping it first.

Shortly after that an FBI agent came in with Detectives Logan Riske and Reese Bareden. Luckily, Armie knew them both through Cannon.

Cannon. Shit. He had to call him. Armie got his phone out, only to find the screen busted. Shit again. Like all the guys from his inner circle, he carried two phones, the second one for emergencies. Because they’d formed a neighborhood watch, the separate phones were set for a distinctive ring so they’d know when one of the others had something urgent going on. But the second phone wasn’t in his pocket any longer. He could only assume he’d lost it during the skirmish.

He was looking around for it when Logan approached. “Damn, Armie.”

“It’s nothing.” And he was getting tired of telling that to people.

Logan frowned. “I’ll take your word for it.” He nodded at the cell phone. “That got broke in the fight?”

“Yeah.” His muscles remained too tense and his temples throbbed. “I need to let Cannon know. If he hears about this, he’ll die three times before he knows she’s okay.”