The Bodyguard (Book 1 in the Original BOC Series) ✔

Chapter Twenty-One

"Son of a bitch!"

Nathan groaned into the muddy colored carpet underneath him as the pain in his groin was starting to lessen. He didn't pay attention to the pain and bleeding from his nose so much as to where Anna hit him first.

Nathan tightened his eyes shut and breathed, "Shit..."

She got him good. She caught him off guard and went for a cheap shot. All women went for that cheap shot. Nathan reminded himself, still trying to breathe through the bit of remaining pain, that he'd have to punch Anna in the boob.

See how she likes to be hit where it hurts!

His eyes opened into a squint and lifted his head, raising himself to all fours. He shook his head and took another deep breath. Standing up with his hands outward for balance, he grabbed hold of the counter and turned his head to the side where he saw a few people still in the diner, hiding. A waitress behind the counter a few feet away looked up at him with wide eyes.

Nathan shook his head silently, still unable to speak fully, and waved his hand at her as a way to indicate that he wouldn't harm any of them.

The girl seemed to relax before jumping again and faced the doors when gunshots echoed outside.

Nathan's upper body was leaned forward before he turned, too, at the deafening noise. He croaked out, "Mara." before the pain between his legs was suddenly forgotten and he straightened to his full height.

Now his adrenaline was pumping, thanks to the anger he could feel rising in his chest.

Rolling back his shoulders, Nathan lowered and scooped up the gun he dropped when he tackled Anna to the ground.

He cocked the gun and ordered to those still in the diner, "Stay inside! Nobody gets out of here. Understood?" He directed his attention to the girl behind the counter, who had stood up a little to look at him. She nodded quickly and disappeared under the counter again.

Nathan pushed through the double doors and could still hear the shots coming from one side of the parking lot, but couldn't pinpoint exactly where. There were still people that had managed to get out of the diner running everywhere, and within this crowd, he knew Anna would be looking for Mara.

But Nathan was praying that Mara would do as she was told—just this once--- and be hiding in the truck he had instructed her to run to.

Staying close to the wall of the diner and crouched down, Nathan made his way to the alley beside the building and could see the black truck he'd pointed out to Mara earlier.

Lowering himself further, he proceeded forward, but flinched when a large fat man knocked him back a few steps rushing past Nathan. Nathan scowled after the man before he continued making his way to the truck and looked over his shoulder to hear the gunshots still ringing nearby. Nathan straightened and quickly looked into the bed of the truck.

His heart sank when he found it empty.

☙ღ❧

Mara swallowed with her eyes squeezed shut.

She was trying to control her breathing and heart beat because then otherwise she wouldn't be able to hear when the crazy woman was nearby.

She hadn't made it to the truck yet.

Mara turned her head to the side and could see the truck, hidden away from the rest of the cars beside the building. Her best option, for now, was to make sure she kept this psycho-waitress-from-hell from putting a bullet into her head before Mara could make a break for the truck.