MY CYBORG TINDER DATE

Chapter 2: Cyborgs and Psychos

Rogue agents. Dark nights. Glistening guns. I practically stood on the set of an action film.

"Dude, what's going on?" I glanced at Rick expecting to see his hands up in surrender. Instead, he leaped forward.

In the blink of an eye, Rick wrapped a strong arm around my neck. He pinned me in front of him like a meat shield. His forearm clamped my throat with the strength of a boa constrictor. My instant reaction was to pull him off me. I dropped my purse to tug at his grip.

At that point, the reality of my situation kicked in. An agent stood before me with a gun pointed at the man who had me in a headlock. For the first time in twenty-four years of existence, my life was on the line. How had it come to this? Of all the dudes who matched my profile, why did I have to date a psychopath?!

My heart raced and my thoughts fogged with adrenaline. I tried to figure a way out of the situation, but my mind circled around the same idea: I was probably going to die. And if by some miracle, I made it out alive -- I knew I would never be the same.

Rick crouched to the ground and dragged me down with him. My knees buckled yet he moved me around as if I was a weightless ragdoll. My summer gown flailed under me and somehow -- in the heat of everything -- I remembered I wore revealing panties under my dress. At least agents Smith and Two were too tall to see the lacey thing I had planned for Rick. Well, before I found out he was a wanted criminal.

As I scrambled to pull Rick off me, Agent Two reached into his own jacket and pulled out a gun. I wasn't sure how having two pistols pointed in my direction was going to diffuse the situation, but I prayed that those guys knew what they were doing. If not, Amelia would find my body with more holes than a slice of swiss cheese.

Rick jerked me upright with so much force my feet lifted off the ground. He set me back down just as something cold jammed against my temple. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of my S&W as he pressed it against my skull.

"One move and she dies," Rick warned over my shoulder.

I'm sure it would have been a million times more intimidating if the gun he held wasn't pink.

I wasn't the only one to think that. Both Agent Smith and Two rolled their heads back with a deep guffaw. For a millisecond, the gun pulled away from my head and I imagined Rick glanced at it with either embarrassment or disbelief.

"Really, Aubrey? A pink gun?" he said over the laughing agents. "Why?"

Was he serious right now? He practically had me in a chokehold and he wanted me to tell him why I had a pink gun? If anything, I wanted to know how he knew I carried a concealed weapon. Rather than respond, I thrashed harder. And rather than listen, Rick pointed my gun at the agents.

Pop!

Pop!

The recoil jerked his hand back. Flashes of light lit up the sidewalk like fireworks. Before my eyes, two agents dropped to the ground with hands over their chests. I gaped at the scene expecting to see pools of blood at my feet but Rick yanked me to the side before I processed the situation.

He clutched my hand as he sprinted down the sidewalk, dragging me along like a parachute. I struggled to keep up with his long strides. My thick wedges got in the way of sprinting and I stumbled. My knees were on the verge of colliding with the cement when Rick caught me and swept me in his arms. The man who once pressed a gun to my head now cradled me like an infant.