Page 92 of Protecting Maggie
“You were an easy mark,” he said quietly. “Pathetic. Desperate for attention. You were the worst I ever had in bed too. Cold as a fucking fish. I’ve had limp whores who were better than you. I hadn’t counted on you getting pulled over, but it was fun to watch you go down for those drugs. I got off just thinking about you being miserable, crying behind bars.Idid that.Me.
“And I’m looking forward to relivingthismoment so many more nights in the future. The way you’re going to squirm and thrash as I hold you down. The moment your lungs fill with water and your heart stops beating. I can’t fucking wait. The quickest way to die will be to just inhale as soon as I shove your face under the water. I want you to fight, because it’s more exciting that way. But if you’resmart, which I know you aren’t, you’ll just give in to the inevitable.”
Maggie was crying now, her tears falling into the ocean inches beneath her face. She tried once more to loosen Roman’s grip around her wrists held at the small of her back, but it was no use.
“Fuck you, Maggie. You’renobody. A loser. And I regret ever meeting you and wasting one goddamn second of my time on you. But I’m sure going to enjoy the aftermath of your death. Of fucking with your SEAL and sending him tohisdeath. I’ll make sure to leak all the plans of the next mission I send him on to the enemy. They’ll be waiting. Loverboy and his team will soon be dead. Blown to pieces. Never to be found—just like you.”
Then without warning, he shoved her forward.
Maggie’s head went under the water, and all plans she’d had to try to get her DNA on Roman, or to mark him further, went out the window. She couldn’t breathe, the sandy bottom scraped against her cheeks as she did exactly what he wanted, thrashed and flailed, doing everything she could to get her head above water, to no avail.
Blackness crept into the edges of her vision, and just when she’d held her breath as long as she could and was about to inhale in a desperate attempt to live a few more precious seconds—the weight on her back disappeared.
Maggie whipped her head out of the water and sucked in lifesaving oxygen.
She wasn’t aware of anything but the feel of being ableto breathe again, her pulse beating loudly in her ears…when something finally caught her attention to her right.
Turning her head, she saw Roman and another man fighting in the shallow surf.
Fight or flight finally kicked in, and she frantically crab walked backward, away from the water, away from the man who’d just tried to kill her. Who would’ve succeeded if it wasn’t for whoever had obviously ripped him off her.
It didn’t take more than a few additional seconds for Maggie to recognize the other man.
Shawn.
What…?How?
It felt impossible that he was there. That he’d arrived exactly when she needed him most. But Maggie didn’t know why she was so surprised. Shawn was her knight in shining armor, the man who, in the short time she’d known him, hadalwaysbeen there for her, and who she had a feeling alwayswouldbe in the future.
She had no idea what to do. How she could help him. Looking around, panting heavily, she scrambled on her hands and knees and picked up one of the heavy rocks near the shore. To do what with, she wasn’t sure. Bash Roman’s head in? Throw it at him?
But honestly, it didn’t look as though Shawnneededhelp. The two men were about the same height, but Shawn obviously had more experience in hand-to-hand combat—and he was clearly more motivated.
The men didn’t speak, they were only grunting as they fought.
It was brutal, but Maggie didn’t take her eyes off them for a moment. Her chest heaved with her need to continue to replenish the oxygen in her body, and she impatiently scraped her wet hair out of her face so she could see what was happening more clearly.
The sound of screeching tires up on the road was a huge relief. Others had arrived. They’d help Shawn. Make sure Roman wouldn’t escape and somehow come after her again. Follow through with his threats of treason against his country just to make Shawn and his SEAL team disappear.
Even as she heard several people moving through the thick bushes toward them, Roman picked up a rock to use as a weapon, aiming right for Shawn’s head.
She drew back her own arm, about to throw her rock at Roman, but Maggie had time to do little more than gasp when Shawn ducked, then used his right leg to kick her ex—hard.
His boot connected with Roman’s throat.
Maggie heard a gurgling noise come from her ex—then he fell backward into the water, landing with a huge splash.
To Maggie’s surprise, he didn’t immediately leap up and go after her or Shawn. He lay in the water, unmoving. Face up, eyes unblinking.
Then Shawn was in front of her, blocking her view of the man who had literally made her life a living hell. His hands gripped her head tightly. “Maggie? Are you all right? Can you breathe? Put down the rock, I’ve got you.Fuck, I need to get you to the hospital.”
She reached up and gripped his wrists. “I’m okay.” At least, that was what she’d meant to say, but as soon as the first word was out, she started violently coughing.
“Preacher!”
Both her and Shawn’s heads swiveled to see Kevlar bursting through the vegetation. Followed closely by the rest of the SEAL team.
“Is she okay?” Safe asked, dropping to his knees beside them in the wet sand.
