Page 83 of Rescuing Erin

“I’ve heard her string a few curse words together,” Liv informed my mom.

My mom cracked a smile and admitted, “So have I. The woman curses like a sailor.”

“Come on, Mother, try it. Just shout it out. You’ll feel better.”

“Fuck!” Alice shouted at the top of her lungs, and I jolted in shock. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

We all broke out in a fit of laughter at Alice’s outburst, and when Jasmin and Gerard rushed back in the room to see why Colin’s mother was yelling fuck, we laughed even harder. It felt good. The pressure that had been slowly building in my chest started to deflate.

“Fuck,” my mom squeaked out.

“Mom. You can do better than that.” I giggled.

“Fuck!” she screamed. “Fuck a duck!”

“What the actual fuck is going on?” Jasmin asked.

“Fuck,” my mom repeated.

“What the hell have you done? You broke her. My debutante aunt is dropping the f-bomb.”

“Fucker,” Alice blurted, then quickly covered her mouth.

She and my mother were in stitches. They both tossed out obscenities and giggled like little girls. It was hilarious. The best thing I’d seen or heard all day.

“Never again do I want to hear anyone complain about my cussing,” Jasmin announced. “If Robert and Asher’s first words are fuck, I know who to blame.”

I wanted to ask her why Garrett had wanted to talk to her and Gerard, but I didn’t dare. The heavy weight had started to lift, which was a good thing because I didn’t think I would have survived the elephant on my chest much longer.

Come on, Colin, where are you? Please come home safely.

Chapter 30

“Bubba, you got eyes?” Rocco asked his teammate.

“Crystal fucking clear. I found a deer stand, of all things. Let’s hope this bad boy can withstand my .338. If not, I’m falling about twenty feet on my ass.”

“Gumby, Ace, Phantom, you in place?” Rocco continued.

Three yeses came through the comms. We had an old hunting cabin surrounded. Rocco’s men had the north and east covered and Dec, Linc, and Jax had the south and west. Leo had found a sniper’s perch as had Bubba, the best long-range shooter on Rocco’s team.

Rocco and I stood with Zane, hidden in the tree line, waiting for him to give the orders.

“Ready to punch some tickets?” he asked.

Eleven resounding yeses called back. I was more than ready. First, Erin and me, and now Tom. Someone was about to learn the meaning of a bullet is forever. It was a lesson a man only learned once if it was properly placed. With the reputation Rocco and his team had, they didn’t miss. And neither did we.

“Leo. Bubba. Go.”

The three of us hung back and waited, and two shots rang out, both just shy of the building. We couldn’t strike the house and risk hitting Tom, but we needed to flush them out. Without eyes inside, we had no way of knowing how many there were or where they were hiding the president.

“Two tangos out the back,” Linc called in before two more shots were fired.

“Both down.”

“I see a peeker. Bubba, do you have a shot?” I asked.

“In three . . .” He never finished his countdown verbally, but when I got to one in my head, the man looking out the window crumpled from view.