Switched Read Online Free PDF Page B

to the floor if the stranglehold on her hadn’t kept her upright. Between the roar of blood to her ears and the sudden buzzing in her head, she could barely hear.
    “Let the lady go.” Aaron’s flat voice rang throughout the unfinished floor.
    The man’s heavy breathing hit her cheek as he spoke. “This is not the time for you to be a hero.”
    She totally disagreed and wanted to scream that fact, but she used all of her energy to stay still instead. Aaron had been playing the role of hero since he’d stormed into the bathroom to warn her. She would let him play it forever if he somehow got them out of this nightmare.
    When she finally forced her body to breathe and her heart to pump in the nonstroke range, she picked up the sounds of the room. The uncovered lights hummed above her head, and the floor creaked beneath her feet as she shifted her weight.
    “You know something?” Aaron slipped a second gun out of his jacket pocket and fixed that one on the attacker, too. “I’m getting tired of guys grabbing her.”
    “I don’t know anything about that.”
    “You’re number three and I’m about out of patience.”
    The man’s hold tightened. “She’s coming with me.”
    Risa grabbed on to the arm choking her, hoping to push him off, but the thick muscle didn’t give. The attacker tucked her body against his like a shield. She feared any bullet would travel through her before ever reaching him.
    Even with Aaron’s skill and laserlike focus, he couldn’t make a bullet’s trajectory bend and sweep. This wasn’t a movie. This was real life, and the possibility of her bleeding out on the floor grew greater with each passing second.
    Her attacker’s chest expanded against her back right before he spoke. “I have her, so you’re going to step back.”
    “And I have a bullet just begging for you to move one inch closer to the edge of stupid.”
    Fear had her teeth chattering and the blood pounding in her temples. “Aaron.”
    “Yeah. Listen to the lady, Aaron.” The attacker gathered her even closer until his hair brushed against her cheek. “You’ve got her scared. I can feel her shaking, and it doesn’t have to be this way.”
    “Why do you want her?”
    “I don’t care about her.”
    Not the first time she’d heard those words. But she’d never faced dismissal at the end of a gun. Lied to, dumped? Yes. Threatened? Never in her life until the past few hours.
    “So this is about money,” Aaron said, the disgust filling his voice.
    “Isn’t everything?” The attacker motioned with his gun. “Move to the side.”
    When Aaron obeyed, her heart dropped to her knees. They’d barely gone out, but she expected him to help…to do something before just handing her over. She tried to wrap her brain around what she thought she’d learned about him today and what was happening now. He’d rescued her in the bathroom. Abandoning her now without a fight made no sense.
    “I need your gun on the floor. All of them. Even the ones I can’t see.” The attacker pivoted as he spoke, keeping her angled in front of him and between him and the potential exchange of fire.
    Aaron’s knees bent and his hands started toward the floor. She wanted to shout and beg. She went for attack mode instead. A smart woman didn’t wait to be rescued.
    She could kick out, maybe hit this guy at a vulnerable spot and give Aaron a minute to get off a shot. She’d just decided to launch when his furious gaze caught hers. With an almost imperceptible shake of his head, he had her mind spinning in confusion.
    “That’s it.” Her attacker braced his legs apart as he spoke. “You do the right thing here, Aaron, and we all go home.”
    “Except me.” She knew that truth as sure as she knew anything.
    The man chuckled. “I’m afraid someone has plans for you.”
    “Who?” Aaron asked.
    “Put the weapons down.” All amusement was wiped clear of the man’s voice. He was back to waving the gun around and promising pain