Cyborg Nation Kaitlyn O'Connor (books to get back into reading TXT) 📖

a growl of rage, he launched himself toward Gabriel even as Gabriel came to a halt and glanced guiltily toward Gideon and Jerico.

Hearing the warning growl, Jerico intercepted Gideon, bracing his body and exerting an equal, opposing weight against Gideon. “The hold, Gideon! Not here!”

“I do not need to go into the hold,” Gideon growled. “I will strangle that son-of-a-bitch with my bare hands. There will be no sound at all save for his gurgling as I choke the life out of him.”

“Fine!” Gabriel growled. “I will meet you in the hold!”

“We agreed to conduct these discussions in the hold!” Jerico reminded Gideon.

Tiring of trying to shove Jerico out of the way, Gideon slammed his fist into Jerico’s belly instead, lifting him nearly a foot off the floor.

“He has fucked her!” Gideon ground out, slamming his other fist into Jerico’s belly and then shoving him out of the way. “We agreed that we would hold out for a contract! I will tear his cock off and choke him with it!”

Gabriel ducked as Gideon launched himself full tilt at him, catching Gideon in the breast bone with his shoulder. The blow knocked the breath out of Gideon and sent him pin wheeling backward. He fell on his rump and side and skidded several feet.

“I did not fuck her!” Gabriel snarled. “She pleasured me!”

That caught both Jerico’s and Gideon’s attention. Holding his chest, still struggling to catch his breath, Gideon merely glared up at him as he staggered up from the floor. Jerico, massaging his lower belly, having just regained his feet, froze. “She did what?” he demanded in dawning fury.

An expression of guilt and then pleasure flickered over Gabriel’s taut features. “With her mouth.”

Jerico and Gideon exchanged a glance. “Her mouth?” Gideon demanded, still without comprehension but with dawning outrage.

“Yes!” Gabriel snarled. “I did not breach orders! She took me into her mouth and pleasured me!”

“Now I know I will kill you!” Gideon ground out furiously, launching himself at Gabriel again.

Jerico, uttering a roar of rage, reached Gabriel first. Burying his head into Gabriel’s belly like a battering ram, he drove Gabriel backwards until he hit the corner of the table and fell. Gideon, hard on their heels, grabbed Jerico and slung him aside then dove on top of Gabriel, grabbing him by the throat.

Gabriel pried at Gideon’s fingers then slammed his fists against Gideon’s forearms. Unable to break the hold, he reached upward instead and closed his fingers around Gideon’s throat.

Bronte, hearing the commotion, ran to the door and froze as she reached the threshold, staring in frozen horror at the tableau before her for several moments. “Stop it!” she cried out finally. “You’re choking him!”

“I mean to choke him to death,” Gideon snarled in a choked voice.

Glancing around a little frantically for a weapon, Bronte finally realized she still had her book in her hand. Charging across the ship, she began pounding on Gideon’s shoulder with the plasti-metal tube. “Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” she yelled, punctuating each demand by rapping Gideon on the shoulder with the hard, cylindrical tube.

Jerico snagged her around the waist and snatched her off her feet, heading toward the room with her. After prying at his fingers for a moment and discovering she couldn’t break his grip on her, she began swinging blindly at him with the tube, catching him several times on the head with it before he snatched it out of her hand. “Damn it, woman!” Jerico growled as he set her on her feet inside the cabin. “Stay in here!”

Glaring at his back when he turned to head back into the fray, Bronte followed him. He halted at the door, whirling to face her. “You will stay put or I will tie you to that bed!” he ground out.

Bronte snapped at his finger with her teeth when he shook it in her face.

He managed to snatch it back before she could clamp down on it. For a split second an expression of stunned surprise crossed his features. Anger quickly replaced it, however.

“Bronte!” he growled warningly.

“You stop them then!”

His eyes narrowed. “Did you pleasure him with your mouth?” he demanded.

Bronte blinked at him rapidly several times. “He told you!” she gasped indignantly.

Jerico’s face contorted with fury. Turning on his heel, he left the room abruptly.

Furious herself now, Bronte was tempted to let them kill each other. As she watched the fight, however, searching a little frantically for something she might use to distract them, her gaze lit on the refrigeration unit. Stalking over to it, she opened the door, snatched the large container of ice water from the shelf and pitched the contents at them. As full as the container was, it seemed doubtful more than a glass full had hit any of the three. They were already overheated from fighting, however, and the moment the icy water sluiced over them all three men sucked in a harsh gasp of shock and froze, lifting their heads slowly to stare at her in disbelief.

Stunned herself at the effectiveness of it, Bronte stared back at them with a shock nearly equal to theirs. The moment their shock wore off, however, and all three faces went taut with anger, Bronte dropped the container and sailed back to the safety of the room. She wasn’t sure where to go once she got there. There was no place to hide and no room that she could barricade against them—nothing she could drag to the door to use as a barricade. The bed was attached to the wall and floor.

Scurrying over to the bed, she hopped on top of the mattress and snatched the cover up … as if it would work as some sort of shield if they decided to come after her.

Minutes passed while Bronte tried to listen over the thumping of her heartbeat in her ears and wondered what in the world had possessed her. She’d just decided they weren’t going to follow her when the door opened and all three men crowded into