Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

Frankie

I stood in an alley behind the office for the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and peered around the corner at the van. No one was around it at the moment, but it sat right at the mouth of the alley. There was no way for me to get closer without being seen.

Instead, I stood waiting, and ducked back around the corner every time it looked like someone might be coming near the van.

About five minutes later, a car alarm started wailing. This wasn't unusual in a big city, but then another went off, and then another. Soon, at least a dozen cars that had been parked along the side of the road were all screaming in unison. I couldn't see the cars, but I could see the people on the street all stopping to stare in the same direction.

Specifically, everyone was looking in the opposite direction of the van.

This was my chance.

As quickly as I could, I crept closer to the van, and pulled out the pieces of wire I'd acquired earlier. Just like I had with the pharmacy when I needed to get medicine for Gabe, my fingers easily remembered how to maneuver the wire in the lock. The latch on the vehicle was even easier than the door to the pharmacy, and with only a few seconds of effort the back of the van was open for me.

Those car alarms weren't going to last long, so I didn't waste time and immediately started searching through the van. It was full of supplies, but most of it was innocuous. Stacks of printed flyers, all bearing the Senator's face. A tent to put over the booth, presumably to keep it dry if the weather turned and it decided to rain. There was even a box of streamers and balloons that someone must have decided at the last minute was too juvenile and was excluded from the charity booth's decorations.

None of it was what I was looking for.

A few of the car alarms went silent. The remaining ones still made plenty of noise, but I was running out of time.

I had to stop blindly searching and start thinking with a criminal mindset.

If I was trying to hide sensitive information in a place that wasn't easily found but also not incriminating, where would I hide it?

Well, I wouldn't be able to make any obvious alterations to the van. That would be too suspicious, and my plausible deniability would go out the window if the alteration was ever discovered. So, the lists would have to be hidden in a part of the van that would typically exist on this type of vehicle.

Snapping my fingers, I pushed a few stacks of flyers out of the way to reveal the latch for the spare tire compartment under the floorboards.

Locked.

Annoying, but a good sign that I was on the right track. Normal people didn't bother locking up their spare tire.

With the help of my homemade lock pick, I had the spare tire compartment open almost as quickly as I'd opened the van's door.

Jackpot.

There were several binders of paper stashed where the spare tire should have been, and a quick glance showed that they were full of lists of names. One binder looked to be lists of women who had applied for help from Love Without Limits , and another was filled with info about the charity's volunteer staff. The third binder I didn't recognize the information it contained, but I grabbed it anyway.

We needed all the info we could get, and I wasn't about to waste this opportunity.

I closed and relocked the van just as the last car alarm fell silent. With the binders clutched in my arms and turned to run from the van, only to immediately run smack into Gabe.

"Whoa. Oh, hey. You're back. Good job with that distraction."

He didn't say anything. Just grabbed my arm and quickly dragged me away from the van. We stuck to back alleys and didn't stop running until we'd put several blocks between us and the van. I wasn't even sure which building we were behind or which direction the car was, but it didn't matter. We were safe, and we'd gotten away with some hopefully useful information.

"That was fun," I gasped. It was hard to speak as I caught my breath while also trying not to laugh from the sheer exhilaration of it all.

Gabe wasn't laughing, nor was he even breathing hard, so his next words were crystal clear.

"You know how to pick locks?"

If I'd been paying attention, I would have noticed the odd tone in his voice. Instead, I just smiled up at him with a proud flush on my cheeks.

"Oh, yeah. I told you how I had a rough time after I was attacked and lost my scholarship. Well, I kinda went off the rails for a while. Nothing too bad but breaking into places became a common hobby for me. I didn't steal stuff. I just liked the thrill of being where I wasn't supposed to be and knowing that I could steal something if I wanted to. You know."

I held out the three stolen binders to him.

"My physical therapist helped me through it, and eventually, got me back on the right track, but I've still got the skills. Never thought I'd put those skills to good use like this, but, ta-da. Success. Hopefully, we'll be able to do something with these lists."

My excited flush turned to ice in my veins when I finally noticed the look on Gabe's face. He stared at the binders in my hands with an odd expression. It wasn't mad, but it certainly didn't look happy either. He was obviously feeling some sort of strong emotion, but I had no idea what it was.

"Sorry," I said, though I wasn't sure what I was apologizing for. "I just wanted to help, but I guess I shouldn't have?—"

Before I could finish, I was suddenly shoved backward against the alley wall. Gabe's hand on the back of my head protected it from hitting the brick as he pressed his mouth to mine. I shouted into the kiss, uncertain what was happening at first, which provided an opening for his tongue to plunge forward. My shout turned into a moan, and I kissed him back with equally heated force.

I wanted to cling to him, but my hands were stuck gripping the binders that were now crushed between our bodies. Instead, all I could do was writhe in his embrace and try to spur him on with my enthusiasm.

He kissed me like he was trying to inhale me into his lungs while also surrounding me on all sides. It was midday. The sun shone high in the sky, yet Gabe's form blocked out the light and wrapped me in the coolness of his shadow.

There was no way to tell how long we stayed like that, but it must have been a while, because when Gabe finally pulled back enough for me to think straight, the angle of the sun had shifted.

My legs felt like someone had replaced my bones with jelly, but Gabe still looked infuriatingly composed as he started pulling me down the alley.

"Back to the car. We need to leave."

I obeyed automatically and followed him, despite the arousal still surging through me like an electrical current traveling from my brain to my toes and back.

Was that it?

The man practically sucked my soul out between my lips, then just moved on like nothing happened?

When we reached the car, I thought we might continue once we were safely inside, but no. Gabe started the engine and pulled the car onto the road without a word of explanation.

What did it even mean?

Was he happy about what I'd done?

Surely a kiss must indicate positive feelings. Yet, he'd walked away and continued as if nothing had happened. The man didn't even look flushed and not a hair stood out of place, while I felt like a throbbing mess of arousal and confusion.

Scowling, I tossed the binders into the backseat, then leaned against the window in the hope that the cool glass would calm the unsatisfied itch under my skin.

Not once, during the entire car ride back to the safe house, did Gabe look at me. He barely even said two words as his gaze remained locked on the road and his hands were perfectly poised on the steering wheel at ten and two.

I idly played with my braids, keeping my own hand busy. As I thought about it, I came to two conclusions. Either Gabe hadn't agreed with my actions when I stole the binders and the kiss had been a way to shut me up and keep me obedient, or Gabe did agree with my actions, and the kiss had been his idea of a reward for a job well done. It certainly hadn't been due to any actual desire on his part. He'd walked away too easily, as if we'd merely exchanged handshakes.

Eventually, I settled on the second option. The kiss had been meant as some sort of reward for successfully stealing the binders. There were worse reasons to be kissed, but it wasn't the one I wanted. While the kiss had been hot during the moment, once it was done it felt like a business exchange.

Empty.

Cold.

Emotionless.

The hours back to the safe house were the longest, most awkward car ride of my life. We didn't even play the radio. Just sat in silence as the miles flew by under our tires.

When we reached the safe house, I wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or even more frustrated. Newt and Sebastian would break the unbearable silence, but I would have to act composed around them while on the inside I felt like a cat whose fur had been rubbed the wrong way.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the car. The weather had been getting warmer recently, but the air within the shadow of the woods was still cool and refreshing in my lungs.

In the front window of the house, I could see Newt and Sebastian moving around in the kitchen. Newt seemed to be doing most of the work preparing something, but Sebastian was managing to help here and there from his wheelchair. It wasn't ideal. The size of the kitchen, and the house in general, made it difficult for Sebastian to maneuver the chair, but it was the most activity I'd seen from him since he was injured. No matter how frustrated I was in that moment, seeing one of my patients making good progress always brought a warm feeling to my chest.

I reached for the door handle to go inside, but Gabe's hand on my wrist pulled me away.

"Hey, wait. Where are we going?"

His only answer was to pull me toward the RV, which sat exactly where I had left it. Although the sun was still in the sky, it was blocked by the foliage of the surrounding trees, so the atmosphere inside the RV was as dim as dusk. The door to the RV rattled on its hinges when Gabe closed it hard enough for me to feel the vibration through the floor.

When he finally let go of my wrist, I crossed my arms and scowled at him. "Are you going to explain what you're doing, or am I going to have to guess?"

I'd barely finished speaking when Gabe grabbed my face between his hands and kissed me. It was just as hot and intense as back in the alley, as if the several-hours-long car ride never happened and we were immediately picking up where we left off. The quick change between hot and cold and hot again left my head spinning.

"What is up with you?" I demanded when I managed to pull away enough to gasp out a few words.

"You just…" Gabe gripped my upper arms almost hard enough to bruise and he seemed to be fighting off the urge to shake me. "Do you have any idea what you do? What you cause?"

At first, I thought he was angry at me, but that didn't align with the kiss. There were a lot of reasons to kiss someone, and anger wasn't usually one of them.

I looked at him closer. His gray eyes were dilated so wide his pupils had practically swallowed the iris.

With a snap of clarity, I understood.

"Oh." Reaching out, I plucked at the buttons of his shirt. "I see. My little act of petty theft got you all… flustered."

He shook his head but didn't let me go. If anything, he pulled me closer. "Not petty. And barely theft. That info could be used to hurt a lot of people, and now, we can protect them instead."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed close enough to feel his arousal through his pants. "So, that's what does it for you? Getting to be the protector?"

This time, when he pressed his lips to mine, there was an added growl of frustration at the back of his throat. He nipped my bottom lip, adding a thrilling bit of pain to the pleasure.

"That's not it. Many people would help in that situation, but they would hesitate to put themselves in danger. You didn't hesitate. You never do."

Smirking to myself, I pushed him away so there was more space between us, conveniently moving myself closer to the bed at the back of the RV.

"Some people would call that reckless."

Just as I hoped, Gabe followed me.

"Reckless. Yes." He grabbed onto me, his hands wrapping around my waist, but he kept walking so I had no choice but to back up until my knees hit the side of the bed. "Also infuriating, arousing, and confusing."

He found my neck with his lips and pressed a line of warm, biting kisses from my ear down to be collarbone.

"I never know what to do with you."

He slipped his leg between mine, so his thigh pressed against my groin. The unexpected stimulation made me flinch. I stumbled backward and fell onto the bed in an artless display of sprawling limbs. The mattress cushioned my fall, so nothing hurt, but the unexpectedness of it all left me breathless nonetheless,

As I looked up at Gabe from where I lay on the bed, I waited for him to join me. Yet, in an odd reaction, he closed his eyes and tipped his face toward the ceiling instead. Running his hands over his hair to smooth it back into place, he seemed to be counting silently under his breath.

I swung my legs around and clambered onto my knees to get a closer look at him.

"Are you… doing breathing exercises to calm yourself down right now?"

He opened his eyes, and his pupils no longer looked as dilated as they had before. "Apologies. I was getting too worked up."

My mouth hung open as I gaped at him with a comical expression. "Worked up? I certainly hope so. If there's any time to get worked up, this is it. Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?"

A slight blush turned his earlobes red. It was a subtle color, but on Gabe's usually stoic face, subtle reactions were the same as screaming.

"I tend to… forget myself when I get worked up. I'm told that I can be too much, so it's better if I stay calm."

"Oh, no. Fuck that." I found the button of Gabe's pants with shaking fingers and fumbled it open. "This is not the time to stay calm. I'd prefer too much than not enough ." A thought occurred to me as I started unzipping his fly. "Is this why you suddenly stopped kissing me back in the alley? You were afraid of getting too worked up ?"

Gabe gripped my wrist, though he didn't stop me as I slowly slid his pants over his hips. "The alley wasn't safe."

He was too distracted by what I was doing to explain further, but I knew him well enough by now to read between the lines.

"You didn't think you'd be able to stop if we went any further back then. Fine. But you could have just told me that."

His pants landed on the floor in a puddle around his feet, and I slipped my hand inside his underwear.

"You left me hanging for hours, horny and confused, with no explanation. I had to sit through that whole car ride wondering what I'd done wrong." I wrapped my fingers around the very hard shaft of his cock, gripping him tightly, and then I looked up at him through my eyelashes. "Make it up to me."

I could see in his eyes the moment that his control snapped, though I didn't have time to revel in my victory. He grabbed my shoulders and shoved me onto my back on the bed. His weight pinned me down when he lay over me, gripping my wrists in both hands as he brought his mouth down on mine once more.