Chapter 24 Survival and Evasion

Wren

The kiss in the car with Magnum blew my everloving mind. I knew Vander was watching and didn't care. Connecting his lips with mine after all the excitement left me feeling invincible. Was this why Magnum did his commando things? Was he addicted to this rush?

Finally, he pulled away, and I held my hand to my chest over my frantic heartbeat. "I can't believe I did that."

"You are a fucking rock star." He slung an arm around my shoulders and tugged me against his side. I didn't feel like a rock star. I felt like a hot mess, but if that was what he thought, I'd take it.

"Heard the view was nice up there. Great for stargazing." Vander smirked as he glanced at us in the rearview mirror.

Oh no. The whole team probably heard what we'd done.

"Don't even go there," Mag warned as he pulled out his phone and tapped quickly. "We got a new problem. Sent a visual."

Vander nodded. "Let's rendezvous with the team for your SITREP."

Their words flew past me in a blur. Everything had happened so fast. Did Magnum really do what he just did in the library of Kenny's mansion? I could not believe I'd poked Tommy in the balls and ran from him at gunpoint. Oh my God. That was terrifying.

His eyes studied me like he was reading my thoughts. We pulled into the garage of the safe house and the door closed behind us. "We're gonna be late to the after-action. I got plans to take my wife somewhere right now."

Vander looked back over his shoulder and squinted at Mag. "The fuck?"

"She needs to decompress." Mag reached in his jacket and removed the listening device he had in there. He handed it to Vander who took it without a word, but his jaw was tight. "It's Valentine's Day, Viper. You take a moment with Celeste too, and we'll meet up at zero hundred hours."

Vander raised his eyebrows and then tilted his lips like he was considering it.

We climbed out of the car that Vander was driving, and Mag led me by the hand to a black muscle car that was also parked in the garage. "We're taking the Challenger," he called out to Vander.

He opened the passenger door for me, and I was still staring in shock as I took a seat and he closed it.

Vander was laughing and shaking his head as he walked through the interior door to the house.

"We're going somewhere?" I asked him as he lowered himself into the driver's seat.

"Yeah." He grinned as he pulled a gun from the glove box and did a slick move where he checked it quickly then tucked it into his waistband before he started the car and opened the garage door again.

"Wife?" I asked him as I watched the door close in front of us.

"For tonight, yes. Valentine's Day isn't over yet. "

We drove out to Griffith Park and took the winding road up to the observatory. He parked over the scenic lookout in the lot.

"How did you know I love it here?"

"I figured with the whole feeding the birds in the park thing, you'd be into views of the city from above."

"I totally am." Especially the one back at the mansion, but this one was great too. "I'm so excited." We sat staring at the panoramic view for a long time. The iconic Los Angeles skyline broke the horizon, and I felt like we could reach out and touch the stars. In the quiet of the car, I closed my eyes. High pitched buzzing pierced all my thoughts among a slew of images.

Mag in his tuxedo, the magic show, Kenny holding my hand, Mag's hand between my legs in the library, the hair stick going right through Tommy's pants, running through the side yard of the mansion, and now the expansive lights of the city below.

I'd managed to block the memories of Tommy killing my parents, and they tried to sneak in now, but I pushed them away and put my hands over my ears.

"Hey, hey, hey." Mag's big strong arm wrapped around my shoulders and tugged me close. I leaned into him and took a deep breath. He smelled so good. Spicy and warm. "Tonight was a lot for you."

"I know. I'm processing it all."

"Take your time. That's why we're here."

I tried to use some of the techniques Fiona had taught me. Deep breaths while I imagined tossing the scene into the ocean and letting it sink down. Not carrying the weight of it all on me right now. Pushing it away a little longer.

Mag angled his body over the center console to press me deeper into his chest. His lips touched the top of my head, and I was sure he was smelling all the hairspray Stella had used. After a little while cuddling in Mag's arms, the buzzing stopped and the slideshow in my head was focused only on the view.

"I'm okay now."

"You sure?"

"No. But I think I'm okay enough."

"Alright." He squeezed my arm and let me go.

I immediately missed his warmth.

"I can't believe you stabbed him." A smile grew on his lips as he shook his head.

"I did. I don't even remember making the decision to do it. I only remember it poking his pants. I couldn't believe it pierced the fabric. I thought it would bounce off, but it popped through like a safety pin in a hot air balloon."

Mag laughed and I did too. It helped relieve the tension.

He looked down at me with warm eyes. "You were phenomenal tonight."

I chuckled under my breath. "No, I was not. You said my poker face is shit."

"Oh, it is. It was phenomenal how much you didn't care, how much you tried and failed, all the emotions you went through. Scared and excited. Fun to watch."

"You're laughing at me." I pushed on his chest, which did nothing, but gave me a chance to touch him .

"I'm not. I'm truly in awe. You were very brave tonight." His eyes softened, and my belly flipped. He was dangerous when he looked at me like that.

"You said you were obsessed with, uh, astronomy."

He reached out and wrapped his warm hands around my neck, his thumbs by my ears, his fingers digging into my hair. "True."

"You don't deny it?" I whispered as he held me captive with his hands.

"No."

"Hmm."

He leaned in and kissed me slowly, gently, adoringly, his thumbs tilting my chin up. Butterflies took flight in my tummy, and my whole body heated.

With his lips against mine, he said, "I like pretending to be your husband. Makes me think things I never thought of."

"Like what?"

He released my face and turned forward to stare out at the view. Shoot. I shouldn't have asked the question. I didn't want him to stop kissing me.

"Doesn't matter. I'm never getting married."

His sudden change in mood had me reeling. "You're not? How do you know?"

"Marriage is a farce where you promise to make a temporary feeling last forever."

"You really think that?"

"I don't feel any emotion except horny, and I can't promise anyone I'll feel that way in five hours, much less five years."

"You don't feel any emotion? "

He shook his head. "No. I don't feel nothin'."

"I don't believe you."

He grunted.

"I know you feel loyalty. To your team, to your brothers. What about your sister and her kids?"

"Loyalty is not a feeling."

What was with him? Why was he being so stubborn? "I've seen a lot of emotion from you, Mag. I feel it pouring off of you so strong sometimes it blinds me. When I first met you, you were defensive, protecting your brother. I could tell you fiercely loved him. On the wedding day, you saw me crying in the rain and you felt like you needed to do something so you stepped in. That was compassion and empathy, if not for me, for your brother."

He turned his head and looked out the side window to avoid my glare. I didn't care if he didn't like talking about his emotions. To me, it was important.

"You hate birds and Lord of the Rings. That's an emotion."

"True."

"And will you always hate those things?"

"Probably."

"So if you can hate something forever, you can love something forever. Like your family and your team. You love them forever."

"That's one way to look at it."

Okay, now he was making me mad by not acknowledging what we both knew was true. "Are you really gonna tell me you won't love your brother forever? "

He blew out a long slow breath and rested one arm on the steering wheel. "He's testing me right now with this Kenny bullshit, but yes, I love him." I caught him fighting a smile.

"That's why you didn't want to kiss me because you love your brother. You didn't want to hurt him. You were faithful to him when you thought I was married to him and I was his girl."

"Right."

"You took care of your siblings since you were young. Katrina came through and wiped away everything you had. You got them out of that dangerous foster care situation and kept the family together. You've been their father figure. You don't do that out of obligation. You love them."

He finally looked at me again and nailed me with those whiskey eyes and his brilliant smile. "You know too much and you're too smart."

"You really shouldn't bottle this all up inside and deny your feelings. You're a deeply caring person, incredibly brave and loyal, and I think you suffer guilt from all the death and destruction you've seen. Maybe you still feel shame for the things you did to survive when you were younger. All that stuff needs to be released or it will find its way out somehow that might be worse. That's what I've learned from Fiona—"

His lips smashed into mine and cut me off. He gripped my hair and tugged my head back. "Hush now."

He kissed me deeply, and I surrendered to it. He was leaning far over the center console, kissing me so wholly that my mind blanked. My body was instantly on fire for him, and I leaned back to try and drag him closer .

He pulled away and looked at the steamed up windows. "There goes our view."

I laughed as I tried to catch my breath. Mag was a great kisser. "I forgot what I was saying, but it was good, and I was right."

His eyes were soft and his mouth twisted. "Let's get some air."

When he came around and opened my door, a cool breeze rushed into the car, and I shivered.

He took off his tuxedo jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders. It smelled good like a sweet, warm Magnum cocoon. As we walked slowly out to the dome where the telescope was housed, he took my hand.

"There's the Hollywood sign." I pointed to the big glowing letters up on another peak across a canyon.

"Yep." He squeezed my hand.

We walked past the grassy area in front of the telescope and made our way behind it. Over the bannister, the park and the city sprawled out around us.

"I'm not getting married either," I blurted out.

"That so?"

"Nope. Not for a while."

"You were pretty hot to marry Gavin."

"That was just because of the threat. Before Kenny, I wondered if I might end up marrying Gavin someday. He seemed safe."

Magnum scoffed. "He wasn't."

"I thought it was what my grandfather would have wanted for me. Now, I'm like fuck it. There's way too much of the world I haven't seen. Too much fun to be had. I'm not marrying anybody."

He laughed and squeezed my hand. "Then we'll just enjoy our one chance to pretend."

"Sure."

He leaned against the railing of the balcony and pulled me into his arms. "What kinds of things do you want to see?" His hands settled on the small of my back.

"I don't even know. Have you seen those Casino Menengo commercials where the girls are all happy and walking around in short skirts with drinks in their hands?"

He smirked as he peered down at me. "Yeah."

"That looks like fun."

His brow furrowed, and he scratched the back of his head. "Casino Menengo won't satisfy you. You want to gamble, go to Vegas or Biloxi."

A man like him could probably dart off to wherever he wanted. I was limited by finances and my obligation to keep the bakery open. "I don't really want to gamble."

"Then why do you want to go to a casino?"

"I don't know. I just want to feel free, dance, dress up, and enjoy myself without worrying about money or expectations." I hadn't told anyone about this before, but it didn't seem so unreasonable now that I'd verbalized it. I'd served my time being the dutiful granddaughter. Now I wanted to see what else was out there. "As soon as we're clear with Kenny, I'm getting the marriage dissolved, and I'm going to be free for the first time in my life."

He grunted, took my hand, and started walking again .

"Tonight was fun too. I want to do it again. I want another shooting lesson. I want to know what to do next time I encounter Tommy." I made the shape of a gun with my fingers and pretended to shoot out over the canyon.

"Never shoulda let you go alone into that bathroom. Gotta teach you some survival and evasion skills."

"Ooh, what's that?"

"Basically learning to avoid capture and torture."

"Torture?" I gulped down the nervous lump in my throat. I hadn't thought of what might've happened if I didn't escape Tommy. Mag had obviously thought about it because his face was serious, probably still beating himself up that it happened. "Okay, so teach me what to do for next time."

He chewed his lip and scanned the horizon. "Alright. Say I'm the bad guy. Not so hard to imagine, huh?" He winked and let go of my hand. "You have to evade me for ten minutes. No leaving the concrete. You game?"

"Like hide and seek?"

"Sorta." His eyes were already scanning the area and plotting out a strategy while I didn't even understand the rules yet.

"Do I get a head start?"

"Sure. One minute." He looked at his watch.

"I'm not wearing a watch."

He nailed me with a warning glare. "Then start counting."

"Um..."

"Run, Rebel. Don't get caught for ten minutes. Stay in the concrete areas. "

My heart was already racing. It felt incredibly risky to me to run around a public place late at night. It was probably against the rules. I was about to tell him we shouldn't when he started counting.

"One Mississippi," he said casually, but the undercurrent of danger in his voice raised goosebumps on my skin.

There were a few other couples enjoying the view, but it was mostly deserted. "Okay. Don't watch me." I bent down to take off my shoes.

"Two Mississippi..."