Dirty Power (14 page)

“Damn right.” Ade let go of me.

“There’s a bar not far from here.” I nodded down the street. “Let’s go there. Sit and talk.”

“But I want to go see Ryan,” Ade said.

“I’ll text him to meet us, okay?” Reese lied again.

“Cool.”

Reese pulled her phone out of her purse. She fell back a step to text Ryan. I didn’t need to see what she was typing to know what it said. Plan C.

Ryan wouldn’t show up at the bar. In under ten minutes, he, Breno, and Christopher would be out of the house and on the way to an apartment an hour away from here. Plan C: Run like fucking hell.

A few blocks later, we stopped outside a very noisy and very popular club in downtown.

“This place is kinda loud. Should we go somewhere we can actually talk?” Ade asked.

“We can go upstairs. It’s quieter there.” I pointed at the upper floor.

She nodded and followed us in.

“Back stairs are this way.” Reese led us to a dark hallway that did not, in fact, lead to the back stairs.

Two girls walked out of the bathroom ahead of us. I nodded as we let them pass. A moment later, we were alone in the very loud hallway. I clamped my hand over Ade’s mouth and grabbed her hands. Reese reached under Ade’s shirt and peeled away the leads for the wire. Ade started to scream, but I pinched her cheeks until she stopped struggling. I doubted the sound would be picked up. That was why I’d chosen this place.

Reese left the wire and battery on a wide ledge on the wall. It would buy us a few minutes before they—whoever they were—realized that no one was attached to them anymore.

I yanked Ade down the hall, past the bathrooms, and out the back door.

“What the fuck did you do, Ade?” I asked as I pulled her down the back alley to the street.

“I’m sorry. I…they just want to talk to you. Help you out. Let me go.” She tried to pull away, but I tightened my grip on her wrists.

“Keep moving,” Reese said.

“Who?”

“What do you mean?” Ade asked.

“Who sent you?”

“The FBI. They just want to talk to you, I swear.” Ade was crying now. “You’re hurting me. Let go.”

“No. Keep walking or I’ll carry you.” It was another lie. I couldn’t carry her. But she didn’t know that.

“Why did they send you?” Reese asked.

“To help bring you home. Mom and Dad didn’t want me to come, but I had to. Those people, your family.” She shot a look at Reese. “They’re going to kill you guys.”

“If they find us they’ll kill us, but they couldn’t find us, Ade. Until you led them here.” I shot her a look of my own.

“No, they don’t know I’m here. They couldn’t know.”

“Why do the Feds want us?”

“To help bring the DiGiovannis down. That’s what they told me.”

“Be quiet for a minute,” Reese said. We were at a street now. Reese looked around until she found what she was looking for. An old car, windows down. Too rusty and pathetic to bother stealing. Reese climbed in the driver’s seat. She reached back and popped the locks.

“Get in.” I shoved Ade forward.

“What? But this isn’t your car.”

She couldn’t know that. Except she did. How long had they been watching?

“How long have they been following us?” I pushed her into the backseat. She scooted over. I climbed in next to her, still holding her wrists.

“I don’t know.”

“How long have you been following us?” I asked.

“I haven’t been.”

“You’re a shitty liar.” She always had been.

“A couple weeks. They just want to help. I just want to help.”

“Fuck,” I said.

“Shit.” Reese had her hands so far under the steering column that I could barely see her head.

“Are we stealing this car?” Ade asked.

“Trying. Will you be quiet?” Reese asked. She had half the wires out of the dash now. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the car came to life. Limping, coughing, dying, but life. We took off.

“Please, guys. This isn’t who you are. You don’t steal cars and hurt people. Just come talk to Agent Ogilvy. She can help straighten this whole thing out. You can come home.”

“We don’t live there anymore,” Reese said. She was weaving in and out of traffic. I didn’t bother glancing back. I pretty much always figured someone was following us. Reese would lose them. She was good at that now.

“But you can come back.”

“Sorry, not happening. It’s not our home.” Reese sounded pissed. She should have been. We’d found whatever peace we could. And Ade had just destroyed it.

“What do you mean? It’s home. It’ll always be home.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” I said.

“Oh, right. Of course not. You sound just like Mom and Dad. When the Feds showed up they were all happy you guys were alive, and then they wouldn’t help bring you back. It’s fucking bullshit.”

“And you turned eighteen and jumped on a plane, right?” I asked.

“Damn right.”

“You couldn’t just let me live, could you?”

“I want you home. Why is that bad?”

“Because I’m not going home.”

“Yes, you are. That’s why I’m here,” she said.

“Listen, darlin’. If they catch me, I’m going to prison. Not back to EDH. Is that better? You can visit me. I’ll always be somewhere you can find me. Behind fucking bars. Is that what you want?” I finally let go of Ade’s hands. She wasn’t going anywhere. And I didn’t want to touch her. Or be anywhere near her.

“It’s not like that. Those DiGiovanni people want to kill you. The Feds will protect you.”

“They lied,” Reese said. “They don’t want to help us. They want to help themselves.”

“Screw you. I’m not some naïve fifteen-year-old. I know how this works.”

“You’re a naïve eighteen-year-old, and you’re going to get Coop killed,” Reese said.

“That’s it. Let me out of the car. Fuck you guys,” Ade said.

We were on a curving country road. It was late. There was no one behind us and no one ahead of us. Reese pulled the car over.

“Okay. Get out,” Reese said.

“What? Here?”

“Out now.”

Ade looked at me, desperation in her eyes.

“You have a cell phone?” I asked.

“What?”

“Cell phone?” I leaned over and checked her pockets.

“Hey!”

But it was too late. I’d found the phone. I tucked it back into her pocket, leaned over her, and opened the door.

“You heard Reese. Get out.”

“But you can’t do this.” More tears.

I pushed her until she climbed out of the car.

“Ade, I love you,” I said as she slammed the door.

“Fuck you!” she shouted one last time as Reese drove away.

“Fuck!”

“Yep,” Reese said.

“Fucking stupid bitch!”

“Breathing, Coop.”

The therapist I’d seen for our first six months in Spain had been all big on breathing when I got angry. Instead of beating on people. I hadn’t been big on breathing. But Reese still thought it was helpful.

“I don’t want to breathe,” I said.

Reese shrugged. “We need to contact Ryan.”

“Yeah, cell phones are in the kitchen.”

We were in a studio apartment about thirty miles away from the larger safe house where Christopher, Breno, and Ryan were. There were two such apartments in Spain because we lived close by. Another was in Sweden. And a fourth in Ireland. We also had a big ass house in Brazil. But only Christopher and Breno had been there. Reese and Ryan and I hadn’t visited it yet. There were two apartments near that place too. Each had supplies in case we needed to run.

Apparently, we needed to run.

We had ditched our stolen car a few blocks away and walked here. By the time they found the car and tracked down this apartment, we would be gone.

“Got ’em.” Reese walked back into the small room. She tossed me a box and started tearing into a second one.

I left mine on the table and went in search of clothes.

“Hey.” Reese wasn’t talking to me so I didn’t respond. Instead, I pulled out jeans and a T-shirt for Reese. Then I found a sweatshirt for each of us. My sweatshirt had SFU written across the chest. It was some university in British Columbia. Breno had ordered it online and washed it about a thousand times. Authenticity, he had said.

“No, her sister showed up,” Reese said.

“Fucking stupid bitch,” I said again. But Ryan couldn’t hear me and Reese wasn’t listening.

“Yeah. We’ll be there in a few.” Reese hung up the phone. Keep it short. Just in case.

“Disguises?” I asked.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we need to color your hair.”

“Probably smart.” I didn’t want to shave it off like last time. Hadn’t worked anyway.

“Strip and get in the kitchen.”

I did as I was told. Reese joined me with another box. This one was store-bought hair dye. Awesome. She spent way too much time reading the box. How hard could it be?

“You know I’m only wearing my underwear, right?”

“Yes, it’s distracting.” She didn’t look away from the box.

I smiled. “I mean, it’s cold.”

“Sorry. I’ve never done this before.”

“Liar,” I said.

“Huh?”

“Senior year. You died Carson’s hair blue when he was super drunk and he couldn’t stop you.”

Reese started laughing. “I was trying to give him more school spirit.”

“Bitch.”

“Yeah. Now shut up. I’m trying to read.”

Reese opened the box. There was a lot of crap in there. She put on the disposable gloves, then mixed some shit together in a squeeze bottle.

“Sit down and hold still.”

“Gotcha.” I sat in the only chair in the kitchen—furnishing hadn’t been a big priority—and bowed my head forward.

Reese started squeezing the contents of the bottle onto my head. It was cold. But then she started massaging it into my hair. Which felt good.

“Shit.”

“What?” I asked.

“I got it on your ear. Do you think that’s bad?”

“Probably. Wipe it off.”

“Let me finish. Then I’ll clean you up.”

It didn’t take her long to finish. My hair was short. She peeled off the gloves and tossed them into the sink. Then she used a damp towel to wipe off my neck and ears.

“That feels good,” I said.

“Shut up.”

“It does.” I lifted my head and stared into her eyes. They went gray. So I kissed her. She smiled against my lips.

“This isn’t supposed to be fun, you know?”

“But I’m with you. So it’s fun already.” I grinned.

“Liar.”

“Hey, Reese.”

“What?”

“Marry me?”

“Shouldn’t you be on one knee, wearing clothing, and not covered in hair color?”

I laughed. But the girl wanted it, so I slid off the chair and knelt. “Now will you marry me?”

Reese leaned down and kissed me. “Yes.”

“Are you just saying that ’cause I’m not wearing a shirt?”

“Yes.” She kissed me again.

“Good enough.” I stood and pulled her into a hug.

“Get off.” She pushed me away. “I don’t want dye all over me.”

“Fine. But you’re gonna marry me?” It seemed like I should make sure.

“Yes, Coop, I’m going to marry you.”

“I win,” I said.

Reese rolled her eyes. “We’re on the run now. Try to be serious.”

“All right. I’ll pretend to be serious.” I sighed like it was a big deal. “So, seriously, you’re gonna marry me?” Reese rolled her eyes. “Fine.” I sat in my chair. “How long do I have to keep this crap on?”

“Ummm.” She picked up the box again. “Like ten more minutes.”

“This is totally how I envisioned the night going.”

“Such a romantic.”

“I know.”

Ten minutes later, Reese washed my hair in the sink. Soapy dye kept running down my face. It collected in my ears and dripped off the end of my nose. I didn’t like it. So I shut my eyes and tried to breathe through my mouth.

When I straightened, Reese toweled my hair dry. She was all sexy and concentrating. I kissed her. For real this time. Nibbled on her lower lip, tasted the tip of her tongue. I pulled her close. She dropped the towel and kissed me back. Her hands fell to my shoulders and slid down my back.

“Wait. We can’t.” Reese pulled away.

“Yeah, we can. I’m chemical free.” I backed her against the counter.

“No, we need to get out of here. Like an hour ago.”

“An hour ago we weren’t even here.”

“Exactly,” she said.

“Damn.”

“Whoever the hell is after us could be here anytime.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

*

I put my pants back on. Reese lost the skirt and I lost my resolve. But then she gave me a scary look so I let her put some jeans on. Reese exchanged her top for the T-shirt I’d pulled out. We pocketed our new phones. Reese grabbed a set of keys from the kitchen. After studying the street out the windows for a full five minutes, we went out the door. Reese was in the middle of locking it when I stopped her.

“Shit, wait.”

“What now?”

“Your ring. I got you a fuckin’ awesome ring. It’s inside. In my jacket pocket.”

Reese managed to glare and laugh at the same time. But she opened the door back up. I ran in, grabbed the little wooden box, and ran back out.

“Do I know how to propose or what?” I asked.

“Yeah, you’re really suave.”

“I know.”

“You’re driving.” Reese tossed me the car keys.

“Okay, why?”

“Because I want to stare at my new ring.”

“It’s awesome.”

“Did they all help pick it out?” Reese stared at the box skeptically. She hadn’t opened it yet.

“I let Breno pick out the box. Christopher helped pick out the ring. Ryan got to pick it up.”

“Thank God. Ryan’s taste is…not great.”

“For real.”

We climbed in the car. I didn’t see anyone around. And no one followed us. It was getting late. Any tail would have been obvious.

“I think we’re in the clear.”

Reese didn’t say anything. I spared her a glance. She was cradling the ring box and it looked like she was crying.

“Are you crying?” I asked.

“No.” Yes. “Pull over.”

I did. Reese popped both our seat belts and climbed into my lap.

“I guess you like it?”

“Shut up.” And then she was kissing me. Fingers twisting in my damp hair, tongue in my mouth, tits pressed against mine, ass grinding into my lap, kissing me.

We could ditch the cops later.

I pulled her into the backseat with me. We fell so my feet were still in the front seat and her tits were in my face. Reese laughed and pulled her shirt over her head.

“Smooth, sweetheart.”

“I know.” I started unbuttoning her jeans. There was some fumbling and an elbow to my stomach, but we managed to get both our shirts off and her jeans halfway down her ass. She yanked my jeans and got them and one shoe off.

“So fucking romantic,” Reese said.

“Wait till you see what I planned for the honeymoon.”

And then we were both laughing and kissing and I really, really didn’t give a fuck if someone wanted to arrest us. Reese pressed her leg between mine. I arched up to meet her thrusts. Her hands were tangled in my hair, holding me close.

“You know it’s kinda hot, right?” Reese asked.

“Huh? No talking. Kiss me.” I captured her lips again.

“Your hair,” she said against my lips. “You’re kinda hot as a brunette.”

“You’re hotter.” And then I slid my tongue into her mouth and she stopped talking.

Reese wrapped her arms around my shoulders, lifting my face closer to hers. I pulled her hips close until I could feel her skin everywhere. Just everywhere.

“Touch me, Coop. Come on.”

So I pushed my hand between our bodies. She gasped when I slid my fingertips around her clit, lifted her hips so I could slip inside her. The warm grasp of her muscles pulled me in. She moaned into my mouth.

I so loved this girl.

“Come with me?” Reese asked. I could only nod and stare into her eyes. Fuck, she had beautiful eyes.

When Reese squeezed my clit, I thought my head was going to come off. And my heart was just going to beat right out of my chest. As I fucked her slow, then hard, and slow again, she just kept rubbing my clit. Too slow to come. Fast enough to keep me waiting, begging on the edge.

Her lips left mine, trailed down my cheek to my ear. Her warm breath tickled my neck. She bit a spot, sucked hard. She was going to come. Soon.

She picked up the pace, increased the pressure on my clit.

And then we were coming. Her hips jerked in my lap. Her fingers twitched on my clit. I lost myself in the feel of her clenching around my fingers. She gasped, moaned in my ear, and collapsed into me.

We stayed like that. I don’t know how long. I kissed her hair. Played my hand over her bare back. She kissed my neck, softly, slowly. Like she was falling asleep. But she wasn’t.

“It’s really pretty.”

“Huh?” I was always articulate after sex.

“The ring. It’s really pretty.”

“Good. I’m glad you like it.”

“Yeah.” Reese kissed my neck again and started to sit up. “We have to go.”

“No.”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.”

“I know.” She started pulling her jeans back up. I found her bra and handed it over.

“Have you seen my other shoe?” I’d managed to get my pants back on, but the shoe was gone.

“Uhhh.” Reese climbed into the front seat. I smacked her ass when she reached down to the floorboards for my shoe. “Not helping.”

“Or am I?” I asked.

“No.” She threw the shoe at me. “Not helping.”

Five minutes later, we were back on the road. Fully clothed and everything. Being on the run sucks.

*

“Holy fuck.” Ryan yanked us inside and shut the door. “They’re here,” he called. And then he pulled us into a group hug.

Breno and Christopher came into the room. They waited until we were done hugging Ryan, then they hugged us too.

“What happened?” Breno asked.

“My sister showed up. We were having dinner and I looked up and she was walking down the street. So I followed her.”

“But why did we need to run?” Christopher asked. “She’s only a kid.”

“She’s eighteen now. Not a kid. Feds sent her in. I saw the wire when she hugged Reese. I need coffee. Do we have coffee?” I moved past them into the small kitchen. There was a pot of coffee waiting. I poured a mug. When I turned around, Christopher, Breno, and Ryan were all crammed into the doorway. Ryan was practically vibrating.

“Why the hell would the Feds send in an eighteen-year-old?” Christopher asked.

Not a question I wanted to answer. Really, really not a question I wanted to answer. I had a pretty good idea of why the Feds would resort to the fuckin’ low move of sending in my baby sis. She was a risk. A child in a foreign country betting on a familial tie that might be dead.

After France, they probably figured she was their last shot. But the guys didn’t know about that weird weekend on the Mediterranean.

Reese and I had figured we didn’t need to tell them. It was in Marseille that we had figured out how the cops were following us. So we hauled ass home and suggested that everyone get new passports. Christopher called his guy and he came through. No big. It had been six months since the last time we were followed on one of our little vacations.

We thought we were in the clear. Apparently, we were wrong.

Reese was standing behind the guys. I caught her eye and she gave me a brief nod.

“Remember when Reese and I went to France a little while ago?” I asked.

“Yeah, what about it?” Christopher asked.

“And when we got back we suggested that everyone get new passports?”

“That was when we decided to have safe houses,” Ryan said.

“Yeah. Well, Reese and I kinda didn’t mention something.”

“What do you mean?” Breno asked.

“We were being followed in Paris,” Reese said from behind them.

They all spun to face Reese.

“What the fuck?” Ryan.

“Why did you not tell us?” Breno.

“Damn it.” Christopher.

“Also in Nice,” I said. They turned back to stare at me. “And Marseille.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Christopher.

“My God.” Breno.

“Shut the fuck up.” Ryan.

“How could you not tell us that?” Breno asked.

“We didn’t want you guys to worry,” Reese said. They spun comically. This was getting ridiculous. Reese pushed through the doorway and perched on the counter. I poured her a cup of coffee.

“We thought it was a fluke in Paris. We were in this weird little town. What was it?” I asked Reese.

She shrugged. “It was pretty.” Well, that narrowed it down.

“So we were in this town and it was like touristy, but not American touristy. And it was just like what happened in Corsica. This American couple started following us. Different couple than last time, but it was a small place, hard to miss, you know? Then we went south and they were there too.”