Who Said Witness Protection Was Boring? (Mobster Mayhem #2)

20. Kieran

20

Kieran

I wake up after Matt that morning. He’s gazing at me with love in his eyes when I open mine. I don’t really know what to do with it. It’s new and it’s… good. I could definitely get used to it.

We cuddle in bed for a while. My entire being sings. It all feels like a dream. Like a short reverie before shit hits the fan. Or maybe a timeout is a more accurate comparison. Shit already hit the fan yesterday. We need a plan. A way to disappear before the CIA finds out what we’ve done and disappears us permanently.

The thought should scare me. If I’m being honest, it does. But not as much as I expected it to. I tangle my fingers with Matt’s, loving the silky feel of his skin. I’m working on our escape plan. After Matt cracks the fake code, we’ll send the CIA to the other side of the US, so we can make a run for it. Jack and Dan will help us.

This is the biggest, most fucked-up adventure of my life. I still don’t know exactly how my parents play into the Molniya mystery, but I have a pretty good guess. We’ll solve it, see how it ties into Christine and Gordon’s deaths, so this whole thing we’ve gotten ourselves into can make sense.

We just need a breakthrough, and I’m pretty sure that Adrian Maston is that.

How?

It’s a hunch. If he wasn’t important, Christine Bauer wouldn’t have brought up his name in those recordings. I don’t know if she foresaw this, but she left it as a clue. A direction for anyone who found her recordings to follow.

I slide an arm under Matt and pull him on top of me, pecking his nose. “Rise up, starshine. We’ve got to head out.”

He makes a purring sound and kisses my chest. “Straight down to business? Good morning to you, too, Agent Stevenson. Yes, I feel great and had an amazing time last night.” He twirls my left nipple and nips on the right.

It tickles. Swatting his hand gently, I hug him and sit up. “I did, too.” I kiss the side of his neck. “And today will be even better.” I kiss his shoulder. “I’ve got plans for you.” Then the other. “Really fun plans. You think you can walk? I hope I didn’t overdo it.”

He scoffs and stands. A grimace crosses his face, but it doesn’t stay for long as a wondrous expression slides in. “Oh. I definitely feel it,” he says, a sheepish smile curving his mouth. “You did me real good, agent. Or should I say boyfriend?” He wrinkles his nose. “Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

I still can’t believe it. This all happened so quickly, but when you meet the one , you just know it. It feels right, like you’ve known each other for ages even if it’s only been close to a week and you are yet to truly get to know each other.

“If you’re asking this nicely, I’d even marry you.”

He grins, shaking his head as he picks up his underwear from the floor. I zero in on his flaccid cock. I’ve never been interested in dicks, but I find it fascinating, wondering how long it would take for me to coax it into getting hard. I’m a complete newbie when it comes to sucking cock, but Matt seemed to enjoy it last night, so I’m confident I’ll need just a couple of minutes.

“Hold your horses, cowboy. You gotta woo me first and stuff. You know, like in the movies.”

I hop up from the bed and slip my briefs on. As much as I’d love a bit of morning fun before my day starts, we are on the clock. His clothes are draped over the chair by the wardrobe, so after I toss them to him, I dress into a pair of cargo pants and a hoodie. I prefer shirts and jackets, but today’s mission requires us to blend in.

“As soon as this is over, I’ll take you out on a date and blow your mind.” I turn to him and help him get ready. I can tell he’s still a little groggy because he doesn’t protest and just lets me.

“Deal.”

Five minutes later, we’ve left the safehouse. As I suspected, the two agents posted in front follow us through the heavy morning traffic.

“You see that supermarket?” I ask, tilting my head at the big store on the left of the traffic lights. The agents are four cars behind us, also waiting for the green.

“Yep.”

“I’ll park there. We’ll go inside, slip out the staff entrance. Jack and Dan are waiting in the alleyway. There’s just one camera and they’ve taken care of it. We’ll lure the agents there.”

“You don’t want them following us, do you?”

“We’ll knock them out for a few hours. Make it look like they got mugged. By the time they come to, we’ll be back. We’ll say we lost the guys who attacked them and that we didn’t want to get them in trouble by calling Kelly. So, we went looking for the place with the clue while our friends watched over them. Unfortunately, we didn’t find it, so we need to come back again tomorrow.”

“Wow. You’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?”

Agents taken care of, we head toward the south parts of Bayside. While we didn’t find Adrian yesterday, we did scope out some of the bigger drug spots. He wasn’t at any of them. There’s no guarantee he’ll show up today, so I intend to make him.

“So, how exactly do you plan to lure Adrian out?” Matt asks, trailing behind me with his hands tucked inside his pockets and his hood obscuring most of his face. We’ve made it to one of Bayside’s shadier spots. It’s a trail on the edge of Alley Pond Park where there isn’t much foot traffic even during the day. “I mean, I doubt he’s doing the rounds himself.”

I notice movement behind a dilapidated shed. Picking up pace, I beeline for it. “He wouldn’t be.”

When we round the falling-apart building, the four guys conducting obviously suspicious business glare at us. One holds a wad of cash, two are inspecting packets of white powder, and the fourth one looks like a deer caught in headlights. He must be new to this.

“Who the fuck are you?” the one with the cash snarls, showcasing his golden but ugly braces. His two buddies throw the white packets inside the metal box sitting on the trunk of the tree behind them and mimic his threatening scowl.

I meet the eyes of the fourth guy. He looks ready to piss his pants. “I’m looking for your boss, Crooked Teeth,” I toss at the first one.

“The fuck you just call me?” Braces Guy grumbles, pulling a knife on me.

“Uh, Ki. What are you doing exactly?” Matt whispers, squeezing my arm as he hides behind me.

“Don’t worry. I’ll just beat them up a little.” Subtly, I incline my head toward the spooked guy. “You see that one? He looks green. I’ll let him go, so he can go get Adrian for us.”

“Uh, okay, but in case you haven’t noticed, there would still be three of them. And only one of you. I’m only good at fighting in video games,” he points out helpfully as Braces blabbers on about how he’ll skin me alive.

“I know, Bambi. You just stay back and watch. And try not to get too turned-on, yeah?” I say and rush at the nearest guy.

It catches him completely off-guard. He doesn’t even have time to take out the knife I’m sure he’s carrying. With a nasty frontal thwack to his face, I K.O. him on the spot. His eyes roll back as he crumbles to the ground. The other two stare at me like I’m an alien overlord.

Taking advantage of their confusion, I charge at the second guy. I am good. Above average. Okay. I am more than just good. I was top of my class and also once helped a guy who would have ended up dead if it wasn’t for me.

It was during a trip to London that we, CIA top scorers, went on so we could do an intensive multi-day training session with the agents from MI6. The dude I helped was a business student and had gotten in some trouble at the bar I frequented, and I’d been itching for a fight after a particularly bad after-work nap. He still owes me for that, now that I think about it.

Guy Two lifts his arm just in time to protect his face. Staggering back from the force of my punch, he hisses and grunts, twisting his right foot sideways so he can regain balance. I shoot one leg out, trying to trip him. It connects with a loud thump. He roars, grappling at the nearest trunk to remain standing.

I don’t let him, sending a kick to his back. He howls in pain and curls into a ball on the ground, hugging himself. I don’t think he’ll be of any threat to me anymore, but I give him another kick for good measure before shifting my attention to Braces.

His face is red like a tomato. He looks furious. The newbie is no longer with him. Good. I’ve gotten my point across. There is no need for further violence. We can just sit down and chill while we wait for his boss.

I open my mouth to suggest we call a ceasefire when he darts at me. The blade of his knife glints under the patchy sunlight. Maybe I should’ve tried to negotiate first before beating up his goons. He might’ve been more willing to keep things civil then.

Oh, well, it’s not the end of the world. I get to show off to Matt, if nothing else. I bet he’d get a kick out of watching me beat the shit out of three guys. Two of them went down rather uneventfully, but I suppose I can hold back a bit with Braces and put on a good show until Adrian arrives.

Ensuring my foot is stable on the grass-covered ground, I twist around and duck out of the blade’s trajectory. I’m pretty sure the guy was aiming for my neck. He’s quick to recuperate, spinning violently as he attempts another attack.

This time, I grab his wrist, twisting it just enough so he drops the knife. It clinks as it hits and bounces off a spot of concrete that the soil and grass haven’t overtaken yet. Braces grumbles in discontent, his rage wavering for a split second as his eyes flick to his two buddies lying on the muddy ground. He’ll be out of commission too, soon enough.

“I’ll kill you. You are a dead man!” he howls, baring his teeth at me.

I let him have another go. He throws a punch from the side, then feints into an uppercut. Okay, so he’s not entirely clueless. Perhaps I underestimated him a little.

My block is a notch graceless, but it does the job. Braces does pack some power, after all.

We slip into a back-and-forth, attacking, blocking, dodging and parrying. It carries on for a while and to his credit, Braces makes me break a sweat. Matt cheers me on the whole time though, watching intently as I dance around leftover dry leaves, wet grass and broken concrete.

I am the master of this place, its lord and ruler. I am a god and this mortal stands no chance against me as I send a barrage of quick hits to his head. He’s done for. There is no way in hell I am losing, not when my one-man audience is doing such an amazing job supporting me from the sidelines.

In fact, he is so great at it I kind of get distracted in the middle of pummeling my opponent. It’s when Braces gets me. I thought I knocked him out, but an evil jab out of nowhere gets me in the side of my face. I stagger back. Matt screams. Pain explodes across my jaw, my teeth grinding as the world spins around me in streaks of dull green and brown.

Okay, I got a bit cocky. It’s a bad habit I have. But can you blame me? My person is watching, and I wanted to impress him. To wow him, so he falls in love with me even more.

Recuperating takes me a second too long. A second attack gets me in the flank. I bite down an unmanly groan. How is this dude still standing? And why the hell am I the one getting beaten up all f a sudden? Was he holding out on me?

“Jesus, Crooky Teeth, what are you made of?”

I hear a snort-scoff, then almost eat a direct frontal hit to my pretty face. Side ones I can swallow, but trying to ruin my charm by giving me a broken nose? Now, that’s playing dirty.

Still, I’m having fun. He’s really making me work for it. But it quickly starts to get old as I keep failing to find an opening. Irritation seeps in. We really don’t have time for this. I feel refreshed and energized, so I better wrap this up and find that Adrian guy.

“Guess I’ll have to get serious then, eh?” I reach for my concealed gun, ready to put an end to this. The dude tried to knife me, so the game skirted around being fair from the get-go.

I grab the gun and pull it out, already rehearsing in my head my edgy, victorious speech. But before I can flip the safety off, Braces swats it out of my hand. It flies into the nearby bush, out of reach for both of us. Well, damn . Seriously, what’s with the sudden level up? It’s like I’m up against an end boss when I was supposed to be spanking his minions!

We look into each other’s eyes. His are a deep hazel, with green and golden accents surrounding the pupil. Black eyeliner decorates them, making them pop even more.

Hold on a minute. I’m pretty sure Braces’ were a dark brown. And he wasn’t cosplaying a moody vampire.

We stare at each other, frozen in the moment. It’s when I realize that this is not Braces. Confused, I flick my gaze to the men lying on the ground, near the old shed. There are three of them. The face of the closest one is kind of busted and he’s bleeding from his nose and mouth.

Uh-oh. Yep, I’m pretty sure that’s Braces.

I scowl at the guy who’s taken his place and take a few steps away from him. He does the same, mirroring my defensive stance as we size up each other. We are like hawks, circling around while searching for a weak spot we can latch onto.

“Who the fuck are you?” I demand, not taking my eyes off him.

My question gives him pause. He licks his lips, panting as a scowl of annoyance slides across his face. Matt shouts something in the background, but my heart is pounding too loudly in my ears to hear.

Not-Braces raises his arms, then points at the three men on the ground. “You attacked my men and demanded to talk to me and now you are asking who I am?”

It takes my riled-up, adrenaline-driven brain embarrassingly long to catch up. “Oh, shit. Adrian Maston?”

He frowns. Locks of his shoulder-length light-brown hair are scattered everywhere, sticking to his face. I think they were supposed to be part of a manbun, but that’s not really the case anymore. He’s also got a bruise forming where I hit him on the side of his chin.

“Who the fuck are you ?” He points at me, throwing Matt a fleeting but predatory glance.

I guess he doesn’t see my lovely little goblin as a threat, but rather, as a liability. I clench my fists so hard my knuckles go white. I hate to admit it, but he’s observant, unlike his pawns. Which makes him dangerous if he acts on said observation.

Luckily, he decides he’ll play along and be diplomatic. Relief surges through me. Yep, I need to prioritize making sure Matty knows how to take care of himself. I have a hunch it won’t be too hard to get him into proper shape. He needs a bit more muscle so it’s easier for him on the bike, too. We just… haven’t had the time to start his lessons. But I’ll be amending that pronto.

“I’m Kieran,” I tell Adrian, strategically positioning myself between him and Matt in the subtlest of ways I can manage. There’s no need to make it obvious to Adrian that his deduction was right.

“Who do you run with?”

Er, great question. But before I can pull from memory the name of any rival gangs, Matt takes the word from me. “Do you know Christine Bauer? I’m her nephew.”

Oh boy. Why don’t we get straight down to business, shall we? Matt and I need to have a word about proper negotiation etiquette. You don’t just volunteer information like that.

Adrian doesn’t reply right away. Sagging his shoulders a bit, he studies us both for a few moments. His gaze is evaluating, like he’s contemplating what to say and how to act. That tells me he recognized the name, which in turn can only mean that Christine made contact.

“What is it to you?” Adrian asks warily.

Matt pops out from behind me, his face filling with hope. “So, you do know her? Like I told you, I’m her nephew.”

“ And ?”

“I was hoping you could help me figure out what she was up to…”

“And why should I do that?” Adrian challenges, crossing his arms as he lowers his guard further. I appreciate that as I relax my own posture, but why is he being difficult when we are asking him so nicely?

Matt clasps his elbow. “She’s dead.”

Adrian’s eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “ Dead ?”

He looks genuinely surprised. Shocked even. Like he can’t believe what we are saying. The fingers of his right hand flex and unflex. If I rushed at him now, I’d take him down.

My feet itch to propel me forward. The muscles of my calves tighten. But I wait.

“When?” Adrian eventually asks. A hint of disappointment or even regret worms its way into his deep tenor.

Interesting. Just what was his relationship with Christine? Clearly, they knew each other, and something tells me it goes beyond a simple agent-informant dynamic.

“A couple of days ago. We… were attacked. At our house. I barely made it out alive.”

I poke Matt in the ribs. “You sure you should be volunteering all that, Mandela?”

He glares at me and nudges me back. “It’s working, isn’t it? He is talking to us and doesn’t look like he wants to delete us off the face of the Earth anymore.”

“Yes, but you and I need to have a word about this, okay? You don’t just go up to potentially dangerous strangers and tell them your life’s story.”

“You got a better idea, Ki? Clearly, beating him up and making him spill didn’t quite work out, did it?” he hisses back at me, keeping to the whispering tone we’ve slipped into.

Ouch . So he did notice then. And here I thought I’d done a good job at pretending I had things under control. My Matty is sharper than he appears. And I’m pretty sure he’s intentionally downplaying it. He pretends to be clueless, so people underestimate him. And it works. His size and overall friendly, unassuming demeanor give off an I-am-harmless vibe. But in reality, he’s full of surprises at every turn. I love that.

“You’re kind of hot when you scold me,” I confess, giving his shoulder an absentminded caress.

His mouth twitches into a quick smile. “And you were super sexy roleplaying Rambo. I sort of got horny.”

“I warned you.”

“Yeah, well, my dick has a mind of its own.”

I glance down at his crotch. Now that he mentions it, I can sort of see a slight bulge, like that a semi you are trying to get rid of would cause.

“It clearly does,” I agree, giving his cock a quick but firm squeeze. I’m just unable to help myself. It’s too enticing, especially as the hint of a flush cresting his cheeks deepens.

“I’m still here and can hear you, you know,” Adrian cuts in, sounding both perplexed and amused. I’m pretty sure I can hear a little chuckle at the end, too.

Matt clears his throat and shoos me away. I comply, for the most part, but throw my arm over his shoulder. Edgy McVamps already kind of saw us being idiots in the middle of interrogating him, so what’s the point of maintaining the farce of being professional?

“So, you knew Chrissy then?” Matt asks, hope shining in his lovely eyes.

A gust of sudden wind blows through the clearing. I shiver and hold him closer. Adrian grits his teeth and rubs his arms to keep warm. A flock of birds shoots up into the sky, screeching. I snap my head in their direction, though I struggle to see them through the maze of branches and evergreen canopy. If I’m not wrong, their cries are coming from the way we came.

“I… Yes, I knew Chrissy.” Adrian frowns, surveying the tree line behind us. He suddenly looks like he wants to be as far away from here as possible. Like something spooked him and he’s about to bolt.

The hair on my neck stands as the wind blows again. My stomach churns. I don’t like this.

“You worked together, didn’t you?” Matt presses. “She talked to you. She… She’s Christine to everyone. She doesn’t usually let people call her Chrissy. Which means she trusted you.” He takes a deep, shuddering breath. My heart aches for him. “Why didn’t you warn her about the attack?”

Something doesn’t add up. Vampy here seemed genuinely shocked when Matt told him Christine was dead…

Adrian’s jaw clenches. His gaze grows distant for a few heartbeats, like he’s not here but reliving some memory. A fond but sad smile lifts his slim lips, softening his masculine features. “It wasn’t the Razor Crew.”

The foreboding feeling intensifies inside me.

“What do you mean?” Matt says confused.

“Who are you?” Adrian demands, chin pointed at me.

I raise my hands in a placating manner. “I’m Kieran. I work for the CIA—”

“No, no, no.” He shakes his head, taking a step back. “The CIA isn’t supposed to know. Chrissy was careful. You shouldn’t be here…”

This is bad. I think he’s having a meltdown.

“Ki is with me. He’s helping me,” Matt defends me, approaching the guy.

“No. You don’t understand.” He heaves, mumbling something to himself. “They know. If he’s here, they know! The Crew didn’t attack your aunt! It was the—”

A bang pierces the still forest. I twist my entire body and go rigid as a deafening hiss flies by my ear and grazes my cheek. It misses by a millimeter.

But I don’t have time to even question what happened. Instinct takes over. I grab Matt by the arm and shove him in front of me as bullets barrage us from the looming tree line.

“RUN!”

He yelps and breaks into a sprint, zigzagging left and right. Bark flies around us. Wet leaves rain. Birds cry in the distance and close, their wings flapping violently as gunshots explode one after the other. My world narrows down to Matt and me dodging those bullets. One hit and we are done for. One hit and it’s all over.

My blood pounds in my head. I don’t think. I don’t breathe. I just run. Faster and faster until my lungs and legs burn. Branches scratch me, roots try to trip me. Matt groans, then grunts, swaying but not falling. The ground tilts down, mud and moss compromising our footing. A bullet ricochets off a slab of concrete that has once been a bench. It tags my arm, but I don’t feel it. I’ll deal with that later.

We reach an underpass and race through the dark, narrow tunnel. The path on the other side forks.

“This way!” a slightly distorted voice shouts.

We go left, away from it, and run for what feels like eternity. Once the ringing in my ears subsides, bullets are no longer assaulting us. I can hear traffic along with Matt’s harsh breathing. He’s heaving, the sounds violent and raw. But he keeps running.

I halt him, pulling him behind the thick trunk of the closest tree. We crouch out of sight, huddled close to each other. The ground forms a concave on this side of the tree, creating a natural pit that further obscures us from view. The bushes scattered around the area help, too.

Five minutes, or maybe ten, pass. We are still panting harshly, but enough adrenaline has drained off me to allow my brain to resume functioning. Slowly, I peek out of our hiding spot. Making sure the terrain is clear, I climb out and offer Matt my hand. He’s pale and tense, shivering like a dry leaf at the mercy of a winter breeze. His eyes dart left and right, spooked and wary and unfocused.

I cradle his face. “Matt. Look at me.”

He doesn’t respond.

“Matty, I’m here. You are okay.”

“This was the CIA, wasn’t it? They want us dead. They killed Chrissy because they found out she knew about the stupid formula and now they want to kill us, too… Why? This makes no sense! Why are they doing this for some stupid drug?”

Because whatever that substance might be, it’s not just some drug. There must be more to it, a lot more, if the CIA and the government are both involved and going to such lengths to get their hands on it. This Adrian… If he really knew Christine, then he certainly knows a lot more than we do. But, of course, the cavalry had to come in at the worst possible moment. And we led them straight to the last person left who could help us take them down… If he’s not dead or caught yet, we are never seeing him again.

Matt shudders and fiercely holds onto me. It stings like hell. I wince, gritting teeth as warmth trickles down my arm and copper reaches my nostrils. I think I got grazed pretty badly.

Matt inhales sharply, his focus suddenly on my wound. “Oh my god! We need to take you to a hospital. What am I gonna do? Please, don’t die!”

I snort, I can’t help it. Joy explodes in my heart, sending tingles of giddiness all over me. “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. I might not even need stitches.” Might being the keyword, but he doesn’t need to know that.

Matt’s fingers feel all over my face. Then he does the same to himself. “We are alive. Fuck. I thought we were going to die.”

Fear spears through me. I did too. For the first time in my life, I was scared. Not only that I might get shot and killed, but that Matt might die, too. This amazing, fiery smartass that makes my life ten times more worth it.

He embraces me, clinging to me like we’ve been separated for centuries. It melts my heart, calming its maddening pace until I can breathe somewhat normally again.

Scrambling for the backpack we take everywhere with us, Matt takes out a first aid kit. “I need to treat that.”

Fuck, that’s hot. But we don’t have time for it right now. We need to scram. “Pass me the burner phone.”

I call the only number I know by heart. “Hey, Dan. I’m in a bit of a situation.”

“No shit. Jesus. Jack and I have been trying to reach you all morning! Two civilian police cars have been hanging by your apartment. They left about thirty minutes ago with the sirens blaring. What the fuck did you get yourself into?”

Well, shit. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Things weren’t supposed to escalate so quickly. I don’t know how they did it, but the CIA must’ve figured out we were pulling their leg. We were careful, but they already know that we lied.

When? How?

“We don’t have time for this right now. I need a car. Something not tied to my name. You remember that playground with the pirate ship? The one we wrecked when I got into a fight with that dude who used to bully Jack? There’s a parking lot nearby. Can you drop it off there?”

“Fuuuuck. This is serious, isn’t it? What di—”

I don’t have time for this or for him freaking out. “No time. Can you do it or not?”

I hear keys clanking and the massive creaky door of the siblings’ garage. “Of course, man, fuck. The car will be there in ten.”

“Go alone. Don’t close the garage. And leave as soon as you drop the car off.”

“Kieran—”

“The less you know, the better. Trust me. I’ll be fine, I promise. I’ll call, first chance I get. And whatever the authorities say about me—don’t believe any of it.”

I end the call and toss the phone. The playground I sent Dan to is not that far from here. We can make it there in about twenty minutes if we take the long way around. It will be quicker to go via the park, but by now it’s probably crawling with agents and police.

Course of action decided, I turn to Matt. A branch snaps too close for comfort. The brush hides us, but it also makes it hard to see if someone is trying to sneak up on us. Fuck .

I push Matt out of the way and lunge at the man who stumbles into our temporary sanctuary. He gasps at the sudden attack, but parries, knocking my hands off course and saving his neck.

“You!” he barks, deflecting another hit.

I back off as Matt tugs on my hoodie. My hazy brain blanks out as I stare the guy down, playing catch up yet again until I notice the familiar-looking black eyeliner. “Adrian?”

Fuck, he’s alive!

His mouth curls in distaste. “Running into you two was the last thing I wanted too, trust me.” He cranes his head, his ears twitching as he seems to listen for something. All I can hear is the forest and the occasional shout of an agent looking for us. Thankfully, the latter is muffled, telling me our pursuers still haven’t moved to this sector of the park.

But that won’t last forever. I’d love to stay here and chat, but we simply don’t have the luxury of solving the rest of this mystery right now.

I turn to Matt. “We need to go.”

His anxious greens bounce between me and the Crew’s representative. “But we can’t just leave him here!”

My jaw hits the ground. “ What ?”

“He still hasn’t told us what he knows about Chrissy…”

I glare at the man in question, my mind jumbled from trying to work out what to do now that the CIA and probably the entirety of NY’s police are already searching for us. Getting out of New York with the car Dan will leave for me before the whole city is shut down is the furthest into my plan as I can currently make it.

Adrian shrugs. “Your boo has a point. You want info and I want to leave this park preferably not inside a body bag. I say those are two very strong reasons as to why we should help each other out. Besides the part where the CIA obviously found out that we both know about Chrissy and now everyone wants our heads. So, what do you say? Do we have a deal or not?” He offers me his hand, grinning like he’s balancing the line between excited and batshit crazy.

I glance at Matt. His megawatt smile is in full force, lips parted slightly and eyes hopeful and wide. My abused-from-running-and-stress heart does a somersault.

“This is such a bad idea.” I grab Adrian’s hand and shake it.

Ah, fuck it. Three heads are better than two if we are planning to survive this thing. It’s simple math, but also reckless, very questionable, and plain crazy.

But then again… I smooch Matt on the cheek and lace our fingers together. Since meeting Darth Cutie over here, crazy is just how I roll.