13. Noah
13
NOAH
I manage to get a couple hours of sleep, but I can’t stay asleep for long. Eli is still asleep on the bed, but somehow I manage to extricate myself from our entanglement without waking him up. He must be exhausted. I look over at him. He’s sleeping on his side, with one arm tucked beneath his head. He looks so peaceful that it’s hard to imagine the shitstorm we’re about to head into.
Stacey should be here soon. We’re lucky no one else from the Carbone family figured out where we are. I have no idea what we’re going to do, or how, but we’ll figure out something. I check the time. Stacey’s plane should be landing soon. I slip over to the bed and put a hand on Eli’s shoulder. He snaps awake, then grimaces at the strain on his injured shoulder. Once he’s oriented he touches my face, and I lean in to kiss him.
“What happened?” Eli asks when I pull back.
“Nothing, yet,” I say, and give him space to sit up. “Stacey’s plane should be landing right about now, so I thought you might want to get dressed.”
Eli nods, blinking several times to clear the fogginess from his mind.
“Here.” I hand him a pair of my sweats. “They’re probably a little short, but they’re clean.”
“Thanks,” Eli says as he takes the clothes. He scrubs a hand down his face, then looks at me. His eyes darken and my nerves light up. He still has every reason to hate me. When he came to the motel he was upset and exhausted, and we’ve done nothing but run, fight, and fuck since then. Now that his mind is a little clearer, he may be rethinking his choices. His eyes linger on the wound on my head, and I turn away from him.
“I’m fine, Eli,” I say, then touch his shoulder. “Are you?”
“I don’t know,” he answers, searching my face. “I think the bar for ‘fine’ has changed over the last day.”
I can’t help the slight smile on my face. I move back and give him room to get up. He pulls on the clothes and heads to the bathroom. I take both of our weapons and put them in the drawer next to the bed, and then I hear a soft knock on the door. My adrenaline spikes, but then I hear Stacey’s voice on the other side.
“Noah, it’s me,” she says softly. I go to the door, checking through the peephole before opening it to make sure she’s alone. She slips inside as soon as I open the door. My eyes run over her. She looks like a federal agent. Her clothes may not have “FBI” printed in giant letters anywhere, but they may as well. Her hair is pulled back into a tight ponytail, and her jeans and polo shirt are neat and functional. She wears a leather jacket that barely conceals a sidearm, and I imagine there’s another one in her boot.
Her hand instinctively reaches for her weapon as Eli emerges from the bathroom, but I step in front of her.
“Stacey, this is Eli,” I say. I keep my eyes trained on her, trying to silently let her know that Eli isn’t a threat, and a threat to him would be a threat to me. She glances between the two of us a few times before relaxing.
“What kind of shithole have you dug for yourself here, Noah?” she asks as Eli moves into the room and takes a seat on the bed.
“It’s a fucking mess,” I agree with a glance at Eli. His posture is tense and waiting. I direct my eyes to the nightstand, letting him know that’s where I stashed our weapons.
Now that we’re speaking in person, I give her the full story. It’s hard not to take offense when she rolls her eyes as I tell her I’ve fallen in love with Eli and his safety is my top priority.
“So you don’t want credit for the collar?” she asks incredulously when I’m done talking. I glance over at Eli, whose expression has taken on a glazed look.
“I don’t give a shit about credit or collars or any of that. I just want to get Eli and myself somewhere safe, somewhere we don’t have to always look over our shoulders,” I say. “I’m done with law enforcement.”
She looks as though I slapped her. “Are you fucking serious?” She directs her glare to Eli before turning back to me. “You’re one of the best. You can’t just walk away.”
“I can and I’m going to, one way or another. If you don’t want to be part of this, you can go,” I snap.
“I could arrest you for killing Reese,” she says, directing her attention back to Eli.
“Not fucking likely.” Eli stands up. His arm is retied into the sling, but he straightens his shoulders and presses his lips together.
I jump up and get between them. “This is not a negotiation,” I growl at Stacey. She’s been my friend for years; we went to school together. I knew she was all cop, but I didn’t expect her to act like this. “We do this our way or we walk.”
“Our way? As in you and him ?”
“Yes. I told you, he’s my priority. I don’t care what happens to anyone else. Eli is the only one who matters.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see his eyes tighten as he looks away.
“Oh, come off the sappy bullshit.” Stacey rolls her eyes. It takes all I have not to pick her up and toss her out the door.
“Call it whatever you want,” I growl, my voice low and lethal. “But that’s it. That’s all you’re getting. If you want our help bringing down Gianni Carbone, then you have to do it our way.”
“Fine, fine, calm down,” Stacey says, lifting her hands in a placating gesture. “I always knew you were a romantic.”
I furrow my brows at her.
“Oh come on, all through high school all you cared about was taking care of others—your mom, your sister, me.” She lifts her brows at me, and I shake my head. “It’s never been about law enforcement with you, it’s always been about protecting others. Those two things are similar, but definitely not the same.” Her face breaks into a knowing smile as she looks over at Eli. “You must be something special.” Her brow lifts, and Eli’s face softens.
“Whatever.” I shake my head, but she’s right. The only reason I went into law enforcement in the first place was because I knew my mother lived in constant fear, always looking over her shoulder and waiting for the other shoe to drop. I wanted to give her peace of mind. Maybe I finally can.
“Listen, I can get you both in Wit-Pro, but you’re going to have to testify. That’s the only way I can get the resources,” she says.
I glance over at Eli. His shoulders have tensed again, but his expression is resolved.
“Whatever we need to do,” I assure Stacey.
“So the Carbones think you’re dead?” Stacey directs her question at Eli.
“Maybe, but I can’t be sure after Reese showed up,” Eli answers.
“Here’s my proposition,” Stacey says, looking back and forth between the two of us. “They think Eli’s dead, or at least they’re pretty sure, but they know you’re alive and definitely want you dead.” She nods toward me.
“Seems accurate,” Eli says.
“So you, Eli, come back from the dead and claim you’re bringing them Noah to get back your place in the family,” Stacey continues.
“That’s ridiculous,” I argue. “Gianni will just kill us both on the spot.”
“Maybe not.” Eli shakes his head, and I swing my gaze to meet his. “Gianni doesn’t like to get his hands dirty, literally . He doesn’t care for the sight of blood or cleaning up after something like that. He won’t do it himself. That’s why he’s always hired people for that kind of work.”
“You can’t be serious,” Stacey says.
“I am,” Eli continues. “That’s why it’s so hard to make any charges stick to the man—because he’s never personally committed the crimes, he just makes all the arrangements.”
“Well, that’s going to make it a bit more difficult to pin this all on him,” Stacey grumbles.
“That’s why you need his laptop,” Eli says.
“We’ll get the computer, but we have to get him first,” Stacey says. “I just need him to admit to something. Do you think you could get him to admit he tried to have you killed? Or that he’s working with the police chief?”
“I don’t…I don’t know. He may be expecting a setup.” Eli shakes his head.
“Is that really the best you’ve got?” I ask. I take a protective stance in front of Eli.
“You have a better idea?” she asks.
I turn to Eli. Surely there has to be something else we can try. He shakes his head in defeat. If we do this and survive, it will only be short-lived if we can’t make any of the charges stick to Gianni.
“Will it work?” Eli asks. “If I get him to admit to working with the police chief, can you be sure you’ll be able to put him away?”
“Yes,” she says with confidence that I’m not sure is realistic. “If you can get that admission, then we can get a warrant for his computer and anything else we need. We can bring him and his whole operation down.” She grins at me. This is her domain; she’s always been a cop. Her job is to put away the bad guys, and she’ll stop at nothing to do it. “The chief is who managed to distract us from the investigation,” she says. “If we can take him out, too, that’s just a fuckin’ bonus.”
“How do we do this?” Eli asks. My heart starts to pound. There’s no going back from this. He could lose everything. I just hope I’m worth it.
The next several hours are spent making calls and arranging our operation. After that we spend the next several hours discussing where we’re going to go once it’s over with the Witness Protection coordinator. I tell him about the cabin, and he starts the paperwork to get the ownership name changed into my new one. It’s strange how unattached to my name I am. I guess after being undercover for so long, the names no longer matter; it’s all just a part to play. Eli seems to struggle with it a lot more than I do, but he’ll get used to it. His name actually means something to him. For a long time, it was a status symbol that represented protection, pride, and privilege. We’re both going to have to completely change our lives, but at least we’ll get to be who we really are. The names aren’t important.
As the afternoon turns into night, Stacey leaves us in the room to finalize our plans. We’re going to make this happen tomorrow afternoon. She did inform us that we’d be under surveillance for the night. I guess she’s still a little nervous that we might change our minds.
“Eli Jones and Noah Johnson,” Eli says to me once we’re alone. “Seems a little on-the-nose, don’t you think?”
“They’re definitely not the most exotic,” I say with a chuckle. “But they’re common enough that it would be hard to find us.”
“True.” Eli falls back onto the bed. “How do you know Stacey, anyway?”
“We went to school together,” I answer. “In Portland.”
“Out west?” Eli leans up on his elbow, and I flinch.
“You’re not from the West Coast, are you?” His face drops, and I feel hollow.
“No.” I look at the floor. “Maine.”
Eli huffs and falls back on the bed.
“I realized I was giving too much of myself too early,” I murmur, hoping he understands. “You were too easy to talk to, and I panicked, so I said Oregon.”
“Flattery isn’t going to work for you with this,” Eli says, but at least he’s still speaking to me.
“I’m sorry, Eli. Please believe that, I wish?—”
“Don’t,” he cuts me off. “I don’t want to talk about should’ve and could’ve. It doesn’t matter now.”
“I don’t know how to make you believe you can trust me,” I say.
“I’m here,” Eli says with finality. “I probably shouldn’t be, but I am, so I’m trying to trust you. But it might take time.”
“I understand,” I say without looking at him.
“Can we trust Stacey?” he asks.
“No.” I look up at him. His eyes widen in confusion.
“We’re putting a lot at stake on her word, and you say we can’t trust her?” Eli sits up and put his elbows on his knees as he scrubs a hand down his face.
“I don’t trust her, but I know her, and as long as the situation benefits her, she’ll do everything she says. I don’t trust that she’ll stick her neck out for us, or that she’ll go out of her way for our sake if shit goes sideways, but I know that she’ll do whatever it takes to put Gianni Carbone in jail. That’s all she really cares about.”
“And you know this because…?”
“We went to school together, like I said,” I tell him. “We went into law enforcement together. She always wanted to be a cop. That was her whole life. I knew she was destined for something like the FBI.”
“Why?” Eli asks. I’m not sure what he’s asking exactly, but I continue anyway.
“Her father was a cop.” I stand up and move to sit on the bed next to him. “He was killed on duty. There were a lot of rumors that he was dirty, but nothing was ever proven. I think for a long time she wanted to be a cop to exonerate her father. She spent a long time looking into his death, but nothing came of it.” I take his hand, but look up at the ceiling. “When nothing happened after her investigation I got the feeling that he wasn’t exonerated—probably the opposite, actually. I think she learned that he was shady, and it only made her more determined to ‘get the bad guys,’ so to speak. That’s what it’s always been about with her. I trust that completely.”
“So what happens if this goes sideways?” Eli squeezes my hand.
“Well, she’s not going to be worried about protecting us. She’s going to do whatever it takes to get Gianni.” I finally look at him. His bright green eyes are pensive and tight, but he seems to understand what I’m trying to say.
“Okay,” is all he says. I wish I could read his mind right now. I want to beg for his forgiveness all over again, but it doesn’t feel right.
“I trust you,” I whisper.
“That doesn’t seem smart,” he whispers back with a soft chuckle.
“Yeah, well, maybe you make me stupid.” I nudge his shoulder, and he turns toward me.
“You definitely make me stupid,” he says, and presses his lips to mine.
My heart starts pounding as he probes my lips with his tongue. I cup the back of his head and pull him tighter against me, bruising my lips against his. I unclip his shoulder sling and pull it away from him so I can pull his shirt over his head and he can wrap his arms around me. Eli pulls us back onto the bed. I kiss down his jaw and his neck. His breath catches, which sets my pulse racing. I push his knees apart and settle myself between his legs, grinding my already hard dick against him. He strains against me as I kiss down his chest and run my fingers across the planes of his abs. He’s so damn sexy. The soft hair on his chest tickles my lips and fingers as I kiss across it, licking and sucking at his nipples until he groans in pleasure and grinds against my stomach.
I sit up and pull his sweatpants off, licking my lips as his dick leaps from beneath the waistband. He pulls my shirt over my head and runs his hands across my back, pulling me back on top of him. I wrestle my pants off, feeling the length of our shafts pressing against each other. We grind into each other, sliding our cocks back and forth, the velvety skin dragging and slipping against our hard shafts. He reaches over and grabs some lubricant off the table. I eye him warily. I’m not sure where he got it from, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
In a surprising motion, he flips me over onto my back and straddles my stomach. I reach out and grab his shaft as he opens the lube, and he rolls his head back with a groan. He drips the warm oil across my stomach and uses his hand to coat my dick while I stroke him. He takes my hand and drips the oil all over it before pouring it onto his own dick, moving slickly against me and moaning again. He guides my other hand between his legs and I slide a finger into his ass, slowly curling it until his eyes roll back, and then I put in another one. He moans against me and his cock flexes in my hand as he reaches down and starts stroking me. I move both of my hands to his hips and guide him toward me, and he directs the tip of my dick toward his opening.
I damn near see stars as he settles his weight over me, pushing me into him all the way to the hilt. “You’re so fucking amazing, Eli,” I gasp, trying to hold back my orgasm. I roll his hips against me and fight to keep myself together. He takes his cock in his hand and starts stroking it.
“Look at me,” he says, and I do. I look up at his piercing green eyes. I roll my hips, fucking into him as he jacks his dick, and all I can do is hold my breath. “Look at how hard I am for you,” he says, and my eyes immediately drop to his hand, where he starts pumping faster.
I don’t know if it’s intentional, but I start rolling my hips in time with his hand, building faster and faster as I watch the veins in his neck protrude as he nears orgasm.
“Come for me, Eli,” I gasp, unable to take my eyes off him. “Come all over me.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you,” he moans, throwing his head back.
“Fuck yes I would,” I answer, and thrust into him harder. He gasps in pleasure and pain as I fuck him, keeping my hands on his hips to guide his movements. I feel him tightening around me, and I fight to hold back, at least until he comes. I roll his hips with each thrust until he’s shouting my name. His dick gets harder and harder until it finally spurts, spilling cum all over my stomach and chest. With one final thrust I come inside him and he falls against me, our sweaty, sticky bodies still connected.
“Goddamn, I love you, Eli,” I say against the side of his head as he pants on top of me.
“I love you, too, Noah,” he breathes before finally rolling over next to me.
We lay there panting for the next several minutes in silence. I know we should sleep, but neither of us wants to. Everything is going to be over tomorrow, one way or another, and all I can do is hope that we’ll survive and Eli will still be there once it’s done.