Chapter 29
Paige
Adrenaline flows like a river under my skin, and I can’t stop grinning like an idiot. “We actually did it! Is this what it’s always like for you?”
Vanya’s driving, peeling his gloves off one at a time and tossing them in a heavy plastic trash bag in the back seat.
I don’t give him time to respond. “The rush? Wow, my heart’s still racing. I thought I was going to pass out when those guards passed by, but then you knew exactly what to do.” I run my hand up his tense thigh. “Doesn’t it excite you anymore?”
Vanya pushes my hand away and starts peeling off his black sweatpants while continuing to drive.
I blink, my hand stinging like he slapped it. “Vanya?”
“You need to change.” His voice is flat. Cold. “Strip off that hoodie. Street clothes. Now.”
“What?” What’d I do wrong?
“Your clothes. Start taking them off. Put them in the bag, and we’ll dispose of them.” He’s just reiterating the plan I helped create.
The one we went over repeatedly. Like I don’t remember it? My memory? His patronizing words piss me off, but I try to maintain an even tone. “You already told me—”
“Then do it.”
I itch to snap right back, because what the hell is wrong with him? Arrogant asshole or not, though, he also happens to be right.
Biting back a sarcastic retort, I yank the hoodie over my head.
“In the bag.”
No shit, Sherlock. Did you think I was going to throw it out the window?
I stuff the hoodie in the bag and roll down the window, letting the cold air calm my anger.
“Shoes next.” Vanya shrugs out of his own hoodie one-handed. “Stop fucking around.”
I’ve had enough. “I memorized login credentials on the fly, navigated a secure building, uploaded your virus, and downloaded files from behind a corporate firewall. And you think I can’t remember how to change my clothes?”
His head whips toward me. “What do you want? A medal?”
“I want you to stop acting like a jerk!” I rip off my pants and cram them in the bag as we head toward the countryside.
While he says nothing, he rounds a turn too fast, causing the tires to squeal.
“You’re not supposed to speed. It increases the risk of us getting pulled over.” I use the same nasty, superior tone he did. That doesn’t help the situation at all, but at this point, I don’t care.
Silence reigns.
Shifting toward my open window, I inhale the chilly air in an attempt to quell my irritation.
Once I finish changing my clothes, I close the window and crank up the heat. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
He grips the wheel tighter, his knuckles going white.
“Vanya, I’m talking to you—”
The car lurches, the tires sliding before catching on the gravel as he veers off the road and into the empty parking lot of some place called Look-Out Point. He slams on the brakes, and we jerk to a stop. Then he kills the engine.
Below us, a small lake ripples in the moonlight as Vanya flings his seat belt off.
“That high you feel? It’s how you get killed. But you seem to think breaking into that building was some kind of foreplay.” He still doesn’t look at me. “You keep forgetting that it’s dangerous.”
He doesn’t even give me a chance to chew him out.
“Yes, you followed directions, kept your head down, didn’t panic when the guards came. That’s all true.” He spits the list off, holding up fingers for each accomplishment. “But now, you’re coming down, and you want to celebrate. Share the moment. Feel alive.”
“What’s wrong with that? I did well, so yes, I want to celebrate.” That’s downplaying my feelings but close enough.
“You want me to pat you on the head and tell you what a good girl you are?” Upon hearing the condescension in his tone, I fight the urge to punch him. “Or maybe smack your ass and have a celebratory fuck?”
Shame and anger twist together, boiling to nausea in my stomach. “You’re the one who dragged me into this! I was perfectly fine with my life before. My silent, withered life, as you called it. Then you showed up! Suddenly I’m stealing cars, breaking into buildings, and—”
“Loving every second of it.”
The words stop me cold.
I stare at his profile in the dark, air gusting out of me in hot pants.
“Don’t pretend this is all on me.” His voice drops to a dangerous level. “You were dying in that library. Suffocating under your rules and your color-coded systems and your pathetic little cage. I didn’t drag you anywhere. I just opened the door. You’re the one who walked through it.”
“Because you needed me!” The accusation rips out of me.
“For the book. For the break-in. For all this chaos. You used me. Molded me into some kind of tool for your investigation. And when I enjoy myself, you scold me like I’m a damn child.
I’m just another person you manipulated into giving you what you want once your charm failed. ”
“Is that what you think?” Emotions flicker across his face before his expression blanks. “You think I’m using you? When I have an entire family of well-trained men and women who could do the job a thousand times better?”
I can’t believe I was starting to fall for this asshat.
“You know what?” I grab the door handle. “Fuck you.”
I throw the door open so violently, it bounces back and nearly hits me as I shove out into the chilly night.
Behind me, another door slams, followed by running footsteps. “Paige!”
“You want to talk?” I spin around and pin him with a glare colder than the evening air. “About what people really are underneath? Fine. Let’s talk about you.”
He freezes in place. The hand that was reaching out for me dangles in the moonlight.
“You’re all surface. No substance. You’re as shallow as a reflecting pool.
” The words spew from my mouth, spilling like marbles before I can stop them.
“People look at you and see whatever they want to see. You shift and change depending on who’s watching because there’s nothing genuine there.
You’re not a man. You’re a chameleon. Cold-blooded, slow-witted, and with a prehensile tongue. ”