Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
STONE
One Week Later
One week. We had to be in that damn bunker an entire week.
One week in a massive room with one shower, one bathroom, some fuckin’ twin mattresses to sleep on, and MREs to keep us afloat.
The coffee tasted like chunky diesel fuel.
The technology was rudimentary, at best. But it fed us the information we needed to make sure the coast was clear.
We fled there that night and hunkered down to wait out the heat that came down onto our shoulders.
Our cell phones went offline and dark the second we activated the bunker, which locked us off from the rest of the world.
We used radio transmissions and software we acquired to tap into the local police force databases.
We kept abreast on the information they had on us via a rolling screen of data Notch could barely read himself.
I mean, he was our tech guy. But he was more of a tech fixer. Not a tech guru.
We kept ourselves afloat on what was going on.
And when it started getting to the good stuff, I had Notch take recordings.
Usurp camera feeds. Take down notes and screenshots of the information we had.
I had rolling proof that Harry Cheng had cut a deal with the damn detective.
Fuckin’ Woolf had gotten to Cheng and traded an immunity deal in exchange for setting us up.
That fucker sold us out without a second thought, which explained all the heavy-handed tactics Harry employed at our meeting.
He wanted to know what we knew so he could feed it back to Woolf.
He wanted to make sure we took that shipment and helped them with some last-minute sales plans in an effort to set us up that night.
I knew exactly how to handle shit like that.
“Notch, I want you to compose a message to Yung,” I said.
“Wait, Jin Yung?” he asked.
“Yes. Do it now. Encrypt it. Do whatever backwards ass shit you can to make sure that email can’t be traced back to this bunker.”
“I can make that happen. What do you want in the email?”
“Send off the proof we have. The screenshots. The recordings between Woolf and Cheng. Send him undeniable proof we know Cheng sold us out, then leave one sentence behind.”
Notch typed away as the other guys began packing up their things.
“Okay. Ready for your message,” Notch said.
“Tell him, ‘we’re done, you’re burned,’” I said.
“We’re done?” Bronx asked.
“Send it,” I said to Notch.
We’d woken up the morning of day seven in that damn underground bunker to the news that Detective Woolf had officially been placed on another case.
Ours had been buried, the sting operation was defunct, and the file had been placed in the archives for now.
That meant the heat was low enough for us to resurface.
But there was one piece of information that stuck in my mind.
One piece of information that had come to light a couple of days ago.
The police figured it was just a theory.
An explanation that couldn’t be proven as to how we got away.
“Are you ever going to tell us who tipped you off?” Texas asked.
There were rumors floating around and notes jotted into electronic files about a tip.
Someone who had insider information on how the sting operation went south.
But without proof of the theory, it fizzled out within forty-eight hours.
They filed us away, like they usually did, and we were free to come out of hiding.
I have to keep Hayley safe.
“I won’t reveal my source for now. They need to be kept safe. But in time, I’ll fill you in. Yes,” I said.
“Email sent,” Notch said.
“All right, guys. Time to rejoin the world,” I said.
We resurfaced later that night around eight.
We lugged our bikes out of storage a couple miles into town and then rode off in our separate directions.
I knew Texas was heading home, back to Ella and Keva.
I didn’t know where Notch or Bronx were going, but seeing as they drove off together, I figured it was to get chips and beer.
And me? Well, I was headed to the zoo.
To park right next to Hayley’s car.
I sat there, waiting for her to get out of work.
I didn’t even turn my damn bike off. I watched her walk through the front gates of the zoo and look my way.
And even in the darkness, I saw her eyes widen.
Her walk became a trot. And her trot became a jog.
Soon, she was running up to me, her hair billowing behind her and her chest heaving for air.
She came to a stop in front of me, and I watched her eyes fill with so much. Anger. Relief. Frustration. Confusion.
Happiness.
“You were right,” I said.
“What?” she asked breathlessly.
“About that night. You were right. Your father had a sting operation in place, and they almost caught us.”
“But you guys are okay?”
“Do I look okay?”
“Don’t get smart with me. You’ve been off the radar completely for a damn week,” she bit.
I nodded. “I’m sorry. Yes, we’re fine. We got there and scoped things out before your father could swoop in and take us down.”
She paused. “Did you just apologize?”
I chuckled. “Maybe.”
“Why didn’t you get in touch with me? To tell me you were okay? Let me know you hadn’t been taken in for questioning or thrown into some dark, dank hole?”
“Haven’t you talked to your father lately?”
She clenched her jaw, and I saw something flash behind her eyes. Fury. Oh, she was angry. But not with me. I furrowed my brow as my eyes cased her body, watching her pull her cardigan around her luscious form.
Something had happened.
“We had some things to take care of after we left. We needed to lay low until the heat of the failed sting lifted. I took the time to put some plans in motion that gets the crew out of some shady shit we have fallen into over the years. That’s what I’ve been doing the past week,” I said.
“I’ve just been working. Finishing up my training with the zoo,” Hayley said.
“How’s that going?”
“Eh, this is my last night shift, so to speak. Come Monday, I start my regular hours.”
“Sounds like a cause for celebration.”
I snickered. “I suppose I could go for a drink. Or five.”
I smiled. “Good thing I got plenty of beer back at my place.”
She followed me back, and we quickly walked up the stairs to my place.
I didn’t even get the door pushed open before her hands were on me, ripping my clothes off.
Ripping my belt from my jeans and pushing my leather jacket off my shoulders.
I didn’t even get the damn door locked before she fisted my shirt, pulling me in for a kiss.
I flipped the lock just before my hands fell to her hips, squeezing her excess and drinking her in.
“I was so worried,” she whispered.
“I was worried about you too,” I murmured.
I growled as her teeth raked against my lower lip.
We stripped one another down, caressing and gripping every part of each other we could.
We stumbled into my bathroom where I turned on the hot water.
I let it pour over us from the waterfall shower head, drenching us as I pinned her to the wall.
My lips kissed down her cheek. Down her neck.
I lapped at her pulse point and kissed down the sumptuous valley of her breasts.
I wanted to taste every cavern of her body.
I wanted to praise every peak of her thickness.
I wrapped my lips around her nipples, tugging and sucking as her hands fell to my hair.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” she whimpered.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Hayley,” I murmured against her skin.
I slid to my knees, letting my tongue trail down her stomach.
I slipped her voluptuous thigh over my shoulder, smelling her womanhood for the first time in days.
I grunted as my tongue fell against her pussy lips.
I lapped up her slit, gathering her juices as the water poured over our bodies.
I pinned her hips to the wall as she gasped and whimpered, my tongue pressing into the depths of her lips.
“Yes, Stone. Fuck,” she groaned.
What apologies I couldn’t say with my lips, I traced with my tongue.
I found her clit, and I wrote my sincerest apologies along her swollen nub.
Her juices ran down my chin. Coated my neck.
She bucked against me, my stubble tickling the sides of her pussy as her hands fisted my hair.
I flattened my tongue over her clit, allowing her to use me any way she wished in order to take what she had deserved.
“Stone. Stone. Stone. Yes. Yes. Yes! Stone! I’m so—glad you’re—ba—ck—”
I slid my tongue into her fluttering pussy and felt her walls clamp down onto me.
Her juices dripped onto my face, marking me as her own.
Because I was hers. All of me was hers. She was the first thing on my mind every damn morning this week and the last thing I thought about before I slipped off to sleep.
Hell, I’d dreamt about her. Dreamt about having her in my arms. Straddling my lap.
Sitting on my face and wrapped around me on the back of my bike.
I swallowed down her arousal, not wasting a drop as my tongue cleaned up her swollen pussy lips.
“Oh, Stone,” she sighed.
I reached up and bashed a button with my palm.
It turned off the shower and turned on the misters as I slipped her thigh from my shoulder.
I stood up, gripping her thighs and feeling her excess pour through the slats of my fingers.
And as I hoisted her against the wall of the shower, my cock fell against her entrance.
It had memorized where to go, and I slipped against her walls as her pussy opened up for me.
“Shit,” I grunted.