Chapter Ten
Two weeks later…
D own the sidewalk on the streets of Los Angeles, Crow was hot on Rebel’s ass.
The mistake the kid made was going back to his old stomping grounds. It was there that Crow found the kid, scrounging for food.
It was probably by chance, because Rebel was fucking fast, but Crow managed to grab onto the back of the man’s shirt and hang on.
“Let go!” Rebel snarled and dropped low to the ground.
The move had been unexpected, and Crow hung on, but in the blink of a fucking eye, Rebel slipped out of the shirt and left the material hanging in his grasp.
Lightning fast, Rebel sprinted toward a concrete wall. Spider climbing up the face, the teenager balanced on the top and then dipped over the other side.
Hot on Rebel’s ass, Crow grinned. Scaling walls was his specialty. He was up the concrete in a few seconds, leaving Rebel gaping at him.
Over the top, they jumped and then Rebel was off again. Crow was used to running with a hundred-pound pack on his back, so this was child’s play to him.
Crow’s blood hummed at the chase, his gaze stayed razor focused on that fleeing form.
Damn, the man was fast, hella fast, but Rebel was going all out and Crow had miles more stamina than the younger man.
On the outskirts of Los Angeles, they flew across an abandoned field with Crow on Rebel’s heels. Something had been torn down years ago, leaving pipes and chunks of concrete behind.
Rebel scaled a heavy block of concrete with rebar sticking out and Crow just about lost his breath. The dark spikes had come close to piercing the man.
Rebel ran in the direction of an industrial park, but the flood control stood between them and those buildings, and Crow hoped that he could catch the man before that.
Scaling the flood control fence, Rebel dropped to the other side and ran toward one of the tunnels.
It was there that Crow finally caught the guy. With a hand to the back of Rebel’s pants, he yanked the slighter man to a stop.
Rebel was gasping for breath and stood heaving. Winded himself, Crow kept his grip on the man’s pants and his other hand planted on his thigh to catch his breath.
“You’re fast, I’ll give you that, but you lack endurance.” Crow huffed out a breath.
“Bite me,” Rebel snapped and swung around on him.
Crow dodged the fists and planted Rebel face-first against the wall of the tunnel and held him there with his bigger body. That was definitely a mistake because from the chase to the capture, his cock had taken notice.
Shoving away from Rebel, Crow kept a scowl on his face.
“Put your shirt back on.” He yanked the shirt from his back pocket and tossed it at Rebel, who pulled it over his head.
“I’m not going back with you,” the teenager’s voice trembled.
“You want to stay out here and starve?”
“I’m an adult. This is kidnapping.”
“You’re a loose cannon is what you are and if Savage didn’t want you brought in, you’d be dead,” Crow said flatly.
Rebel’s pupils blew wide and Crow wanted to call back the words. Damn it, the last thing he wanted was to scare the kid, but if Rebel couldn’t be brought in, then the higher-ups would more than likely order him to be put down.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Tears thickened the man’s words, but none fell and for that Crow was fucking thankful.
He didn’t know what he’d do in the face of Rebel’s tears. And he wondered why this had suddenly become more than a fucking job. But over the past two weeks as he searched for Rebel, he’d done some soul searching.
Crow hadn’t quite figured out what it all meant, but he knew he couldn’t quit Rebel.
At least, not yet.
Rebel was tired, but he was far from calling it quits.
Coming to the flood control hadn’t been by accident. There was a small access tunnel that he would be able to crawl through that he knew for a fact the bigger assassin wouldn’t fit.
From there, he could disappear. He just had to bide his time.
Because really, what was the alternative?
Life on a fucking leash?
Would that be so bad if the sexy assassin was holding the rope? Rebel had felt the man’s reaction to their pressed bodies and it set up all kinds of wants and needs that he shouldn’t fucking have.
No way in hell was he getting involved with anyone, much less this guy.
Besides, romance was for old people. Sure, Crow was old. Well, not that old, but older than him by many years.
But fuck was he sexy. The way he’d chased and caught him set Rebel’s pulse hammering. He darted quick glances at Crow, memorizing the man’s face, blond hair, and exposed tattoos.
Mouth-watering for sure, but they were not destined to be together. Not now, not later, not at some training facility.
This was his life, damn it. He was an adult and therefore, according to law, he could make his own decisions.
“What are you guys afraid of?” he spat, suddenly pissed. “That I’m going to be out here killing innocent people?”
“I…” Crow seemed at a loss for words.
“I haven’t ever killed anyone innocent.”
“Not yet, you haven’t,” Crow said with a growl.
“You fuck. Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Rebel moved closer and shoved Crow with both hands in the chest. The guy took a few steps backward.
“Rebel…”
“You don’t get to say my name.”
Shoving Crow again, this time, Rebel did it harder and the guy again took steps back.
Crow didn’t step back from the push, but rather from the hurt in Rebel’s eyes.
Shit. Fuck. Damn it!
When Rebel turned and sprinted down the tunnel, Crow lunged after the slighter man.
He missed.
And before he could process Rebel’s next move, the kid was slipping into a very small opening.
“Fuck!”
Crow ducked down to get a look. The access tunnel was way too fucking small to fit.
All he caught was the site of Rebel’s tight ass as the teenager crawled through the tiny space.
Shoving up, Crow ran down the tunnel he was in and up and over, hoping to catch Rebel on the other side.
He scaled the fence and dropped down and ran to where the opening should have been.
And it was there, but when he ducked down to check, it was empty.
Somewhere inside of that access tunnel had been another route.
Once again, he’d lost Rebel.
This time, it left a hollowness behind.