Chapter 30
SIEGE
“You sure you don’t want to stay over?” Cosette’s sweet voice reached me as she walked us out of the door, Hoyt thankfully not following us so I could sneak in a not-so-innocent kiss before we had to leave.
“Again, little vixen, it’s not that I don’t want to. Blame this guy for keeping us apart.”
Did that sound as needy and disgusting as I realized it did?
Fuck, what is happening to me, dude?
“We’ve got work to do tonight. You started this whole Exodus bullshit. I will not be the only one working my ass off to achieve this for us while you stay and fuck our girl.”
“Language,” Cosette warned, glaring daggers at Dex, who frowned in response. At being scolded at or because he’s on the receiving end of our girl’s disappointment, I’m not sure.
Cosette couldn’t resist Dex, though, when he put his hands on her hips, gently pulling her towards the space between his legs while he leaned his ass against the car.
The fucker leaned into her space, whispering something to her which I couldn’t hear or see, but Cosette visibly softened, clearly forgetting about his crudeness, that she gave him a chaste kiss on the lips when he leaned back.
All these years growing up together, and I must say, I’ve never thought Dex would be the type to be a sweet and smooth talker.
Clearly satisfied, Dex got into the driver’s seat, starting the engine while Cosette now gave me her attention.
“Why didn’t you tell your dad who we really are?” I asked the question that had been bugging me since earlier, the words slipping out easily.
“You and Dex,” she started, putting a hand on my nape, grazing the hairs there with her soft fingers. “You two are trying to get out of your situation. It shouldn’t be held over you if you’re wanting to start a new life. My dad doesn’t need to know because I won’t let being an Azul define you.”
I’m just a man.
A man so helplessly in love with Cosette Evangelista that the thoughts in my mind had been reduced to nothing but wanting to kiss her until she was breathless.
My hand swallowed one whole side of her face as I pulled her in, my lips crashing against hers, that I almost wanted to tell Dex to fuck off because I’m staying the night come hell or high water.
It doesn’t help that Cosette was pliant to my actions, pressing her body up against mine, tilting her head as she deepened the kiss herself.
Of course, my brother, always the patient one, honked the car horn, making our sweet girl jump and pull away.
I flashed him the middle finger, and he had the audacity to smirk.
“It’s getting late, and we have school tomorrow. Go,” Cosette said. “Just be careful, okay?”
I knew she was right. But that doesn’t make these goodbyes easier, no matter how short the time we spent apart is.
Call me fucking pussy whipped, I don’t care. I’ve never been in love before so, sue me.
“We’ll see you tomorrow.”
I rounded the car, getting into the passenger seat, and Dex rolled down the windows so we could say good night to Cosette one last time before he drove away.
“I’m going to cockblock you so many times, mark my words,” I said, making a threat to a smirking Dex as we made our way to our new rental.
Staying at another one of the Azul’s properties is ballsy of us. But I trusted my and Dex’s skills enough that I knew we could handle ourselves if need be.
It was on the other side of town from the first rental we stayed at, anyway.
Though, no matter how confident I am that we’re safer now that Eli’s gone, we still can’t be too sure.
You can train all you want, and know every skill in the goddamn book, but being lax in this world of ours is what can get you killed.
So, yeah, I know we’re fucking capable, but we’re still on high alert.
I was deep in surveillance as Dex was driving, looking at the mirrors every second, that I didn’t notice how bothered he appeared to be.
Once the car was parked, he was off and closing his door with more force than usual.
“What’s up your ass?” I asked as I shed my leather jacket, throwing it onto the armrest of the couch in the living room. “Are you seriously upset that I got some today, and you didn’t?”
“Fuck you, Siege. You know I’m not in this for the sex.”
I crossed my arms, waiting for him to continue as he plopped down on the plush sofa, because I didn’t want to accidentally provoke him by asking any more questions.
“Cosette’s not alone, but will Hoyt really be able to protect her? Not that I’m saying he’s weak. He’s downstairs while our girl’s upstairs. What if he can’t hear when Cosette needs help? I don’t even know if he has a baseball bat, much less a gun, to keep them safe.”
“They’ll be okay. Nero said he’ll keep his curtains open, and so will Cosette, just so there’s an extra pair of eyes on her,” I said in an attempt to appease him. “Now, come on. The earlier we get all this shit figured out, the safer it is just to be with her.”
Dex groaned, a low rumble in his chest, as he pinched the bridge of his nose, but he knew I was right. He stood up then, leading the way towards the room where he had set up the computers.
“Our work tonight’s mostly going to be going through audio recordings from devices I had planted.”
With no trace of being distracted, Dex was back in his zone in the blink of an eye.
At least, it was like that for the both of us for an hour before we heard something.
A notification. On my and Dex’s phones.
Panic clawed at my throat, and I knew I wasn’t alone as Dex wheeled his chair closer to the desk to reach his phone quickly.
But it wasn’t anything scary. Not in a way that we thought was a danger to Cosette’s life.
No, because it was only a notification of her making a group chat with me, Dex, and Nero.
Cosette
Hey, I’m off to bed
Just wanted to say thank you for not leaving me to do the talk alone
Dex
Jesus, sweetie. You’re bad for my health
Cosette
What? Why?
I looked up from my screen to see Dex hunched over his phone, smiling as the light glowing from the device shone on his face.
Dex
Nothin
Are you being a good girl with your curtains open for Nero?
Cosette’s typing bubbles appeared and then disappeared, and that repeated a few more times, which made Dex look my way with a silent question in his eyes.
“I guess it’s because you called her a good girl,” I said, wondering if she’s flustered right now.
Nero
Yeah, I can see her through her window
She’s malfunctioning, I think
She has a pillow over her face
Cosette
Why are you three ganging up on me????
Dex
Oh sweetie, you’ll feel it when we do gang up on you
I grabbed a stress ball that was under the PC monitor on the table and threw it at Dex as I barked out a laugh at his innuendo.
Cosette
Degenerates. The lot of you
Night, I’ll see you tomorrow
Cosette named the group ‘Weirdos’.
Dex
Wait so is group sex on the table?
Cosette removed Dex from the group.
“What the hell?”
I burst out laughing at Dex’s surprised exclaim, his face tied up in annoyance at being kicked out.
Cosette
Tell him he’s on time-out for 24 hours
“She said you’re on time out,” I said with too much amusement that Dex gave me a death glare, and I immediately raised my hands in surrender. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.”
“I’m not a fucking child.”
“Then stop acting like one with your dirty jokes.”
“She likes them sometimes, asshole,” Dex said, leaning back against his chair before going back to work immediately after.
Me
Good night, little vixen. See you tomorrow.
Then I locked my phone, putting it down on the table screen down, and like Dex, I went back to work.
Because he was right earlier.
The closer we are to solving this mission, the closer we are to being with Cosette with no other distractions.