Page 28 of No Reason to Trust

“Could be a long time. God knows what they’re doing here,” Jake whispered. “It’ll only take a moment to look at the window.”

Without waiting for Livvy to answer, he stood up and pressed his ear to the closet door. Couldn’t hear a thing. So he eased the door open slowly enough that it didn’t squeak. Listened again, and when he heard nothing, he slid through the opening.

The window was a large hinged one with a latch on the wall. He eased the latch open and slid outside. Closed the window almost the whole way, then realized he was on the edge of the wall. There was a gap of about a foot between this window and the building next door, so he dropped down lightly and walked to the other side of the roof. Behind a large air conditioning unit, he found a chain ladder with steel rungs between the two chains.

Jake looked up at the building and saw the darker shapes of fire escapes zigzagging from the windows. Then he looked over the side. There was an alley on that side of the building, so he picked up the chain ladder and lowered it slowly down the side of the building. It stopped a couple of feet above the alley.

Exactly what they needed. He walked across the roof and listened at the window for any signs of the men but heard nothing. About halfway down the building, one of the offices was lit up. That had to be where the men were.

Easing the window open again, he crept to the closet and opened the door slowly. “Come on,” he whispered. “I found a way out.”

Livvy’s clothes rustled against the floor, then she stood up and hurried toward him. Once she was in the hall, he eased the door closed silently. Then he took her hand.

“Out this window,” he said.

Once they were out of the building, he pushed the window closed as far as possible, leaving only a tiny gap.

“There’s a ladder on the other side of the roof. Part of the fire escape system. We can climb down it, then get the hell away.”

Taking her hand, tightening his fingers around hers, he led her toward the other side of the roof. Pointed out the ladder. “I want you to go first,” he said. “Once you’re on the ground, I’ll come down. Then we’ll get the hell out of Dodge.”

“Okay.” She swung one leg over the edge of the roof and grabbed the chains on either side of the ladder, then started down slowly, one step at a time. When she was almost at the bottom, Jake reached for the ladder. But before he could grab it, a man on the other side of the roof said, “What the hell is this window doing open?”

Chapter 11

Crouched behind the air-conditioning unit, Jake heard someone laugh. “Some of the young guys come out here to smoke pot,” a man said. “Figure no one’ll be able to tell, but the dumbshits don’t realize they reek of it when they come back in.” He snorted. “Everyone does it now, but if we were ever caught with that stuff? Our old men would beat the crap out of us.”

Jake wanted to look over the edge of the building to make sure that Livvy had made it safely to the bottom, but he didn’t dare move. He didn’t want any flashes of movement to alert the men on the other side of that window that someone was out here.

“Lock it up so we can get out of here,” another man said. “And pay attention to the kids. If one of ‘em is smoking that shit at work, crack their head.”

Keeping completely still, Jake listened as one of the men closed the window and secured the latch. Then he heard the rumble of multiple feet on the metal staircase.

When the sounds were far away, he swung over the edge of the roof and grabbed the chain ladder. Descended as quickly as he could. When he reached the bottom, he jumped to the cracked cement of the alley, and Livvy grabbed onto his arm.

“You okay? You think anyone saw you?”

“Didn’t sound like it, but they found the unlatched window.” He snorted. “Blamed it on the young guys going onto the roof to smoke weed. Thank God they didn’t think to check the roof to make sure it was clear.”

“Yeah,” Livvy said with a shiver. “Let’s get out of here.”

They’d gone halfway down the alley when Jake heard a group walking down the sidewalk. He recognized one of the voices as the guy who was speculating about the pot-smoking kids. So he grabbed Livvy and swung her around until her back was pressed against the wall. Then he cupped her face in his hands and pressed his mouth to hers.

She stiffened against him, and he slid his mouth to her ear. “Play along. I recognize one of those voices as the guy who noticed the window wasn’t closed.”

She sucked in a breath, then she twined her arms around his neck and curled into him. She tangled her fingers in his hair, caressing his head. The sensation of her fingernails on his scalp made Jake suck in a breath and go instantly hard. With thoughts of discovery the last thing on his mind, he took her mouth, kissing her lips then sliding his tongue along their seam. She opened for him, and he entwined his tongue with hers.

By the time he heard the men walk past the alley, Jake’s heart was beating like a drum and his cock was getting all kinds of ideas. He pressed closer, and he felt Livvy do the same. She curled one leg around his, and they were tangled together completely.

Based on the tap of their shoes on the sidewalk, the men were passing the mouth of the alley. But either they didn’t look down the dark space, or they were used to seeing people making out in the dusky light. He kept kissing Livvy until he couldn’t hear the footsteps any longer.

Reluctant to end the kiss, he sucked her lower lip into his mouth. Ran his tongue over the soft inside of her lip, shocked when she moaned quietly. Like this was real and not merely a staged performance for the men. As his tongue tangled with hers, it felt damn real to Jake, as well. When Livvy’s hands tightened around his shoulders, gripping him as if she was into this as much as he was, he forgot all about the Bratva guys and focused only on Livvy.

When he realized he was kissing Livvy as if he’d die if he couldn’t have her, he sucked in a breath. This had become too damn real. The realization was like a bucket of cold water splashed over him.

Stepping away from her, he shoved his fingers through his hair. “I, uh, think they’re gone. Either they didn’t notice us, or they’re used to people using this alley to make out.”

Livvy wrapped her arms around herself like she was suddenly cold. “Yeah. Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to be anywhere near this building if those guys decide to come back and check us out.”

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