Page 41 of Remote Access

When the girl flipped a switch by the door, a spotlight shone down on it, making the golden robot glow.

Lane stood staring at it for the longest time, his lips tight.

“That case comes right off the wall, so have at it.”

Since Lane seemed glued to the floor, Quincy hurriedly lifted the light case and turned, still completely flabbergasted that the girl was just going to let them walk off with something worth more than the house. A lot more than the house. But before he could open his mouth, headlights flashed into the room through the door.

“Shit! He’s home!” She swung around and set the gun against the wall. “If you two don’t want to end up buried in the backyard, you better run. Now!”

Finally, Lane jumped into action, dropping the flat box. “I’m taking the press book, too,” he muttered as he swiped it up and aimed a grin at the girl before sending it Quincy’s way. “Let’s book!”

All three of them hurried through the living room and kitchen and hit the back door just as a car door slammed in the front. His heart raced so hard it thundered in his ears as he worked to keep up with Lane, who could run like the damn wind. His slim form ate up space like his legs were twice as long and he turned to look at Quincy once, his grin shining in the moonlight. They skirted trees and kept going until the girl finally called them to a stop.

“He won’t chase us. He hasn’t run in years and would pass out at the end of the yard if he tried.” She bent over, huffing and laughing so hard she fell onto her knees, holding her belly. “Well shit, I won’t be able to go back there for a while.”

“What are you going to do?” Quincy asked. “Do you need us to take you somewhere?”

“Nah, I’ve got a friend close by and I can hole up at her place. Tell my dad I was there the whole time—took her some cookies. He’ll be pissed, but he won’t think I took that thing.” She paused. “Well damn, you didn’t steal any of those Precious Moments.”

Finally, Quincy saw the humor in the situation and started laughing. “You’d better hurry. We’ll follow and make sure you get there.”

“Seriously, it’s like right around the corner. You think I made us stop because I was winded, old man?”

“I won’t take offense since you’re breathing harder than I am.”

“And he’s carrying the poster case,” Lane pointed out. He held out his hand. “It’s been a pleasure to meet you, though you really need to work on your taste in movies.”

“If you’d grown up around that scary robot poster, you wouldn’t like old movies either,” she quipped.

“True.”

The girl took off. They ran to where they’d left the SUV. Quincy hurriedly stashed the case in the back of the SUV and ran around to jump into the driver’s side as Lane crawled into the back. He worked to situate the case as the vehicle lurched into action.

Chapter Fourteen

Adrenaline pumped like fire through Lane’s veins and he whooped. “Hot damn, that feels better than I thought it would!” He turned to Quincy in the darkness of the car. “Taking them back. I want to take them all back.”

“Have to admit, it felt pretty good. Though I can’t imagine a weirder time than the one I just had. What a strange girl.”

Quincy drove along the back roads fast, though no cops were after them, of course. What idiot would call on stolen items? Though everything about that had been ridiculous. He’d nearly lost his shit when that girl had shown up. Then he’d gotten a good look at her face and he’d known she was merely a bored, insolent teen who was more amused than scared. He would have felt terrible if it had been the latter.

This gave him all sorts of different feelings than all the other times he’d fled a home. Always before the risk of getting caught could mean jail time, but this lift felt different.

Of course, now it could mean death when Hayrick figured out what they were up to.

But the adrenaline rush was so much better this time around because the joy that swept through him came with the feeling of justice. Of finally putting something right. Lane stared at Quincy in the darkness from the back seat of the SUV, his gaze locking on the way the moonlight played on the hair on his muscular forearms. “See that dark road coming up?” He pointed to a barely visible dirt road. “Reminds me of the one that leads to your friend’s house. Pull in there, will you?”

“And why would we want to stop there?”

“Because not only would it be better for us to be off the streets for a while, but I have very, very important reasons. One in particular.”

“Oh yeah?”

From the intrigued tone, he knew Quincy had a pretty good idea why he wanted to stop. Fuck, the heat roiling through his system threatened to make him spontaneously combust. He scooted closer to the back of the seat, inhaling the man’s warm, masculine scent. “See that narrow space between the trees? It’s perfect.” He pointed to a spot, one that would mask them somewhat from anyone who might drive by. Though that wasn’t likely—they hadn’t passed anyone since Quincy had taken them into the maze of back roads and if that guy was chasing them, they’d seen no evidence of it.

The second Quincy turned off the car, Lane fell over the seat and half over his lap. He speared his fingers through that fall of silky hair and plastered his mouth to Quincy’s. The stubble on his chin and cheeks scraped in a pleasant instant burn and he groaned and tried to scoot closer, wiggling and cursing the steering wheel digging into his back.

Quincy grabbed onto him, also trying to haul him closer before he started chuckling. “The hotel is like fifteen minutes away.”

---