Page 41 of Steal Me (Rebel Hearts Heists 1)
Chapter 15
Cover
Kaden
I open my eyes when an insistent ray of sunshine filters through my eyelids and it takes me a full minute to get my bearings. I see her snuggled up to River and if it weren’t for the peaceful expression on her face, I’d rip the motherfucker off of her and kick his sorry ass. Sloane seems to have forgiven him for his dickish behavior yesterday and for not acting like a fucking responsible adult when he decided to have unprotected sex with her.
Ok, mostly for making Sloane doubt that he cared. Because as far as the unprotected sex goes, I don’t know if I could exercise the same restraint I managed on that first night in the penthouse in Beverly Hills.
That was easier because I didn’t want to take advantage of her when she was at her most vulnerable. I had to constantly remind myself that the fact that I’d had a crush on Sloane for months didn’t mean that she necessarily felt the same way about me. Especially since I went from college classmate to the bank robber who grabbed her at gunpoint.
Dude, don’t I fucking know how to get noticed by a hot girl? But things have changed in the few days since we took her, for all of us.
And it’s not only because Sloane was running from her past life anyway and I sort of saved her by snatching her out of the grasp of the FBI agent her ex put on her trail. It’s because we’re all getting to know her, and God help me if we’re not all starting to have feelings for our hostage. Shit, they should put our photos in all the psychology textbooks under the entry: Stockholm Syndrome.
But how can any man not fall for Sloane? She isn’t just smoking hot, she’s sweet, feisty, funny and so damn kind. So much so that she even got River to fall for her.
Yeah, the crazy motherfucker is a goner. I don’t even know if he realizes it yet, how much he fucking cares. Because it’s as clear as the sunshine that’s beginning to filter through the windows of the log cabin’s living room. I can see it in the way he looks at her, the way he talks to her, in the way he fucking touches her, whether it’s a casual brush of his fingers or a full embrace, like now. I know it well because I am starting to feel the same damn way and it's driving me insane.
I walk into the bedroom where I left my stuff last night, thinking that we all need to talk about what’s next. Seattle is the end goal right now but even if we all feel that Sloane is no longer a hostage, we need to look after her. That means having a difficult conversation about protection, because I’m sure as fuck that last night she wasn’t playing Scrabble in the master bedroom with Royce and Blaine. So it’s not only about the unprotected sex that has already happened, it’s also about preventing it from happening again.
I don’t want to assume that she wants a morning after pill, but I’ll have to try to find a tactful way to inquire about it without sounding insensitive or bossy. I gathered that her ex was a controlling asshole and I don’t want her to misunderstand my need to protect her. Of course I also have a selfish reason to want to do that. If we’re all pursuing her, I’m not going to back down. There’s lots of reasons why I think I’m the one for her and I know that since that first night I’ve been keeping my distance, I got caught up in the whole mess that we’re in. But I don’t want her to think that I’m not interested in her, not even for a second.
I also don’t want this shit to be decided because the rest of these assholes are irresponsible and get her knocked up. Sloane deserves to be with someone because they love and care about her, not just because she is stuck in a situation. That wouldn’t make us any better than her ex or the kidnappers we were originally. Hell, I’m not opposed to kids in the least and this thought is not one that has ever crossed my mind before Sloane … but she deserves to make a real choice for herself. It seems like the rest of them in her life were taken away from her.
I find the burner phone I always have on me in my duffel bag and I curse under my breath. Fuck, this is bad. Time is running out and while a few days ago I might have felt that it was fine to let the events all fall into place as they’re meant to, now I’m not so fucking sure. Because once again, Sloane complicated matters in more than one way: this isn’t just about how I feel about her, it’s also about protecting her from her abusive ex. I feel responsible for her. If that agent that showed up at the penthouse and at the motel got his hands on her, she’d be headed back to everything she’s been running from. In the situation we’re in, Sloane hasn’t broken the law in any way, and while I can’t be one hundred percent sure that her ex is the only reason why that agent is after her, my instincts tell me that it isn’t because she’s done anything wrong. The woman straightened up the hotel bedroom we stayed in the first night after being kidnapped. Does someone who still has manners after being kept against her will sound like a fucking criminal? Yeah. I don’t think so either.
I quickly change into my running clothes, if I get out before the others wake up, I might be able to gain more insight into this situation and buy us some time. I jog out of the house and into the woods that surround the oasis that contains our lake resort. It’s still early and we’re off-season and Christmas is still a few weeks away, so the resort is almost empty and that affords me the privacy I seek. I stop by a group of trees, looking around and I smell him before I see him. Or better, I smell his clove cigarette. Shit sometimes that smell gives me a migraine.
“Yo, Vance!” He beckons me and I instinctively look around to make sure that no one’s within earshot and that I haven’t been followed, especially from anyone in our cabin.
“Lower your fucking voice and let’s make this quick. I want to get back before they all wake up.” Walker sets a hard gaze on me, running his hand through his shaggy brown hair.
“Quick? Vance I’m ready to close this whole operation today. But before I give the ok, I need to know what the fuck is going on here. Did the brothers have someone on the inside for your last job? That bank teller who’s running with you?”
Fuck, no. This is going wrong fast, I need to stop this and to get Walker to call his squad back.
“No. That was my own fuck up. That last job went tits up, nothing was the way it was supposed to be and we had to raid the vault. There was a fucking agent in the bank, with a gun and I had to make sure that we got away.”
Walker shakes his head, his tone of voice lowering before he speaks again. “Yeah, that’s why I thought that the girl was involved but the brothers didn’t make you privy to that information.”
“Dude, you have it all wrong. She has nothing to do with the robberies. She wasn’t even supposed to be at work last week.”
“That’s exactly why I thought that Agent Hunter was right when he said that she was part of the gang.”
“No she’s not—” Hold on a second, what the fuck is going on here? “So you didn’t send him after us. Agent Hunter, I mean?”
“No. We stayed away and traced your ‘secure credit card’ as agreed. But you have to understand that you’re fucking out of time.” Walker looks aggravated and lights a cigarette: I snatch it off him and put it out against the sole of my running shoes.
“Do you want to send fucking smoke signals? Just stop smoking and let’s finish this shit. I need more time, Walker. I feel that I’m close, so close to make the last connection we need to end this properly. I feel like all the answers are in Seattle.”
Walker shakes his head. “Do you even understand what the fuck you’re asking me for? The deal was that this would end last week, in LA. During that last job that went awry. You should’ve let us arrest you inside that vault. But you had to go and add kidnapping to the fucking list of crimes your friends are gonna go down for. That’s if like you say, the girl isn’t involved. Pierce Hunter says differently. He says that he’s been after the woman for six months—”
It hits me like a fucking wrecking ball: Agent Hunter’s name is Pierce? Like Sloane’s ex Pierce? The guy that she’s running from because he was violent and abusive? He’s the fucking FBI agent that put that alert on us? I would say it's a coincidence but Pierce isn’t a common name and even at the hotel I’d noticed how set he’d been on getting her back. This is so screwed up.
So I put my feelings aside and decide to process the fact that Sloane didn’t trust me enough to tell me that later on. After I get Walker off my back.
“So now this makes sense! Agent Hunter must’ve been acting on his own, on a personal basis. So it wasn’t you issuing that alert, chasing us out of California?” Walker nods at my words.
