Page 124 of Brazen Deceits

Never mind the fact I’m currently having one.

I can finish breaking down in two minutes.

“Thanks,” I croak, Trips keeping me in the circle of his arms, not letting me out of the ring of his safety. Knowing that I’m not better. Not by a long shot.

He smells like someone else’s blood and money; I’ve never felt safer.

“What do you need, Crash?” he asks, eyes glazed with rage.

I clear my throat, looking down at the three gorillas, bloody on the ground around me. “RJ, Walker, bring the van to us. We have a delivery to make,” I say, my voice oddly calm considering that I currently feel like I’m trying to shore up the Hoover Dam with silly putty.

Trips holds me tight, asking the question I need answered but am too scattered to ask. “How long until the cops get here, RJ?”

“I don’t know if we’ll make it.”

“How close?”

“Really close.”

I swallow back the tears trying to escape. “We can do this. Walker, do you have my fake?”

“It’s shit, Clara.”

“But is it recognizable?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“Good.”

My fingers continue tapping Trips’ chest, the rhythm my last string to sanity I have.

Frustrated with my stupid choices, my body’s inability to just roll with the punches, I yank the earbud out of my ear, slipping it into Trips’ shirt pocket. I’m so fucking cold, both from not wearing enough clothes and from what is probably shock.

I don’t want to go into shock. I can’t.

“Trips. The other guys, I don’t want them to see me like this.”

He tightens his hold around me, his body radiating warmth that my own shivers devour. “Clara, give me something to go on.”

I press my face against his chest, his scent comforting me, giving me space to ask for what I need. “I need a distraction. A, I don’t know, a redirect. I—” I shiver, a different type of fear flooding me. “Could you kiss me?”

He freezes, the steady rise and fall of his chest vanishing. I turn my face, ready to step away, to give him space. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a gorilla staggering to his feet. “Trips—”

He sees him too, spinning and kicking the guy under the chin, and the gorilla crumples back to the ground. “Fucker.”

I’m still nestled under one of his big arms.

Slowly, achingly slowly, Trips turns back to me, his gaze trailing up my body, settling on my lips. Another shiver ripples through me, and he’s there, his lips on mine, hisbody forcing me back against the wall, the bite of the brick changed from a terror to a pleasure, matched only by the nip of his teeth on my bottom lip.

His hands skate up my body, one hand squeezing my breast while the other grasps my ass, dragging my pelvis against his.

My own hands tremble as I dig my fingers into his silky hair, tugging his head until he groans into my mouth.

“God-fucking-damn-it, Crash. Don’t do shit like this,” he says, his teeth digging into the crux of my neck like a punishment.

I whimper, the feeling so raw, so fucking primal, that only animal noises make sense.

His warmth wraps around me, the world fading into heat and sensation, the last of my shivers hovering just under my skin. This is what I need. This? It’s fixing everything—even my recklessness.

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