Page 22 of The Devil's Weakness

I pull up the nearest fast-food place—one step above gas station cuisine, but nowhere close to Bon-Bon’s home cooking—and take off. I’m going to need some stakeout fuel. Luckily, there is a Dairy Queen not too far from here. I drive out there and grab two burgers and a coke. Then I come right back to the motel.

When I get there, I pull into a different parking spot, still out of sight of Sasha’s window. That way, she can’t see my truck if she looks outside. I check the time; it’s noon. Before I get settled in, I want to make sure she’s in her room and didn’t wander off anywhere or get abducted by the crazy-ass manager while I didn’t have eyes on her. I hop down from my truck and walk to her door. Placing my ear up against it, I listen for any sound coming from the other side. I hear laughter that sounds like it’s coming from the television.

That’s right, little girl.

Enjoy all the happy shit right now because it’s going to be quite a while before you have a smile on that pretty face of yours again. Walking back to my truck, I already miss seeing it on her face. It’s usually small and doesn’t reach her eyes, but I don’t like it any less because of that.

I decide that I’ll wait until this evening to go in there and get her. It will be a little easier under cover of darkness.

* * *

I’m suddenly wokenup by the sound of a ping from my phone.

Fuck.

After three hours of watching a closed-door stay closed, I shut my eyes for a few minutes. Here it is, eight hours later, and I’ve just taken the longestnapof my life. The anticipation of finding out what happened to Iron, coupled with the hunt for Sasha, has finally caught up to me. Going more than twenty-four hours without rest isn’t difficult, but when sleep finally pulls you under, it’s hard to fight back.

I grab my phone and see a bunch of missed messages from Stone.

Five hours ago...

Stone: I need an update; what’s taking you so long?

Two hours ago…

Stone: Goddamn it, Blade. Fucking answer me.

One minute ago...

Stone: That’s it. I’m sending Cap back out there to help you.

Me: No, I’m good. Sorry, I needed a little shut-eye.

Stone: You can sleep when you’re dead. What’s up with the girl? Do you have her?

Me: I’ve got my sights on her, yes.

Here’s where I need to sell it. That I’ve been doing more than biding my time, questioning how I can make this happen, so she doesn’t hate me when all is said and done.

Stone: So what the fuck is the problem?

Me: I’ve been studying her. Fucking with her. She knows someone is watching. She just doesn’t know who or when I’m going to pounce. Cap has her car. She’s not going anywhere.

Stone: She’s a fugitive, not a fucking science project. Quit playing games and get the fuck home already.

I look at the clock.

11:13 P.M.

Me: I’ll be home soon.

His lack of a response is all I need to know that I have until the morning to bring her back. Otherwise, she won’t be the only one facing a firing squad when we get there. In all seriousness, though, I’m a little worried she didn’t leave while I was under. I exit my truck and pull her room key from my pocket. I listen at her door again for any sign of noise, and I ready myself for a struggle once I get inside, just in case. When I don’t hear anything, I insert the key slowly into the lock.

Quietly, I open the door and look around. I see her body under the covers on the bed in the moonlight, streaming through the open door. When I close it, the room is blanketed in darkness again. I carefully open the curtain just enough to let some of the moonlight back into the room. Not enough to wake her, though.

Standing over her, I listen to the sound of her sleeping. Her steady breaths are much slower and more controlled than the rapid beating of my heart. It would be so easy to take her right now. My dick twitches when I think about the two different meanings behind the word take. I would never force myself on her, butfuck.

What I wouldn’t give to slide into bed next to her right now.

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