Page 23 of Running Scared
A DOUBLEcheeseburger with onion rings later—with a stop at a decent restroom and a snooze in the back of the sedan while Dean continued to micromanage the planet—had Bailey feeling a little bit better about things.He was sitting up from his slump over Bumble’s cat carrier, padded with a blanket he’d found shoved behind the driver’s seat, and blinking rapidly, trying to get his brain to catch up to his body, when Dean spoke clearly from the front.
“Mr.Bumble’s still asleep, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” Bailey said, checking on his cat again.“Jesus, Dean, how much did you give him?”
“He should be out for another four hours,” Dean said, sounding apologetic.“I looked up the dosing, but I had to push the envelope.This is going to be a rough trip for him, and I don’t want him to wake up until it’s over.”
Bailey nodded, and then as what Dean said penetrated, he remembered something else Dean had said.For a moment he glanced around wildly at the flat desert vista of southwest Texas and thought,No.
And then he remembered that ferocity with which Dean had attacked everybody in his life over the last few hours and thought,Oh shit.No.
And then his mouth opened all by itself, and he said, “Please tell me I’m not leaping out of an airplane with my cat.”
Dean sucked air through his teeth—Bailey could hear it from the back of the car.“Well, not strictlywithhim.We’re sending a supply platform down that Mr.Bumble gets to ride on.Marcus is really good at steering things like that.You, on the other hand, are going to have to get a few quick lessons.”
Bailey blinked hard and then blinked again.“Why?”he demanded faintly.He was a smart guy.Heknewhe was a smart guy.You didn’t work your way through med school bartending without some ability to extrapolate a lot of logical conclusions from a little bit of pertinent information.But he couldn’t… couldn’treasonwhy Dean was doing this, and therefore couldn’t reason a way out of it.
He heard Dean’s sigh, and then to his horror, since Marcus was going about 100 mph on a mostly deserted freeway, Dean unbuckled his belt and turned physically around in the seat so he could meet Bailey’s eyes.
Bailey thought he was going to die of apoplexy, and he’d never actually seen anybody do that before.“Dean, oh my God,turn around!For fuck’s sake, put your seat belt on.Have you ever seen what car wrecks can do?Jesus Christ—”
Dean reached out and feathered his thumb across the shaggy hair on Bailey’s forehead, pushing it out of his eyes, and Bailey was so arrested by the gesture he actually shut up.
“I’m doing this so the people who killed Vlade can’t trace you,” Dean said softly.“Vlade was one of our CIs, but we think he was a plant.He kept trying to feed us false information, and we kept figuring out what the real bust should be.He got killed because they thought he’d turned for real.”
Bailey crossed his eyes.
“Yeah, it’s a mess.There’s an unholy Gordian knot being tied right now between Texas Bratva and Corazones de Sangre, and the two men you described sound like the Texas Bratva hit men, right down to the coin, which is Ilya Pardonov’s signature.The coin is a replica of the rare Constantine Ruble—there’s only about twenty of this particular pressing in the world today, and Ilya stole himself one, and that’s what he left at the crime scene.Andyousaw him come back for it.You are a walking, talking conviction—hell you’re an entire case—for a gang of violent thugs and the people they’ve been screwing over who are equally as violent.And given the way they followed us out of the hospital, they’re pretty sure they know that.I will do anything, Bailey,anything,to keep you and Mr.Bumble—”
“Bumble—”
“Mr.Bumble to me,” Dean said, his lean, serious mouth barely twisting at the end.“And I want to keep him safe.So when you land, there will be some people waiting for you—a few you might recognize, which will be nice.You’re going to be shuttled around for a bit, but I think I’ve got a good safe place for you to end up, and hopefully this little jaunt to the desert will help hide even your direction.So if you can deal with jumping out of an airplane—”
Bailey whimpered.He couldn’t help it.Sure, skydiving had been on his bucket list, but didn’t most people have that on their bucket lists, only to decide in the end they simply wanted to live a few more years and not risk that precious time doing stupid things on their bucket lists?
Again that gentle touch, this time along his cheekbones.“We’ll give you instructions,” Dean said softly.“And I swear there will be somebody waiting for you.It’s going to be fine—”
“Except for that five to seven minutes in the air,” Bailey said, trying not to freak out.
Dean’s grin surprised him.It was like watching a little kid geek out over dinosaurs.“You’ve looked it up, right?”he said.“’Cause it’samazing.Like the whole world is there in your outstretched arms.You’re gonna love it.”
And Bailey couldn’t help it.That joy in such a hard, determined man—it wasmagical.Transcendent.Glorious.Who didn’t want to touch something that amazing?Who wouldn’t follow it into hell?
“If you say so,” Bailey whispered, already crumbling in the face of that transcendent joy.“I mean, what could it hurt.”
Dean chortled like a third grader, and Bailey stared at him hungrily, all thoughts of danger—both to Bailey from the jump and Dean for sitting backward in his seat without a belt—disappearing.The eyes, the cheekbones, the lean lips, the slightly crooked bottom teeth—even the strutting-rooster God complex—all of it seemed unbearably attractive when combined with that goofy laugh, and Bailey was struck with wonder.
Oh man, he was so in trouble.He’d been in trouble when he’d let Dean in his shower that morning.Screw that, he’d been in trouble when he’d let Dean in his front door.Or, hell, before then.When he’d let Dean in hispants.
Dean Royal so very obviously had Bailey Dodge’s number, and as evidenced by their conversation that morning, Bailey didn’t even know he had a phone.
“Yeah,” Bailey admitted faintly.“I… I’ve thought about it.Was thinking maybe the big four-oh—”
Dean snorted.“How about the big three-four?”
“How do you know how old I am?”
He knew the answer before Dean said it.
