Page 46 of Delinquents Turned Fugitives
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That night,I couldn’t sleep—my dreams were full of ghosts, both real and imagined. My crew kept dying in my mind and I woke up in a nervous sweat more than once. Even after I crawled into bed with Evan, hoping his presence might make me feel more protected, I kept waking up, my mind whirling a million miles a minute, plans cycling through my brain. When I woke up for the fifth time at 4:30 in the morning, he sat up next to me in the bed, shoving down the comforter and pulling me into his arms.
“Hey, you alright?” His blue eyes looked almost black in the shadows.
I shook my head. “We have so much to do. I keep worrying about getting into the Institute. We probably should have gone yesterday, but then I got the phone call from the cops. What if they’ve added security? What if there are extra spells?” I wasn’t a nail biter, but I found myself chewing a nail. “I need to get the spell from Potts to unravel the bat thing she did … we need to—”
Evan interrupted my panicked rambling with a gentle kiss. “Hey, you’re not in this alone anymore, remember? We’ve got you. We just weren’t gonna talk about it while you were hurting.”
“Talk about what?” I blinked up at him in confusion.
“While you were at the station with Gray, I went over to Matthew’s place and tried to sign in as a visitor. You’re right. They had everything locked down for the day. But they told me visitation is supposed to reopen in two days.”
I snuggled into his chest and nodded. After a moment, logic was able to overtake the frantic need to ‘do more’ that was racing through my mind. It was so strange, but so wonderful, to have my crew. It still felt new. I supposed I was still adjusting to it after years of only depending on Dad, and even then, he was only truly aware sometimes. It was nice not to feel lonely. It was nice to have the guys checking on things for me when I was occupied—they were so thoughtful. “What was security like?”
“As far as I could see, they had a Physical Restraint Amulet that kept visitors from walking past the front desk. And they had two armed guards. Nothing too intense. But they were pretty high strung—serious faces, antagonistic vibe. I think they were definitely worried about the possibility of another breakout like the one in Black Cape."
"Wait. What?" I pulled away and sat up, my eyes flickering over his face, my stomach dropping.
"An Institute down there had a break out earlier tonight. Just after dark. You were still sleeping."
I sucked in a breath. "You think ...?"
Evan nodded and tucked me in even closer as a shiver ran down my spine. "Yeah, I think that vampire had something to do with it. I mean, there hasn't been a break out in what... eight, nine years?"
Callum. I shook my head, cursing the bastard once again; this time he was making my job harder. "Dammit. How many got out? Were they contained? What happened?"
Evan shrugged. "Broke out? Eight is what they said on the news. I don't think the Pinnacle's caught any of them yet. Any of the vamps that broke out hunkered down somewhere. They showed pictures though. Most of them are younger. One girl with a lot of piercings. The news did say that Pinnacle officers were searching the sewers ... "
"Fuck! He's pissed—"
"Yeah, I think conscious enslavement could do that to a person."
My responding laugh was dark and bitter. "Yeah." I didn’t begrudge Callum his fury or his revenge, I just fucking hated that it made my plans even harder.
"Hey," Evan slid his index finger under my chin and turned my face toward his. "Benefit? They'll be busy chasing him and hopefully won't have time to focus on us. We'll get Matthew out, spread the cure, and be heroes. They'll make a made-for-TV movie about us and everything."
"We aren't good enough for the big screen?" I crossed my arms.
Evan leaned over and pressed his lips to mine in a soft kiss. His tongue flicked out and I responded, eagerly; his mouth erased my troubles one kiss at a time. My hands uncrossed and slowly lowered as the tension inside me eased. One of his hands slid down the front of my shirt, gently cupping my breast. He pulled back from our kiss, slightly breathless as his thumb flicked my nipple through my shirt. "We're too naughty for the big screen."
I melted under his touch. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer with a wily grin. "Is that the case, Mr. Weston?"
“Yup.”
“Prove it,” I told him.
He yanked me toward him and grabbed onto my thighs, spreading them apart. Then he urged me forward with his hands on my back. The nervous energy that had been writhing under my skin took up a new purpose as I straddled him. My body came to life under his touch as his hands slid down my sides and underneath the hem of my shirt to cup my hips. His palms traced up and down the skin there, slow and teasing.
But I didn't feel like being patient. I grabbed Evan's hair and tugged at it. At the same time, I bit down on his lip hard. Light magic came pouring out of my fingertips as my hands raked down the back of his neck and scratched his back through his t-shirt. "Take it off," I ordered.
"Yes, ma'am." Evan pulled back from our kiss with a grin as he yanked his shirt up over his head and then dove back in for another kiss. This time, he picked up on my frantic pace and his kisses were much more aggressive. His hands sought out my breasts again and he squeezed them hard through my shirt before pulling back.
I tried to lean in for another kiss but he stopped me with a finger over my clit. "Take it off," he ordered, rubbing in slow tantalizing circles that filled my mind with orange sparks of light.
I slid my t-shirt slowly up my body, enjoying how his eyes raked over me. As soon as my shirt was off, he shoved me backward on the bed, diagonally, and captured my neck in his mouth. His teeth gently pressed against my pulse, nipping me, before he feathered kisses up and down the sensitive skin there.
I ground my hips up into his, his boxers and my panties the only barriers between us. The friction immediately sent little ecstatic waves of pink light dancing behind my eyelids. "More," I whimpered.
