Hellion, a New Adult Romance Novel (The Rebel Series) (32 page)

I do a half-backbend trying to evade him.
 
I’m more confused than anything.
 
How is it possible we’re both thinking the same thing at the same time and no one is there to stop us or shoot us or try to run us over with a car?
 
What’s the catch?

“What are you doing?” I ask, trying to gain some time to get my head sorted out.

He leans back.
 
“Trying to kiss you.
 
It’s not going very well, though.”

My jaw drops open as I stare at his face.
 
This can’t be real.
 
I wonder if I should pinch myself awake or just go with this dream.
 
I hope I’m not drooling on his car while I sleep.

“What?”
 
He looks uncomfortable.
 
He lets me go with one hand and swipes at his mouth.
 
“Do I have something on me?”

I quickly reach over and pinch my hand. It hurts.
Yay!
Relief washes over me.
 
I’m awake.
 
He’s real.
 
This is happening.

“No, stupid, you don’t have anything on you.”
 
Except me.
I grab the front of his shirt and twist it in my hands, shaking him a little when I have a firm grip.
 
“I’m just …
ergh
.”

He leans over and gently slides his hand back around my waist again.
 
“Is that a good
ergh
or a bad
ergh
?”

His face is getting closer as I stand straighter and he leans more into me.
 
I can feel the front of his waist pushing into mine and something is getting bigger and harder between us.
 
I can’t help but push up against it a little.

“I think it’s a good
ergh
,” I say, my voice mostly breath.

He’s going to kiss me.
 
I tremble just the slightest bit with anticipation.
 
The warmth of his arms and hands seep through the thin material of my shorts and t-shirt.
 
As we come together, his fingers slide up my back and pull me to him.
 
My heart feels like it’s about to beat itself right out of my chest cavity.

Our one and only other kiss was a playful thing.
 
This one is not.
 
His lips come to mine softly at first but then become more insistent.
 
His warm tongue is there too, sliding along with mine, touching my lips, my teeth, anything that gets in its way.
 
It’s hot out here in the woods.
 
Really hot.
 
My nipples go hard and I press into him farther, reveling in the feel of his body up against mine.

A loud horn honking just behind us, makes us both freeze in place.
 
With our lips still pressed together, Mick says, “I think we’re being paged.”

I smile, a slight breeze washing over my hot skin, making me shiver just a tiny bit.
 
“I think we are too.”
 
I can’t come up with anything sexier or cooler to say.
 
I feel like a complete goof.
 
I suddenly realize that I’m actually making out with a guy behind a bathroom.
 
Could I be any lamer?

He smashes his lips to mine and gives me one last, loud kiss before pulling away.
 
“Come on. Time to go fight crime.”

I push him away, trying to act all casual even though my heart is going too fast and I’m anything but chill. “Stop saying that. We’re not fighting crime.
 
We’re just doing some recon.”
 
Don’t trip.
 
Whatever you do, don’t trip.

“Yeah, right.” He walks slowly, waiting for me, staying by my side.

I’m afraid he’s going to take me by the hand and turn me into a complete and utter loon as I stutter and flutter and go all red in the face, so I stay far enough away that he can’t.
 
It’s torture to want him to touch me like that but know I can’t let it happen.
 
I need to keep it together, not let this simple kiss get the best of me and turn me into a flaming idiot.
 
There’s nothing less sexy to a guy than that, and I really want him to find me sexy.

This whole thing is probably a bad idea, I know this, but that isn’t going to stop me from pursuing it. I need to play it right and not mess it up.
Mick and Meeee, sitting in a treeeee, k-i-s-s-i-n-geeeee…

We get back to the car and he hesitates before getting in.
 
I stare at him over the roof while my door remains shut.
 
Words come flying out of my mouth without any forethought or planning on my part.

“Thanks for kissing me.”

I instantly feel beyond stupid over the fact that I can’t seem to control my mouth - not when it wants to kiss Mick or when it wants to say things that should probably just stay in my head.

“Thanks for kissing me back,” he says.
 
The expression on his face is more adorable than I can stand.
 
Maybe it’s not so bad that my mouth runs away from me sometimes.
 

I open the door and get in before it can do anything else and blow this moment between us.
 
“We all good?” I ask, twisting around to see Alissa and Colin.

They’re each looking out opposite windows. Colin doesn’t acknowledge me, but Alissa nods silently.

“Okee dokee.
 
Off we go, then.”

As Mick leaves the parking lot, I pull out a Slim Jim and dangle it in front of his face.
 
It stays stiffly out in front of his nose for a few seconds but then starts to bow down, going limp in my hand.
 
I bounce it a few times for effect and it taps his nose. “Want one?”

He takes it from me, smiling just before he rips off a big chunk with his teeth.
 
“Don’t mind if I do.”

We’re both grinning like fools as we drive north on the Pacific Coast Highway. I don’t know what’s going on in his head, but I’m looking forward to the next time we can catch a stolen moment with no one looking.
 
I wiggle with the anticipation.
 
I’m totally going to touch his junk.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

AFTER SEVEN HOURS ON THE road, my ass feels as flat as a pancake.
 
Maybe not even a full pancake.
 
More like a crepe.
 
Alissa and I stand at the front of the car, discussing our game plan while I shake it out and fluff it back up to its badda-boom glory.
 
The guys are inside the car, because Alissa said they look too suspicious. She also claims that there’s nothing more non-threatening than a pregnant girl, but I beg to differ.
 
She’s somehow managed to work everything to her advantage and get exactly what she wants from three fully grown adults who used to think they were in charge of their lives, and she hasn’t even broken a sweat getting it done, either.
 
She’s a monster in pregnant lady clothing.

Alissa was allegedly too tired most of the way here to discuss our plans, but since we arrived in San Jose, she hasn’t shut up.
 
Turns out, it was better to wait like she suggested and get to know the lay of the land first. Now we can follow someone from a distance without looking like maniacs since we kind of know the streets a bit. I hate to admit it, but so far, having her along has been a bonus.
 
If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have had my kiss.
 
The kiss.
 
The one I can’t stop thinking about.
 
Just looking at Mick through the back window gets me all aflutter.

“Okay, so now what?” I ask. Without waiting for her answer, I continue. “I say we wait outside and watch people leaving, and follow the ones who look like they’re going for a drink.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Alissa asks.

“Watch and learn, grasshoppah.”
 
We lean on the car and watch people filtering out of the building.
 
It’s six at night, which we all agreed would probably be the time the lower-level employees would be leaving.
 
Now we just have to hit the lottery and find the one person in the whole place who will spill the beans.
 
“Watch for anyone wearing tight skirts, low-cut tops, or heels way too high for comfort.”

After several older looking single ladies and a few single men exit the building, a gaggle of chicks walks out giggling and holding onto each other’s arms. They fit my profile to a T, probably in their late twenties or early thirties and definitely dressed for picking up guys.
 
They’re the perfect age and profile to have jobs that include gossiping.
 
Awesome
.

I grab Alissa’s arm in excitement and shake it back and forth as I hop on my toes.
 
“It’s them!” I whisper-squeal. “It’s them!”

“See you at The Pit!” one of them says loudly to a youngish guy in a suit walking out after them.
 
His tie is loose and the top button of his shirt undone.

He waves sloppily in their general direction.
 
“Yeah.”
 
He’s too busy texting to do more than that.

“Bingo,” I say, calming myself and narrowing my eyes at the girls so I can take in more details.
 
They all pile into an SUV together.
 
It’s black with four doors but too far away for me to see much else like the make or model.

I push Alissa ahead of me, around the side of the car.
 
“Get in, get in,” I say, all excited that my plan is working out so far.
 
Success is almost within my grasp, I can practically feel it.

“No need to rush me,” she says, getting my hands off her back by turning sideways.
 
“We know where they’re going.
 
You heard them, right?
 
The Pit.”

“Yeah, but what if they change their minds? Come on, we don’t want to lose them.”
 
I open the door and pull the seat forward so she can get in.
 
It would probably be nicer to let her sit in the front, but there’s no way in hell I’m not sitting next to Mick.
 
Besides, Colin is being such a dode in the back seat … no wonder Alissa was mostly comatose on the way over.
 
He’s about as much fun as a wart right now.
 
Maybe he can put her to sleep again.

“What’s the deal?” Mick asks.

“They’re going to The Pit,” I say, unable to keep my breath from coming too quickly.
 
I feel like I just ran two miles.

“Where’s that? It’s not around here. We didn’t see any bars called The Pit,” he says, frowning in the rearview mirror at his brother.

“So?”
 
I buckle my seatbelt.
 
“Come on, what are you waiting for? We can look it up on my phone if you really want to, or we could just follow them and
go
there and find out first-hand.”

“Isn’t there something closer?” Mick asks.
 
“Why would they go so far away?”

“How am I supposed to know?” I wave at his keys.
 
“Come on, come on. We’re losing time here. They’re in that black SUV over there that’s leaving the parking lot.”

Mick turns the engine over and reverses out of the space.
 
“I’m getting a bad feeling about this,” he says, staring out the front windshield.

“Shush,” I say, my eyes glued to the SUV. “You’ve had a bad feeling since before we even started this thing.”
 
The SUV is going really fast, and I watch the speed gauge on Mick’s car nervously as it continues to climb.
 
“Careful,” I say.
 
“I don’t want to get pulled over.
 
It’ll ruin everything.”

“The Pit is like ten miles from here,” says Alissa, looking at her phone.
 
“I have the phone number. Do you want me to call and get directions?”

“No,” I wave her off. I pat Mick’s shoulder.
 
“Just drive. Follow the car and we’ll get there.”

Alissa puts her phone into her backpack and rest its on the seat between her and Colin.
 
He glances down at it and then at her before staring out the window again.

I shake my head at them.
 
They’re so uncomfortable in each other’s presence it’s almost funny.
 
Even seven hours in a car together hasn’t done anything to fix it; in fact, it seems worse.

I turn around and let that stupid stuff fall out of my mind.
 
With every mile that slides by, I’m feeling pretty full of myself and supremely confident.
 
We are so going to make this happen and save Teagan’s ass!

I’m the queen of badassery all the way up until we pull into the driveway behind the SUV and see the sign on the outside of the giant building.

“What the …”
 
I stare at is as we cruise by, my mouth hanging open in surprise.

Colin leans forward and smiles for the first time all day.
 
“Now
that’s
what I’m talking about.
 
Let’s go do us some recon.”

He’s out the door before I’ve even touched the handle of mine, pushing the seat forward and smashing Mick against the steering wheel during his escape.

Mick looks over at me as his face is leaning on the horn cover.
 
“Any other great ideas?” he asks.

I refuse to answer.
 
I have a plan to put into action, and I’m not going to let anything like a silly old strip club keep me from getting this job done.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

ALISSA AND I WAIT TEN minutes in the car before following the path already laid by Mick and Colin.
 
We don’t want anyone inside to know we’re together, thinking one of us might get lucky if we find a lonely soul inside just waiting for someone to unload all their unhappy work feelings on.
 
There may also be some reticence on their part over the whole issue of walking in the front doors of a strip club next to an obviously pregnant girl.
 
She didn’t look any more excited about it than they did.