Dirty Dealers

I open the app and type a quick text to Stefano: I’m in the alley. She’s getting close. Finished the sweep?

Pacing the narrow space by my bike, I wait for his reply. It doesn’t take long.

The place is clean. We’re heading out the fire escape.

I walk all the way to the back of the alley, where it ends in a wooden fence that would otherwise open onto the next block. Looking up, I can’t see them, but I hear the groaning of metal and the crash of a ladder rolling up. Two sets of shoes click on the damp pavement, growing more faint as the guys blend into the night.

Walking to the front of the alley again, I’m only mildly appeased. All of this is happening too fast. I haven’t had time to process what we’re doing. I didn’t have time to plan. I’m pissed that I was

left out of the discussion, but I’m even more pissed I didn’t get to see her once more before she left.

The hum of a car engine sounds on the street out front. I pull up the app, and sure enough, the three dots are right with me. My chest squeezes, and I place a finger on top of them. She’s here. Leaning against the wall, I rub one hand down my face, pushing back on regret. I have to be here for her now. If this scheme works, none of that shit will even matter.

She walks slowly to her door, no doubt letting the car disappear. Her keys weren’t on her when we found her in the villa. I’m not sure how she’ll get inside. I slide to the front of the alley, pressing my back against the wet wall. She’s pressing the buzzer. Seconds pass and the lock clicks loudly. He didn’t even ask her to identify herself.

Now I’m really pacing. She could have been anybody just then, and from this distance, I wouldn’t have time to catch an intruder before he was on the other side of that door. Without hesitating, I dash to the wooden fence. It’s sheer planes with nothing to serve as a foothold or provide assistance getting over it. Stepping back, I leap, grasping the top of the boards. The wood cuts into my palms, but I use all my upper body strength, swinging my legs to the side and pulling myself over the barrier.

My muscles burn and my palms are bloody when I make it to the other side, but I’m unable to care. The fire escape is my next obstacle to overcome. The ladder has retracted three meters over my head. Pushing my wounded hands in my pockets, I walk up a block, looking around for anything I can use to pull that ladder down. It’s late enough that most of the businesses are closed. I’m two blocks up when I come across a florist shop with a ladder propped in the alley along the side of the building. It’s not ideal, but I’ll take what I can get.

Pressing my back against the wall, I look down the street where I came. Only streetlights shine in rainbow puddles on the pavement. Grabbing the metal ladder, I hustle back to the fire escape. Once I’m on the landing, I kick the ladder back and aside, doing my best to hide it in the shadows.

It’s only a two-story building, which makes it easy for me to access her room. Again, it’s too easy. Anyone could do this, get here, hurt her… Without making a sound, I creep to the small window outside her bedroom and drop low, sitting in the dark shadows.

Her interior lights are off, and the streetlight silhouettes her body as she stands in front of her dresser. I watch as she reaches around and unfastens her bra. It falls away, and I have to swallow the lump in my throat as her lovely breasts are revealed.

“Kass,” I whisper, just as I realize the window is lifted a quarter.

My breath stills, and I wait to see if she heard me. She never responds, and I let out a slow exhale. Her hands cover her small breasts, and she tilts her beautiful head to the side. I imagine my lips touching the skin just behind her ear. She would shiver in response. I would replace her hands with mine, caressing her breasts and tweaking her beaded nipples.

Her fingers would thread in my hair as her back arched against my chest. I know her so well. The light touches her fair hair, her dark lashes, and I see she’s been crying. It twists that old pain in my stomach.

“I did have you,” she says, the longing in her voice palpable. “For a little while you were mine again.”

My eyes scan the space, and it’s empty. Who is she speaking to?

She turns and goes to the bed, pushing through the sheets in only her panties. I want to meet her body between those sheets and hold her through the night. I watch her a few moments longer. I want to be sure she’s asleep before I slip into her room to spend the night. I’m just about to enter when her voice touches me once more like a brand.

“I still love you, Logan Hunt.”

Tightness seizes my throat, and it takes all my willpower not to answer. My lips are sealed, but my heart aches. I’ve never wanted to be free so badly. I could take her away from this place. We wanted to go to Campania…

My head is in my hands as I wait. Minutes like hours drift by and eventually I hear her breathing level out. I reach out and push the window open all the way, slipping through it into her bedroom. I’ll crouch against the far corner out of her line of traffic and out of any chance of detection. I’ll stay until dawn, when I’ll slip out again.

“I still love you, Cassandra Kroft.”

Explanations

Kass

Close your eyes.

Fall in love.

Stay there.

~Rumi

Logan’s thumb slides across the line of my jaw. My eyes are closed, and his face is so close to mine, our noses touch. The heat from his lips causes mine to throb. His rich, masculine scent is all around me, and I know he’s here. It’s so intimate and perfect, my entire body lights up like a flare. I never want to open my eyes.