I guess time would tell.
You know, if we could avoid the bullets for long enough to give it a try...
Chapter Ten
Shy
Three days passed in a relative blur.
That first day involved figuring out sleeping arrangements, eating the food Eddie made, and getting to know all the animals.
Belle had been particularly interested in getting to know all of Remy's pets. It had been the only thing to bring her out of her shell that day, actually. She cooed over kittens and fed almond slivers to the parrot and cut up salad greens for the tortoise.
She didn't talk much. At least not to all the humans around. And she jumped whenever a car or bike pulled into the driveway. But she wasn't shaking. She wasn't round-eyed and curled into a ball.
I figured it was the best we could hope for.
"Animals are therapeutic," Remy told me when he caught me watching Belle swinging a feather toy at the kittens for what had to be two hours straight.
"Yeah," I agreed, turning to face him. "How are things going? Do we have anything based on the sketches?" I asked.
"Arty finally got into the police database. He is trying to run facial recognition between the sketches and known mugshots.
"Which only helps if they've been arrested," I said, sighing. If they were careful enough to use normal people as forced assassins, they likely didn't get pulled in on other charges either.
"Don't lose hope. We will figure it out. We always do. Right, McCoy?" he called, making me turn to find him walking in from the front.
We hadn't exactly gotten as much time together as I was thinking we would. He and his guys had thrown themselves into hitting up local contacts with copies of the sketches. Between that and the fact that the guys and the girls and the kids were around a lot of the time, we had almost no time alone to talk since we'd shown up.
"Right, what?" McCoy asked.
"Your girl here needs some comforting," Remy declared, patting McCoy on his back before moving off to see the kittens with Belle.
"He right?" McCoy asked, wrapping an arm around my waist, then pulling me with him back into the kitchen.
"I'm fine. I was just saying that we are only going to find the guys if they have been arrested before."
"There are always ways. Impatient to get out of here, huh?" he asked, voice a little tight, like he didn't like the idea of that.
"No. Not at all. I just... I don't like worrying about you guys every time you leave."
"Us guys, huh?" McCoy asked, brow raising. "All of us?"
"Well," I started, smile tugging at my lips. "Maybe one of you more than the others," I said. "I mean, I have really gotten attached to Eddie's cooking," I finished.
And I did it.
I finally did it.
I got an actual smile out of the man who seemed allergic to them.
"Eddie, huh?" he asked, eyes bright as he released me, but only so he could stalk toward me, backing me up against the wall. "So, it wasn't my name you called out in your sleep last night?" he asked.
Had I?
I had no recollection of it.
But, you know, I'd been asleep and all.
If I had, he likely would have been able to hear since Belle and I were crashing in the room right across from his. Huck's old room, if I remembered correctly. Which was massive enough to hold a regular-sized couch that Belle opted to sleep on to avoid my habitual sleep flailing.
"Seems like you went from fighting Mr. Hicklerman to fucking me in your dreams," he said, making my sex clench hard just at the mention of it.
"Well, it couldn't have been all that good, though. Since I don't remember it at all," I teased, shooting him a smile.
"Well, maybe sleep me isn't as good as real me," McCoy suggested, leaning inward.
"I have no proof of that, I'm afraid," I said, tssking my tongue.
"Think I can do something about that," he told me, pressing in, pinning me to the wall, then resting his forearm on the wall above my head, towering over me.
"Really? Like what?"
"Maybe something like this," he said a second before his lips crashed down on mine. Hard, hungry, setting off a wave of sensation through my system, making me acutely aware of the feel of him, the scent of him, and the taste of him.
A low moan moved through me as his hands moved down, grabbing my wrists, then pinning them over my head as his teeth nipped my lower lip, as his tongue moved inside to claim mine.
McCoy ground his pelvis into me, making me acutely aware that I wasn't the only one who was aching with need.
With my arms pinned, all I could do was raise my leg and hook it around his lower back, opening myself up to him as he pressed against me one more, this time touching just where I needed it most, getting a deep, ragged sound from me that had him pulling away to look down at me with hungry eyes.