When I came back to earth, he was still over me, andin me, watching me with unfiltered awe all over his face. My laugh was shaky,self-conscious, nervous… “Wow,” I whispered.
I was all rubbery limbs and warm muscles, but he wasas serious as always, observing me with that same sharp instinct. “I will neverbe the same,” he said, his voice roughened gravel. “You’ve done something to methat can never be undone.”
I didn’t have the strength to be as serious as him. Instead,I lifted up on my elbows and kissed the corner of his mouth. “I’ll be gentle.”
He finally rolled over, pulling me into the crook ofhis body. I laid there listening to the heavy beat of his heart and smiled at avictory I had never known I wanted. “I don’t need you to be gentle. I just needyou to stay with me. Don’t leave me, Six. I won’t survive it.”
I pressed my hand over his heart, loving the feel ofhim like this, so wide-open, so absolutely familiar. But I knew what he meant.I wouldn’t survive it either. Not after this.
Not afterthat.
After we’d cleaned up, we found each other in bedagain. I curled into him, loving the feel of his naked body against mine—evenwhen we weren’t doing anything but cuddling.
“It feels safe here,” I whispered to him. The fedsmight be looking for me, but I was untouchable in this room. If they had anarrest warrant, I would face them in the morning. But here with Sayer I wassafe. And it wasn’t just them that I wanted to hide from. It was all of it. Thebratva, mydad, the job. I just wanted to stay here with Sayer forever. “I don’t want toleave.”
His fingertips stroked my back, running up and down myspine, lulling me to sleep. “We will always have this, Six. We don’t need aroom for this.”
I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep knowing he wasright. We were connected at the deepest level now. We’d been on this trajectorysince the day we met. Tonight had been a fiery culmination of everythingbetween us. Fireworks and explosions and the melding of two hearts thatformerly belonged in two different bodies. Now I held his within me. And heowned every inch of mine.
I knew we were young and it was impossible to tellwhat the future held for us. But I also knew my heart. It would never belong tosomeone else.
I was Sayer’s. Forever.
Chapter Nineteen
Present Day
I looked down at the text Frankie sent me, all myemotions bubbling over with righteous indignation. This was highway robbery.
The dollar amount for three new identities stared atme, eyebrows lifted in mild disdain. It seemed to ask, “What?” in that teenagertone of some of our resort guests that drove me crazy.
“You’re what,” I told the identities. “You’re tooexpensive.”
The number didn’t change. Son of a bitch.
It was almost the end of the day, but this couldn’twait. I pulled my purse out of the filing cabinet and reached my hand into thehidden pocket, retrieving my emergency track phone. I didn’t trust cell phonesor text messages or really any kind of smart technology.
Like I said, paranoia was my best friend.
I texted Frankie from my real cellasking if we could talk.
Innocuous enough, right? But she would see the code.Five minutes later when she replied with a curt,Sure, I knew she had her own track phone and had settled in asecured location.
I slipped my normal cell into my purse, and slammed everythingaway in the metal cabinet taking the burner to the bathroom. I dialed hernumber from memory and counted the rings until she answered.
“Why is it so much?” I asked on a raised whisper.
“Juliet,” she answered immediately. “You were right.You need a lot of paperwork for kids.”
“We don’t have enough, Francesca. Not for thatamount.”
Something banged on the other end of the phone. Shehit something. Or kicked it. “They’re coming for us, Caroline. We have to dosomething.”
Cash.
This was a cash flow problem. We had money. We hadassets. But we didn’t want to trip any wires or alert any unnecessaryauthorities. We had to leave Frisco discreetly or people would start lookingfor us. Maybe not many, but enough to start a snowball effect that could landus in serious trouble.
Maggie, for instance. Jesse. Juliet’s preschool anddaycare teachers. Our landlord—especially when we left a whole bunch of shitbehind.
