Once we’re on the road, trailing behind the other car, he gives me the rundown on what happened. It sounds like these guys are the best connection to Ellery we’ve found yet, and as long as we stay close, and potentially help them with their manhunt, they’ll lead us to Ellery at last.
“So, one of their guys was taken, and we’re going to get him back?”
“Yep. Bane. He seems to belong to the sexy Russian one, because he’s fucking gagging to get on the road.”
“Sexy?” I ask, despite my better judgement.
Fallow doesn’t owe me anything. This situation has been one of convenience, and he’s never said a damn thing to tell me it’s going to last longer than it has to. Even if he does let me kiss him now.
“Not as sexy as you, sugar tits,” he says with an eye roll.
It’s teasing, but it still makes me smile.
“We’ll help them, we’ll get to Ellery, problem solved. Road trip complete.”
The words ‘road trip complete’ hit me harder than I’d like to admit. It seems like every second I’m getting a new reminderthat this might be the end of my time with Fallow. He’s probably going to want to stay with Ellery, after spending such a long time hunting for them. Lord knows what Murphy is going to say about all this.
“Colm?”
“Eh?” I ask, realizing he’s been talking to me and I wasn’t answering.
“Did you meet the dancer? Did you get any information? Do we need to go back so I can kill her for sucking your dick? I’m dying over here and you’re not even giving me crumbs.”
“Sorry,” I say, shaking myself out of my weird malaise. “Yeah. Candace. I forgot her name until I was talking to her, but her name is Candace. I got her in a room for a lap dance, and I was pretty sure there were no cameras in there, so I just asked her straight up. Fuck knows what they’re using those rooms for with that much soundproofing and that little security, but I don’t like it.”
“Well, what did she say?”
I blow out a breath, taking another turn to follow the other car.
“She was definitely taken against her will. And fuck, Fallow. What she described was pretty intense. We’re talking cattle cars of people being carried around the country. Girls and women who you wouldn’t normally consider the most vulnerable populations still being taken. A much higher emphasis on looks than on picking someone no one will care about, like the organization doesn’t have anything to fear. It’s bad. These people are hardcore, even by organized crime standards.”
“Yikes,” he says, staring out the window with a solemn expression. “Did you get her out.”
I shake my head.
“I offered, but she didn’t want to come. She said they’d track her down again and kill her for it. I pushed harder, buteventually she ran away into a staff only area and I couldn’t get her back without causing a scene.”
We’re both silent for a while, thinking about where we go from here.
“This is a big deal,” I continue. “If we’re going to stop this organization, we’re going to have to do it all at once. Planned and organized. We still don’t even know the extent of who these people are, and if we pick at them a little at a time, it’ll only cause them to tighten up. As much as it feels shitty to leave them there, I’m pretty sure we’d both die if we tried to save them alone. I really need to call Murphy and let him know, so he can make a decision about this. This seems like a thing that needs to go all the way to the top.”
“Yeah,” he says, still quiet. “I think you might be right.”
FALLOW
Colm pulls over a little behind the guys we’re following. As soon as I move to get out, he starts to follow, but I stop him.
I stop him with a hand on his chest, which makes him pause as his breath speeds up a little. Nothing about my particular rules for physical contact has ever been a manipulation. They existed because I wanted them to. But I have to admit, the most delightful, unexpected side effect is that it only takes the smallest touch to get Colm blushing and breathless like a schoolboy with a crush.
It’s delicious. If I could inject this feeling directly into my veins, I would.
“Wait here for me. You need to talk to Murphy and your men anyway. Wait in the car in case we need to make a hasty exit and sort out a plan for this trafficking situation in the meantime. I’m just going in to support the fellas. It shouldn’t take long, and if it turns into a bloodbath I’ll run back out. Deal?”
“I don’t like this,” he says, clearly understanding he’s already lost this fight.
“Kiss me. Kiss me before I run bravely into battle.”
The corner of his mouth turns up, but he still looks worried.
