They were probably tourists, but they could be cops.
Apparently unaware of the tension, the couple bickered their way past two more streets before they finally agreed to take the next left.
“Itoldyou,” drifted back, sharp with satisfaction, as they shoved the stroller up the hill.
Marlow exhaled slowly and visibly slouched down in his chair. He pushed his hood back and scrubbed his fingers through the tangled mess of his hair.
“Shit,” he said tiredly.
Cade reached into his jacket for his wallet. He counted out money for lunch, with a tip generous enough to make up for his extended stay, and tucked it under the plate of picked-over pasta.
“We should get out of here,” he said. “I don’t think your colleagues followed me here, but they do suspect we’re in contact. All it will take is one sighting by a patrol car to confirm that, and then I’ll be in the same position as you.”
Marlow’s shoulders slumped for a second, the weight of his exhaustion almost visible, and then he lifted his chin. “You’re right,” he said as he pulled his hood back up and got to his feet. His boots scuffed the pavement as he stepped back. “This is my problem, one I should have handled a long time ago. I shouldn’t have—”
He turned to go.
Cade tucked his wallet into his jacket and sat back to see how long it would take Marlow to realize that tactic wasn’t going to work here. No one negotiated protection contracts for a living and made a profit if they let the other parties yank on their heartstrings.
He enjoyed the smug feeling of superiority for a heartbeat. Then he remembered this wasn’t an oil baron who wanted to make sure his wife didn’t get paint thrown on her by protesters. It was Marlow, and he was already halfway across the road.
“Shit.”
Cade got up and chased after him. He stopped in the middle of the road, toes on the white-painted lines, to let a repair truck by. The guy in the passenger seat yelled “Stupid fucker!” at him on the way by, the words drawn out thin by the wind.
The minute the truck was past, Cade ran over the rest of the road and found Marlow waiting for him on the curb, hunched into that oversized hoodie with his hands shoved in his pockets.
“What do you—?” Marlow started to ask.
Cade grabbed the front of his hoodie and dragged him into a kiss. Even cold coffee tasted better when it was on Marlow’s tongue, the bitterness mellowed out and sweetened with a faded dash of salt and copper. After a moment’s surprise, Marlow laughed against Cade’s mouth—a low, rough sound—and leaned into the kiss. He hooked his fingers into the waistband of Cade’s trousers to pull him closer so they were pressed against each other.
There wasn’t time, Cade reminded himself reluctantly. He tilted his head back out of the kiss. Marlow—briefly—chased Cade’s mouth but then remembered the situation.
“Idiot,” Cade said. It could have been meant for him or Marlow. Both of them, maybe. That worked. “If I didn’t want to be involved, I wouldn’t be here.”
Marlow tilted the corner of his mouth up wryly. “Still,” he said. “I should go. Franklin is like herpes in a lot of ways, but he’s not communicable by kissing. This isn’t your problem.”
“You’remy problem,” Cade said.
He heard it. It wasn’t that he didn’t hear it. The problem was that it was always too late to rethink it by that point.
Marlow tilted his head. “Thanks?” he said.
“I want you,” Cade said. His voice was low and thick, the back of his throat scratchy as if he might just be allergic to honesty. “In a lot of ways. I want you in my bed, on your knees, out to dinner with me in a restaurant that has tables and plates. That’s personal. And while you getting killed by Franklin would throw a spanner in the works, it’s not why I’m here.”
Color had crawled up into Marlow’s cheeks and turned the bridge of his nose pink as he listened. He flicked his tongue over his lips.
“So why?”
“Because Franklin isn’t someone that I can coexist with professionally,” Cade said. “And more importantly, I’m pretty sure he feels the same way. So right now, we have the same problem.”
Marlow raised his eyebrows. “I thoughtIwas your problem,” he said.
“Remember when I told you to flunk the physical so they’d not approve you for duty this month?”
“Fair point,” Marlow said after a second. He scrubbed his hands through his hair under the loose drape of the hood. “Okay, so what next?”
“We get out of here together,” Cade said. “I have a property nearby that’s not exactly… on the books. Even if the cops are looking, it should take them a while to find it.”
