Page 45 of Chased

There was a long pause. Madison held her breath, hoping she hadn’t overstepped. Maybe he was like Boomer’s brother and didn’t want anyone to know his name.

Finally a text came through.

Do you know how much I wanted to say no, just to fuck with you?

But it was immediately followed by another one.

Gabriel

She smiled.

Goodnight, Gabriel

Goodnight, Foxy

Chapter 19

They didn’t get to have their date on Sunday after all. Madison slept late in the morning, and when she got up there was another text from Sanchez:

We got called out on an apprehension—me and the boys

It will probably take until tomorrow

Date then?

Sorry

She texted back it was okay, of course. Because that’s how it was at the Ridge—how it would always be. Sometimes missions were planned, and sometimes things came up. She might as well get used to it.

So Madison painted with her new paints Sunday and worked on Monday, and waited to hear from Sanchez. It wasn’t until after dinner that he finally texted her.

On our way back

Be there soon

Hand hurts, had to punch the guy a lot of times

Just as well because he’s a serious wanker

Vixen was very amused by that. Madison envied Sanchez sometimes, that he was strong enough to punch people who deserved it, and felt no guilt about doing it.

Vixen said, We should get a job where we can punch people who need it.

Madison replied, I think we’d need to work out more to make that happen.

But it was true. If she had Sanchez’s muscles and attitude—or even Mikey’s—she wouldn’t have had to stab Henri with a cake fork. She could have slugged him and broken his nose. Although, the stabbing part had been pretty satisfying.

And now she was learning knife fighting for real. Maybe Jaeda would show her how she hid her knives up her sleeves so they just slid right into her hand with a flick of her wrist. Maybe she could even get Sanchez to design a custom knife for her, when she could afford it. That would be awesome.

Of course her mind went right to him standing behind her, helping her with her fighting stance, his hard body right against hers.

They’d work the wolf thing out, she promised herself. And maybe, now that Sanchez knew she was a lapin, they could Change together sometime. Vixen was getting more and more anxious; she hadn’t been able to manifest herself since they’d left Shady Valley, except briefly inside the cabin with all the blinds down. And that wasn’t really enough.

Succulent plants, Vixen said. Munchy hay. Fresh air. Green grass in my toes. Change now. She started pushing at Madison.

We can’t, Madison said. Stop it. Not until we can ask Sanchez to watch out for us.

She knew his wolf would protect them. That he would protect them, with all the fierceness he was capable of. He was such a complex man, sweet and scary and brave and monstery, all in one package.