by Smith, Maren
His chest rumbled and I could hear the laughter in his voice. “I don’t think you want me to do that.”
“You don’t have any fucking clue what I want!” I insisted. “Put. Me. Down!”
“Suit yourself.”
One second I was pressed against solid muscles; the next, I was freefalling through the air. My stomach leapt straight up into my throat. The air moved so fast around me that it stole my breath. I closed my eyes, willing myself to wake from this nightmare before I fell to my death.
“Ooof!” My freefall was abruptly halted by strong arms that caught me, scooping me back up against a hard, strong body all over again.
“Are you ready to stop being so stubborn?” he asked, shaking his head.
As an answer, I threw my arms around his neck and, for the rest of the flight, held on for dear life.
Chapter 2
Brian
That should keep her quiet. For a couple minutes, at least.
Usually when someone reached the point in their lives where I had to rescue them, the dangers they were up against far surpassed whatever other fears that a short flight to safety might kick up. Unfortunately, that tiny fact didn’t usually assuage the fears associated with suddenly flying freely through the air in the arms of a stranger.
I knew that. Just like I knew that Angela was completely clueless about what was going on in her own life right now, which was actually a good thing. The less she knew, the easier it would be to keep her out of harm's way. I hadn’t lied to her; the men that were after her were not good guys. As a matter of fact, they were a gang of the city’s worst, meanest, most hardened criminals, with a man named Patel as their leader. Patel gained his infamy via running illegal drugs and a sex trafficking ring that had so far been impossible to stop. Thanks to Angela’s employee, Donnie, they were out to take their vengeful pound of flesh from this adorable woman. I shuddered at the thought of what might have happened to her had the police waited any longer to call on me for help.
The damn police. City’s Finest, my ass. Too damn proud for their own good and always waiting until the very last minute before summoning me.
In this case, had they waited any longer, a short freefall through the sky would have seemed like a kiddie ride at the amusement park compared to what might have happened had they gotten to her before I did.
The safe house came into view. From our vantage, it wasn’t any more than a little speck on the outskirts of the city, but I still sighed in relief. My task here was almost complete. Soon I would be back in my lab and focused once more important things. Alone, with my research.
Just the way I like it.
Tucking my chin, I looked down at Angela, who hadn’t moved since the little lesson I taught her in the air. The way she still curled into me, clinging to my neck with both hands, I almost felt a little guilty for what I’d done, but I also knew that the sooner she learned to obey the people trying to protect her, the better off we all would be.
I landed gently a few feet from the front steps of the safe house. As far as I was concerned, nothing about this location struck me as particularly safe, but that was out of my hands. I had delivered the subject safely; my job here was done.
“We’re on the ground, you can let go now,” I whispered into the ear of the little trembling woman. Timidly, she pulled her face out of my neck and peered up at me. Her eyes were red and puffy and mascara tracked her cheeks.
All right, now I really do feel bad.
“There’s no need to cry,” I cajoled. “The police will take good care of you. All you need to do is keep your head down and follow their instructions to the letter.”
She didn’t say anything, but her grip loosened and she allowed me to set her feet on the ground.
“Go on in.”
She timidly took a few steps forward before turning back to me. “Aren’t you coming?”
“No, my work is finished,” I explained. “You are in the hands of the police now.”
She looked back and forth from the door to me. “I’m so confused. How do I know I will be safe? I can’t—”
“Just remember what I said and everything will be fine.” As far as reassurances went, it was a shit one, but it was all I had. This part, and anything that followed after it, was not my job. I was in the Apprehension and Delivery department. That was it.
Insecurity and fear flickered across her face as she stood staring at the door and, as much as I wanted to be finished with the mission, I could not force myself to walk away. She looked helpless and meek, and when she bit her lip, it tugged at heartstrings I didn’t know I still had.
Throwing caution and my own rules to the wind, I scooped her back into my arms. Ignoring how good she felt pressed against me, I marched up the steps to the door. Shifting her slightly in my arms, I knocked.
“I can walk.” She wiggled against my hold, but the way her head rested against my shoulder contradicted her words.
A young rookie cop, who I had already gone head to head with during our initial briefing about this case, opened the door.
“Do you just open the door to anyone?” I barked as I pushed past him, instantly annoyed at his lack of caution or common sense.
“I knew it was you or her.” He shrugged. “Who else would it be?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I spat between clenched teeth. “Patel’s men? You need to take this more seriously.”
“No one knows we are here, dude,” Rookie Cop argued. “Pick your panties out of your ass and relax.”
I clenched my jaw hard enough that my teeth felt as though they would shatter. I could literally crush this kid with my bare hands and he had the balls to talk down to me like that?
“I didn’t sign on for this. I’m not a damn babysitter,” Rookie mumbled under his breath.
I saw red. It was the last straw. I had had enough of his bullshit. Someone needed to teach this little shit a lesson.
Looks like it’s going to be me.
“Can I speak with you outside?” I spoke through clenched teeth, my jaw barely moving at all.
“Sure.” He shrugged like he didn't have two fucks to give. “I could use a smoke.”
Fuming, I set Angela down and nudged her toward the hall. “Head into the back room and get some rest. Remember what I said.”
Her eyes were wide and scared, but she nodded and walked toward the room I’d indicated.
The house wasn’t much more than a two-bedroom shack, meant to fade into the background of this low-income and falling-apart neighborhood. It was a joke how little the local police were willing to spend to protect their citizens. I waited to move until I heard the click of the door closing behind her and knew she was safely ensconced in the bedroom.
As soon as we were back outside, I wrapped my hand around the Rookie’s neck and pinned him against the side of the house. I did not restrict his airway since, unfortunately I did need him alive and functioning, but I wanted him to feel my strength and know I was not messing around.
“Listen to me, you little pissant,” I growled. “I’ve had about enough of your underhanded comments and your horrible work ethic. You are a police officer. You signed on to protect people in your community. That is your job. Do you understand me?”
Eyes wide, the asshole nodded, as best he could with my grip around his neck.
“Good,” I hissed. “I’m glad we understand each other. Now, there is an innocent young woman in that house with no fucking clue what kind of shit-show she has to look forward to. Her entire life has been turned upside down, and you, as an officer of the law, should be jumping at the chance to look after her, not complaining about it and making her feel like an unwanted inconvenience, do you understand me?”
I felt him swallow hard beneath my hand as he nodded. I had one more thing to say before I let him off the hook. “You better take this job seriously, Rookie, because if anything happens to her on your watch, you will answer to me. Got that?”
“Y-ya, I got it!” His head w
obbled up and down like one of those Bobblehead dolls.
“Yes, sir,” I corrected him, because it amused me and he could stand to learn a little respect.
“Yes, sir. I-I understand, s-sir,” he stammered.
I stared him down for a few more seconds before removing my hand from his neck. I probably wasn’t much older than him, but I had been doing this for a lot longer and, although they didn’t like to admit it, the force counted on me in delicate situations like this.
Shaking my head in disgust, I turned and headed down the steps, ready to fly home and finally get back to my lab, but the unexpected click of a closing door stopped me. I froze and tuned in my hearing, trying to pin down where that sound had come from. The street was dark and quiet, apart from a furtive rustling coming from behind the safe house. I leapt into the air and over the roof, landing on my feet right in front of Angela.
She startled, slapping both hands to her chest when she recognized me. Recovering almost as fast, she scowled in annoyance.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked, widening my stance and crossing my arms over my chest.
She immediately copied that stance, handing it right back to me, although hers was far more adorable than it was intimidating.
“I’m going home,” she snapped. “You can’t just kidnap me and force me to stay here without bothering to even tell me what the hell is going on.”
Had she been anyone else, I’d have been annoyed, especially because I had far more important matters to attend and I was still here. But her spark made me smile. Grudgingly, I even admired that she would immediately try to escape after all the trouble I had gone through to rescue her in the first place. My hand tingled with the urge to turn her around and smack her butt.
My rescues didn’t usually affect me this way. For some reason, Angela was different.
“Listen to me, little angel,” I growled, spontaneously nicknaming her, “you are going back inside that house and you are going to follow the directions of the officers assigned to protect you. All we are trying to do is keep you safe.”
“Safe?” she scoffed, “does this look safe to you? That back door wasn’t even locked! Those men in there could care less about me, and I will not sit here and pretend everything is hunky-dory because the police are ‘protecting me.’ No way. I can and will do a better job on my own.”
I scowled, mostly because I knew I couldn’t argue with her on that point. She was right to be upset, but just because these particular idiots weren’t doing their jobs didn’t mean there was a chance in hell that she could protect herself from Patel. “You’re right.”
“I am?” Not expecting me to agree with her so quickly, she narrowed her wary eyes at me. “So… I can leave?”
“Not a chance,” I replied. “I am willing to concede that you are right, in a way. But you are also very wrong.”
Her hands moved from their crossed position over her ample breasts and knuckled into her hips. “How am I wrong?”
“Those two rookie cops are idiots and I intend to give the chief a piece of my mind, as should you. But whether they are incompetent or not, it doesn’t change the fact that your life is in danger and you are better off here. You do not know what you are up against here, little angel. You need to trust me on that.”
“No,” she argued. “Tell me what I’m up against, then I will know and I can deal with it from there.”
“It’s not my job to tell you, but if you are patient, the chief will have some better answers for you in the morning. Go back inside.”
She stared at me for a minute, and I met her frown with an unwavering one of my own. Finally, she sighed and dropped the tough girl act. “Fine, but at least let me have a smoke first.”
“Smoking is bad for you,” I informed her, blandly. I was sure she knew all of the dangers.
“I don’t care.” She rolled her eyes, shooting me an irritated glance as she dug through her backpack. “I’ve been smoking since I was sixteen. I’m a grown woman, I can do what I like, and I don’t need you to lecture me on it.”
I had planned to let her smoke until she said that. But the lack of care for her own life and wellbeing incensed me, and I couldn’t hold back the threats that flowed easily from a place deep inside me.
“You don’t care?” I growled. “I just spent the last forty minutes of my life trying to eradicate the threats to your health, and you don’t care? Well, fine. I can care enough for the both of us. If I catch you smoking, a lecture on health hazards will be the least of your worries.”
Her eyes widened and then narrowed at the threat, but for the first time since we met, she said nothing.
“Go inside,” I repeated. “Eat your dinner, get some rest and stay calm. Everything will look better in the morning, I promise.”
I couldn't wait for her to go inside. Everything about this stubborn little angel got to me, and I couldn’t seem to control myself, my words, or my actions when she was around. I needed to put some distance between me and her, and fast. I’d barely known the woman for an hour and she was already under my skin.
Her jaw clenched. So did her hands. She folded them even tighter across her chest, a tiny tic of muscle tugging at the corner of her frowning mouth, as if she were trying to find an avenue from which to pitch another argument, but she still didn’t. Instead, in a small, subdued voice, she asked, “How can you be so sure? What if it doesn’t? What if it never gets better, and I’m stuck in this pre-foreclosure roach-motel forever?”
Even her sulking was cute.
Annoyed as I was with myself for thinking so, I still closed the gap between us so I could lift her chin with my finger and bring her blue eyes back to mine. The shine of them in the dim backyard lighting was mesmerizing. Even in the shadowy darkness, I could see she was trying her damndest to put on an irritated face when really she had a precarious hold on some very overwhelming emotions. Somewhere under that tough little exterior, there was a woman fighting hard not to let herself fall into a spiraling meltdown at lightning speed. No one who understood this sad state of affairs would blame her either, myself included. This was a shitty situation.
I opened my mouth to tell her, again, that she would be fine and to go back inside, but I couldn't do it. I wanted to kick myself for what I was about to say, but there was no way I could walk away from her tonight and leave her in the hands of two oblivious jackasses. Something about her made me want to break all of my own rules. That was unusual for me. Normally, I was not a rule breaker.
“I’m sure,” I answered firmly, “because I’m going to be here with you all night. Okay? I will stay until you get the answers you need and are as comfortable as you can be under these crummy circumstances. Deal?”
The sides of her mouth turned up in a tiny smile. “Okay.”
“I need to go home and get a few things. I will be back in fifteen minutes. Can you promise me you will go back inside and not attempt any more escapes?”
“Wasn’t much of an attempt,” she muttered, pouting.
“Promise me.” I pinched her chin.
She rolled her eyes, but it was half-hearted at best. “Fine. I promise.”
“Good girl,” I whispered. “Go on inside. I’ll be back before the delivery man gets here with your dinner.”
I waited for her to walk inside and shut the door before making the flight home. It took me less than five minutes, despite my living on the other side of town.
“Welcome home, Brian.” The intercom came to life the minute I landed inside the porch perimeter and a tinny, robotic voice softly requested, “I’m ready now for your report.”
“No oral report tonight, Marshall. I’ll submit it via email as soon as I get Angela settled.”
“Angela Shue?” Through the speaker, Marshall sounded quietly confused. “Was there an error in her extraction?”
“No,” I sighed, punching in the code to let myself into the house. “It went perfectly. The problem is the safe house and the fucking PD.”
<
br /> “Ah yes, the city’s finest.”
I chuckled, making my way through my impeccably tidy house to the master bedroom. Marshall knew as well as I did how awful our crime unit was, which was why my research was so important. It would revolutionize police work as we knew it and potentially eradicate crime in its entirety, and especially within the rank of force itself.
I switched my uniform for street clothes and threw some necessities in a bag before grabbing the keys to my motorcycle. If I was going to be there in the light of day, I couldn’t be traipsing around in my cape or flying through the air. I was supposed to be helping keep the little angel hidden, not advertising her presence to every criminal spy who was sure to be looking for us come the morning.
“Do you need anything from me tonight?” Marshall asked.
“No, thank you. Go ahead and shut down for the evening. I’ll send my report as soon as I can and be back to the lab tomorrow afternoon sometime. After I have some words with the chief.”
“Good luck with that,” Marshall answered sarcastically.
“Thanks. I’m going to need it.”
Just as I was about to take off, my phone rang. I answered it, knowing exactly who it was. My cousin and best friend, Bobby, called me once a week like clockwork to check on me. If I didn’t answer, he would be on his way over to make sure I was okay. I couldn’t blame the guy really, he and his wife Stella, my ex lab partner, were the ones who found me at work the night a freak accident gave me my superhuman abilities.
“Hey, man,” I answered. “I can’t talk, I’m in the middle of something.”
“Something to do with the pawn shop break-in downtown?” Bobby asked, sounding concerned. “We just saw it on the news and Stella was worried.”
“Yes, but everything is fine. I’ve got it under control.” I was frustrated that the police hadn’t done a better job at keeping Angela’s shop off television, but I wasn’t surprised. Everything about this case was a mess.