Unraveling Malcolm (Rebels and Nerds Book 2)

by R. Cayden

  I swallowed. “Where are you taking me then?”

  As I asked, we rolled to the top of another hill, and I saw the lake stretching out in the distance. I could see the tops of the buildings from the other side, but mainly, I just noticed the crystal water, calm while the sun began to set.

  “Just the lake, Malcolm. No big thing,” he answered. “How’s that sound?”

  I smiled. “I love the lake,” I said. “It’s my favorite part of the city.”

  “Look at that. Me too. We got more in common than you think.”

  Gunner parked the truck on the street. When we hopped out, he lit a cigarette, spinning the lighter in his hand for a minute. I felt nervous and tingly all over, but unlike last time, I wasn’t obsessed with whether or not he liked me. He was so cocky and self-assured. It just seemed obvious he didn’t do a damn thing unless he wanted to do it.

  Walking to the lake, I started to really believe that he wanted me. Usually, dates were such formal affairs, you barely got around to knowing each other, at least not in any real way. But chilling together at the lake seemed easy, natural. It seemed fun, even.

  If he’d just put that nasty cigarette out, the night would practically be perfect.

  I followed Gunner to a bench by the water. The park he’d led us to was grassy and flat, with just a little bit of sand at the shore. I remembered what he had said the other day, about having some memorable experiences in a park. Luckily, there seemed to be enough people wandering around that I didn’t imagine he was expecting anything from me right there.

  We kept strolling slowly along the water. He sauntered, and I paced. I offered him a friendly smile, and when he winked, I felt flushed and nervous all over again. Every now and then, we’d pass someone else on the path, and I’d see the expressions on their faces, like they were trying to figure out what a guy like me and a guy like him were doing together.

  “Have you been in Seattle long?” I asked, breaking the silence.

  Gunner nodded. “Ever since I turned eighteen. I threw my shit in the back of my truck and drove across the state the first chance I got.”

  “That must have been exciting.” I thought about when I turned eighteen and my parents selected my first apartment for me. “Do you visit home very often?”

  “Nah,” Gunner said, kicking a rock down the path suddenly. “I’m good on my own, and there’s nothing for me back there.” He kicked another rock, his boot scuffing against the path. “How about you?”

  “I grew up here,” I said. “My parents are here, too. I see them sometimes.” While the waves lapped the shore, I bit down on my lip, not wanting to tell him exactly how often I met up with them.

  “Shit, you’ve been in Seattle your whole life?”

  I grinned at the way he said it, like that was the weirdest thing in the world. “Ever since I was born. My family goes on vacation a couple of times a year, but otherwise I’ve been here. It’s one of the reasons I’m so attached to the apartment I’m leaving.”

  Gunner cracked his knuckles. “You said you had to leave that place, though.”

  “I do. But just because the landlords keep doing this loud construction, and they’re raising the rent constantly, and they never fix anything…”

  “Sounds like they’re a bunch of rats.”

  I squinted out over the lake. “What do you mean?”

  “They’re trying to drive you out. They probably think they can get more money with different tenants or something. It’s classic shady landlord behavior.”

  I groaned, suddenly seeing the whole thing in a new focus. “I can’t believe I missed that. Well, at least it explains why the receptionist has been so rude to me.” I frowned, realizing it was a little embarrassing to act so naïve around a guy like Gunner. “I guess maybe I should get out of my house a little more often.”

  Gunner stopped in his tracks, spinning to face me. His eyes were flashing bright, like right before he dragged me out of the bar the other day. “When’s the last time you left the city?”

  I scrunched up my face, trying to think of the answer. My family went to New York to see Broadway plays every winter, but that trip was months ago. I used to go on day trips in the summer, but the past year had somehow gotten away from me. Staring at the smirk on his face, I realized the past months had been filled with little more than my routine.

  “It’s been a while,” I finally said. “Why? Do you drive your truck out of the city every chance you get?”

  Gunner reached out, grabbing my elbow. His grip was strong but not too tight, and as he started to walk me back toward the truck, my heart pounded in my chest. It was just like last time, like I was getting swept up in his life without a chance to stop and think of what I was doing.

  “In that case,” he said, “let’s take this date on the road.”

  GUNNER

  “Wait, are we actually leaving the city?”

  Hitting the highway and cruising east, it seemed pretty clear that’s what we were doing, but I couldn’t blame him for doubting me. It’s not like I was giving Malcolm much information to work with. But after the bullshit at work and with a long weekend stretching ahead of me, I was just eager to get a change of scenery.

  And to impress Malcolm. As long as he kept staring at me with those wide eyes, acting like I was James Dean or something, I was happy to keep strutting my stuff.

  “Sure are,” I answered. “You said you were up for the drive, after all.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him bite down on his bottom lip, reminding me how badly I wanted to bite that same spot all over again. Malcolm fidgeted in his seat. “How far are you taking me? I mean, I know I said I was up for a drive…”

  I thought about dragging it out a little more just to watch him squirm but decided it was way more important that he actually stick around for what I had planned. “It’s about an hour drive from where we are now,” I said. “Up in the mountains.”

  Malcolm swallowed. “An hour?”

  I steered the car around a bend in the highway and took the occasion to stretch my arm out and drape it over the back of his seat. “I’m a good driver,” I assured him. “And if you need to be home for anything, I’ll get you back safe. Don’t you worry.”

  “It’s not that,” he answered, taking his glasses off and rubbing his forehead. “I actually have the next few days open.”

  “Great. We can take our time then.”

  He turned to glance at me, and when he saw the smirk on my face, he laughed to himself. “Come on, Gunner,” he said. “Tell me where we’re going.”

  “Okay, okay,” I said, gripping the steering wheel. “There’s a little gated community outside the city, deep in the mountains. It’s filled with vacation homes that rich people in Seattle keep, but the places are almost always empty, especially during the week.” I steered us around another bend, keeping one eye on Malcolm’s nervous expression. “You know how rich people are,” I said dismissively.

  “So, what?” Malcolm asked, putting his glasses back on. “Do you have access to one of those houses? Does it belong to your boss or something?”

  I nodded, still grinning to myself. “Yup, something like that.”

  We kept driving in silence, the road getting emptier as we made our way from the city. Malcolm stared out the window. I couldn’t imagine what was going through his head, but so long as he was letting me keep driving, I figured we were in good shape. Anyway, the old growth forests and the mountains looked special at dusk, and it felt good just to have him by my side.

  It was funny how good it felt, actually. Malcolm always seemed like he was on the edge of objecting or walking away from me, but as soon as I turned up the flirtations, he fell right back into my hands. I was so used to being bullied around and treated like some punk kid. To have a smart guy like him following me around was about the nicest feeling I’d had in years.

  I just hoped that the gated community was the same as I remembered it. A couple of guys at work had talked
about breaking into the place before, finding one of those empty vacation homes, and posting up for a night of partying. I’d driven up there once myself, bringing a six-pack of beer with me and getting tipsy in some stranger’s hot tub before falling asleep on the porch. Without anyone to drag along, though, the thrill hadn’t been quite as good as I had hoped.

  With Malcolm by my side, I could only imagine the trouble we could get up to.

  As we drove, he did his best to make awkward first date conversation, asking me about my family and my work. I was sure it was the kind of thing he normally chatted about on dates with other cuties, although I had about as much interest in telling the story of my parents as I did in giving a foot massage to that asshole Dave from the crew. Instead, I’d just slip into one of my best stories to impress him, bragging about my construction skills or the time I won an arm-wrestling competition in the dive bar near the demolition office. By the time we made it off the highway and toward the vacation homes, Malcolm was so wrapped up in my stories I almost wished the ride wasn’t over.

  Pulling up to the gate, I threw the truck into park and kicked on the emergency brake. “Damn, Malcolm,” I laughed, “I barely asked you any questions about yourself.”

  Malcolm shrugged. “Not much to talk about, I guess.”

  I turned to face him, struck all over by how pretty his face looked. Now that it was night out, the lights of the dashboard illuminated the truck just enough for me to see the shapes of his lips and the golden brown tones of his skin. “Shush,” I said, stroking his cheek with the back of my fingers. “I’ll get you talking anyway.”

  Under my touch, he shuddered, just a little.

  That probably would have been the right moment to kiss him again. When his tongue darted out across his lips, I could easily have given into my temptations, pushing his seat back and jumping right on top of him. But with the gate to figure out still, I was much more excited about getting him inside of those houses and taking my time with him once we were there.

  Instead, I reached across Malcolm, flinging his door open. “Let’s go.”

  Malcolm blinked. “Isn’t there a code to get through the gate?”

  I shook my head, then turned and jumped out my side of the truck. “Nope. This is a climbing gate.”

  He scrambled out behind me. “A climbing gate?”

  I glanced back at my truck, considering whether I should actually move it further off the road. Knowing how empty the whole place was likely to be, however, I decided it was probably safe until the next morning. “A climbing gate,” I confirmed. “Are you a good climber, Malcolm?”

  “How am I supposed to know if I’m a good climber?”

  I wrapped my hands around the metal bars, judging the height. “I don’t know. I guess you just try to climb stuff,” I answered. Before Malcolm had a chance to ask any questions, I hoisted myself in the air, wrapping my leg around one of the rungs.

  “Wait a second,” Malcolm said, grabbing my leg. “Are we breaking in?”

  I lowered back to the ground, and when I turned to see his face, my heart practically melted. He just looked so concerned, so nervous and worried. But from the light dancing across his eyes, I knew he was pretty damn excited, too.

  “I told you, there’s almost no one around here unless it’s a summer weekend. We’ll find a cute place to crash and have some fun together, see where it goes from there.”

  “Oh no,” Malcolm said, stepping backward. “No. I’m sorry, but nope. I can’t do that.”

  “Can’t do what?” I asked, stepping forward as I teased him. “Can’t keep up with me?”

  “I can’t break into a house!” Malcolm said, like it was the wildest idea he had ever heard. “I’m a children’s librarian! If I got caught doing something like this—”

  “What,” I interrupted. “Would your mom and dad get mad?”

  Malcolm flinched when I said it. I could tell he didn’t like that particular jab, but it had also gotten him to go to the park with me, so there must have been something there. “I’m just not willing to spend a night in jail.”

  God, he could be such a tight-ass sometimes.

  Such a tight, tight ass.

  I took another step forward, enjoying the tremble on his lips as he stared up at me. “What if I promise you won’t spend the night in jail or get caught? What if I promise to keep you safe?”

  He shook his head quickly. “You can’t promise to keep me out of trouble, not if we’re breaking into a house together, Gunner.”

  I took one last step, crossing the distance between us. Our bodies were only a few inches apart, but he finally stopped retreating. “Oh, there will be plenty of trouble for you, Malcolm.”

  He swallowed, and the way his tongue darted across his lips made my cock stiffen.

  “What if someone catches us? What if the owner of the house comes home?”

  “Then I’ll protect you from him,” I whispered in his ear.

  He shook his head again quickly. “There could be a security camera. We could get caught on tape!”

  “Then there will be a really sexy tape for someone to look at later,” I whispered in his other ear.

  “But—I just don’t do things like that!” he objected one last time, his eyelashes fluttering behind his glasses. “I just don’t—”

  Before he could say anything else, I leaned forward, took his face in my hands, and pulled him in for a kiss. Malcolm let out a little yelp when my fingers landed on his soft cheeks, but the second our lips touched, he quivered and melted in my hands. I found that spot on his bottom lip again, biting and tugging at it while he wriggled up close, throwing his arms around me.

  I released his lip with a snap, and he blinked.

  “You’ve snuck into this place before?” he asked.

  “Definitely.”

  He shook his head, almost like he couldn’t believe himself. “Fine. But if we get caught, I’m going to really lose my cool.”

  I laughed and pulled him in for another quick kiss. “I like it when you surprise me.”

  Malcolm stepped back, fidgeting and adjusting his glasses. “Let’s get on with it, then.”

  I turned to the fence and jumped up, grabbing the bars and sticking my feet between the slats. When I was up a few feet off the ground, I wrapped my arm around the pole and extended my free hand down to Malcolm.

  Staring up at me, he looked fucking delicious. The light from the gate entrance lit up his face, and his striped sweater hung off his chest and his arms in just the right way.

  Then he took a deep breath, stepped forward, and took my hand.

  Chapter Nine

  Malcolm

  “But how are you going to know which house is empty?” I asked. “Are there alarms we have to worry about? Maybe some of these places have dogs guarding them.”

  Gunner was leading us up the mountain, the flashlight from his phone illuminating the way. My stomach was knotted tight, and I wished I could have kept my mouth shut and not seemed like such a worrywart, but the whole trip was so out of my comfort zone, my mouth kept running anyway.

  “It’s chill,” he said. “Trust me.”

  And the wild thing was… I did trust him. I hadn’t fooled myself totally into thinking he was a stable guy or something. I saw his impulsive and self-destructive qualities, and I knew he was walking a dangerous line with his life. Hell, anyone who took you breaking and entering on a date has to be a little unpredictable. But he was just so damn confident and so sure of himself. Whatever fantasies Gunner was spinning, I wanted to buy into them.

  It helped that those fantasies seemed to feature me. He wanted me, and he wasn’t at all shy about showing it. No one had ever treated me that way before, and the more I got the impression he was willing to put his neck on the line to impress me, the more I wanted to give myself over to him.

  “This one looks good,” he said, gesturing to a driveway that curved off the main road. The house was obscured by tall trees, but even with clouds filling the
sky, the moon cast enough light that I could see the shape of the home.

  I frowned and instinctively grabbed Gunner’s arm out of nervousness. “Promise me that I’ll make it home safe?”

  He looked up at the sky, another cloud passing over the moon. “As long as this storm doesn’t come in and get us,” he teased. “But if I have to towel you off and warm you up, I’ll do it.”

  When we got to the house, I stopped in my tracks, taken aback by how gorgeous it was. It was big, but not too big, with giant floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the wraparound porch and a stunning view of the mountains stretched out behind. There were weird metal objects scattered on the lawn and big flat rocks poking out of the earth. A second floor rose up with a steep gable roof, and the wooden siding was worn gray.

  “See?” Gunner said, throwing his arm over my shoulder. “Didn’t I say I’d take you on a nice adventure?”

  He started walking toward the porch. My feet froze to the ground for a minute, but when I scolded myself to stop acting like such a scaredy-cat, I managed to actually follow him.

  Gunner crept his way around the porch, peering through the windows like a cat burglar as I stood off to the side. After a minute or two, he hitched himself up on a flowerbox and pushed one of the side windows open. “Easy,” he said, turning to glance at me over his shoulder. “Just wait here.”

  Watching him hop inside the house and strut around for a minute, my guts clenched. I fully expected an alarm to start screaming or a Rottweiler to emerge from the shadows. In no time, however, he pushed the front door open, leaning in the doorway with the familiar grin.

  “You going to come in or what?”

  I groaned. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

  He held out his hand. “I can.”

  The interior was just as striking as the outside. Composed of one giant, open space, it was almost rustic, with a big stone fireplace and wooden steps that lead up to the second floor. The kitchen took up a nook in the corner with appliances that looked pricey, even if they were a little old. There was a guitar posted up in one corner, a few worn leather couches, and a stereo system that looked expensive.