“Take off all your clothes,” ordered Adam as he stood and worked at his pants. “Get naked right now. I mean it.”
She swallowed as she automatically obeyed. Why the hell would she refuse?
Her loose pants and panties came down in one quick motion; she reached behind her to unclasp her bra and let it join her other clothes in a crumpled heap.
Meanwhile, Adam had pulled off his own shirt, revealing his tanned, toned chest and then was tugging at his pants. Even though he was still acting like nothing fazed him, Melody stepped in to undo the button. Partly so he wouldn’t have to use his injured arm and partly because once his pants and boxers were pushed down, she could wrap her hand around—
“Fuck, Angel,” he growled as her fingers ran up and down his length.
He stepped out of the pants and before she knew what was happening, he’d bent down and wrapped his good arm under her ass and lifted her up and against him.
She gasped in surprise and wrapped her legs around his hips. “You’re going to hurt yourself,” she warned as he walked the two steps to the bed and turned so that when he sat, she was still on top of him.
“It’s a calculated risk,” he said as he pressed a kiss to her shoulder. His hands found their way to her hips and adjusted her until the tip of his cock was right at her entrance. Her hands found his shoulders, and he looked up and right into her eyes as she slid easily down. He filled her completely but she kept looking at him. The last time they’d been together, it had been so unexpected. Now she wanted to commit him to memory. If they never saw each other again, she wanted to be able to remember how he looked... how he felt right now. Right now when he was staring at her like nothing else in the world existed.
And then she started to move. Adam guided her hips, setting the rhythm even though she was on top. Soon enough the friction became too much. She could feel her orgasm creep up on her and her eyes finally drifted shut. She wrapped her arms around him and held tightly as she no longer followed his guiding hands. Her hips told her exactly the right way to move, and the motion was hitting her clit in just the right way.
“Come for me, Angel,” whispered Adam into her ear.
And that was that. She couldn’t hold on any longer; the climax ripped through her. Her head fell back as Adam’s own climax hit. His fingers bit so hard into her hips that she would probably bruise, but nothing seemed to matter at that moment.
They both came down slowly. Melody rested her head in the crook of his neck. They would need to get dressed and pretend nothing happened once Scott and Toni came back, but they had a few minutes at least.
“I guess you never played basketball.”
“Hmm?” She had no idea what he was talking about.
He pointed over to the trash can, which was surrounded by crumpled pieces of paper.
“Oh, that’s nothing.” She started to detangle herself from him, but he held her close still.
“Nothing?”
“Just failed brainstorming. Trying to figure out a way to get Forbes into a trap without any of us getting a bullet in the head.” With that image, the mood was officially dead, and Adam allowed her to get up. After they cleaned themselves off, they both slipped back into their clothes. Except as she pulled her shirt back on she realized that Adam was over by the trash and uncrumpling one of the papers. She ran over and snatched it from his hands.
“Didn’t realize it was private.”
She put the paper in the trash and bent down to pick up the other scattered pieces. “It’s not.”
“Then what’s with the secrecy?”
“I’m just... annoyed, I guess.”
“With me? Because I happen to know that you enjoyed—”
“Not with you,” she said as he helped her up. “It’s with this whole thing. I spent hours trying to figure out a way to make this all work. We have Forbes here. We have Scott and Toni and a lot of determination, but Forbes still has us beat. And the whole reason I found you to begin with was because I was terrified my family would shut me out and take care of Forbes without me. Well, now what can they do? I’m going to be need to be stashed away out of sight and probably out of the country until all this blows over. Assuming we can even get out of town.”
“I saw him.”
“I got that from the shredded arm.”
“He wants you, Mel. He wants you bad.”
“Good. The feeling’s mutual.”
“No, you don’t understand. He takes the escape personal. We made him look bad in front of Sterling and now he’s trying to make up for letting you go. However hard you think it’s going to be to get out, it’s going to be worse.”
“I offended his pride? Adam, he killed my mother right in front of me!”
Adam reached down and took her hand in his, giving it a tight squeeze. “I don’t think his brain works like that. You offended him and now he wants payback. We’re not going to let him get it. Even if that means we have to leave and take him on somewhere down the line. We’ll get him, okay? I’ll be right with you the entire time and make sure it gets done.”
She looked down to where their hands were joined and nodded. “We’ll get him together.”
But she couldn’t enjoy the moment for too long because the motel phone rang. “It’s probably Toni.” She reached for the phone. Her cell phone was off for the moment, so the motel was the only way to get in contact. She picked up the phone and hoped for good news. “Hello?” She purposely didn’t say her name.
“Mel?” Toni’s voice was low and hushed, as though she were hiding from someone. “They know you’re there. Do you hear me? Get out now.”
“They found us,” Melody said as she whipped her head around and scanned the room. “We need to go.”
Adam already was wearing everything he’d come in with, since his bag had been abandoned when he’d bolted from the bar earlier, but Melody grabbed the bag with Jadon Belli’s laptop and the gun he’d given her before he left.
“I don’t get it. How did they find us? I haven’t stepped foot out of here and Toni cleaned the motel records.”
Adam carefully pushed the blinds aside as he looked out into the parking lot. He reached behind him and Melody set the butt of the gun in his hand. “That’s the problem with small towns. You can’t hack an ex-husband.”
“Ben doesn’t know where I am.”
“I’m going to have to disagree with you on that. He’s sitting right outside.”
“What!” Melody squeezed next to Adam to peer out the curtains to verify that Ben was in fact out there in his truck and looking right at her room. “Son of a bitch.” He had to have seen the car earlier. He’d seen the car at his house when they’d picked up Willa, and that was the car they’d driven to the motel. Adam had lost it after he gave Willa over to Weston, but it was the only thing she could think of.
“What are we going to do?” As badass as she wanted to be, she’d allow Adam to make the decisions at the moment.
“Cops are on their way and unless you have a car, I think we can actually make your ex useful. Ready?”
“Yep.”
“Wait until I’m halfway to the truck. If I haven’t been shot or covered in red and blue lights, come out after me.”
She was about to tell him what a shitty plan that was when he pulled the door open and walked out. She kept her eyes glued on his back, but whoever Toni had warned about wasn’t here yet because he made it across the lot without any issue. As soon as he was at the halfway point, she clutched the laptop bag close and followed him out. She jogged across the lot and reached the passenger’s side of Ben’s truck just after Adam yanked open the driver’s side door. “You really need to lock your doors, Ben,” he chastised.
Ben immediately dove for the passenger’s side, but Melody was already climbing in. “Hey, honey. Fancy meeting you here.”
Adam climbed in too, keeping the gun in his left hand. She was willing to bet that he was pretty accurate with both hands, and it was probably good to keep
something so volatile away from Ben at the moment.
“Whoa, just let me out.”
Adam turned the key in the ignition and the truck started up. “So you can report your truck stolen as soon as we drive off? That wouldn’t really be solving any problems, would it?”
“You called the cops on me?” asked Melody.
“What? No, I—”
“He called the cops and he’s lying.” Adam started to pull out of the parking space.
“The lying I’m used to.”
Adam tsked with his tongue. “I’m trying not to hate you, but damn you make it hard.”
Melody didn’t know where Adam was planning to take them, but the police cruiser that pulled up to the motel on the left guaranteed they turned right. She held her breath as they turned. “Do you think they—”
The red and blue lights came on and started to flash brightly in the night.
“Fuck.” Adam slammed on the gas.
“No, no, no, no,” moaned Ben as they careened down the street.
Melody grabbed onto the handle of the door and forced her eyes to stay open. She couldn’t shut down. She knew this town a million times better than Adam, so she needed to stay aware. “I got nothing,” she said as another pair of lights joined the cruiser behind them. When another cop car turned on the road in front of them, Adam yanked the steering wheel to make a sharp left, and for a moment Melody was certain they were going to tip over.
“We can’t outrun them,” said Adam in a perfectly calm tone, as if this was something that happened every day.
“Toni and Scott are somewhere. We just need time.” She wanted to sound cool and collected, but she couldn’t seem to catch her breath even though she wasn’t moving at all.
“Then give me somewhere we can hide. Lots of rooms and crevices.”
“Just pull over!” said Ben. “I promise I’ll tell them you didn’t hurt—”
“Shut up!” they both yelled.
Then it hit her. “Wickory Farms. It’s an old furniture factory that closed down in the recession. Turn left on Old Miller Road in half a mile.”
She looked over her shoulder at the flashing lights that seemed to be getting closer and closer. If she thought there was a chance that she would have a fair investigation, she’d order Adam to pull over and she’d turn herself in. But Forbes wasn’t planning to frame her for murder and send her to jail. He was going to kill her before she ever got a chance to even see an attorney.
Adam careened left at the last second. Melody didn’t realize she was holding her breath until all four tires were back on the ground and she could breathe again.
“You’re crazy,” said Ben with a shaky voice. “You’re going to kill us all.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t called the damn police on me!”
“I saw the news. I know what you did.”
“Please. If you knew me—”
“Mel, you want to tell me where I’m goin’?”
“It’s coming up.” Screw Ben. She needed to have all her focus on getting her and Adam out of this alive. “Turn right... now.” Even though she braced herself for the turn this time, it still seemed to throw all of her organs into unnatural positions.
“What do you think you’re going to do?” asked Ben, his panic starting to take over. “The police are going to see where you go.”
“We’re going inside,” said Adam. Then he lined the truck up with a loading bay and slammed on the accelerator. Subconsciously, Melody reached over Ben and set her hand on Adam’s tense arm. If they were going to die, she didn’t want to die next to her ex-husband. She wanted to go with Adam.
The door crumpled like paper under the intense blow of the truck, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like paper. Her entire body felt as though it had been slammed into a hard metal wall. For a second after the crash, she was still. Maybe unconscious. At the moment, it was hard to tell.
Then someone was touching her. And she heard a click. She forced her eyes open as Adam picked her up out of her seat and carried her out. She finally seemed to come back to her body as her feet hit the ground. “Your arm.” She pulled back from him.
“Arm is still there. We need to get gone and lay low until our backup arrives.” As he spoke, he took her hand and pulled her into the deep shadows.
Wickory Farms used to make high-end furniture, but after the economy took a hit, they ended up closing doors. The factory had sat unoccupied ever since. The only reason Melody knew about it was because the rumor mill was buzzing one day after the star quarterback and his girlfriend had been caught smoking pot in the abandoned place one time. There had been calls to demolish it, but the city was desperate for money and had hoped they could get another buyer for the property.
Adam pulled her farther from the truck and Melody tried to stop him. “Wait....”
“Don’t worry, I got to the laptop.”
The laptop? The laptop. She wasn’t really good at this whole car crash thing. They reached the wall of the loading area and Adam dragged her to the nearest door. “Adam—”
He suddenly stopped and Melody ran right into him. He wrapped a hand around her and held her close to him, holding a hand over her mouth.
Then she heard it. Footsteps. Her heartbeat was almost deafening in her ears, but there was definitely someone approaching. No, scratch that. Multiple someones.
“Smith!”
The familiarity of the voice cut through her. Adam must’ve felt it because his arms tightened around her. Maybe to give her comfort. Maybe to hold her back.
It was dark, but she could make out three silhouettes walking in.
“Come on, Smith. Let’s get this over with before the cops come in.”
Why weren’t the cops coming in now? What had Forbes done to convince them to hold off? Hell, she knew half of the Huntsville force. They dealt with meth addicts and domestic disturbances. They didn’t walk into dark, abandoned factories and hunt down killers who used to be their neighbors. It probably hadn’t been too hard for Forbes to talk his way in here. Considering the crimes she was accused of, he’d already wormed his way well into the justice system.
“There’s only three,” said Adam into her ear.
“Still more than us.”
“I can take Forbes.” He still didn’t address the whole three of them thing.
“Let’s keep going. We can hide—”
“You go. Get as far away from here and find somewhere to hunker down. I’ll be right behind you.”
God, she was so stupid. He wasn’t suggesting they fight them together. He was going to give her time to get away no matter what happened to him. No. Hell no. “No. You don’t get to do this for me.”
He cupped her face in his hands and those eyes that were so empty when she’d first met him were filled with emotion. “No. This is my choice. My choice will always be you.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “We said we were going to do this together, remember?”
“And we will. I’ll meet up with you as soon as I finish here.”
“Adam—” He cut her off with a kiss, but she couldn’t bring herself to kiss him back. There wasn’t time for arguing. Forbes and his men were getting closer and soon their whispers would be heard. And she knew there was no way for her to convince him to stay if he thought that him staying could get her hurt. Stupid, brave son of a—
Adam broke off the kiss and then he was gone. It was suddenly cold without his body heat and the laptop bag in her arms. Melody inched toward the door. Adam moved completely silently until he wanted to be heard. Long enough to draw eyes away from where Melody was hiding. He wanted her to get to that door. He was willing to die for her to get to that door.
And then the shooting started.
Melody jumped at the shot and then realized it was Adam doing the shooting. There were hardly any bullets left in that gun, so he was purely bluffing and making the three guys separate. Maybe he could handle this. Maybe his experience w
as enough to let him take on three guys at once.
But Melody wasn’t going to take that chance. While Forbes and his guys were looking to Adam, that gave her an opportunity. She stuck to the border as she made her way back to Ben’s truck. After the first gunshot, it had died down. From where she was, the truck blocked her view, which was a good thing because she didn’t want anyone to see her.
She swallowed back her fear and made a run for the truck.
“Forbes!” she heard Adam call. “You and me. Let’s do this.”
“Give me the girl,” ordered Forbes.
“Why don’t you come out here so we can settle this? Oh, that’s right. You know you can’t take me....”
Damn, Adam. The confidence was sexy, but please stop egging him on. Melody opened the back door and tried to be quiet, but considering that the men were shouting at each other, it really didn’t matter.
Ben was still in the truck and crouching down, either to hide from sight or from stray bullets. He shooed her away with his hands but she just rolled her eyes as she stepped into the truck and reached behind the seats, feeling the long plastic case. “You paranoid hick,” she whispered as she quietly opened the case in the back. “I could kiss you right now.” She pulled out the gun and the box of shells, careful to keep them from making noise as she loaded five into the single barrel.
The shotgun wouldn’t be accurate, but it would get the job done. And right now it was one hell of a job. She started to climb out of the truck when Ben grabbed her wrist. “Wait, don’t go.”
She stared at him in confusion for a second and then she realized why he had the sudden change of heart. He forgot he had the shotgun. Now she was leaving with his only way to defend himself. “Just stay there. No one cares about you.” In hindsight, it wasn’t comforting at all, but it was all she had.
The sight as she came around the hood of the truck was heart-stopping. Adam was standing there, holding out the useless handgun, and he was surrounded by the three men. No wonder Forbes wouldn’t fight him. There was no need to when he was that outnumbered. The only reason Adam wasn’t dead was because they needed to find her.
The Beautiful Thief (The Stolen Hearts #2) Page 16