“My paranoia is healthy; it’s what keeps me alive.”
“I snuck up on you.”Lance smiled, then leaned in and kissed him slowly as though they had all day to waste.
Nix wanted to believe they had forever.Lance had snuck into Nix’s heart, which was far more damaging than a single bullet wound.
Lance pulled a heavy-duty cable tie out of his pocket and dangled it close.“Want to put this on so you’re dressed the part?”
“We don’t have time to indulge your predilections.”
Lance’s cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink.“I’m assuming you know how to get out of this.”
“Of course.”Learning how to get out of restraints had been one of the fun things his cop had taught him.He’d also learned a lot about how the police operated.
“I am totally not surprised.”
“You are just a little.”Nix grinned.
“No, not at all.You might be only a few years older than me, but your eyes have seen too much.”
“Are you calling me jaded?”
“Yeah.Now, if you could turn your weapons over, climb down, and put your hands behind your back, we can get this over and done with.”
They had hours…unless the plan was to go in early.“You in a rush to die?”
Lance moved over him and kissed him again.“I’m in a rush to start living.”
* * *
Lance glanced at his watch.He was thirty minutes early, according to his aunt’s demand, but right on time for the plan Garrick had offered him as though one had been created long before he’d stepped into the room.
While he didn’t trust the Reids any more than his own family, it was all he had.That they were getting the human cops involved made him break out in a sweat.He hadn’t confirmed Nix’s suspicions about the plan because if he did, Nix would be running, not calmly obeying.
“I’m going to take you in.You can see your sister, and when you have eyes on her, you can break free.No killing.”
“Not even in self-defense?”
Lance yanked on the zip tie, locking Nix’s hands behind his back.The bite on his neck and every bruise on his body throbbed from last night, but he’d do it again in a heartbeat.He had another nineteen ties in the packet, and it would be a shame to let them go to waste if they survived.“Not even.Okay?We’re playing by the Reid rules.”
Garrick had been very clear that if they broke those rules, there would be no second chance.They’d be left in no man’s land, not a great place for a banished Orlan and a Hadley.Lance gave them less than a month in no man’s land before someone tried to catch them and turn them in.
“I would really be much happier if you weren’t here.”
“Come on, it will be fun.Like a date.You can meet my family.They’ll hate you, of course, because you’re such a bad influence…”
Nix shot him a glare.
Lance gave him a shove forward.“But I think I’ll keep you.”
“I think I might accidentally shoot you.”He deliberately stumbled and almost got his fingers on Lance’s gun, but Lance had been expecting that.He smiled.“Predictable.”
“Harsh.”He took a few steps forward.“Am I, really?”
“A little, but then I know you.The real you.”Lance stared up at the building.There was a man on the roof.Two down the street, leaning against a car and talking, all Orlans.He hoped the Reids weren’t far away and that they knew what they were doing—and that they wouldn’t betray them.“Ready?”
“No.”
“Great.Neither am I.”Lance knocked on the metal door.The sound echoed.The men up the street were watching.One pulled out his phone.He hadn’t seen any of his family in over six months.He hadn’t missed them either, not after the first two weeks of freedom.
