False Pretenses

Part 16

Chapter 15

My fingers gripped the metal fence as I hoisted myself up with one high heel.  It was awkward, attempting to climb a fence with a dress this tight.  This was another reason why I wish I could have picked my own dress.  A tearing sound met my ears, making my eyes widened as they landed on Gabe.  He held a long piece of gold material in his hands while his eyes sparkled with humor.

“Nice underwear.”

I gasped, knowing that there was no way to hide from him now that he held the bottom part of my dress in his hands.  “You jerk,” I hissed.

Laughter echoed from below me.  “Where is that badass, seductive woman that I know so well?” he asked.  A loud bang echoed outside, making his humor drop and seriousness replace it.  “Up and over the fence, hurry up before they find you.”

He tucked the gold material into the back of his pants before grabbing ahold of the seven-foot fence and climbing it himself.  We reached the top at the same time.  Looking at him, a brilliant idea came to mind.  As soon as I swung my leg over the fence, sending it to the side, the knife in the heel of my shoe would thrust out of its hiding spot. 

I swung one foot above his head and laughed when he paused.  Slower this time, I swung the other, but this time, instead of throwing it over his head; I swung it in front of his face.  The knife flew out of my heel, giving him only a second to jerk back before it imbedded into his throat.

“What the hell?” he mumbled as he tried to regain his grip on the fence.

“Was that badass enough for you,” I whispered before tossing off both shoes and throwing them into the darkness. 

Not waiting for him, I began climbing down the other end.  When my feet hit the cold pavement, I froze.  Dammit, I had thrown my shoes out here somewhere, not thinking about the fact that they could very well be traced back to me somehow.  Did I know exactly how they could trace a pair of shoes back to me?  No, but if they could do it in Cinderella, I wasn’t taking my chances.

My eyes darted around, squinting when I thought I saw something even close to a shoe.  Taking a step forward, I winced when I stepped in something wet.  Maybe my display wasn’t the most brilliant idea I’ve had, especially since I was now the one barefoot in an alley. 

Something clanked together by my ear, making me glance over.  Gabe held my shoes in his hand, a large smile on his face.  “To answer your question, yes, that was plenty badass.” 

He waved the shoes in front of my face until I finally sighed and held them in my grip.  I looked down at them, wondering if there was a way to file the knives off them and wear them once more.  I’d have to tell Hodge that his brilliant knife shoes weren’t so brilliant if you planned to wear them again.

I yelped as I was lifted off the ground.  Grunting, Gabe looked down at me and rolled his eyes.  “What is wrong?”

“You scared me,” I mumbled under my breath.  “I keep forgetting you’re there.”

The last line was a lie, and he seemed to realize it, because all he did was laugh.  “Come on Dee, let’s get you out of here and back home before everyone worries.”

“Would they actually worry if Dorothy were missing?”

He started walking, his eyes directly on the path in front of them.  She kept her eyes on him though as he shook his head.  “They would just assume that Dorothy was out partying, but you’re not Dorothy and half the house knows that.  I wouldn’t be surprised if your rich brother decided to stay very close to your side now that he knows you are not her.”

Brushing my cheek against his chest, I looked up at him through my eyelashes.  “Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?”

Without pausing, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead.  “You bet.”

His answer shocked me, even if it shouldn’t have.  With this man, I didn’t know what he would do next, didn’t know how he would react to something new.  So why did his words surprise me?  I didn’t have a clue, but it was beginning to bother me.  Why should I even care if he was jealous?  Clearing my throat, I changed the subject, but kept my cheek pressed against his warm chest.  “Why aren’t you working for Mitch any longer?”

“Who says that I’m not?”

I looked up at his blank expression and smiled.  Shifting my grip on the shoes, I reached up with my now free hand and brushed some dirt off his chin.  “Me.  It’s quite obvious that you don’t work for him,” I said while dropping my hand.  “If you were, you would have reported in by now.  Hell, if you still worked for him, you wouldn’t be so worried about leaving the scene.  All we would have to do is stand there, claim that we didn’t know what was going on when they found us.  They would take us in, and Mitch would get us out.  So, why don’t you work for him any longer?”

Gabe sighed.  “First, I don’t want what I have to say to ruin the relationship you have with the man.  If what I’ve heard is true, he looks at you as a prodigy while you look at him as a father.”  He cleared his throat.  “He gave me a job that I didn’t want to do.  He told me that if I didn’t complete it that I would no longer work for him.  That was the day that I quit.”

“No one quits working for Mitch.”

He looked down at me with a small smile.  “I know which is why you’re making my job very hard.  You saw the tattoo, but how much of it did you see?  Was it enough to allow Mitch to identify me?”

Shaking my head, I closed my eyes and pressed my face into his chest.  His scent filled my nose, making me relax.  “I didn’t give him enough for a positive identification.”

“Because you didn’t see enough?”

“Because I didn’t trust him to allow me to stay once he found out who it was working opposition on the case.”

He stopped, but when I looked up at him, I realized his eyes weren’t on me, but ahead of us.  “I’m not the opposition,” he mumbled.  “I’m trying to keep my client safe; that’s all.”

“I know,” I whispered as the sound of an engine reached my ears.  “You’re the good guy.”

This time, he glanced down at me.  Leaning closer, he whispered, “Believe me, honey, I am not the good guy.”  The heat in his voice made me want to run from him, but the way his eyes held mine made me stay in place.  “And,” he continued, “I promise you that one day I’ll find out exactly where that tattoo of yours is.”

A car door slammed, allowing me to break whatever hold he had over me.  Looking over, I saw Hodge slide from the car and open one of the doors.  He tipped an imaginary hat.  “Good to have you back, Miss.”

“Good to be back, Hodge,” I mumbled as Gabe placed me into the car.  Scooting over, I held my breath until he slid in next to me.

Gabe smiled over at me as if he knew I was worried that he was going to run as soon as he had the chance.  Pulling something from behind him, he placed it over my legs.  “It’s so long you can use it as a blanket,” he mumbled as he settled me beside him.

As I leaned my head on his shoulder, and my eyes began to fall shut, I heard him begin speaking.

“Don’t tell Mitch,” he said in a low voice.  “What happened tonight, what I know, what she knows, it all needs to stay away from that man’s ears.  Okay?”

I opened my mouth to reply before realizing he wasn’t talking to me.  “I understand,” Hodge said from the driver’s seat.  “I would never do anything to cause her harm,” the man whispered.  “We lost her once; I refuse to lose her again.”

His words confused me, but at that moment, I didn’t have the energy to think about them.  Tomorrow, when it was light outside and my eyes would stay open, I would think about them. For now, I was letting sleep take over and trusting the man beside me to keep me safe.