Chapter Thirteen

Michelle

The next morning, we were all drinking coffee and eating breakfast while Oliver went into detail with Zack about the GPS tracker I placed on his car. I kind of wanted to slide under the table.

Then Zack held out his hand for a fist bump, which was eye opening. “Dude, you are solid. I can’t believe you did that,” Zack said.

“Me neither. It’s totally creepy. But I was so upset with him.”

“No, I think it’s cool you thought of it.” Zack looks at Oliver then and says, “Would you have thought of that?”

“Yeah, but I doubt I would’ve done it.”

“Hmm. Guess I’m slow then. Did you tell Sheridan?” Zack asked.

“God, no. I didn’t tell a soul.”

Zack swallowed his coffee. “I’m surprised you didn’t say anything since she’s your best friend.”

“I was ashamed of it.”

Then I looked at Oliver, still feeling guilty over it and asked, “Are you sure you’re not mad at me for doing that?”

“No. I deserved it. It’s a little stalkerish, but the way I was answering your questions, I was being completely sketchy.” Then he looked at Zack and said, “Dude, you’re a class act dumbass. You’re an undercover government agent who specializes in surveillance and you never would’ve thought of using a GPS tracker? What the hell is wrong with your brain? Maybe you need to rethink your profession.”

“Hey, if you recall, my specialty is computers and hacking, not physically spying on people.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Oliver batted his hand through the air.

“Break it up, kids. You two act like you’re in elementary school.”

“We’re like that a lot,” Oliver said.

“So how did you end up at the safe house?” Zack asked.

“Safe house?”

That was where I found Oliver, only I wasn’t aware it was their safe house. I told him about the times Oliver went there late at night and I worried something happened to one of his parents.

“Oh, shit. So you called and when I never mentioned them, your suspicions totally skyrocketed,” Oliver said.

“Yeah. That’s why I drove out there. I was sure it involved another woman.”

“I get that now.”

Zack’s head bobbed up and down. Then he said, “You ought to come to work with us.”

Oliver’s head snapped in Zack’s direction so fast I was surprised it didn’t spin right off his neck. “Are you fucking crazy? No way do I want my girl involved in something so dangerous.”

“We’d keep an eye on her,” Zack insisted.

“Just shut up. I can’t even go there in my head space.” Oliver shuddered. Jeez, what kind of place were they working and these people they were in with, how terrible were they?

“I’m not sure I even want you back in there,” I said.

“We’re good. As long as we keep to our jobs, they think we’re the usual geeks, following orders, doing our thing. Besides, we only have another week or so there.”

“It’s going to be a long week,” I said.

And it was. My stomach tumbled around like the spin cycle on a washer. It was so twisted in knots I was sure I’d have an ulcer by the end of the week. Even my skin sizzled with anxiety. Every time someone touched me, just the slightest tap would send me jumping out of my seat. One day, a coworker entered my office and I’d been concentrating so hard on an ad, I didn’t hear her. She walked behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I totally lost it and fell out of my chair. Everyone thought I had gone off the edge. I was legit crazy. And I couldn’t explain why … couldn’t tell them my boyfriend was in real danger at his job. I couldn’t even tell my best friend, Sheridan. All this was bottled inside, like a shaken can of soda, ready to explode at any moment.

Late that week Oliver and I had just gotten into bed, and were lying there, when he heard a noise downstairs.

“Shh, be still.”

I froze, wondering who it might be. Zack was in bed already, so I thought maybe he got up for a drink of water or something. “Is it Zack?” I whispered.

Oliver put his finger to his mouth, then reached for his gun on the nightstand. Now that I knew he was an agent, he kept it in the open. Then he got up, indicating that I should stay put. By now, we heard someone coming up the steps.

“Under the bed,” he whispered. “Now.”

I slipped out of bed and did as he said. I was a freak show, scared to death. Any moment I knew someone was going to barge into the bedroom and kill us. But then I was surprised when I heard a woman’s voice call his name. “Oliver, get out here. Now.” It was brusque and slightly gravelly sounding.

“Ren? What the hell are you doing here?”

“The op is going down tomorrow and we need to talk. I assume Cupcake is in there with you. We need to get her out of here tonight.”

Cupcake? What the hell.

Oliver glanced at me apologetically. “Let’s get dressed so we can talk to her.”

“Good idea,” I snarked. “Does she always waltz into your home unannounced?”

“Pretty much. It’s not really my home. The department rented it so it’s theirs. I’m sorry.”

By this time I was tugging on my pants. “Yeah, well, I’m just glad she didn’t crawl into bed with us.”

“Actually, so am I.”

I flashed him a you can’t be serious look.

“You’ll see when you meet her.”

He was right. That woman had a bigger dick than any man alive. Ren—short for Renata—Campini was more ballsy and demanding than anyone I’d ever met. She was sitting in the living room with Zack and some other man by the time we got down there. Introductions were made and his name was Billy Jones. I briefly pondered whether that was his real name before Ren practically yelled at us.

“About fucking time. Did you have to knock off a piece before you joined us? For fuck’s sake. Listen up. The entire team’s in town. Tomorrow is the big day. We have enough evidence to blow them to Mars, or the fucking moon. Anyway, I’m taking Cupcake here out to the safe house while Billy debriefs you two.” She points at Zack and Oliver.

I only stared at this machine of a woman standing there. She wasn’t much bigger than me, but damn if she wasn’t intimidating. Long mahogany hair, dark eyes, and full red lips made for an attractive package, but I had an image of her pulling out a bullwhip and flaying the hell out of her man. Yeah, I could totally see her as a dominatrix, black leather and all.

“Michelle, are you with us here.” Oliver stared at me.

“Huh?”

“Ren was asking about your work.”

“Oh.”

“Cupcake, over here.” Ren was clicking her fingers at me. “You need to take a day or two off. You can’t be alone so you’ll be staying out there with an agent.”

“I can call in sick.” Ren eyed me like I was a piece of candy. Or maybe prey was a better word. Perhaps she wasn’t straight. Who knew? All I knew was she was tough as nails and scared the shit out of me.

Then she clicked her fingers again and said, “Let’s go.”

My brows drew together as I looked up at Oliver. He jerked his head toward Ren. She wanted me to go with her? Shit.

“I need to pack a bag.”

“Then get on it, Cupcake. I don’t have all night.”

I nudged Oliver and he followed me up the stairs. Once there, I hastily threw some things back into the bag I’d packed a few days ago.

“Oliver, that woman scares me.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, Ren is a little freaky. But you’ll be in good hands.”

“I think she secretly whips her boyfriends.”

“Oh, if she did, there would be no secret about it. She’s wide open.”

“Is she gay?”

“Ren? No. She’ll chase after a dick in a heart beat.”

“She doesn’t have a thing for you, does she?”

“No,” Oliver said laughing. “She’s not into the geeky type. Plus, she doesn’t mix business and pleasure.”

That should’ve been a satisfying answer, but it wasn’t. I guess I’d just have to paste on a grin and go for it. I kissed Oliver goodbye and he promised to call the next day as soon as everything was over.

Ren and I pulled into the driveway of the safe house about an hour and fifteen minutes later. She talked the whole drive up there, mostly about how wonderful she was. The woman had no lack of self-esteem, at all. When we walked inside, an older man greeted us. His name was Ralph. My internal questions ranged from how they could’ve come up with a better name than Ralph to how long Ren would be here. I wasn’t quite comfortable out here, miles away from anywhere, with two complete strangers. What if these two were serial killers?

Suddenly I blurted, “Would you two mind showing me some ID?”

Ralph’s mouth flopped open and Ren cackled like an old woman. Then she said, “Nervous, Cupcake?”

“Um, no.” I lied. She could tell.

“Here. Ralph, show her yours. Actually, Cupcake, you should’ve asked for mine a while back if you had doubts about me.”

I didn’t until now. And the truth is, I didn’t really. But for some reason, I just got slightly freaked. I checked out their ID’s and badges and they looked real. I felt better. Then I asked Ralph where I was sleeping because I was tired. He showed me to my room and I crash-landed on the bed. I was asleep in minutes.

My alarm went off, as usual, so I got up and hunted the bathroom. There appeared to be only one, so I laid claim to it and stole the shower. I didn’t linger, just in case someone else needed it. Plus, there was the call I needed to make to my boss. I left my hair to air dry, quickly threw on some clothes, then walked out to the kitchen to find Ralph alone. Ren must’ve left for the big showdown already.

“Hungry?” Ralph asked.

“Sure, but I’ll be happy to make my own breakfast.”

He pointed to where everything was so I set off to toast a bagel and pour some coffee. When it was ready, I sat down to eat. Ralph asked about my job so I explained what I did.

“That reminds me, I need to call my boss. It’s probably best if I text. I’m an awful liar so that wouldn’t be so good if I flubbed it up.”

“You would suck at this job then.”

I puffed out a breath. “Yeah, I totally would. When Oliver kept hedging about things, and didn’t tell me the truth, it was awful. I could never do that. I would cave. Or I would forget what I told someone and then have to backtrack. My mom could always tell when I lied to her.”

“You get coached on how to do it during training. The biggest giveaways are not what you say, but the body language.”

“I’d fail on all of the above.”

Ralph laughed. I took out my phone and texted my boss, telling her I came down with some kind of stomach bug.

“What did you tell your boss?” Ralph asked and I told him.

He nodded. “So we’re stuck here for the time being. I have some movies, but that’s about it. No internet or anything. We can’t leave so it’s going to be boring, I’m afraid.”

Boredom wasn’t what killed me. It was worrying about what Oliver was going through. Ralph tried to reassure me, but all of his words did nothing to ease my anxiety. My nerves were exposed wires, sparking at every tiny thing. If there was a lull in our conversation and Ralph suddenly spoke up, I’d jerk.

“Okay, Cupcake, you’ve got to calm it down.”

My hands were trembling. “Why does everyone call me Cupcake?”

“No one is supposed to get involved or take on a love interest while they’re in the field. Oliver obviously broke the rule with you. So someone started referring to you as his sweetie pie and then one day someone called you his cupcake and it just stuck.”

“Nice, but I hope you know my real name is Michelle.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Got news for you. No one involved with DHS will ever call you that. You’ll always be Cupcake to us.”

“I guess that’s better than Stinkface or Fatbutt.”

He laughed even harder.

“Hey, can we take a walk or something?”

“Nope. Sorry. Can’t leave the house. Boss’ orders.”

“Okay. Just checking. I’m super restless.”

“What? You don’t think I noticed?” He laughed again. I was finding Ralph to be a cheerful sort of man.

“How well do you know Oliver?”

His smile disappeared and he looked mortified. “Oh no. I will not be put in that trap. It happened to me one time before and no way will I fall for that crap again.”

“Wait. All I was going to ask you was if you ever worked with him on a case like this.”

His postured sagged. “Oh. I thought you were going to drill me with questions about him.”

It was my turn to laugh. “I would never do that.”

“Good. You women can be sneaky sometimes.”

My phone beeped and when I checked it I saw it was Sheridan.

“Crap. It’s my best friend. I can’t answer it or she’ll know something’s up.”

“Will she think it weird if you don’t?” he asked.

“No. I’ll just say I was busy. When do you think we’ll hear from them?”

He checked the time and said, “Hopefully soon.”

It took a couple more hours before Ralph heard from Ren. Everything went according to their plans. Not much later than that, my phone rang. It was Oliver.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Just fine. Busy and tired, but I’m good. Ready to wrap this one up.”

“Can I come home?”

“Ren says it’s fine so Ralph can drive you in.”

A smile the size of Georgia spread clear across my face. “Will you be home tonight?”

“Oh, yeah. Maybe in a couple of hours. Ask Ralph if he minds picking up some pizza for us. It’s about the only thing I can think of that’s easy.”

I did and he gave me a thumbs up.

“We’re good. We’ll be waiting.”

“Better get enough for Zack, Ren, and Billy too.”

“I can manage that. I’ll get a variety. Anything to drink?”

“Can you pick up some beer?”

“Yep. I’ll handle everything,” I said.

“Great. Thanks. Can’t wait to see you.”

“Same here. I was worried all day.”

His voice drops low, I imagine so no one else can hear. “You shouldn’t have, but I’m glad you did. It means you care.”

“Care? I love you, you big goob.”

He laughed and we ended the call. Ralph and I took off for the city and loaded up on beer and pizza on the way to Oliver’s. By the time we got home, the gang was only a few minutes behind us. They all chatted, in a roundabout way, about how it all worked out. They wanted to keep me out of the loop, which was fine by me. The less I knew the better.

A few hours later, Ren, Ralph, and Billy left for their hotel. I thanked Ralph for being such a great caretaker.

“No problem, Cupcake. See ya around.”

Oliver and I headed upstairs where I found I was so damn exhausted. My eyelids wouldn’t stay open for anything. It was Friday night, so it didn’t matter. Sleep took over and I gracefully accepted it.

I woke up in the middle of the night to Oliver’s tongue in between my thighs. Initially I thought it was a dream, but when he slid a finger inside me, the dream became reality. His lips puckered around my clit, sucking it while his tongue flicked over the tiny bud. Meanwhile, his finger kept up a rhythm that had me coming in no time. Soon his cock, which was long and stiff, was thrusting into my wet pussy. I was ready and willing. He hooked my knee under his arm, lifting my leg up allowing him to go deeper and harder as he pumped into me. Air rushed out of my lungs with each thrust as he touched me in places that I couldn’t remember feeling before. The heated sensations tingled my nerves, setting off pricks of electricity rushing through my veins. Arching my back, I pressed my hips into him, aching to get even closer than I was.

“You’re mine now, Gumdrop. All mine,” he said as he pushed into me again and again. And suddenly I was there, falling over the precipice, exploding into another orgasm as I cried out his name. He followed me and we lay in each other’s arms, panting, and damp with sweat.

“I love you, Michelle.”

“Love you too. I need to ask you why you never called me Cupcake.”

His body shook. “That’s easy. You’re not my cupcake. You’re my Gumdrop.”