CHAPTER 7

"What the hell is going on?" Thomas threw his cell phone at the dashboard. It bounced off the windshield, cracking the phone's screen. "I keep getting some damn recording."

"Dude, I told you the phones are out." Derek shifted on the bench seat pushing his thigh against mine.

Thomas's jaw hardened, but he didn't speak as he stared at the road. I was feeling the same way. What was there to say?

We'd tried the radio again and still failed to get a signal, which was really beginning to scare me. My eyes kept wandering back to the unending stream of numbers as the radio cycled continuously.

Thankfully, we decided to leave Derek's motorcycle behind for our little escapade. When I saw Thomas pull around his beefed out Ford truck, my jaw dropped. The thing was frigging huge with gigantic tires. And when I say gigantic, I mean it. A three foot lift is ridiculous when you're trying to get into any vehicle, and I'm a basketball player who has to make jump shots. Well, I'm only five foot six, but still.

What the hell was Thomas thinking when he made his truck so tall? Oh, wait. He wanted to grab every female ass that tried to get in. Go figure.

Or maybe he was a monster truck fanboy, but I couldn't imagine Thomas using this thing to crush a line of vehicles. He apparently had a relationship with it because when the phone bounced off the windshield, he didn't give one crap about checking the phone before he rubbed his fingers over the glass windshield to check for cracks.

So yeah, here I was, riding with two strange men in a metallic green monster truck, headed toward a warehouse to steal drugs on a school night. Wow. My life couldn't get any better.

And lucky me was squished in between them. I mean, they didn't even ask where I would be most comfortable. That's how guys are though. They always assume the window seat is automatically theirs.

Even after his outburst, Thomas rested his wrist over the steering wheel like we were going on a nice evening drive. How could he look so relaxed at a time like this?

My legs were bouncing like crazy. They did the same thing when I was on the court, waiting for Coach to put me back in the game. I needed my basketball and needed to run drills or something.

Damn. I was antsy as hell.

The fact that Thomas had a gun tucked in his jeans worried me. What if they had to use it? What if one of them ended up shot? God. What the hell were we doing? Our families needed help, but there had to be another way. A better way.

Derek moved his hand over my knee to calm the bouncing, but I pulled my leg away from him, balling up further into my middle seat, damn near hugging the stick shift.

Thomas glanced at me. "You're not gonna pee your pants are you?"

What did he just ask me? Fury pulsed through my veins. "No! I'm just freaking out because I'm worried. No one has discussed how this will go down, and we need a plan. Plans help keep me calm."

"Whoa. Slow down killer, you're gonna hurt yourself with all that thinking. You might break a blood vessel." Thomas patted my leg with a smile.

I ripped my leg away and glanced to Derek for help. Derek shrugged and gave me a "he has a point" grin.

Oh my God! It was time to school these two jerks before I hurt one of them. They needed to understand who they were dealing with.

"I'm going to tell you this one time and one time only. If you ever talk to me like that again, I'll punch you in the throat!" I shouted at Thomas who just smirked.

Oh, no he didn't. "You might think I'm one of your prissy little toys, but I'll have you know, I have a lot more goddamn self-respect than any of them. Hell will have to freeze over for you to ever find me in your bed because I'm not that type of girl. I'm the captain of Brooks Varsity basketball team, and I'm the main reason our team won the last two championships."

I threw my hands up as I gave one loud laugh. "And I'm graduating with honors. I've been accepted to Ivy League colleges. So stop treating me like I'm some stupid bimbo you picked up at a bar to screw! Talk to me like I have a brain because believe me if you don't, I'll make you regret it."

Derek burst out laughing. The sound was so surprising I had to suppress a smile.

Thomas nodded, contemplating a comeback.

"Umm... okay... I'm not sure what to say other than," Thomas reached in between my legs to shift, "I'm sorry. From now on, I'll remember you have a brain."

My brow pinched as I eyed Thomas, trying to figure out if he was being sarcastic, but he appeared to be sincere. Not the reaction I expected, but whatever. My rant had successfully penetrated his man-whore exterior and just like that, the argument was over.

"So? What's the plan?" I asked.

Thomas gave me a crooked smile. "Alright, smartypants. I need you to go to security and distract them while we steal—"

"Not gonna happen," Derek spoke over Thomas.

"What? Why? I can help. I could make up some story about a guy who's after me, and I'd blame him for this." I pointed to my cheek.

"You're not going in, Casey. This is dangerous. If we get caught, I can't have you going to jail." Derek's eyebrows rose as he pressed his lips together. "We're going in, and you're waiting in the truck. If we're not back in fifteen minutes that means something bad happened, and we're not coming back out. You drive the truck to your house and tell everyone what happened."

"What do you mean? There are no piggies to haul us in. I have a gun. All we have to do is overpower Jon and Danny and run, but I'm sure they'll never find out. Candi should be in pharmaceuticals tonight, and last time I checked, she was begging to get some. I've been putting her off for months, Bro. I told you that." Thomas tapped the steering wheel with his thumb as he chuckled to himself. The thought of Thomas pushing multiple girls away made me cringe.

"You think a lot of yourself, don't you?" I yelled without thinking. The words just came out.

Thomas grinned and nodded, stopping at the intersection. "Girl, you don't get it. Women are always throwing themselves at me. It gets old."

He did not just say that.

"Wow. It must be so hard being you, Thomas. Girls bowing at your feet, competing for your attention. You must have such a hard life." I puckered my bottom lip in a mock pout.

When he stopped at the sign, Thomas reached over my leg to down shift just as his dark gaze met mine. "You better pull that lip back in before I lick it."

I sucked in my lip, and Thomas's eyes flicked to my mouth. The way he studied my mouth was... well, intoxicating. His gaze lifted to meet mine. The thought of Thomas's tongue sliding over my bottom lip made my toes curl.

"Dude, stop! She's off limits. Got that?" The words seethed from Derek, low and harsh. It was a promise of violence if Thomas argued.

That snapped Thomas and I out of whatever trance we were in.

I turned my head to Derek. His glare could drill holes through Thomas. He was grinding his back teeth together and obviously livid. Why was Derek so upset? There were so many important things to be upset over. Not this. Thomas was obviously being his typical man-whore self.

"It's okay," I whispered, poking Derek's leg. I was trying to get him to calm down. Derek didn't stop glaring as he caught my hand and held it.

I seriously didn't know what to do. I mean, I just met Derek and knew nothing about him, but yeah, this was confusing because I couldn't stop myself from reveling in his warmth. I liked how his hand was strong and protective over mine.

Thomas chuckled, but it sounded fake. "You two got something going on I don't know about?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but Derek squeezed my hand, silencing me.

"You got a problem with that?" Derek's tone was venomous.

"Nah. I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to step on your toes." Thomas's whiskey brown eyes met mine as we turned into a huge empty parking lot. "Sorry, Casey. I'm just not right in the head. I... I guess I'm looking for... well, shit... I don't know what I was thinking. Won't happen again. Forgive me?"

I nodded way too fast. Derek released my hand, which should've been a relief, but I wanted his hand back. Instead, Derek wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into him.

I scooted closer as he pressed his soft lips to my ear. "I'm sorry. Just play along."

His hot breath caused my whole body to become aware of our proximity. He was pretending and there was a reason. Whatever. His arm felt good wrapped around me as I leaned more into him.

"What do you think, Der? Just walk in like we own the place, and if anyone asks, I'll tell them I left something in my locker. Then when we get back there, I'll tell Candi to meet me in the employee restroom for a quickie. And--"

"You're going to have sex right now?" The words just erupted out of me. Again. I needed to stop that.

Derek's arm tensed.

Thomas furrowed his brow as he circled the truck around the gigantic warehouse. "I hadn't planned on it, but... I might not be coming back here to work if they review the security footage, so yeah, maybe I'll take Candi to plow town."

My lip curled. "You're kidding right?"

"He's messing with you." Derek shook me. "Of course, he's not having sex. We need Candi to leave pharmaceuticals for five minutes so we can grab and split."

Oh. I was just talking about being smart and I didn't even catch on to the easiest trick in the book. Distract with sex or something like that.

Damn, I needed to focus. Mom's battered face came to mind.

We rolled around the back of the warehouse, unveiling two smaller buildings behind it. Thomas pulled into a parking spot thirty feet from the entrance. This place was massive. The buildings weren't much to look at with their dull white exterior, but they created the buildings to store items, not to win beauty pageants.

I glanced around us, counting only five other vehicles. "This place is dead. Is it always like this?"

"Depends on the orders. It's been a slow week." Thomas pulled the gun from the back of his jeans to check if it was loaded. It was.

My legs bounced.

"Hey," Derek ran his fingers down my arm. "Look at me."

I bit my lips between my teeth and did as he said.

His blue eyes grabbed my attention. "This is the easy stuff. In and out."

"In and out. In and out," Thomas said in a smooth, seductive tone. "In and out of Candi."

What the hell? I whipped around and punched Thomas in the shoulder over and over again.

"Hey. Hey!" Thomas wasn't doing much to defend himself as he smiled. "Okay. Okay. Stop. Stop! Now that hurts. Stop! I'm sorry. Okay? I'm sorry."

When I stopped, he wasn't smiling anymore. This boy brought out a side of me I'd never seen. What was that like twenty punches? Holy hell. My face was on fire. Derek's arm was no longer around me, and my whole body was on the seat, looming over Thomas. Sweat beaded on my forehead. What the hell was wrong with me?

I'd forced Thomas against his window, and now he was watching me like I would start up again.

"Your face." The words were barely a whisper as Thomas reached up and reattached a band-aid. When his fingers ran over my jaw, he was gentle as tingles rushed over my entire body.

I tensed up. I didn't want a guy like him touching me. Guys like him did this crap to all the girls.

Thomas studied my face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

"I'm sorry, too," I exhaled, gathering my thoughts as I put my feet back on the floor. I covered my face with my hands. "I don't know where that came from."

"I think we're all just under a lot of stress. The sooner we get this done, the better." Derek's door opened allowing a stream of fresh air to enter the cab. And fresh air was exactly what I needed. I waited for Derek to climb out and followed him.

"Whoa, what're you doing? You're not going in." Derek pushed my butt, trying to stop me from climbing out.

What the hell? Hands! I slapped his hand away. "I'm not going inside. I need some fresh air."

Derek huffed, jingling something in his pocket. "Alright, but I want you back in the truck once we're inside."

"Yes, Sir." I gave him a tight grin.

"I mean it, Casey." Derek turned away from me, and rubbed the back of his head, messing up his dark hair.

"I get it. I'm not going anywhere. I'll wait here like a good little girl."

"Kiss for good luck?" Thomas's voice was in my ear.

I jumped. He'd snuck up on me.

Before I could say a word, Derek ripped Thomas away. Thomas just laughed. Yeah, my punching spree did jack squat when it came to Thomas the man-whore.