Finding Sadie (Los Rancheros #0.5) Read online

  “What the hell are you doing?” he growled, and I shiver. Not the bad kind either. If I didn’t hear his voice, I wouldn’t know he had spoken. His head is turned to the window, eyes focused ahead, lips in a straight line.

  “We’re taking him to the toy store. We’re gonna give him a ride in the Batmobile and then have a shopping spree.”

  “You have no idea what the fuck you’re doing,” he says before turning those grey eyes on me. I shrug.

  “Nope.”

  We get Jayden in a wheelchair. Jayden’s little cheeks are tinted with a little pink. Just that small thing is enough for me to take this next step. I shoo the nurse and Mom and Dad out, telling them to wait at the bottom of the elevators.

  “We’re gonna catch him this time, Batty. I can feel it. You go get the car,” I say, tossing the keys to him abruptly. He catches them without even seeming to look. He glances at the keys before shooting them back to me. I definitely wouldn’t have caught them if I wasn’t staring so hard.

  “We take my ride. Only way to get him.” YES! He’s in. I just hope he has as badass a car as I do.

  Batman leaves the room silently, and I crouch down in front of Jayden. “We’re gonna have to be sneaky. There could be lookouts. We have to act like you’re a frail little boy that couldn’t take them down with one finger. You know it and I know it, but we have to go after the big guy in charge. You know what I mean?”

  “Yeah.” Jayden nods his head with more force than I’ve seen yet. “I can pretend to be sick.”

  I hold my hand out for him to high five, tempering my slap so that it doesn’t hurt, before moving to the door. I stick my head out, scanning to make sure no one is there, and then open it wide. I stop pushing Jayden when we get to the door. “See anybody?” I whisper close to his head.

  “Nah. We’re clear.” I smile the whole way to the elevators, speeding down straightaways so that he can feel the wind. I leave him at a corner where he can see me dart to the elevator and press the button before skidding back to him.

  Several people get off of the elevator. “Showtime, kiddo.”

  Jayden slumps slightly and moves his eyes downward. I stroll sedately past the group of white coats and scrubs. As soon as the doors close I whoop. “Did you see that? No one thought a thing! I knew you were good, but wow!”

  Jayden’s smile is so wide it’s all I can see. “This is so cool.”

  “It’s not over yet. We still have to make it to the car. You ready?”

  “Yes,” he says in a weak voice, almost giving me a heart attack, until I see his smile.

  “Whoa, dude. You had me going. Somebody give you an Oscar. I think I just got chills.” For real though. I grip the handles on the wheelchair and shiver out a breath.

  When the doors open, we walk calmly to another set of elevators leading to the parking lot. I see the parents following behind us looking concerned, but I can’t focus on them. As the doors lead up to the third floor of the parking garage, we’re the last ones left. I look back and forth frantically when I don’t see a car. Any car, except mine because it’s empty as shit. No one goes this high up at night. Hence why my car’s off to the side. Just as I’m about to push Jayden toward it, I hear a rumble.

  The rumble gets closer and I push Jayden behind a thick pillar, just in case. That’s a serious something about to roll up. I put my finger to my lips and watch as Jayden gets a little scared. The rumble builds until it’s a living thing inside of my chest. Jayden puts a hand to his chest too. I see the parents get off of the elevator finally and wave them away behind the kid’s back.

  The Batmobile pulls up, and I have to blink in astonishment. What the fuck? It’s matte black and looks like it’s about to kick your ass just for looking at it. Batty rolls the window down and waves me over, mask still on. I’m turned on at possibly the most inappropriate time and place imaginable, but holy shit. I’ll never watch those movies the same again.

  “That’s us,” I say, wheeling Jayden out. He gasps and coughs a little. I try to act unconcerned as I reconsider this whole thing. Batty pushes the passenger door open from the inside as his parents rush over.

  The dad grabs the tank while Mom fusses with her kid. I get in the car and search for the button to push the seat back all the way in the tiny two-seater car. Batty can fit his tall frame so I know Jayden and I can make it work the few blocks to the store. I just hope we don’t get pulled over.

  “Jayden are you sure you’re sure?” his mom asks as his dad sets him in the seat between my legs and hands me the buckle while he adjusts the tank.

  “Mom, this is the coolest thing in the history of the world!” Jayden squeaks in his little voice. I notice the airbag off light is on above our head and lick my lips nervously.

  The dad looks from his son to Batty and back again a few times before squeezing his boy’s shoulder. “Go get ‘em,” he says brokenly, shutting the door softly.

  We speed off like a bullet. I narrowly avoid a broken nose when Jayden’s head pops back with the momentum. The squealing tires almost drown out Jayden’s laugh, but I hear it. When Batty shifts, it jerks Jayden’s head, so I put my elbow on the door and my hand on his forehead to keep it on my shoulder.

  Batty takes the spiral down to the exit entirely too fast for having a kid illegally doubled up in his car, but he never seems out of control. We shoot out of the hospital, and I fully expect to see cops on our tail any second. When we turn a corner that’s not on the way to the toy store, I look over at him, concerned I just put a freaking terminal kid in the hands of a murderer or something.

  “There. You see that, Jayden?” Batty rumbles as he takes another turn. Jayden’s nodding against my hand, but I didn’t see anything. A car crosses several lanes of traffic to turn left at an intersection. I point.

  “He’s right there!” When we get to the light, it’s turned red so we have to wait. Thankfully it was a black car, so by the time we turn there are a million more. We see the guy we’re after in every one. We pull up beside them to see the driver, but it’s never quite him. By the time we get to the toy store, we’re sure he’s ditched his car and headed inside. The place looks closed, but for the lights they leave on at night. My heart is about to burst. I don’t know what I would do if it was closed. Probably break in, I think immediately. God, I’m crazy.

  I see the parents off to the side of the big building as we pull up to the front. Batty jumps out and produces a wheelchair from thin air. Probably from the parents though. We get Jayden situated carefully, although to him we appear to be rushing. We have to get our bad guy, after all.

  I wheel Jayden over to the door, where Batty has stealthily checked windows, his black cape billowing around him. He bends down to the door, and I hold my breath. I don’t know if he really did pick the lock or what, but no alarms go off.

  He pushes the doors and waves us in shortly. The place is definitely closed, even though I saw the hours on one of the windows. It was supposed to close at eight, but the clock in the car said they should have been open another thirty minutes.

  Then I hear a noise, and it’s on. We move to the baby toys as quietly as we can, Batty leading us, checking behind corners and even rolling across aisles.

  “We need weapons.” Jayden’s whisper scares the shit out of me, and I almost scream it’s so loud in the quiet. Batty just nods and moves away again. We follow his lead, rushing across when he signals until we’re in the boys’ toy aisle. There are a million different kind of guns, but Batty goes directly to some that look to be already out of the box. Some are Nerf guns that automatically load; some are laser guns that don’t shoot anything physical. We’re loading the wheelchair down with ammo when we hear another sound. It freezes all of us.

  Who the fuck is in here?

  Jayden and I lock eyes, and I silently get behind him again. Batty signals for us to cross and I see a shadow at the far end of the store moving the opposite way. Jayden sees him, too.

  “There!” he yells and begins
shooting. I stand behind him and open up on the guy. Our foam bullets are glow in the dark and create a huge amount of noise as they shoot without having to be cocked. Seriously, kid’s toys are the shit. Little green streaks go after the bad guy but he’s gone. We have little option but to follow him around. The aisles are always clear, though we can hear toys going off and shuffling every once in a while.

  We’re almost out of ammunition when we round a corner and the guy is there. Batty pulls the guys back to his chest and looks to Jayden. I’m puffing, sweating, and Jayden’s little shoulders are drooping.

  “You got him Jayden. I knew we could do it with you,” I say with a hand on his bony shoulder.

  “This is your operation, Jayden. What do you want to do? It’s your call,” Batty says from behind the guy.

  Little Jayden’s chest puffs out behind is own Batman shirt.

  “Lock him up, in some super secret basement where he can never hurt anyone again.”

  Batty nods once, pushing the man out the front door. I push Jayden to the cash registers and grab a couple of sports drinks. Jayden’s hands are shaking so I help him hold the bottle to his lips, then put it on a counter. Batty’s back as we finish up, and I toss him a drink. He drinks deeply before looking at the boy.

  “What do we do now, Jayden?”

  Jayden looks around, clueless before shrugging. “Celebrate?”

  I turn in a circle, tapping my lip before nodding slowly. “What do you do when you have a toy store all to yourself? It’s almost Christmas.”

  Jayden’s eyes lose some of their light. “I won’t be here on Christmas.”

  God, I’m such a bitch. Why did I bring that up?

  Batty sits on his heels in front of Jayden. “What would you want if you were?”

  Jayden studies him. “Anything?”

  “Yeah. In the whole store. Tell me where to go and we’ll get it.” Batty takes the handles and follows his directions to the toys he thinks are the coolest. I follow behind and realize that the doc was so right. About everything.

  When we collect more toys than I have ever seen any one kid own, including girly toys because Jayden knew they weren’t going to be his and didn’t want to leave anyone out, we exit the store. Jayden’s parents are hugging by the entrance against the wall. Both of their faces are swollen from crying, but they smile that fake smile when they see their boy.

  “Hey, superhero!” His mom comes over to hug her baby.

  The dad holds up his phone. “Can we get some pictures of you guys together?”

  “With the car!” Jayden speaks up, making us all laugh when it should have been impossible in that moment.

  We all move over to the car that’s in the fire lane directly in front of the doors. Jayden pulls the tubes from his face and Batty picks him up silently in one arm. I go to Jayden’s other side and give my best badass look to the camera phone. Let’s face it, I nailed that shit.

  We pose for different pictures, endlessly, patiently. Jayden behind the wheel, Batty riding shotgun. Jayden pointing at some enemy with Batty behind the wheel. All of us holding our laser guns that Batty insisted Jayden keep.

  Finally Batty tosses his keys in the air and looks to the exhausted boy. “What do you say? One more ride?”

  “Yes. Definitely yes,” is Jayden’s immediate reply.

  By the time we get him back to his room and hooked up to more monitors than he was on before, he can barely keep his eyes open.

  “What about the toys?” Jayden slurs as he tries to stay awake.

  Batty sits down on his bed again. “What do you want do with them, bud?”

  “Give them to the kids that get to see Christmas.”

  For the first time in a long time, I think I might cry. I gently give Jayden a hug, his arms too tired to return the gesture. “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met.”

  “I’ll never forget you, Robin.”

  I smile shakily. “I’ll never forget you, little dude.”

  I leave before I lose it, intending to just walk away. “Wait, please.”

  I turn to see Jayden’s mom holding my purse out to me. Totally forgot that thing. “Thanks.”

  “No.” She shakes her head and puts a hand to her heart. “What you did, both of you . . . I can’t tell you what this meant to him.”

  I shift uncomfortably. “It was my pleasure.”

  “Our pleasure,” Batty says as he exits the room. We shake hands with the parents before walking side by side to the elevators. I’m lost in feelings that are swirling. A confusing tornado of too many things at once. I don’t realize we’ve made it to the parking garage until he speaks.

  “You need a ride?”

  I look to the right at my car then to the left and up to meet his eyes.

  “Yup.”

  As soon as we get in the car, Batty takes off his mask. I almost laugh out loud. Holy. Shit. If this car was bigger I probably would have been in his lap with the next breath. No, I definitely would have. Instead I pull my green mask off of my eyes. Batty looks at me and starts the car, peeling out just as fast as before.

  I can’t stop looking at him. His cheekbones are high, and little indents on his forehead are turning slightly red. His hair is messy, a light brown tinged with blond, and spiky. He bites his lip slightly as he takes a corner, and I feel myself clench. Oh my God. Please let this go where I hope it’s going.

  At a stoplight he looks at me for the first time. “I need to know where you live.”

  Duh. Snap out of it. “Malibu.” That’s all I can remember right now. I have about an hour to come up with the rest.

  He doesn’t say anything else as he rumbles through the city. This car, with his looks, about melt my panties by the time we get to my house. Wait, I don’t wear panties unless I’m sleeping.

  I have to resort to hand gestures to point right and left, tapping on my window or to his side after so many wrong turns and getting a growl. I want that particular sound in my bed, not this tiny car.

  Finally we pull up to my house. The engine gets turned off and I can barely breathe. He doesn’t say anything so I step out of the car, bending down to get my purse. Stupid thing. When I straighten I squeak when I see him on the other side of the door. Jesus he moves fast.

  We move to the door and I get the keys in the lock with deep concentration and sigh when it pops open. I hear a faint beep but don’t pay attention. I turn back to Batty.

  I watch his eyes taking in my features. Eyes, cheeks, nose, hairline—I wonder briefly what it looks like. I’m not in the habit of putting my hands through it because it’s usually tangled, but I left it clean for the hospital visit—and finally my lips. His eyes seem to snag on them and don’t move away.

  “Are you . . . goodnight,” I choke out. Batty breathes in through his nose before seeming to hold it. I notice because I can see his black shirt rise and not go down in my peripheral as I hold his eyes. His jaw clenches, triggering muscles I didn’t know could be visible.

  “Not yet.”

  As his mouth crashes into mine and he lifts me up, I whisper, “Oh thank fuck.”

  His tongue is dueling with mine before we cross the threshold. When my back hits the wall, I wrap my legs around his waist and try to get as deep inside of him as I can.

  Batty’s hands move from my ass to my head, tilting me the way he wants. “What is that?” he asks into my mouth. That, would be a very hard yes please from me. “What is it?” His mouth leaves mine, and I whimper. A sound I’m certain I’ve never made in my life, but there it is. I try to get that mouth back, but his hand clenches on my jaw. “The beeping. Is it the alarm?”

  Fucking what? Then I hear it. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem willing to carry me over to the offending box of noise getting louder by the second, so I unlatch from him and walk over to it. And stare. Blink. What’s the code?

  “You want to turn that off?” he rumbles, and I can feel it against my chest. I close my eyes.

  “Yes.”

 
; His hands move under my shirt and over my stomach. “Now?”

  “Yes.”

  One of his hands move up while the other ventures down, pulling me against him. I grind my ass into his erection. “Oh God, please fuck me.”

  “I’m trying, baby.” Suddenly he’s gone. What? No! “You have to turn it off first.”

  Bullshit piece of technology. Why are you thwarting me?! I tap some numbers, not even really seeing them, I’m just going through the motion. Blissful silence. I sag in relief an instant before I’m spun around and hitting the wall again.

  “That was a stupid thing you did,” he grounds in my mouth. I roll my hips.

  Suddenly my brain is turned on. I’m thinking about too much. Tonight and everything that came with it.

  “It worked.”

  He hums into my mouth, then slips my shirt over my head. Our mouths crash together again, teeth nipping, lips sucking. “How did you get the toy store to close?”

  He unsnaps my bra with a flick. “Called on the way to the garage.” I push with my legs to get the space between us to grab his shirt and lift.

  “Who was the villain?” I gasp as he hits my clit perfectly.

  “Dad,” I get in return against my nipple.

  “Fuck me,” I say as I pull him by his hair closer to me. I feel his mouth open wider as he sucks deep, then releases with a pop.

  “I’m trying.” He shoves one hand down my jeans to grab my ass, pulling him sharply against him.

  “Where are the toys going?” I ask as my hands roam over taut muscles. I swear I can feel each individual one as they flex over his shoulders.

  “The hospital. The poor. You’re thinking too much.” He pulls away from the wall, moving those silky lips away from me to look around. I see when he spots the stairs and heads that way. I figure he’s a smart guy, probably has the layout of the place, and grind my pussy into his hand, latching onto his neck, the only thing I can reach.

  “Jesus Christ,” he mumbles as he takes the stairs two at a time, collapsing to his knees half way up. Every single step digs into my back, but my focus is on him. He’s taking off my jeans, peeling them away because they’re so tight and over his shoulder they go.