balls are starting to chafe.”
Madi scoffed, abruptly crossing the street and leaving Az to follow or get left behind. “You’re breaking my heart. Maybe if you hadn’t kidnapped me, I’d have more empathy for your chafing balls. Actually, if you hadn’t kidnapped me, I imagine your balls would be having the time of their lives right now. Instead, the thought of your chafing balls is giving me the only shred of pleasure I’ve felt since I woke to find myself chained to a wall.”
Az snorted, going around to the passenger side of a car parked alongside a meter and trying the handle. Locked. “I know you’re angry, Madigan. But, you have to admit, this is as much your fault as it is mine.”
Madi stopped to gape at him, his hand on the driver’s side door of a Yaris. “What?”
Az tried the passenger door and shook his head, moving to the third car in the row—an old wood paneled station wagon filled to the roof with trash bags. They both skipped it, moving on. “Okay, so I will admit I am more at fault than you, but if you would just learn to trust me when I say I have a plan, I wouldn’t need to keep you in the dark.”
Madi’s nostrils flared, his breath puffing in the cold like an angry dragon. “I’m sorry, but the first time I trusted you, I was ambushed, and the second time I trusted you, you jabbed a needle in my arm. Every time I trust you, I end up with somebody trying to kill me.”
This wasn’t how Az saw his apology going, but the more incensed Madi became, the more turned on Az grew. It was impossible not to push his buttons a little when so few things made Madi look so…alive. Az gave him a patronizing look. “You are being dramatic, motek. In fact, I would venture to say that most people who have met you have considered killing you. Tell the truth, other than me, can you think of a single other person who doesn’t find you infuriating?” Madi’s resulting stare lasted for so long and was so unrelenting Azrael finally asked, “What are you doing?”
“Contemplating whether it would be worth the jail time to just shoot you on the street.”
Az grinned and jiggled the handle on another car. Locked. They moved down the line to the next one. “I should be the one contemplating shooting you. You left me broken-hearted on a cargo plane so you could go work on your tan in a tropical paradise.”
“Broken-hearted?” Madi parroted, looking comically surprised when the door he tried opened. He slid into the driver’s seat.
When Az tried the handle on the passenger side it didn’t give. Madi stared at him through the window, a scowl on his face, as he fingered the door lock button in a way that made Az’s cock take interest, which only worsened his chafing predicament. “Very mature, Madigan. Can we please get to the safe house so we can shower? Then you can lock me out on the balcony if it makes you feel better.”
Az sighed as Madi unlocked the door and he was able to slide in. It only took a moment to get the engine turned over, and then they were pulling away from the curb in a white Kia Forte. Madi seemed familiar with the area so Az didn’t interject. Most of the drive was filled with stony silence. If Az had thought he could somehow charm his way out of the situation, it appeared he was wrong.
Az needed Madi to forgive him. He didn’t want another night to pass with this looming over them. Bennington’s men wouldn’t just let them go, not with Madi’s friend already calling in another anonymous tip about a warehouse full of trafficking victims. They were costing the man money, money he needed now that his two partners were dead. Az didn’t want Madi to decide they were safer apart. He wouldn’t be able to concentrate if Madi wasn’t beside him.
Az said the only thing he could think of to try to sway Madigan’s favor. “I missed you, too, motek. Nothing about that night was a lie. If it matters.”
Madi grumbled under his breath, but Az didn’t look at him. He couldn’t. Instead, he spent the time looking at the historic buildings and the people in their winter coats bustling in and out of little shops with holiday decorations already lit up. Az imagined it was nice and cozy