Keep Me (Rebel Hearts Heists #2) - M. Sinclair Page 0,39
them to shed their clothes and show me their dominance in a totally different way than just being unreasonable. But I shake off my lust induced haze and prepare to argue my point because I know I’m right and their need to protect me is making them blind to the stark reality of the situation.
“Look, I’m not saying that I’ll go into the lion’s den completely unprotected. We can make a plan and make sure that I’m safe. But can I remind you that I came here to help? That I’m not just along for the ride but I’m a part of this just as much as each of you? That our freedom at the end of this is at stake?” I look pointedly at Kaden, who shakes his blond head and lowers himself heavily onto the couch.
He doesn’t look at me when he says, “Your freedom isn’t at stake. It never was—” I don’t understand.
“But Agent Walker said—”
Kaden lifts his dark blue gaze, pinning me to him with one look. “I know what he said. And I know you lost your trust in me and that I completely deserved it. But believe me, Sloane, I’ve been working on a plan to get us all away when this is over. Together. Ideally, we’ll succeed and the Bureau will drop the charges against all of you, but I’ve planned for the eventuality that things won’t go our way. I’ve been planning this since Seattle, since before I had to handcuff you, baby.”
His gaze softens and I feel a little bit of that ice that is left in my heart at the memory of his betrayal melt away as I get lost in the dark blue of his irises and let the warmth in his voice heal the rift between us like a warm balm. Kaden looks so stoic and perfect, like a Norse god and I realize that this is his attempt at letting me in. Since he took me during that failed robbery, he’s protected me and soothed me but he’s always kept an important part of himself hidden for obvious reasons. Now his gaze is open, telling me that the only games left to play, we’ll play together.
“The shit hit the fan in Seattle and I was caught unprepared. The truth is that before we started running, I wasn’t completely comfortable with the guys going to jail because a huge part of me couldn’t believe that the bank robberies were just motivated by greed. The bill didn’t fit for any of them, even Rivs.”
River smirks and chuckles. “Why, thank you motherfucker. I love you too and all that warm and fuzzy shit.”
Kaden ignores the provocation, despite his lip tilting up slightly, and continues, “I didn’t believe it but for as much as I tried, none of these assholes would open up about what made them do those heists. My dad was a security guard at a bank and was killed during a robbery gone wrong. I vowed to dedicate my life to putting away guys like the ones who killed him. So as long as y’all looked like a bunch of callous, greedy thugs, I had no choice but put aside my personal feelings of friendship for you. Then you came along, Sloane, and you cracked the code I couldn’t for almost two years. The minute I knew why each of you had gotten mixed up in that mess, I started looking for a way out for all of us. You took our friendship and cemented it into something indestructible because being tied to you, also ties us all to each other. So, I’m still working out some of the details and at this stage the less you know about our escape plan, the better. But trust me, baby, we’re not going to jail and we’re gonna be together, if that’s what we all want. This is why I want to catch the bad guys but your safety comes first.”
My first instinct is to fly into his arms and tell him that I knew, I knew he wasn’t a liar and a traitor and that I love him. But I stand my ground because I’ve spent a lot of time hiding and running and I don’t want that for any of us. River still has his niece and his sister to think about and we need to clear Royce’s dad’s name, which is why this whole mess started to begin with. So I decide to tell them all this