Bad Boy's Touch (Firemen in Love Book 3) (10 page)

“Why would I worry? I'm the one with the gun.”

“You have a good point. Now, hold on tight and don't let go.”

She clasped her fingers around my waist as I rolled into the road with the others. Oh, what a tease. Did she have any idea how damn hard her touch made me?

I pulled up to the starting line, the traffic light, so excited I was almost shaking. How was I supposed to win like this?

“Get ready, y'all,” Axel yelled. “Go on green.”

“Can't believe you're talking me into this crap.” She rested her chin on my back. “If it gets back to Victor that I was riding in a motorcycle race instead of doing my job...”

“It won't. Just relax and enjoy the ride, okay? It's all right to have fun once in a while.”

I shut my eyes briefly to get some focus. Deep breaths. Control the adrenaline; don't let it control you. No room for mistakes.

“Go!”

The bright green light was my signal to hit the gas. I punched it, peeling away from the line and then quickly making my way ahead of the pack.

Madison yelped as I took the first turn. It was a gentle curve leading us beyond the city limits and out to the countryside, where the real test of skill would begin.

“This is supposed to be fun? I feel like I'm going to puke!”

I got up to sixty miles per hour, then seventy. A car on the left side of the road honked as one of the riders swerved to avoid a head-on collision.

“You're all going to kill yourselves or someone else,” Madison went on. “This is dangerous and highly against the law. I demand you pull over right now.”

“For what? You to arrest me?” I laughed. “I don't mind a bit of role-playing, but right now, I gotta concentrate.”

“Damn you, Silver!” She held me tighter around the next bend.

“I like it when you call me that.”

These roads were pretty narrow, so there was only room for a few of us at the front. Axel and a couple of Diego's boys matched my speed, but I had ways of leaving them in the dust before long.

Then Madison's hand slipped and fell to my crotch. When she didn't move it right away, my cock stiffened even more and I almost crashed the bike into the guardrail.

I glanced down. Did she know where she was touching me? Had to; I was hard as a rock.

She said nothing of it, so I didn't either. Didn't want to risk ruining this perfect moment.

The next checkpoint was coming up – the exit onto the highway. I reached it first, with the others close behind. This wouldn't do. I'd shake them off up ahead.

“You can't get on the freeway. There are cars...”

Ahead, a line of slow-moving vehicles blocked my path. Ah, dodging traffic at high speed: definitely one of my favorite pastimes.

I watched for an opening, then swerved to the left around a codger driving a Buick from the eighties. The gap closed as a pickup truck pulled up alongside him, blocking the other drivers from getting by for now.

“All right, a nice lead,” I muttered.

“You're willing to risk your neck for this?” She clung to me tighter. “I was right. You
are
bad news.”

“Bad news, maybe. But you know I'm always up for a good time.”

“What does that matter when they're scraping your body off the pavement?”

I shushed her. “Don't be such a downer.”

Behind me, most of the drivers had gotten through the block. They'd catch up fast if I didn't step on it.

“Is this how you drive the firetruck when you're on duty? God, I hope not.”

“One of the best parts of the job, actually. It is
so
awesome changing all the lights to green. Makes you feel like you own the road.”

She groaned. “How have you not gotten fired yet?”

“Because I'm good at the job and everyone knows it.”

The lanes ahead were mostly empty, allowing me to reach eighty, then ninety. Man, what a rush. The world flew by so fast, everything was a blur. The only things that seemed real were me, my bike, and Madison.

The next checkpoint was just up ahead, the exit for Topaz Street. Everyone was beginning to catch up now. That was okay. Once I got off the highway, I knew a shortcut that would score me the win.

Madison's radio crackled on her hip. She tensed, but didn't touch it.

“All units, we have reports of about a dozen motorcycles moving at high speeds on highway six, heading eastbound. Get those bikes stopped before anyone gets hurt.”

Oh shit.

Madison groaned. “I
knew
this would happen. That's it; I'm done for. I'll be standing in the unemployment office tomorrow morning – if I don't die in a fiery crash first.”

“Can you try to be just a little more optimistic? I've run from the cops before and everything worked out okay.”

“I swear, once I get off this thing I am taking your ass to jail!”

Aw, she was pretty adorable when she got pissed off like this.

“Gotta catch me first,” I teased her.

The other racers hadn't heard the message. They had no idea the cops were closing in on us. Good. That would give me time to run.

Sudden flashing blue and red lights nearly made me crash into the wall. I checked my mirror and confirmed what I already knew.

There was a cop car not far behind me, closing in fast.

Chapter 8 - Madison

They say your life flashes before your eyes right before you're about to die. Now, I understood why.

“Slow down, Silver!” I begged him. “You're going to get us both killed.”

He gunned his bike even faster. “You kidding me? I slow down, we both get caught. I doubt your police buddies will look kindly on you then.”

“I told you this was going to happen. It was a horrible idea.”

The cruiser couldn't compete with this bike's speed, but it was still gaining on us. The other racers sped alongside us, panicking, swerving between the narrowest gaps in traffic toward freedom.

“Can't you call your friend off? Tell him to go chase down the real criminals,” he yelled over the wind.

“It doesn't work like that. Just pull over, okay? Maybe I can talk to him. Reason with him.”

But Brett wasn't taking chances. I squeezed him tight, kind of ashamed of how much I enjoyed it. His chest and abs were solid muscle – and that wasn't the only thing hard on him.

Minutes ago, my hand slipped and I grabbed his crotch.

I'd never had a man as big as him. Even now, as we ran from the cops, I wanted him desperately.

About a half mile back, several more cruisers joined the chase. There were more riders, though, and they couldn't hunt them all down. Some of them would get away. Hopefully, we'd be the lucky ones.

“I hope you have a plan.”

“We're gonna lose him. We got the advantage,” he assured me. “Quick, nimble bike against a bulky car like that? Easy.”

Never did I think I'd see the day when I'd be fleeing from my fellow officers. They could never find out about this, could they? Victor, especially. He'd take my badge and kick me out without hesitation.

And then I'd never get to track down the arsonist. I refused to let that son of a bitch get away with his crimes.

We had to escape.

“Gotta get off the main road before this escalates. If the chase goes on too long, they might send in the choppers, and then we're utterly screwed.”

“I doubt it'll get
that
bad. Our station doesn't have helicopters,” I informed him. “But if they can't stop you, they'll call someone who does.”

He squinted at the road sign up ahead. “Why don't they put more lights out here? Can't seen a damn thing.”

“Oh, this is great. We're running from the police at a hundred-twenty miles per hour, and the driver is blind as a bat.” I frowned, picturing Jenna's face at my funeral. “My sister's already lost enough people important to her. Try not to get me killed too.”

He glanced back at me. “I didn't know you had a sister.”

“Would you just pay attention to the freaking road!”

“Backseat women drivers. This is why I'm single,” he muttered. “And I'm
not
blind. Nobody can read a sign in the dark that far away.”

I peered over his shoulder. “It says Pentagon Street Exit, half a mile.”

He muttered something under his breath. In spite of the cop behind us and the danger to our lives, I smiled. For once, I got to be the gloating one.

Behind us, one of the riders had given himself up and pulled to the side of the road. I only got a glimpse of him getting the cuffs slapped on before we blazed away.

“You're the cop; you ought to know all these guys' tricks. Tell me what to do.”

“Oh, okay.
Now
you're willing to take advice from this backseat driver, huh?”

He growled playfully. “Keep on sassing me and you're getting a spanking once we get off this bike.”

My heart beat like mad. Was he joking or being serious? No man had ever spanked me in bed before. I'd always been too shy to ask; they never offered.

What if Brett was as kinky in the sack as I longed to be?

“Pull your vehicle to the side of the road immediately!”

The cop's voice boomed through the megaphone. I winced. It sure was a lot louder on the receiving end.

“Well,
officer?
”

“I don't really know, to be honest. I've never been involved in a high-speed chase before,” I admitted. “This isn't the kind of thing they brief you on in training.”

The closest thing I'd done to this was speeding after a guy who ran a stop sign and then refused to pull over. He made it a couple of blocks before deciding he was being a moron and then turning himself in.

Brett's friend – Axel, I think he called him – zipped past the cop chasing us and rode alongside.

“Yo, man! Tell your girlfriend to call off the hounds!”

We were going so fast, nobody noticed the semi truck merging into our lane. Axel and other cars to our left, the cruiser behind... If we didn't get out of this thing's way, we'd be flattened under its tires for sure.

“Hang on,” Brett yelled, then floored it.

My stomach churned as we picked up speed. Smoke spewed from the motorcycle's tailpipe, and I thought for sure the engine was going to catch fire.

The semi driver honked angrily as we narrowly zipped past his cab. Axel cursed, swerved, and nearly ran head-on into a car.

That was the break we needed. The officer, probably having decided the other driver was an easier target, followed him into the left lane.

But another cruiser was wailing somewhere not far behind. We couldn't hang around here anymore.

I clasped my hands around Brett's middle and hung on for dear life. The bike got up to one forty, faster than any of our cruisers could hope to go.

I lay my head on his back and listened to his thundering heartbeat. When I closed my eyes, I imagined for a moment that we were like Bonnie and Clyde, two lovers running from the law. For whatever reason, the image made me smile.

“I'm gonna take the Pentagon Street exit. That leads us into a semi-rural area. Lots of places to ditch them.”

He dipped behind a convoy of delivery trucks, which blocked our bike from view long enough to take the exit without being seen. As we slowed to a more reasonable speed, a handful of bikers flew past, with several cruisers in tow.

The stoplight ahead was red, but we ran it anyway. How many laws was I letting him break? This wasn't like me. I was the cop who always wrote the speeding ticket, no matter the driver's sob story excuses.

“I think we lost them.” Brett exhaled the breath he'd been holding. Then he turned to me and smiled. “That was way more fun than driving around eating donuts, or whatever it is you cops do.”

I smacked him. “I'm not supposed to be having fun. I'm on the clock. If I get in trouble for this, I swear, I'm –”

He put a finger to my lips. “You're taking me in. I know.”

But we both knew I wouldn't. I wanted him,
needed
him, too much for that.

It being so late, the road ahead was empty and silent except for the purr of Brett's bike. Even though we weren't flying down the highway anymore, I held my arms around him and nested my head between his shoulders.

“You were a pretty good racing partner,” he said softly. “Maybe I'll have you along next time, too.”

“Next time? After what happened tonight, you would go through this again?”

He shrugged. “I live for that rush. For me, it's like a drug, I guess. If I didn't get my next hit, I'd go crazy. It wouldn't be pretty.”

“Have you ever considered that maybe therapy would do you some good?”

My radio beeped. “Units, we still got some of those racers out there. We believe they're trying to escape off the side roads. All officers, be on the lookout for motorcyclists driving suspiciously.”