Monthly Bonus Content #4—"Sabotage was your idea…" (Adam Valentine's Special) (Patreon)

The Square is blanketed in midnight shadow, moonlight kissing the hazel tree with touches of bright silver, and a serene quietness pervades the cobblestone space.

It would be so easy to settle into the tranquility…if Adam weren’t pacing a rut into the aged stonework road.

“Can you stop, please?” I ask, fidgeting on the spot. “You being nervous is making me nervous.”

He pauses. “It is not nerves but anticipation.”

“Well, anticipate less nervously,” I suggest. “Redland will notice us the second he gets here if you keep striding around like that.”

Adam thins his lips as though to say something in protest, but amazingly does as I recommend and stills for a moment beside me. I’m suddenly unsure if stopping him was the best idea, as his presence at my side means I’m struggling to keep still myself. My body yearns to move even just an inch closer.

I plant my feet firmer to the ground and keep my hands balled at my sides.

Our wait together has been a battle of silence and frustration. It seems every time we’re alone at all recently, we’re fighting to keep apart, and each time I lose just a little more ground. When I think Adam feels nothing for me, he’ll do something that makes my heart fill with hope…only to dash it a few seconds later.

At this point, I’m not sure if I’m more aggravated at him for his games, or with myself at still wanting to be player in them.

“He should be here soon, right?” My sudden impatience has me turning to check the clock tower. If the target is punctual—which his reputation would suggest he is—then I only have to cope a couple more minutes before there’s a decent distraction.

When I look back, I find Adam’s gaze on me. It darts away the second our eyes make contact.

…I’ve never wished for a couple of minutes to pass so quickly.

He clears his throat. “Shall we go over the plan while we wait?”

“Sure.”

He nods, a short breath falling from him, seeming as pleased as I am to have something to fill the time. “Redland Topher is coming here to finalise details of his sale on a warehouse nearby.”

“While he’s inside the office, we search his car for the stolen Agency records,” I finish.

Adam smiles…and there goes the hope flittering through me once more like damn butterflies I can’t keep contained.

“Do you know what kind of car we’re looking out for?” Adam asks, a slight pitch to his voice that makes me wonder if his interest is more about the car than the target.

I glance down at my phone where I typed up my notes on the research the Agency had sent over. “Uh, some kind of posh Lexus sporty thing.”

His head tilts slightly in apparent approval.

I chuckle. “Hoping to take it for a spin after we search it?”

“That would be illegal,” he reminds me.

I place a fist on my hip and shrug. “And breaking into it to rummage around is perfectly fine?”

He holds back a groan. “The two are vastly different.”

The growl of a large engine roars through the Square, announcing Redland’s arrival.

“Are you ready, Detective?” Adam asks, turning to me with brows raised in questioning.

I suck in a breath before offering my hand out towards him. “Are you?”

Seems he’d forgotten about this part of the plan: pretending to be a happy couple on a late night stroll together. If Redland has already seen us walking around before his meeting, he won’t grow as suspicious if he spies us through a window later—or at least that’s the idea.

He broadens his chest before slipping his fingers into mine. His skin is warm against my palm, his fingers slotting perfectly between mine, the softness of them a surprise considering how much training he does. But then I remember his healing would probably prevent any scars or callouses from all that work.

Before I let my thoughts run away with just how much the slight contact is making my head and heart spin like a speeding carousel, I take a step forwards with Adam beside me.

We step around the corner just as Redland exits his vehicle. Adam spies the sleek car, a tinge of envy making his eyes slightly greener.

“Good evening,” Redland calls, giving a slight salute with two fingers towards us, a charming smile on his face. I’m surprised at his politeness, not having expected it from a man who has committed so many wrongs. “Lovely evening for a walk.”

My shock lingers until Adam gives a gentle squeeze of my hand. My heart thumps into my throat at the touch, bringing me back from my surprise.

“Just what we were thinking too,” I reply, stepping closer to Adam’s side. His warmth radiates around me like a protective barrier I never want to leave.

We pass him by, pacing a little slower as Adam listens for Redland’s footsteps to disappear into the building. When Adam gives a nod, we wait for a couple of minutes and then swing back around to the car.

I’m almost blinded by the streetlight which glints off its ridiculously shiny exterior.

“We should get to work,” Adam states.

“I mean, yeah.” My throat turns dry, but I push my words out past the lump which forms there. “But I’m going to need my hand back in order to do it.”

“What?” His gaze plummets down to our still clasped hands hanging between us. “I, uh…I apologise.” But it’s still a second more before his fingers stiffly unlock themselves from mine.

I try to keep my hand flexed and avoid clasping it in disappointment of the lost touch.

We stalk towards the car, which continues to wink at us in the streetlamps, as though happy to tempt us in.

I drag out my phone and send a quick text to Farah, who is waiting back at the Warehouse by a load of tech ready to help us out. Within in a few seconds, the car bleeps its approval at our entry.

Adam’s lips lift at one corner. “How human society thought connecting everything to the internet was a good idea is beyond me.”

“Because supernaturals don’t use the internet at all, you mean?” I ask, folding my arms.

His lips thin before he glances away in defeat, missing my triumphant smirk. “I will search the front.”

“I’ll take the boot.” I move around to the back, holding my breath for just a second before it clicks open without every siren and alarm flashing. The space is empty except for a briefcase, which is just about the right size for the reports we’re looking for. I snatch it closer, the filigree gold clasps snapping open at a simple touch before the leather case falls apart.

I’m almost disappointed when the reports splay out right before me. I was kind of hoping to enjoy my spy mission for just a little longer. A sigh escapes me at the thought, which flutters the edges of the reports, revealing a hint of something beneath.

With a frown, I peel back the printouts and unfold the document hidden below them. It’s a blueprint, along with some scribbled notes that send a lead weight dropping into my gut.

“Uh, Adam…,” I mumble.

He’s at my side in a second, the air shivering around his supernaturally fast motion. “What is it?”

“A lot more than we bargained for,” I state, picking up the plans and handing them to him.

His eyes scan the page in quick flashes, rereading parts as though unable to process what he’s actually seeing. “This cannot—He wouldn’t really….”

“With everything I’ve seen these past few months, I don’t underestimate what people are capable of anymore,” I comment, tugging the blueprints back and stuffing them into the folder along with the reports. “At least we can warn the Agency.”

Adam’s hand snaps out to grasp my arm. “We can’t let him leave Wayhaven.”

“What?”

“[Name]…” I know I’m already going to agree to whatever he wants after he says my name with such soft pleading. “If we let him leave, we may never get the opportunity to stop him before he begins putting that into practice.” He nods his head at the papers clasped beneath my arm.

I worry my bottom lip in between my teeth, my fingers tightening on the reports, with the thought of a successful mission so close at hand.

…But he’s right.

Plus his soft touch on my arm has my rational thoughts completely muddled.

“Alright. Then what do you propose we do about it?” I ask.

He swings his gaze about the area before zoning in on the car. “We could cut the engine.”

“I suppose that could work for a while until we think of a long-term plan.”

Adam’s already striding with purpose to the front of the vehicle, snapping up the hood with such fury that it’s almost wrenched completely free of the vehicle.

“Careful,” I mutter, moving around to join him while hiding the documents inside my jacket. “If you leave traces of us tampering, then he’ll know something’s wrong.” I stare under the hood at the geometric grid of parts and wires. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“Yes.” I don’t doubt him for a second.

He sets to work, and I make to get my phone torch out when I realise he’s having no issue at all seeing in the dark.

Vampires…I just about avoid clicking my tongue.

After thirty seconds, muffled voices and the snap of a door make my heart sink.

“You better be nearly done, ‘cause we’re about to have company.” I turn to Adam. “Company who is going to be really pissed about what we’re doing to his car.”

“I’m almost there,” he growls, snipping another wire and yanking it to another connection.

“Almost isn’t quick enough.”

Adam frowns up at me from beneath the hood. “You’re not helping. We’ll get caught if you don’t quiet down.”

“Sabotage was your idea. I was ready to go. No chance of getting caught—”

The hood snaps shut just as a shadowed figure emerges from a building across the Square.

“Come closer,” Adam demands, though there’s a softness in his eyes that is almost desperate. “Only so as we can keep our cover.” Even he doesn’t seem to believe that lie.

I’m not sure why I hesitate. Maybe it’s the drumming of my pulse that I try to convince myself is adrenaline, or those butterflies making a flittering encore in my stomach, but I do hesitate.

Deep down, I think I know it’s because I don’t want that hope flaring like embers from the ashes he’s left burning within me so many times before.

I see him swallow hard. “What’s wrong?”

My focus snaps up to meet his. Uncertainty makes deep pools in his eyes as he holds my gaze.

There’s so much wrong.There’s so much wrong with all of this. How much feeling for him hurts…and yet how I continue to do it any way. How he says he’s protecting me, but hurts us both more in the end.

Eventually, my feet push me closer, and I wrap my arms around him. The contact draws an instant breath from Adam that I know isn’t from relief.

The connection is like an instant flare between us, the heat of it burning hotter and brighter than any star dazzling in the dark sky above.

Because however wrong it is…it’s still so, so right.

Adam’s hands run down my arms, seeming to make sure I’m real, grasping onto them when he’s sure I am.

“What are we doing?” I whisper.

“Getting in the way of my vehicle, I’m afraid,” a voice that’s definitely not Adam’s answers.

We turn our heads, snapped out of the hush that had fallen over us, to find Redland smiling at us.

His car keys jingle in his hand as he points to his car. “If you don’t mind, I need to be on my way.”

I blink, confused what’s happening, my mind so full of Adam that there’s no room for anything else.

Eventually, I flick my focus between Redland and the car and snap myself out of the moment.

“Oh, right. Yeah! Sure. Sorry.” The words babble out of me as I begin to draw myself away from Adam. His fingers grip just a little tighter before succumbing to my retreat.

Redland gives a nod of gratitude before beeping his car open, unaware it had already been unlocked for quite some time.

Adam and I move off together. In silence. As usual.

He steps closer, so as the back of his hand brushes mine lightly as we walk, his ring finger catching mine.

And just for tonight, I let the sparks of hope burn a little brighter.