Coffee With Cream
Chapter 10
Mike looks back in shock at the 50 foot fire that was, a few minutes ago, the college beach house.
Ashes are falling from the sky like snowflakes. He just stands there gaping in total shock. A little voice in the back of his brain warns him he's probably breathing in toxic fumes, but he can't look away.
That did not go as expected. Everything just escalated so quickly.
He tries to pinpoint the moment when everything went wrong, but the blood is pounding in his ears and he just can't remember.
He remembers Paige. He remembers her face when she first saw him there. Panicked at first, but she recovered quickly. If he had blinked he would have missed it. She was truly a pro, with how fast she had returned to her party girl persona. She was laughing, and flirtatiously left the man's lap she was perched on to excuse herself to the bathroom. Casting Mike the barest hint of a glance, before he followed her. Leaving Johnny behind to- JOHNNY!
"We have to go back. We lost Johnny!" Mike starts to run towards the fire, but Paige jumps on his back. She's doing her best to hold him back, trying to keep him a safe distance away on the beach, but he's much stronger than her.
"No! We have to get out of here." Paige yells in Mike's ear. "Mike! Johnny's fine. I saw him getting into an ambulance. He was conscious. He'll be fine, Mike. We've got to get out of here before people ask too many questions." Once Mike stops resisting, the petite blonde slowly slides down his back. She moves cautiously, making sure he has control and is not in danger of doing something stupid.
Somewhere in his brain, Mike knows she's behind him holding onto him, but he's unable to move his eyes away from the house. He can see the ambulance lights flickering around the rubble. He sees the fire trucks, but they seem to have no idea how to even start putting out a fire of this size. He tries to process her words. Tries to slow his heart that is pounding in his chest.
"Mike. We have to go."
He allows her to take him by the hand and pull him down the beach. They move quickly, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the crime scene as possible. They run until the house is just a glow in the distance. Mike's lungs feel like they're on fire.
When he can't run anymore Mike stops, coughing and sputtering for breath. Paige crashes into his back, knocking him forward. He hits the ground hard, bruising his knees, but he scrambles back to his feet quickly. The adrenaline is still coursing through his blood. Now that he's over the initial shock, he's pissed.
"You didn't tell me it was a fucking Meth lab!" Mike's yells dissolve into a fit of coughs. The toxic smog from the house definitely got in his lungs.
"What were you even doing here Mike?! This wasn't your mission!" She screams right back at him in between coughs, shoving his chest hard even as he keens for breath.
"Charlie sent me! And it's a good thing she did. You could have been killed!" Mike isn't retreating. He grabs her wrists as she attempts to shove him again. He holds her hands close to his chest to stop her assault. She squirms against him, still fighting.
"I was fine until you showed up!" She insists, and Mike can't tell if she means tonight or in general.
She jerks her wrists away and he lets her go, but the second she's free she comes back to shove his chest again. He grabs her by the shoulders and wraps his arms around her. He presses her firmly into him, pinning her arms between them, and cradling her head to his chest forcefully. She struggles, but they both know if she really wanted to get away from him she could have. He holds her there until she finally stops fighting him.
Only once she stills does he realize how close they are. He can smell her hair as it blows against his face in the wind. It smells slightly singed. God, how close was he to losing her? He can feel her small hands flatten against his chest, and wonders if she can hear his heart racing.
This is the first time he's been this close to her since four nights ago, when the tension had boiled over and he had admitted he had feelings for her. Shouted them at her was probably more like it.
He wants to pull back and examine her for any burns or other injuries, to make sure she is unharmed. On the other hand, he doesn't want to break the rare spell of intimacy that seems to be cast around them. He wants to stay exactly like this, feeling her breath ghosting against his skin.
Unfortunately, in their line of work, moments like this never seem to last. Over her shoulder, he sees the police talking to people on the beach, heading in their direction.
"Paige, don't look now, but the cops are questioning people, and we look about as guilty as possible." He whispers in her ear.
She slowly leans back. Looking casually over her shoulder, she then turns back to hug him closer, looking ahead over his.
"Follow me." She whispers in a quiet, almost seductive murmur.
He doesn't know what her plan is, but he would follow her anywhere when she talks like that. She leads him by the hand a little ways up the beach. Looking around, she ducks into a small unoccupied tent, pulling him in behind her.
He turns around to zip up the tent, and then, kneeling in it's small confines, turns around to face her. "Ok, we should come up with an alibi. I think-"
His words are cut off by her lips on his.