The First Time is the Sweetest (18 page)

Chapter 7

Sabrina woke to darkness and an incredibly languorous warmth. At first, she didn’t know where she was because she couldn’t move; then she remembered making love with Gabriel and Jimmy and realized that she was tucked between them. She heard them breathing, the sound nearly soothing her back to sleep. Jimmy had one arm slung across her stomach and his leg thrown over her thigh. Gabriel’s arm was over her chest and his hand rested on Jimmy’s shoulder. His legs were tangled with hers, both of them underneath Jimmy. She shifted, feeling a little sore. What woke her up? She couldn’t see anything and reasoned that one of the men must have turned off the light after she’d fallen asleep. Why was she awake?

Just as Sabrina decided she must have been roused by the unfamiliarity of sleeping with not one, but two men, she heard a shuffling sound. She froze. What the hell was that? Jimmy mumbled against her neck, but Gabriel didn’t stir. Maybe it was nothing. Then she heard it again: a shuffling sound, like someone trying to go up the stairs quietly. The house wasn’t very old, but one of the steps creaked whenever anyone stepped on it, and that’s the sound she heard next. She shook Jimmy and stabbed an elbow into Gabriel’s side, suddenly frightened. It had been weeks since the last shooting and she’d figured that maybe Miltos had given up. She knew even the men thought that, seeing how they’d finally given in and made love to her last night. She shoved at them harder, praying she was mistaken.

“Wha—?” Jimmy snorted as Sabrina pushed at him again.

“I heard something!” she hissed, genuinely scared now. She felt Gabriel freeze next to her, not breathing.

“Shit!” he exclaimed, then rolled over and grabbed something from her nightstand. Sabrina couldn’t see anything in the dark but felt the loss of his warmth keenly. “Jimmy, grab your knife. I think someone’s inside.”

Her blood froze at Gabriel’s words. Jimmy swiftly threw off the covers and grabbed something from under her pillow just as the door to her room slammed open and three dark shapes moved in silently. Sabrina had just enough time to think,
Jimmy kept his knife under my pillow?
when one of the dark shapes ran to the bed and grabbed her arm. She kicked out, sucking in air and shrieking as she saw Jimmy intercept one of the others. A gunshot rang out. She saw a spark in the darkness and heard something fall to the floor. She still couldn’t see anything, but felt a sharp pain on her arm as the man let her go. She fell back onto the bed, tangled in the covers. Her arm throbbed, but she rolled over, trying to reach the light. Just as she turned it on, she heard a sharp cry and saw a darkly clothed man head out the door, Gabriel in pursuit. Another man lay on the floor with what looked like a gunshot wound, and yet another still struggled with Jimmy. She saw Jimmy’s blade flash; then blood flew out and spattered the wall as the man slumped to the ground.

“Shit!” Jimmy exclaimed, looking over. “Are you okay, Sabrina?”

She nodded dumbly, still shocked at the sudden violence in her bedroom. Jimmy grimaced at the blood on his chest. Then Gabriel appeared in the doorway, his gun held loosely in his right hand.

“I lost him.” Gabriel sounded pissed. Both men were nude, but they looked anything but vulnerable as they stood there, weapons in hand.

“What the fuck just happened?” Jimmy crouched down and examined the man on the floor. Sabrina saw that he’d slit his throat, and for a second she thought she was going to throw up. Then she realized that Jimmy and Gabriel had saved her life. There was no way she was going to ever forget that, and she refused to add to the confusion by barfing. She swallowed, willing her stomach to settle.

“I have no idea,” Gabriel responded, voice taut. Sabrina noted the way he held himself in the doorway, his body alert and dangerous despite the lack of clothing. She watched his eyes soften as he looked at Jimmy. She could tell he was relieved the other man was there. She looked down, overwhelmed and grateful for both of them. When Jimmy pulled the ski mask away from the dead man’s face he shook his head. “I’ve never seen him before.” The two men glanced at each other, then at Sabrina.

“One of them tried to grab me and drag me somewhere,” Sabrina said, swallowing again. Her throat felt terribly dry and the sting on her arm intensified. She looked down and saw a long, shallow cut along the skin. Gabriel inhaled sharply as he followed her eyes, and then he strode over to the bed, sitting next to her and taking her right arm gently into his hands. Jimmy rose as well, angling close so he could see, grimacing once he got a clearer view of the blood on her arm.

“Shit! Sabrina, let me see,” Gabriel said as he turned her arm toward the light. The cut wasn’t bleeding much, but it was long and it stung as he manipulated her skin. “I think it’ll be okay if we clean it out,” he said to Jimmy, who nodded. His face showed his relief that it wasn’t worse.

“I’ll take her and help dress it in the bathroom. Did you see anyone else in the house when you went downstairs?” Jimmy asked.

Gabriel shook his head. “No, but I need to call my partner and the police now. You wrap her arm, then let’s get dressed and packed. We’re not staying here. They broke in through the front door.” Gabriel’s face had settled into a grim competence as he turned away to look for his clothes. Sabrina followed Jimmy to the bathroom. She figured she was in shock, but Jimmy seemed to understand and helped her wash her arm and wrap it with some light gauze. She never thought anything would happen after all these weeks of quiet, but she realized that she’d been wrong.

* * * *

One hour later the house was full of strangers. Sabrina sat in the kitchen, nursing a cup of tea and watching the clock. She was grateful that Jimmy had called her dad and told him about the attack for her. She didn’t want to talk. She loved her father dearly, but she knew that if she tried to speak to him she’d break down crying. She didn’t know how Jimmy calmed him down, but he told her that her dad was staying away. Jimmy said he explained how the FBI wanted them to go to a safe house. Using her as bait didn’t extend to home invasion and possible kidnapping. She didn’t know what the shooter could possibly want from her, and she didn’t care at this point.

Sabrina was exhausted. How could everyone be so awake at three in the morning? She wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but thinking about her bed made her shudder in disgust. She didn’t think she could sleep there again, at least not without changing the room around.
Maybe if Jimmy and Gabriel slept with me?
Sabrina thought, taking another sip of her now cold tea. After all, they’d kept her safe tonight, and it would be so very lovely to have them in her bed every night. She shook her head, hardly able to believe she was reminiscing about making love right after someone tried to kill her.

“Sabrina?” she heard, and looked up to see Agent Patrick standing by the breakfast nook.

“Yes?” she answered politely. He didn’t speak for a long moment, just looked at her gravely while she tried not to yawn in his face. He seemed uncomfortable. Even through the haze of her exhaustion Sabrina noticed the awkwardness, how he shuffled his left foot and picked at his suit sleeve. Was she imagining things?

“I’m really sorry. It never occurred to us that Miltos would do anything like this. None of us expected him to hire men to come into your home,” he finally said. He frowned as Sabrina rubbed her lips.

Is he upset about the break-in or is it something more?
she wondered, watching his face tighten with displeasure. Her lips felt chapped from all the kissing, which made her smile briefly, and then she shivered, remembering the dark shapes in her bedroom.

She sighed, and Agent Patrick continued. “In fact, even now I’m not really sure about Miltos’ motive.” He pushed his glasses back up his nose and looked away. He seemed tired, standing there in rumpled clothing. Sabrina felt a pang of sympathy despite the strange looks he kept giving her. Maybe he was exhausted, too, and didn’t really want to be here. She knew she certainly didn’t.

“Well, maybe he figured that if he kidnapped me, it would be more horrible for my father than just killing me. He could make demands and possibly hurt me, record it or something,” Sabrina offered, wishing now that she hadn’t watched so many police dramas on television.

Agent Patrick nodded. “Yeah, you could be right. He may even have tried holding out for money, too.”

Sabrina looked away. She didn’t really care at this point. She just wanted to get out of here so she could sleep, preferably for three days. She didn’t have the energy to speculate anymore.

“Rest assured that no one knows about this safe house except the FBI,” Agent Patrick said finally when he saw she wasn’t going to make more of an effort to keep the conversation going.

“Thanks.” Sabrina closed her eyes, wishing Jimmy or Gabriel were here with her. She shook her head. She had nothing to worry about. She knew that Gabriel was planning their route to the safe house and Jimmy was packing for her upstairs, but she wanted them closer. She wanted to hold their hands and stroke her palms down their faces, knowing that they were hers and she was theirs. Still, she was glad that none of the people here knew about the changed status of their relationship. She wanted to keep it secret, close to her heart. She wanted the memory of her first time to remain special despite the way violence had shattered the quiet warmth of their sleep later.

“Sabrina,” she heard Jimmy say. She wrenched her eyes open just as he slid into the cushioned bench beside her. “You ready to get going?”

Sabrina nodded, and he put his arm around her shoulders. She was careful to show no more than the usual affection for him with her body, but she let what she was really feeling show in her face as she looked into his eyes. She saw concern and tiredness and love as he smiled. From the corner of her eye she noticed Agent Patrick flinch, then look away.
What the hell?

“Did you pack everything I need from my bedroom?” Sabrina asked, trying to wake up and ignoring the crossed signals she kept getting from Patrick.

“Yeah, I got clothes, pajamas, and all the photography stuff you wanted.” Jimmy squeezed her shoulders, then let his arm fall down to the table, where a map lay partially opened. He stifled a yawn and Sabrina could tell he was upset. It was probably hard for him to deal with this after he’d promised her dad that he would do his best to keep her safe. He rubbed his eyes. Sabrina touched him on the arm, silently reassuring him. It wasn’t his fault, she knew that and hoped he realized it as well. She didn’t want him to obsess over what could have happened.

“Thanks. I really didn’t want to go back in there with all the blood everywhere.”

Jimmy nodded sympathetically. She knew that the bodies were still there. The police were busy photographing everything and didn’t trust her not to screw up the scene. It’d been surreal standing in the hall earlier while complete strangers glared at her from the threshold of her own bedroom. She kept wondering if they could tell what had gone on in her bed just a few short hours ago and hoped that the scent of blood everywhere would mask the evidence of their lovemaking. She snorted under her breath. She was being a ninny. Of course they could tell. It didn’t matter, anyway, what they thought. As long as she didn’t have to go in there. Thankfully they let Jimmy in for her stuff.

Sabrina sighed, feeling the weight of her exhaustion settle in her spine. She looked at Jimmy, who peered at the map, frowning in concentration. She wondered if killing that man bothered him. He had to, to protect her, and she was grateful, but Sabrina knew that she would be upset if she were in his shoes. He stared at the map, but it didn’t look as though he was really seeing it. His right hand had a scrape down the outside of his palm, and she reached out, gently closing her fingers around his, obscuring the inked pattern of highways and interstates. He looked at her, and she rubbed her thumb gently over his pinky finger, trying to convey an apology for the whole ridiculous mess that her life had become. He offered her a faint smile, and then they both looked up as Gabriel walked into the kitchen, dressed all in black as if for a funeral.

“Hey,” Gabriel said, walking over and leaning against the table. His face tightened as he saw the scrape on Jimmy’s hand; then his gaze shifted to the map, and he reached out a hand to trace along one of the lines.

“Here is where we’ll be going.” He motioned and Jimmy and Sabrina moved their hands away to see better. “Up 202 to the interstate, then north until we get to the Catskills. The safe house is a cabin on long-term lease to the FBI. It’s got all the basics: running water, heat, and electricity but no television.” He shrugged in apology and Sabrina nodded, not really caring about cable service at this point. “I’m also not sure if our cell phones will work, but there’s a landline so we shouldn’t have any trouble.” Jimmy nodded. Sabrina wondered if she should even bring her phone, but then thought that she could keep herself occupied with some of the games she’d downloaded. At least she could play Solitaire if she got too bored.

“Thanks,” Jimmy said, then released her hand as she nodded at Gabriel, too. It was time to go.

* * * *

Three hours later, Sabrina was cursing the terrible suspension in the Jeep the FBI had given them. She couldn’t doze once they hit I-87 because the roadway was pocked with holes from the recent winter, and the stupid vehicle the government saw fit to give them was, in her opinion, best suited for the junkyard. She complained about it bitterly for a half-hour until Jimmy sighed and leaned over the front seat to kiss her silent. That made her pout, but seeing Gabriel smiling at them in the rearview mirror made her laugh out loud, especially when he reprimanded Jimmy for taking off his seat belt. She must have dozed then, because the next thing she knew, her head impacted the door and Gabriel was apologizing.