Page 31 of Locked & Loaded

Instead, he looks at Mads. “Toledo wants you in the next car.”

Mads blinks. “What? Why?”

“No clue,” Roman says. “Sounded urgent.”

Mads looks at me, and I can tell he’s thinking the same thing I am: if the conductor said anything to Toledo, we’re screwed. He’ll probably assume we got into a fistfight in here or something. Why Toledo only wants Mads, though, I have no idea.

“All right,” Mads says after a beat. “I’ll be right there, Rome.”

“Okay,” Roman says, then turns to Sam. “Let’s go, Sammy.”

Sam looks almost offended by that. “Whoa, sorry, but I’m not done with this. How does a vent just—”

Roman catches him by the back of his jacket and pulls him away like he’s picking up a feisty kitten. “Later.”

“But I have follow-up questions.”

“I’m sure you do.”

They disappear down the corridor, Sam still protesting, until their voices fade behind the connector door.

For about two seconds, neither of us says anything.

Then Mads turns to me. “Well, they’re not going to throw me in jail, right?”

I shake my head, then add with a smirk, “They might deport you, though.”

“Good luck,” Mads says, standing. “I have a Danish passport, and we’re already in Denmark.”

“Right.” I smile.

He grabs his jacket from the bunk and pulls it on, then pauses with one hand still on the zipper. His eyes meet mine, and for a second, the whole compartment feels too small again.

“You okay?” he asks, quieter now.

I nod, looking up at him. “Yeah.”

His gaze flicks to the open door, checking the corridor, then comes back to me.

My heart kicks once.

Mads steps closer, slow enough that I know exactly what he’s doing and have time to pull away if I want to.

I don’t.

Then he bends down and kisses me.

It’s quick, barely more than a brush of his mouth against mine, but it still makes my stomach drop like I missed a step.

When he pulls back, his mouth twitches, almost shy.

“I’ll be back,” he says. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“Cool,” I say, my heart pounding.

Then he steps into the corridor and walks away, and I’m left sitting in our broken compartment with his kiss still warm on my mouth and something stupidly happy ballooning in my chest.

***