Page 41 of Chased

Breanna and Madison were in the middle of a very bad rendition of “Voulez-vous Couchez Avec Moi” when the door banged open and what seemed like the whole Outlaw Ridge mission team trooped in. They must have gotten back to the Ridge awhile ago, because they were all freshly showered and dressed in civilian clothes.

And they were obviously ready to party. As soon as they caught on to what the two girls were singing, they started whooping and hollering and singing along.

Except for Sanchez, who was the only one Madison was looking for. He was there, watching her from the back corner at the end of the bar, a beer in hand and a teensy little smile on his face.

Like he was happy to see her having fun.

When she got offstage, Madison made her way around the crush of guys all signing up to sing, and went over to talk to Sanchez, who was still watching her.

“Hey,” she said. “You’re back. How’d it go?”

“We got our guys.”

“Don’t you always?”

“Fuck yeah. Want a beer?” He indicated another bottle standing next to him. “I got you one, in case.”

He’d been hoping she’d come over. He’d wanted her to. She smiled at him, and took the beer. Even though she’d probably definitely already had too many. “You gonna sing?” she asked him.

“Fuck, no. I draw the line at making an idiot out of myself with a microphone in my hand.”

“I guess your cousins don’t.” Cisco and Matéo had managed to jump the line and were already onstage, doing a hilarious version of “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.” With gestures.

“No, they do not.” But his smile was bigger now. She guessed he liked to see them having fun, too.

Madison loved seeing him smile. It changed his whole face, made him look younger and less… hard. Impulsively she said, “I missed you. When you were gone.”

He went very still for a minute, and then turned his head slowly to look down at her. “Looks like you had plenty of people to hang out with.” Like he wanted her to be telling the truth, but didn’t believe she’d really miss him. “People who are more fun than me.”

“I still missed you.” She had. Nobody had ever paid as much attention to her as Sanchez, or made her feel like she mattered the way he did. Nobody had ever watched out for her and kept her secrets like he had.

He gnawed on his bottom lip, like he was trying to decide whether or not to say something. Then he said, “I brought you a thing. From when we were on the road.”

She stared at him. He’d brought her something? Like a gift? Please god, not a body part trophy. “When did you have time? You were working.”

“We had a little downtime while we were doing surveillance. I saw it in a store.” Okay, not a body part. That was a relief. But he’d gone shopping and thought about her. She was stunned—and excited.

“Well, what is it? When do I get it?”

“It’s in the truck. And you can have it whenever. Now, if you want.”

“Really?”

“It’s not that exciting,” he said.

“But it’s a present! No one’s ever brought me a spontaneous present. Ever.”

“Fuck, woman. Then you better come get it now.”

He took her hand and led her out to the truck, parked at the edge of the parking lot. Opening the door, he got out a camo rucksack with something big and square inside it. What the hell?

But when she opened it up, she put her hand over her mouth, almost starting to cry. It was an oil paint set, with two canvases and a whole set of paints, and brushes and a palette and turpentine and everything.

“You got me this? How did you know?”

“I heard you talking to Breanna one time about the mural for the rec center. How you like to do oil paints, but you couldn’t bring your stuff with you. This isn’t much, but it would be a start.”

“I forgot you were even there that day. Let alone paying attention.” She caressed the box, still astounded at his thoughtfulness.