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For once, Cole Phelps didn’t overthink things. He didn’t think at all. Adrenaline flooded him utterly as he clenched the wheel, sending their Buick bouncing down the cliff face. He grinned wickedly, then turned to Stefan and belted out in laughter.
Stefan mirrored his laughter, not that Cole could even hear him. The siren burned through their brains, screaming, echoing, vibrating through their bodies.
Pinned to his seat by the force, Stefan managed to lift his arms high enough to point his revolver at the tires of the Ford 47’ tearing ahead. His hands shook. No use even touching the trigger. The way their car alternated between literal flight and stumbling jaggedly over rocks and cacti, he knew he’d end up shooting himself in the face before he could puncture their tires.
Cole accelerated, ramming into the back of the Ford. Their vehicle became a huge pair of jaws, pulling the Ford into its mouth and crunching up its rear with a terrible squealing. To Stefan, it sounded like pigs being flayed. He clamped his hands over his ears as the deafening grind of metal on metal lit sparks, little firecrackers that filled him with sick dread.
He groaned out Cole’s name, hugging his face and squeezing his skull between his arms. The man was tenacious. Didn’t he realise that he was going to kill them both?
Miraculously, the Ford managed to disentangle itself and plow on forwards. But Cole was slowing down. Grim determination was still on his face, clouded by defeat.
“Gotta let them go,” Stefan managed to choke out.
They’d be stranded out in the middle of nowhere if they didn’t protect what was left of their car. Or dead. Sometimes it was better to just cut their losses and let the perp escape, though Stefan knew there was no use reiterating this to Cole. He could tell he was sour by the loss.
“It’s okay.” Stefan patted his knee. “Get them another day.” He swallowed.
Cole jabbed at the siren, switching it off with a little more aggression than was necessary; that siren had been blazing for just over forty minutes, beginning when the two detectives were still plowing through traffic and had spotted their infamous carjackers in action. They’d hightailed it out of the city, sending them on a wild goose chase that ended up bringing them into some of the most rustic areas Cole had ever seen. Although the siren wasn’t exactly necessary outside of traffic, the thrill of the chase had numbed him to its scream. And what a chase they had proven to be! Cole’s heart was still racing.
They rumbled to a stop by some pine trees. For a moment, there was nothing but silence between them. Cole could hear Stefan breathing hard. Obviously, his head was still swimming. He tried to speak to him, ask him if he was alright, but he found that his throat was too dry to make a noise. Instead, Cole slapped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
Pain crashed through Stefan in a tidal wave. He winced. “Think I fucked up my arm, Phelps.”
Cole cleared his throat. “You’ve cut up your cheek, too.”
Stefan was still somewhat deaf from the siren, but he caught on when Cole swiped his thumb across the stinging sensation against his cheekbone and showed him the slick of blood.
“Wonder how that happened,” Stefan jibed. Cole was relieved to see that he was grinning again.
When Stefan got out of the Buick to survey the damage they’d done, he found himself making friends with the ground. Cole was quick to follow him round the other side, quick to grab onto his hand in an attempt to save him. He landed next to Stefan in the dust, staring up at the big blue sky. Stefan’s body broke his fall, somewhat.
“Fuck,” Stefan breathed. He laughed. “Thanks for that.”
When Cole attempted to scramble up, hands clutching the hot metal of their car wreck for support, Stefan pulled him back down into the dirt.
“Lay with me for a minute.”
Cole didn’t have to ask why. He understood the heat in his voice. With nobody around for miles and miles, their perp long gone, and their vehicle just about serviceable enough to drive back to the station, both men knew there was no rush to do anything but act on the spark that had formed between them in the months they’d been working together.
Although neither knew what to call their relationship, the kiss they shared on that private little ridge in Bel Air proved to Stefan that there was an understanding between them. He’d been waiting all week to get Cole alone somewhere, so they could repeat that moment which replayed over and over in his mind.
“So beautiful, Cole,” Stefan whispered, turning on his side to gaze deeper into the man’s eyes.
“You getting mushy on me, now, Stefan?” Cole teased. He scrambled closer to Stefan, pressing his body flush against him. The closeness between them was utter heat, radiating between their bodies and the sting of the desert sand beneath them.
Cole could feel Stefan’s heart racing against his own as he slid his knee between his thighs to further entwine their bodies. He moved slowly, almost shy as he ran his hand over Cole’s hip.
“If you don’t like it when I’m mushy, try this on for size: I’ve been thinking about nothing but ripping your clothes off all fucking week.”
Their lips met, a little harder than Stefan anticipated. Cole moaned into their kiss. They wrestled with each other for a moment, almost for dominance, before Cole realised that he was straddling Stefan’s hips and grinding into him. “Me too,” said Cole, breathless between kisses.
He clung to Stefan’s shoulders so tight that his knuckles turned white. He felt Stefan’s throat rumble against his lips in a purring sensation – a noise that was part pain and part desire.
“Stefan?”
“Mmh?”
“Do you really think we should do this here?”
Stefan shifted underneath him. “Doubt they’d come back for us after an escape like that, lucky bastards. But…”
So many things that could go wrong. Cole couldn’t even begin to list the possibilities.
Stefan eyed him uneasily. He toyed with the back of Cole’s shirt, smoothing out the cotton ripples that pooled in the small of his back.
“Then drive me back to your place.” Cole’s tone was firm, so he placed a kiss on Stefan’s cheek to soften his statement. “If it’s okay with you, that is.”
“It would be my pleasure.” Stefan winked. Then he caught Cole’s lips with his own again and again.