Since my purse was laden with the Twizzlers, it was pretty heavy and  caught more of his chin than his actual face but the distraction worked. Wolfe moved back, rubbing his jaw and glaring at me furiously. 

"There was a mosquito on your face!" I exclaimed quickly. It was the only excuse I could come up with. My heart was still thundering. It was hard to breathe, let alone think when every one of my senses was clouded with the presence of him. Touch of skimming fingers, the scent of his cologne, the feel of his... "I couldn't let it bite you. Your face is already ugly enough-"

Wolfe's only response was to glare at me and then grab my elbow to push me ahead of him. We began walking again, with me peering back every few minutes to make sure he was still with me. The silence was suffocatingly awkward, even more so now than before. I don't know if Wolfe could feel the tension but I could. There I was, with flushed cheeks and a shameful mind but Wolfe was nothing if not unruffled. He looked the same as he always did, bruised chin held high and a passive look in his stone hard eyes. Like what just happened meant nothing to him. It bothered me more than it should.

However, I was beyond relieved that nothing happened. I don't know what I would have done if Wolfe Sterling kissed me. Man, I really needed some training on how to deflect kisses. Twizzer-filled purses can only save my butt so many times. 

As I was thinking all of this, I didn't realize that Wolfe was now in the lead. He took a few steps forward, right up to one corner, and then stopped. I was expecting this by now so I forced myself to halt a few inches behind him so my nose wouldn't get crushed into his back again. Wolfe paused at the corner for some reason, and then withdrew his gun.

He glanced over his shoulder and pressed one finger up to his lips, making sure I caught the warning to stay hush-hush. Right, because I was just about to break into a High School Musical sing and dance number in the middle of a scary passageway with a criminal famous for his crimes, and I was going to be really loud too just so I could attract the attention of whatever danger lied ahead that Wolfe could see and I could not. Sarcasm intended.

The same scratching noise I heard when Wolfe purposely abandoned me returned, but this time it was louder. It sounded pretty close up ahead. Unlike before, I didn't have to face the horror alone. Maybe it was a good thing Wolfe was here with me, because now I could use him as a sacrificial lamb and get the heck away from the crazy axe murderer that was lurking around the corner as he brutally detached Wolfe limb from limb while I would run away screaming.

Oh, who was I kidding? Wolfe was more dangerous than any living object in New York, and that included the vengeful pigeons out for blood and breadcrumbs.

Wolfe pressed himself against the wall and forced me to do the same. I wasn't exactly cowering behind his protection, but I wasn't about to jump in front of him and take on the challenge myself. I was fearless. But not that fearless. I was, like, brave enough to try waxing, but not brave enough to wear blue lipstick.

Besides, Wolfe had the gun and I didn't, so it was perfectly okay for me to do what I did next, which was to shove him into the path of destruction and make a run for it when Wolfe began laughing. He didn't bother being quiet about it either. Curious now, I stopped trying to figure out an escape route and dashed back to him, using his torso as a shield as I peered over his shoulder at the scene before us.

It was a possum.

The little grey animal spotted us, stared for a second, and then scuffled away in the opposite direction. After Wolfe stopped snorting, which took about five minutes, he glanced at me. "Why is that rat so big?" He asked with amusement. He was smirking at me, waiting for me to take the bait and correct his knowledge on marsupials. Yeah, right. I grew up in Brooklyn. I knew a possum when I saw one.

"Okay." I glared at Wolfe suspiciously. "Are you planning these events just to freak me out or was this all unscripted and-"

"I swear to you, Florence." Wolfe grinned, showing bright white teeth. A piece of turquoise gum was clenched between the side of his mouth. "None of this is intentional."

"None of it?" I repeated, just to be clear. If he meant what he said, that would make the would-be kiss an accident, too. I don't know whether that tidbit of information made me feel better or not. 

"None."

It didn't make me feel better.

We reached the trapdoor. It was still open. The harsh light from the storage room made a basking glow cover a square on the dirt ground. To me, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I went up first and Wolfe came up behind me. The storage room was exactly as we had left it. Wolfe closed the trapdoor gently. The seams melted in so perfectly with the rest of the ground that the hatch was just barely an outline. He straightened up and we walked all the way back outside, him with a little smirk tugging the corners of his mouth and me trying to figure out a way I could mention the almost-kiss without embarrassing myself or him. Not that Wolfe Sterling would ever get embarrassed. He was too respected for anyone to laugh at him.

I was going to head back towards the direction of the Espresso House when Wolfe suddenly clamped a hand around my wrist and began dragging me to the curb of the sidewalk, making a beeline for a sleek black car.

"What?" Startled, I tried pulling myself away. "What are you doing, Wolfe? Let me go, you squeaky door! What the hell-"

"I don't feel like walking." He simply said. "Come on."

"What?" I repeated. 

Wolfe released his grip and left me standing in front of the passenger door of the expensive car. The windows were completely black, making it impossible to peer into the interior. He stepped away and walked around, pulling out a set of keys from his pocket. To my astonishment, he unlocked the door. "Whose car is this?" I asked, confused.

"Mine." Wolfe answered with amusement. "Are you going to get in yourself or do I have to-"

"This is not your car." My mouth dropped open. "It was parked right in front of the law firm and we walked here. What do you mean, it's your car? This isn't the one you drove in Prospect Heights, I know for a fact, because the license plates are different. And before you ask, no, I did not memorize your license plate for the cops. This is literally just a random car that was parked here and I do not tolerate grand theft auto-"

"Florence." Wolfe warned darkly. He opened the door and motioned for me to do the same. "I have more than one car, you know. Can you please get in? We don't have the time to stand here and argue about who owns what. Would you rather walk back to the coffee shop or would you like for me to drive you there instead and save some of your precious work time? Because-" Wolfe glanced over the crowded streets, his cobalt eyes stopping on a white van. "-your mother is going to get there first and find you missing and then probably throw a fit. If you would like to avoid that, get in. If not, then please, feel free to find your way back."

My patience with Wolfe and his smarting remarks wore thin right there and then. First, he drags me all the way underground to show me some amazing dude den. And then he tries to kiss me, and now the attitude...it was infuriating. I wasn't going to put up with it. 

"No problem." I smiled as sweetly as I could even though my teeth grinded themselves in anger. Wolfe pressed his lips together and fixed me with an ice cold look. "Thanks for the crappy adventure. See you around." With a mocking wave, I flounced away exactly five steps before his words stopped me short.

"Cute." Behind me, Wolfe spoke, his voice laced with lurking threats. "Get in the fucking car before I make you, Florence."

"Make me then." I turned around and smirked. With the crowded Brooklyn streets, I wasn't as scared as I was facing him alone. People were everywhere, including an NYPD police car two blocks down. "I really wish you'd try, Wolfe. Let's see how far you get with all these potential witnesses around. Make me get into your car. I promise I'll give you a fight big enough to add another Crown headline to your name. Do it." Stepping closer, I grinned. "I dare you."

"We can't do this right now. Fight me all you want, but do it later. Not now. We need to go." Wolfe spoke soft enough that I could barely hear him over the hustle and bustle of the street. He threw something inside the car and it clattered to the backseat floor. I had to step closer to catch all his words. "Listen, I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. I need you to get inside the car because we need to leave. Right now." 

I didn't understand at all what he meant. I would rather stand there and have an argument in broad daylight in a crowded street, wasting my time and his, than to get inside a car with Wolfe Sterling again.

"No."

"Excuse me?" The look in his eyes was deathly cold. He stared at me for a second, almost in a state of disbelief. Because God forbid anyone says no to Wolfe Sterling, right? Damn him and his self-entitlement to hell.

My heart pounded, but I forced myself to keep calm. He was not going to win this, I would not let him. "I said no, Wolfe. I'm not getting in that car."

"May I ask why not?"

"Maybe because you're a notorious internationally wanted crime lord?"

He was about to reply but stopped short as both our attention drifted involuntarily towards the avenue of 6th Main.

There was a commotion down the street, a few blocks away from where we stood. A scuffle seemed to have broken out between several people. The white van that Wolfe had been looking at suddenly made a sharp turn and peeled away in the wrong direction, disappearing down an alleyway. The police car I saw earlier began to drive, heading towards the brawl rather than going after whoever committed the traffic violation. 

Something was not right.

Wolfe slammed his hand down on the roof of the car, making me jump. The people around us were more interested in what was happening down the block to pay us any more attention. He clenched his fists and unlocked his jaw. "Florence!" The agitation in his voice had increased. Wolfe moved away from the open driver side door and began walking around towards me. "Get in the car right now before you get hu-"

Suddenly, my left arm exploded in pain just as one of the glass doors of the hardware store across the street shattered and became shards of crystal lying on pavement at the exact same time in less than a second. A woman's scream followed and the wail of a police siren began in the distance.

Before you get hurt.

The pain was blinding. Out of pure instinct, I clamped one hand over the source of the stinging sensation and gasped. My fingers were wet. Shocked, I looked down to see the top of my shoulder covered in warm blood that made rivulets as they fell in drops off my fingers that were still clapped around. This all happened so quick that I didn't process anything until the pain in my arm reached an agonizing level. My entire arm felt like it was burning. A deep throb started up from the very core of the mysterious wound. I didn't even know what happened.

"God dammit!" The strangled growl left Wolfe's lips. Stunned, I looked up to see him pull out his own gun. Several people saw this and exclaimed with alarm. "Florence, get in the car!"

This time, I listened.

Applying as much pressure as I could to ease the pain, I stumbled to the passenger side. It took all my strength to pull the door open. Meanwhile, the blood was still seeping out and a man stormed out of the hardware store, a phone pressed to his ear and his face red with anger. The fight down the block had grown, causing even more sirens to wail up. In the distance, police cars could be seen flashing their lights and heading towards the scene. At the same time, a screech of tire wheels protesting against friction suddenly came from a nearby alleyway. The white van that Wolfe was looking at appeared out of nowhere. The windows were tinted to a pitch black so I couldn't see who was inside, but the van seemed to be making a beeline for Wolfe's car. The only thing between it and the van was traffic that wasn't going to last very long.

A clench of panic inside my chest tightened. Something was very wrong here. Someone-

"Fuck!" Wolfe cursed wildly and slipped inside, jamming a key into the ignition. Blood had dripped all the way down to my elbow and was now forming a red puddle on the expensive leather seats. I would have felt bad about it except right now, I didn't care enough. My shoulder hurt too bad and the shock of everything that had happened was numbing my senses.

Wolfe quickly joined the commotion in the streets, easing the car through narrow spaces very quickly. He made a sharp turn and peeled away, not bothering to wait at the red lights. In a matter of seconds we were roaring down the streets and had broken more traffic laws than I wanted to think about. 

"What happened?" I choked out. My heart was matching the fast throbbing in my shoulder, which was still flowering up in blinding white peals of pain. "My arm-" I groaned. My clothes were stained red now. Blood was ridiculously hard to get out of fiber...I was so massively screwed. Suddenly, we went over a speedbump. The action caused another burst of pain and I whimpered, up to the point of passing out.

"Stay with me, Florence." Wolfe coaxed softly. Or at least, his voice sounded soft. Faint, too, like he was talking from a great distance. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on anything but the pain. What happened? "Come on, you have too much to live for." A weak chuckle. It sounded more panicked than funny. Wolfe suddenly made a violent swerve to the right, jostling everything inside the car including us. I let out another involuntary groan and opened my eyes. 

We were on the highway. Wolfe was driving like mad, his knuckles white and his jaw locked. His eyes kept going to the rearview mirror and then back to the road ahead. Too curious to stop myself, I looked back, too. The white van was tailing us and Wolfe seemed desperate to get rid of them.

"Okay." Wolfe said quietly. His voice was controlled with Herculean effort. This was one time I could see through his composed facade. The white van had slipped into the other lane and was now rolling up side by side to Wolfe's car. I forced myself to keep my eyes open and tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. "We have a little problem." He continued carefully. "And I would like to apologize in advance for what's about to happen."

Confused, I looked at Wolfe. "What's going to happen-"

Wolfe suddenly jerked the steering wheel to the left. The effect it had on the car was instantaneous. A massive squeal of the tires was followed by a loud bang as the head of the car rammed into the side of the white van. There was another screech and the van was quickly thrown off course. But his efforts proved to be too weak. A moment later, the van righted itself on the lane and sped up, keeping close. Both cars were now less than one feet apart. Wolfe's fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

"Don't do it again-" I started to say but it was too late.

Wolfe swerved again, this time causing another ram to the van. This one was more violent, a lot bigger than the last, and had the outcome I feared and Wolfe wanted. The white van, helpless in coming to a stop, suddenly skid off the road and spun around several times, smoke billowing out from under the hood. The trunk connected to the cement security railing with a thunderous crash. Cars up and down the lane came screeching to a stop, people gaping wide-eyed in shock. We kept on driving, leaving behind the mess.

"Hey." Wolfe said. I could barely hear him. "Are you okay?"

I looked over at him and glowered. "What do you think?" I mumbled before succumbing to the friendly darkness.