Final Day

by Megan Erickson

  “We lost track of them,” Roarke said in Erick’s ear.

  So much for peace. “What do you mean you lost track of them?” Erick asked.

  “Once they reached Florida, our signal got cut off. So they must have figured they’d been tricked and shut down all the communications that we’d hacked,” Roarke explained.

  “Shit.” Erick heaved his toolbox into the back of the SUV and shut the hatch. “Well that was always a temporary measure.”

  “Yeah, it was meant to buy you time. We knew they’d catch on eventually.”

  “Think they’re heading up here?”

  “I think you need to be on guard. You doing okay?”

  “Sure. Maine is great. I love lobsters and blueberries and hipsters.”

  Roarke laughed. “You and Tarr getting along?”

  Erick’s stomach churned. “Define ‘getting along.’”

  Roarke hesitated. “Everything okay?” Protectiveness crept into his tone. “He being cool to you?”

  “Yeah, it’s not…It’s me. I wasn’t cool to him. Look, it’s a long story. I’ll explain in person. But yeah, everything is okay.”

  “All right.” Roarke didn’t sound convinced.

  Erick took a chance. “When you were working with Wren on that first mission, would you define you two as getting along?”

  “Wait are you…Is Tarr…?” Roarke blew out a frustrated breath into the phone. “What are you trying to tell me?”

  “I’m trying to say we’ve been through a lot in the last week together, and it’s complicated.”

  “Okaaaaay.” Roarke seemed to flounder for what to say. He wasn’t the best at relationship advice. “Well, just keep your wits about you, okay? I know how distracting ‘complicated’ can be.”

  “Yes, Dad.”

  “Shut up. Anyway we’ll let you know as soon as we know something, but keep your eyes and ears open.”

  “Will do.”

  “Talk soon.”

  Erick hung up the phone and slipped it into the back pocket of his jeans. He walked around to the backyard, where Tarr was trimming a bush with clippers.

  “Hey,” Erick said, hand over his eyes to shield the sun.

  Tarr glanced up at him but didn’t say anything, only went back to his work.

  “Heard from Roarke.”

  Now Tarr stopped, straightening and letting the clippers hang loosely at his side.

  “He said once that Haro and his men got to Florida, they must have caught on. They lost the signal.”

  Tarr exhaled and gazed back at the house. Everly and the kids were gone. She’d taken them out to lunch and then to a park for the afternoon. Tarr wiped his face with his forearm. “Matter of time,” he muttered.

  “Yeah.”

  Erick went to walk into the house, but Tarr’s voice stopped him. “Question for you.”

  Erick stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

  “You know Jock did the same thing I did, right? Yet you’re okay with working with him?”

  Jock used to be a hit man. Erick knew this. But this was a world of difference. He turned around and faced off with Tarr. “Okay, first of all, I’m not fucking Jock.” Erick ticked off on his fingers. “Second of all, he was driven to it. His brother was killed, and he left the service and went after those guys. Then he kept doing the job until he got out.”

  Tarr looked incredulous. “And why do you think I got involved in this, huh? Why do you think I fucking shoot people for money?”

  Erick stared at him, struck speechless for a moment because he didn’t know. He’d just assumed it was because of the money.

  “You don’t know, do you?” Tarr tossed the clippers onto the grass where they landed with a thunk. Then he took off his work gloves and threw those down too. “You don’t know because you didn’t fucking ask.”

  He hadn’t. Not once. “Tarr, I—”

  “I was kicked out of the Marines under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Because a so-called friend found out, told our superior, and they asked. So I told. I made that choice to tell the truth instead of lie.”

  Erick felt like he was going to vomit.

  “I could have lied, stayed in the service, been a fucking hero or what-the-fuck-ever. Instead I told the truth and I was left with nothing. No job, no skills except how to shoot to kill. My parents didn’t want anything to do with me. All I had was Ev, but I was in a dark place. A guy I knew told me I could be a mercenary. I could still do ‘good work.’ He didn’t explain all that entailed, and by the time I realized it, I was in too deep. So here I am, fifteen years later. The bad guys won. I lost my livelihood.”

  The puzzle pieces that made up Everett Hawk were sliding into place with the soundtrack of Trig telling him to give Tarr a chance. Erick reached for him, unsure what to do, but Tarr slipped out of his grip, face red, palms out, body visibly trembling. He walked past Erick toward the house and turned to face him. “Fuck you, Erick. Now you want to console me rather than tell me I’m the fucking devil?”

  “I never said you were the fucking devil.” Erick continued to advance on Tarr, even as Tarr walked backward toward the house. “And yeah, I do want to console you. I’m not perfect. I’ve been working through shit. At first I wanted to hate you. Then I wanted to get to know you and see that you were a heartless bastard so I could keep hating you despite the fact that you saved my life.”

  Tarr opened up the back door to the house. He tried to slam it shut on Erick, but Erick got his foot in the door so that it banged back open. Then Erick walked inside and locked it behind him. “And then I found myself drawn to you. Attracted to you. I found myself liking you and hating that you had depth to you, that you had a beating heart. My last defense was your job. As long as you had it, I could justify you weren’t for me. That I didn’t have to face these feelings.”

  Tarr glared at him from across the living room, no longer retreating. “And? Now what?”

  “And now, now the last puzzle piece just slotted into place. So if you want, if you’re not too scared to take a leap with me, then I’ll leap with you. We’ll see what we can be together. It could end in flames, or we could make it work. I don’t know. But I guess we can try.”

  Tarr’s nostrils flared, and then he was striding across the room. Erick thought for a moment that he was going to get a fist in the face—and maybe he deserved it—but instead Tarr didn’t stop, not at all. He crashed into Erick, forcing him back, back, until he hit the wall behind him with a groan.

  Tarr’s tongue was in his mouth, aggressive, searching. Erick slipped his hand under Tarr’s shirt, raking his nails over his abs, hips, and ribs. Tarr shuddered beneath him and reached down, grabbing Erick’s ass and hauling his leg up over his hip.

  Erick gripped tighter and ground into Tarr’s thigh as Tarr’s lips made their way down Erick’s neck.

  “When you’re around, when you look at me,” he said against Erick’s skin, “I think maybe the good guys can win. I think maybe I can be a good guy.”

  Erick didn’t want to talk. He wanted to feel. After days of thinking of nothing but Tarr and that kiss, he only wanted skin.

  “Bedroom,” he gasped as he thrust against Tarr’s thigh.

  “Yeah,” Tarr murmured. “Great idea.”

  They made it upstairs connected at the lips and hips, stumbling along the way. But they somehow managed to make it to the guest bedroom without injuries other than a couple of banged elbows.

  Erick was lost in the feel of Tarr. His big hands roamed Erick’s body in a way he hadn’t felt for so long. He hadn’t realized how touch-starved he’d been because he’d avoided anything remotely intimate since Flynn died. Now, with someone he cared about, he was alive again.

  Tarr pushed him gently onto the bed and took off his shirt in a swift motion. Erick did the same just in time because Tarr climbed on top of him, covering him with his big body. Erick writhed beneath him, loving the feel of their chests brushing.

  After some maneuvering, they we
re finally naked, skin on skin. Tarr wrapped his big hand around both of their dicks and stroked. Erick ignited. “Holy fuck.” He arched off the bed, the friction too much when it’d been too long. “I won’t last long. It’s been forever.”

  “Me too.” Tarr braced himself above Erick on one hand so the muscles in his biceps stood out, neck straining. He looked fucking gorgeous like that, freckled shoulders bulging.

  “I want to fuck you,” Tarr said.

  Erick groaned. “Do it.”

  “Not in my sister’s house. As soon as we are out of here, I’m in that ass, you understand?”

  “Yes,” Erick rasped. “Yes, fucking please.”

  “Just feel this now,” Tarr said, stroking them harder, faster. “You like that?”

  “Love it.” Erick sank into the feeling of Tarr’s hands. This man who’d been shafted, who’d life had been altered drastically for being true about who he was. “Fuck, you’re hot like this.”

  Tarr grinned, and Erick knew he’d do just about anything for that grin. “You should see yourself.”

  Erick was close, the orgasm building with every stroke of Tarr’s strong hand. “You close? I am.”

  Tarr’s temples were damp with sweat as he panted. “Yeah, I am.”

  “Don’t stop.”

  “Never.”

  Erick came like a rocket. He threw his head back, muscles clenched, as his dick pulsed in his hand. He blinked in time to see Tarr’s mouth drop open on a low moan as he came too. Come splattered on Erick’s stomach.

  Tarr collapsed onto the bed, breathing heavily, and Erick lay on his back, replete, worn out, and…not scared. He didn’t feel like he had in the library, unsettled and panicked, like he’d made a mistake. Tarr rolled onto his side and slowly slipped his fingers through Erick’s hair, a gentle gestured that made Erick want to purr. No, this wasn’t a mistake.

  Erick grabbed some tissues and cleaned up his stomach, before facing Tarr. “Hey you.”

  Tarr looked at him a little apprehensively, like he expected Erick to bolt. “How do you feel?”

  “I feel good.” Erick rested a hand on Tarr’s hip and squeezed. “You?”

  He gave a relieved smile. “Great.”

  “I owe you an apology for what I said in the library. For not giving you a chance to explain.”

  “I didn’t really try though, did I? You rejected me once, and I gave up. I shouldn’t have. I should have tried.”

  “Maybe, but I needed to get my head right.”

  Tarr patted the top of Erick’s head. “Is it right now?”

  “I think so.” He ran his hand up Tarr’s ribs. “What did you mean before? About how I make you think you could be the good guy?”

  Tarr rolled onto his back, bringing Erick with him so he lay stretched over top of Tarr. “I talked to my sister a bit. I promised I’d think about changing my life after this. I have money saved up. I can take some time off. Start over in a new direction.”

  “Really?”

  “It doesn’t change my past, but all saints have pasts and even sinners have futures.”

  “I like that.” Erick bit his lip. “Hell, I’m not perfect either, and I don’t always abide by the law, but I take jobs for the good guys.”

  “I can take jobs for the good guys, or I could stop using guns altogether.”

  Erick smiled. “The latter might be better.”

  Tarr laughed. “You think?”

  Erick sat up, straddling Tarr’s waist. “So we’re actually going to do this?”

  Tarr’s palms heated Erick’s thighs. “I haven’t been excited about my future for fifteen years. I was living day to day like it didn’t matter if I lived or died. With you, I feel like I have something to fight for.”

  “Then let’s fight, take care of these fucking Haros, and go take a vacation somewhere hot where we can be naked a lot.”

  Tarr laughed, and it was amazing to see how carefree he could look. Erick tried to imagine what he looked like fifteen years ago when he was still optimistic about his life. “Do you have pictures of yourself from when you were younger?”

  Tarr’s smile faded to a look of confusion. “Uh, sure. My sister has some albums. Why?”

  “I want to see what you looked like.”

  Tarr blinked. “Sure. I’ll asked her to dig some up.”

  Somewhere downstairs, a door opened. “Hello?” Everly called out.

  “Oh shit.” Erick slid off Tarr and pulled his pants on, hopping on one foot, shutting the door just as little footsteps clamored upstairs. He locked it, and seconds later, something smashed into the door. “Mr. Erick, do you want to have a tea party?”

  Erick made big eyes at Tarr, who was laughing as he dressed. “Uh, yeah, Miss Olivia. I just woke up from a nap so let me get dressed, okay?”

  “Okay!” Her little shoes clattered down the hall. Erick tugged on his shirt. “Fuck, I need to go clean up. Stall your niece.”

  Tarr waved him on, not bothering with a shirt. “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll help get the tea party set up.”

  Erick rushed out, nearly knocking over Everly. He ducked his head and kept walking to the bathroom. He heard Everly clear her throat loudly and say to her brother, “Next time put a sock on the door.”

  “Oh, fuck you,” Tarr said softly, laughing.

  Erick shut the bathroom door and grinned at himself in the mirror. Why had he been denying himself a bit of happiness? Well fuck that. Bring on the damn happy ending.

  Chapter Ten

  Tarr

  After the tea party, Ev ordered some pizza for dinner. The weather was mild, and the kids, despite having spent all day at the park, still wanted to be outside. Tarr grabbed two beers—one for himself and one for Erick—and headed out to the porch. He stopped in the doorway for a moment. Cooper and Olivia were kicking soccer balls into the small pop-up soccer goal. Cooper in shorts and a T-rex shirt and Olivia wearing a dress and sneakers.

  Ev rocked on a wooden chair, face turned toward Erick, who was talking animatedly about something, his hands waving all over the place. Ev’s smile was real, and Tarr knew what that was like. Even when Erick was frustrating as fuck, it was hard not to smile.

  Was Tarr really going to give up this kind of happiness in order to continue to coast along in life? No, no way. He wanted Erick and the future and the whole damn thing. He wanted his sister to be happy, and most of all, he wanted to see his niece and nephew grow up. Maybe, just maybe, he could also make nice with Everly’s husband.

  “Mom!” Olivia had taken a break from scoring goals to squat near the back of the yard, hovering over some wildflowers. “Can we pick some and put them in a vase?”

  “Sure, baby, give me a minute.” Everly heaved herself off the chair with a grunt.

  “I could pick them,” Tarr offered, handing Erick his beer.

  Ev waved him off. “No, it’s fine. She does this a lot. It’s kind of our thing.”

  She walked toward Olivia, skirt swirling around her legs.

  “Thanks,” Erick said, taking a swig.

  Tarr sat in Everly’s seat. “No problem. Hey, I was thinking—”

  Erick’s phone beeped with an incoming text message. After reading the screen, he suddenly tensed and latched on to Tarr’s forearm in a death grip. His brown eyes scanned the back of the yard, and he spoke in a low, calm voice. “Call your sister back to the porch with the kids. Casual. Don’t raise any alarms.”

  Tarr’s pulse beat double-time and his stomach plummeted. His gun was in the house. For fuck’s sake, what was he thinking being out here unarmed? Fuck, fuck. He tried to keep the panic out of his voice. “Ev!”

  “Yeah?” She glanced up from where she was crouched with Olivia.

  They each held a bouquet of purple wildflowers. His freaking world was in this backyard, and he felt like a sitting duck. “Come back here, will you? Bring the kids. Found a super cool bug. Quick, before he skitters away.”

  Olivia, lover of tea parties, was also a lover of bugs and wo
rms. So she leaped to her feet and raced toward Tarr. Cooper also ran toward him with a whoop. Ev was much slower, walking casually, stopping to pick a dandelion, all while Tarr thought his heart was going to burst out of his chest.

  “Where’s the bug, Uncle Rett?” Olivia was on her hands and knees searching the floor of the porch for the imaginary bug.

  Finally, when Everly reached the porch, Tarr grabbed everyone and pulled them inside, Erick on his heels. “What—?” Everly asked.

  “Is the bug in the house?” Cooper looked around curiously.

  Tarr threw the back door shut and locked the house before turning to the kids. “Sorry, guys. There was no bug, okay? I just wanted you to get into the house because I saw a skunk outside. Also I have a surprise! Remember I said that we arranged a fun sleepover for you with your mom and Erick at Erick’s apartment?”

  “He said he has video games there!” Cooper yelled.

  “Does he have dolls?” Olivia asked.

  “He’s got it all.” Tarr clapped. “So go upstairs and get your stuff together. Erick’ll take you over with your mom, okay?”

  “Yeah!” They both hollered and took off for the stairs.

  Tarr turned to his sister, who was watching him with big eyes. “Now?”

  Tarr met Erick’s gaze with a silent question. When Erick nodded, Tarr answered his sister. “Now.”

  The day after they arrived, Erick had rented an apartment in a secure building under an alias and outfitted it with all kinds of fun things for the kids for just this purpose. Should Haro and his crew show up, Tarr didn’t want his family anywhere near home. He’d remain at the house, while Erick went with his sister and the kids.

  Erick checked his phone again. “Roarke said they finally tracked them and they’re in Maine.”

  “Shit,” Everly whispered.

  “Roarke is trying to pinpoint their exact position,” Erick said, his voice soft to lessen the blow. It didn’t work, but it was a nice gesture. “Until then, we can assume it’s a matter of time before they get here.”

  “Agreed,” Tarr said. “Don’t alarm the kids,” he said to his sister. “Get their suitcases packed. Erick will drive you over and stay with you until I tell him it’s okay to come back.”