Rough: A Hitman Romance

by Chambers, V. J.

  She was gone.

  I turned back to the bottle.

  What the hell? Why did the room feel so empty now?

  * * *

  Kiera

  That night, I was drunk and full of food, and I fell asleep pretty easily, which was a mercy, because I woke up with my brain in turmoil.

  I felt like an idiot, because I had baited him last night. I wasn’t afraid of his stupid cousin. Okay, sure, if I met him alone in a dark alley or something, I wasn’t confident in my ability to take the guy down or anything. So, I guessed, maybe in a very strict sense, I was afraid of the guy.

  But I didn’t think that was a good reason for Demetrius not to be with me.

  And if that was really the only reason keeping us apart, then that was ridiculous.

  First of all, I could make it so that Demetrius was impossible to trace digitally. I could make him invisible to anyone. I was that good. His cousin would never find him ever again. No one would find him.

  Second of all, Danger had obviously gotten rid of this Giovanni guy before, so I figured he’d be able to do it again. Overall, I was betting that my chances against Giovanni were better with Demetrius around as opposed to being alone with him in a dark alley. It was probably safer with him than not.

  And finally, everything in life was a risk. There was no way that Demetrius could guarantee my safety. Hell, he could stay away from me, and I could still get killed or maimed. I might get hit by a bus on my way to work or die in a car crash or any number of other everyday horrors that happened all the time.

  Whatever.

  I’d thought that if I pretended to be frightened, if I called his bluff, he’d see what an idiot he was being.

  But he hadn’t.

  He’d just let me go, like it was nothing.

  It hurt, because I had felt—before that—like he was really opening up to me, and that we were getting closer.

  He was actually a coward. He was using my safety to justify his cowardice, but I thought it was bullshit. I thought what he was really afraid of was feeling anything for someone again. He’d obviously been devastated when he lost Mia. He didn’t want to feel that pain ever again.

  I understood, but it rankled, because he was the one who’d forced me to face the pain of my father’s death, and because of him, I’d pushed through it. How could he have known what I needed and yet not see it in himself?

  I spent all day Friday moping around my room.

  Cass came by in the afternoon for her clothes and asked what had happened.

  I told her Demetrius was an asshole, and that I didn’t want to talk about it.

  She said that men were pigs, but we had to admit that it felt good to roll around in the mud sometimes.

  I said that I didn’t have to admit anything.

  She didn’t stay very long.

  I wasn’t in a good mood.

  I watched television late on Friday night, slept late on Saturday, and didn’t bother to get out of my pajamas until sometime after lunch, which I ordered from room service.

  I was eating my food, and I suddenly burst into tears, because apparently food reminded me of Demetrius, and I missed him.

  Idiot.

  Rather than spending another night alone with my television, I decided that I’d head to the bar in the hotel that evening.

  No one was there at first. I nursed a glass of wine and wondered if I should just cut my losses and go back to my room. But then Blaze showed up, and he bought me a drink, and I drank and got buzzed and realized he was flirting with me.

  I kind of liked that, so I flirted back. Not like the fake way I’d flirted with Nikolai, asking him questions and pretending to be impressed.

  But just an easy, natural sort of flirting. Something I’d never really allowed myself to do before.

  It was fun. It was harmless. I had no real interest in Blaze, but it was fun to be noticed.

  Sometime around midnight, I was a little more than buzzed, and everything that Blaze said seemed uproariously funny. I was giggling into my drink, laughing so hard that tears were coming out of my eyes.

  And I looked up and saw Danger at the other end of the bar, watching me.

  When he caught my eye, he looked away.

  “Ah, shit,” said Blaze. “Danger’s such a killjoy. You want to go back to my room and hang out?”

  I shook my head. “No, not really.” I wanted to go talk to Demetrius, but I wasn’t sure what to say. Being drunk would probably help with that, though, right?

  “Let me at least walk you back to your room,” said Blaze.

  “Oh, you’re leaving?” I said. “That’s cool. I think I’ll just stick around.”

  “No way, Kiera,” said Blaze. “You’re three sheets to the wind. I’m not leaving you down here alone.”

  “I’m not that drunk,” I said, and I got up to prove my point. Oh. Wow. I grabbed the edge of the bar. Okay, so I’d maybe had too much.

  Blaze offered me his arm.

  I took it gratefully. “Oh,” I moaned, “I’m going to have the spins. I hate the spins.”

  Blaze laughed.

  I let him help me out of the bar, up the elevator, and back to my room.

  “I can come in if you want,” he said.

  I furrowed my brow at him. Was he like… trying to get with me? “I’m fine,” I said, opening the door and slipping inside quickly. “Bye now.” I shut the door in his face.

  Christ on a cracker, what would make Blaze think I’d ever go to bed with a manwhore like him?

  I drank copious amounts of water, took off my clothes, and crawled into bed.

  By some miracle, the room was not spinning.

  I hugged my pillow and let myself drift off.

  Only to be jarred awake by the sound of someone moving around in my room. I sat up straight, clutching the covers to my chest.

  Shit.

  It was Danger’s psycho cousin Giovanni. He’d found me after all.

  What should I do? Should I try to fight? Could I hide?

  The person stumbled over the couch in the living area of the suite and let out a muffled oomph.

  He was clumsy, then. Disoriented. Maybe I could use that to my advantage.

  I looked around the room for a weapon.

  Too late.

  He appeared in the doorway, a hulking shadow.

  Wait a second. Was that… “Demetrius?” I whispered.

  “Where is he?” he said.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  “Is he hiding from me somewhere? Fucking wuss. Is he in the bathroom?”

  “How did you get into my hotel room?”

  “Where is he?”

  “Who?”

  “Blaze.” Demetrius gripped the doorway, as if he was struggling for balance. I realized there was a telltale slur in his voice. He was drunk too.

  “I don’t know where Blaze is.”

  “You left the bar with him. You two were looking awful cuddly.”

  “He just walked me back here,” I said. “How did you get into my room?”

  “I have your key,” he said. “I gave you one, kept the other one.”

  “What?”

  “For safety purposes,” he said, sounding defensive. He staggered into the room, caught the bed and sat down on the foot of it. “So, um, you and Blaze didn’t—aren’t—”

  “Don’t be crazy,” I said.

  He clutched his head, elbows resting on his knees.

  “You need to give me back my key.”

  “The way you were looking at him…”

  “I’m allowed to look at people, Demetrius. You don’t own me.”

  He turned to me sharply. And then, suddenly, he was moving up the bed, covering my body with his own.

  “What are you doing?” I said, breathless.

  He peeled the covers back, uncovering my body. “You’re wearing these fucking alien pajamas again,” he said in a ragged voice.

  “Demetrius, stop it,” I said. “You already m
ade it very clear that there’s nothing between us, and—”

  He kissed me, and he was pushing my pajama shirt up, out of the way, his fingers on my waist, my stomach, and then higher, cupping my breasts, rubbing my nipples. “Shut up,” he said roughly against my lips.

  I sunk my hands into his hair. I let my fingers travel over his hard, solid back. I wrapped my legs around him, and kept him in place. I shut up.

  “I want you so bad, Kiera. I feel like I’m losing my mind. You’re all I ever think about.” His lips found my nipples.

  I moaned.

  His hand wormed its way under my pajama pants, between my legs. He began to stroke me. “I want you, but I shouldn’t. I know that. I know I need to stay away. You’re so sweet, and I’m… there’s nothing good about me. I don’t deserve to be allowed to touch you.”

  “That’s not true,” I whispered. Pleasure was swirling around me now. It was hard to think.

  “I’m going to take you anyway,” he muttered into my flesh. He moved to my other nipple. He sucked it hard into his mouth.

  I groaned.

  His fingers moved rhythmically at my clit. “God, you’re getting so wet.”

  My hips started to move of their own volition.

  “I make you wet,” he breathed.

  My world felt warm and wonderful, as if I were in a small cocoon of goodness with Demetrius. This was all I wanted.

  “I’m going to make you even wetter,” he said softly. “And then you’re going to come for me. Come all over my fingers.”

  God, I felt like I might do that at any second. A tightness was building inside me, a hot ball of bliss. My hips pumped against his fingers. I whimpered.

  “Good,” he murmured. “Good, that’s it, Kiera. Let it go for me. Give it up to me.”

  Everything tightened in one searing second, and then I did let go. I was wracked in bolt after bolt of euphoria. The climax rushed through me, making me cry out, making my limbs shake.

  He chuckled. “It’s nothing to do with my size, sweet thing. You just come easy. You’re a little live wire. I love it. I love watching you fall apart. I love the noises you make. You are the most beautiful—”

  I seized him and pulled him down and kissed him hard. I fumbled at his pants, freeing him, stroking his hardness as his tongue dragged sweetly against my own.

  He grunted.

  “Fuck me,” I whispered. “Please.” I was drunk and bold and riding the last twitches of the orgasm, and I needed him to fill me up. Needed it.

  He pulled back and looked at me. He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I shouldn’t. I should leave you alone.”

  “No,” I said. “Please. I want you inside me.”

  He shut his eyes. “I shouldn’t. But I will. I’ll bury myself in you, and I’ll take you so hard—”

  “Yes,” I said, and I moved him against me. “Please. Now.”

  He groaned. “Condom,” he said.

  “Damn it, do it fast,” I said.

  There was a fumbling, a flurry of movement, and then he was spreading my legs, and I was clutching his ass, and it was…

  He stretched me wide. I was crammed full of him.

  And when he moved in me, it was so good. So, so fucking good.

  I felt words forming on my lips. Drunk words, unbidden words, words that I shouldn’t say, even though they felt true. I love you.

  But I managed to keep myself from saying anything.

  I only moaned.

  And I lost myself in how good it felt, pushing aside anything else.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Kiera

  When I woke up, he was gone.

  I don’t know what I expected, but there was something about it that made me livid. I couldn’t believe he’d just bail like that. True, it was what he’d done every other time, so I should have been prepared, but I hated having fallen asleep in his arms and waking up in a cold and empty bed.

  I was hungover too, and that didn’t help matters.

  I took some aspirin, drank some water, and then I went up to his room. I banged on the door.

  Nothing happened.

  “Danger, I know you’re fucking in there,” I yelled, banging on the door some more.

  The door opened.

  He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and all of his gorgeous muscles were on display. Those big, luscious arms? I’d gone to sleep with them wrapped around me. That chiseled chest? I’d drifted off pressed against it.

  I wanted to cry. Instead, I glared at him. “I want the key to my room.”

  He scratched his stomach and yawned. “You woke me up for that?”

  I wanted to strangle him. “You fucking asshole, give me back the key.”

  He let out a heavy sigh. “You should know that I was drunk last night, and I maybe said some things—”

  “Key.” I held out my hand.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m really sorry.”

  God, if he kept apologizing like that, I really was going to cry. I felt my chest getting tight. “We were both drunk,” I said in a strangled voice. “We were both temporarily insane. Now, give me the key so nothing like that can ever happen again.”

  He swallowed and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yeah, fine. Hold on.” He disappeared for a second, shutting the door in my face. Then it opened back up, and he was holding out the key.

  I snatched it from him. “Thank you.”

  “Is that all?” he said.

  “Of course it is,” I said.

  “Good.”

  “Good.”

  I should move. But I just kept staring at his perfect chest, his thick forearms, his rippling stomach.

  He shut the door in my face again.

  I let out a breath.

  When I got back to my room, I did start crying.

  * * *

  Demetrius

  Monday morning, I found Kiera in the office rooms we’d rented. The ones that looked down on Nikolai’s office. It was the agreed-upon control center, the place where she would stay for the duration of the job.

  She was working on setting up her computers, and she didn’t even acknowledge me when I came into the room.

  I couldn’t blame her.

  It might be shitty, but I was glad I’d gone to her room that night. I was glad I’d had the chance to be inside her one last time, to put my mouth on her perfect breasts, to hear her sighs when I stroked her. I couldn’t regret having her one last time.

  I knew that it wasn’t the right thing to do, but I wouldn’t have taken it back for anything.

  But now, we were going to finish this job, and then I was going to keep my distance. I wouldn’t see her every day. For a while, it would probably be hard. I’d think about her, like I always had. I’d probably think about her and jerk off. I’d miss her.

  But time would make that fade.

  Months would pass, and one day, I’d realize that I hadn’t thought of her in days.

  And then more and more time would pass without my thinking of her.

  Eventually, I would barely think of her at all.

  Eventually.

  But for now, for today, it was hard as hell being this close to her.

  “You don’t have to check in on me, you know,” she said. “I’ve got this.”

  “You have everything you need?” I said.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she said.

  “Well, you have the earpieces?” I said. “I’ll distribute them to the others when we meet up outside the building.”

  “Yeah, sure,” she said, handing them over.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “We need to make sure those are working okay,” she said. “Nine sharp, I’m going to test, and I need to hear everyone, so make sure that you’ve got them on.”

  “Got it,” I said.

  She nodded and then turned back to her screens.

  I watched her, thinking about how much I wanted to touch her. “Hey, Kiera?”

  “What?” She turned to me.
/>   I shoved my hands in my pockets. “Good luck today.”

  “You too.” She nodded and then turned away.

  I left.

  That was that.

  After today, I wouldn’t see her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Kiera

  My little area was set up so that I could do everything that I needed to do. In the center, I had two screens devoted to typing in commands. I could remotely access the system in the building from here, and I would pull up the desktops of the computers I needed in the center.

  To the left, I had screens devoted to security cameras. On one screen were what the cameras were actually seeing. On the other screen were the loops that I had created—a brief bit of video of the area that the camera looked at, but set in a loop so that it seemed everything was normal and boring. Those loops would take over and be the only thing visible to the security guards whenever I was ready for that to happen.

  To the right, I had screens for anything else I might need.

  I had already rerouted certain calls in the building. When some people called IT, they were going to get me instead.

  Right now, I was working on taking out the elevators.

  It would have been easier if I could just take out the elevator down to the girls, the one that required a retinal scan. But all the elevators were controlled by one system, and so I would take them all out. Everyone would be stuck on the level where they were now, unless they decided to take the stairs. That also applied to the rest of the crew, who were going into the building.

  No elevators for them.

  I was going for blunt and easy to take down the elevators. I had thought about writing a little virus to take them out, but I had spent too much of my downtime sulking over shit that Demetrius did or didn’t do, and I hadn’t had time.

  Instead, I remotely accessed the system that controlled them, got into the settings, and shut it all down.

  No more elevators.

  A few key strokes, and the security system went down too.

  I could picture the guards at their desk, starting to get up, probably saying, “Ah, hell, we got trouble,” to each other.

  But I snapped over the loops I’d prepared right away.

  Ha. Just looked like a glitch.

  I imagined the guards relaxing, settling back down.