“How’s that?”
“I was DD.”
My jaw about dropped to the fucking floor. Dishonorable discharge. That was fucking bad. You were only dishonorably discharged if you were convicted at a general court-martial for really serious shit, like desertion, sexual assault, and murder. Seeing as how he tried to get another job in the same line of work, I could only assume that he didn’t desert. But sexual assault and murder were just…How could Cap have him working with us? He couldn’t even legally carry a firearm. There had to be something else going on.
He had to be fucking desperate to take a job with Adams. That fucker was going off the rails, but when he was DD, he would have lost all his benefits that he had the right to upon discharge. Basically, he was fucked when he left the service. Which would have been the reason that he would take a job that was so obviously doomed to fail.
“What happened?” Hunter asked.
“Does it fucking matter?”
I stared at him incredulously. “Yes, it fucking matters. I’d like to know if I’m working with someone that has a moral compass or not.”
Hunter snorted from the back seat, no doubt thinking of Knight. But those were different circumstances, and that’s why we all accepted him into the fold. Well, he was already there when I arrived, but once I learned who he was, it all made sense. All the secrecy around who he was and how he was so well trained, it all came together.
“Well, we’re not working together, so you don’t have to fucking worry about it.”
My phone pinged with the location for us to meet up with the feds. I directed Parker to a structure across town and sat back waiting and watching. The vehicle that had been following us parked across the street and waited. It was an enclosed structure, so they couldn’t see inside. We drove up to the fourth level where at least fifteen black SUVs were waiting. Cap had sent me the contact, an Agent Casin, and his picture. I stepped out along with Hunter and scanned the group of men that had gathered.
“Agent Casin,” I barked. A man stepped forward and I immediately recognized him from the picture Cap sent. “I need to see some I.D.”
The man walked forward, slowly pulling his identification out for me to check out. When I was satisfied, I nodded to Hunter. He moved to the back of our SUV and pulled Richie out. I kept my eyes trained on all the agents, not wanting to trust any of them. It just wasn’t in my nature to trust anyone outside of the people I was serving with.
The exchange went smoothly, and before I knew it, we were pulling out of the parking structure. However, the car that had been following us was back behind us again.
“Shit, this guy just doesn’t quit,” I muttered.
“Better that he’s following us than the FBI,” Hunter said, pulling his weapon and getting it ready.
I glanced at Derek, still passed out in the back. “Is he okay?”
Hunter reached over and smacked him on the face. “Wake up, buttercup. We have people to kill.”
Derek grumbled, rubbing at his eyes and returning the smack to his face with a punch to Hunter’s. “Asshole,” he muttered.
“Can’t we just lose them?” Parker asked.
“Now you want to lose them? Before you were all about letting them follow us, but now you want to get rid of them in a car chase instead of taking them out.”
“I have my reasons.”
“I’d really like to hear what they are.”
He didn’t say anything, but stepped on the gas and ran a red light, almost causing an accident behind us. He swiftly moved down different roads until he pulled into a parking lot and hid in the back row.
“Your ride is right there,” he said, pointing to a mustard yellow Mustang.
“I’m not getting in that.”
“Well, you don’t have a choice, because I’m not taking you back to Reed Security. I did my part.”
“There’s no fucking way I’m getting in a car like that,” I snapped.
“Too bad. Get the fuck out. Cap didn’t say anything about getting you home. That’s in my name, so take it and I’ll get it back from you at another time.”
When I didn’t move, he pulled a gun from his side and pointed it right at my fucking face. “I said, get the fuck out of my vehicle.”
I glanced at Hunter and he nodded. The three of us stepped out, barely having shut the door when he reversed and peeled out of the parking lot.
“It could be worse,” Derek said.
“Worse than mustard yellow?” Hunter asked.
“Why didn’t he want to take us back?” I asked.
“Does it matter?” Derek said, walking over to the Mustang. “Let’s just get the fuck home.”
“It’s not at all strange to you that he does a favor for Cap, but then drops us off in a parking lot?”
“Look,” Hunter said, stopping me with a hand to my chest. “The man doesn’t want to work with us. He did it because Cap forced his hand. He left us a ride, so let’s just go home and forget this fucking job.”
I followed, but something about that guy just wasn’t sitting right with me. But I didn’t want to think about him anymore. I was bone-fucking-tired, and I just wanted my bed and a good night’s sleep.
“You good?” Hunter asked as I slipped into the back.
I nodded. “Just tired.”
“Yeah, well, that’ll happen when you try to go swimming in these temps. Seriously, that wasn’t part of the job.”
“Blame Irish. He’s the idiot that decided to make the job more difficult than it had to be.”
“I don’t know what you’re complaining about,” Hunter grinned. “We’re gonna get back and everything’s gonna be great.”
I glared at him.
“What?” Hunter asked.
“Don’t look so fucking chipper.”
“I have a lot to be chipper about. I had a run-in with the devil and came out swinging. I have a hot wife at home that’s waiting for me, and as soon as she finds out what happened, I’m gonna get the best head of my life,” he grinned.
“I think you’re forgetting about what happened the last time you got shot,” I reminded him.
“I wasn’t shot this time.”
“No, but I remember her being quite pissed about how much you risk your life, and now you want to go tell her that you could have died in a frozen river?”
“Well, I wasn’t planning on being the one in this story that almost died. When I tell her the story, I’m the hero that saved both your asses.”
Which was technically true, but it could have turned out differently and Lucy wouldn’t see the difference.
“Well, I don’t have anyone that’s gonna give me head when I get home,” I muttered.
“That’s not true,” Derek said. “You have Brooke.”
I snorted. “Yes, the woman that I secretly love, but doesn’t want the same life as I do. Yeah, that sounds like a solid plan. Go home and get myself even more tangled up in knots over her.”
“You know, she might be feeling just as conflicted as you,” Derek pointed out.
“Yeah, I’m sure she’s conflicted about her feelings about kids. Suddenly, after just having my cock,” I said mockingly, “she’s decided that she likes the snot-nosed brats and wants one of her own,” I snorted.
“You’re just not giving her enough enticement,” Hunter pointed out.
“Like what?”
“Did you give Brooke a kiss goodbye?” Hunter asked, looking over the backseat.
I rolled my eyes. “Of course I did. Why?”
“You need her to know that you’re thinking of her when you leave. It makes her feel special. Plus, if you had died, that would have been your last kiss with her. I hope you made it a mission-worthy goodbye kiss.”
“What classifies as a mission-worthy goodbye kiss?”
“Well,” Derek said thoughtfully. “It should be passionate, definitely some tongue action, and…maybe some ass-grabbing.”
“Ass-grabbing? I didn’t do that.”
I scratched the back of my neck. “I don’t remember. I was trying to get out of there with my balls still intact.”
“Dude, you never fucking leave on a mission without kissing your woman like you depend on her kiss to bring you back from the dead,” Hunter said, slapping one hand into the other and accentuating every word.
“I didn’t know! I’ve never been in this situation before. I kissed her. Does it really matter if the rest was there?”
“Yes, it fucking matters!” Hunter shouted. “Do you really think she’s gonna remember you if you don’t make that shit memorable? And how are you supposed to make her swoon with a mediocre kiss?”
“Christ, I didn’t know! Stop fucking busting my balls. When we get out of this, I’ll make sure to give her one helluva hello.”
“Oh sure,” Derek snorted. “That’ll more than make up for it.”
“Like I said, it doesn’t fucking matter. She doesn’t want me like that, and no amount of kissing her passionately or ass-grabbing is going to make her suddenly want the life I have!”
I was breathing heavy at this point, all that anger over my situation was building to the breaking point.
“Relax,” Hunter said, reaching over the seat to rub my shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay. Worst comes to worst, we’ll just pretend to kill you off for a while. Trust me, it’ll make her put things in perspective.”
I glared at him.
“Alright, alright,” Hunter said, holding up his hands. “We won’t kill you off. Geez, I’m just trying to help.”
“We don’t need any funerals,” Derek pointed out. “Besides, can you imagine what Claire would have done?”
Hunter snorted. “The death of Superman. Now, that would have been an epic funeral.”
“Yeah, let’s not give her any ideas.”
I sighed and leaned back in my seat. Hunter turned around, a serious expression on his face. “Look, she already has you by the balls. There’s no denying that. You have to go all in. Don’t put up barriers to keep her out, because there’s no fucking way that’ll happen at this point. You just have to give her all of you and hope that it’s enough.”
That was actually the best advice I had gotten. As much as I didn’t want to do just that, I didn’t see another way around all this torture. Cap had put me in an impossible situation, and now I had to navigate my way around everything and figure out how to come out of this in one piece.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Brooke
I was pacing around, trying to calm my racing heart. Rocco had been in an accident, that was all I knew. When Cap called and told me, I was in shock. I wasn’t even sure why he told me, other than to let me know that Rocco wasn’t going to the hospital. Not that it mattered. Just knowing that their job hadn’t gone right was enough to send me into a tailspin, and that just wasn’t me. I didn’t freak out about stuff. I didn’t panic when something went wrong. I was the steady one. Even when Reese had called me and told me that she had been kidnapped by Craig, all I could see were the possibilities. Now, all I saw were images of Rocco with blood pouring out of him.
I checked the clock on the wall again. Only two minutes had passed. Was this what it was like for all the other women? Was I doomed to be just like them? No, because Rocco and I were nothing. He had his rules and I had…well, I had nothing, but my own stubbornness.
The more I paced, the more I realized how irrational I was being. Rocco was fine. If he wasn’t going to the hospital, then it couldn’t be all that bad. It was probably something like a paper cut. Cap was probably just trying to rile me up, because he knew that there was something between Rocco and I. That’s what all this was about anyway. He had purposely put Rocco in the position to help me, all out of some misguided sense of matchmaking. And it was true, Rocco and I had explosive chemistry, and I did want him, way more than I wanted to admit. I just didn’t think we were compatible in the ways that really counted.
The door opened and I ran to see who it was. Rocco stood there, flinging his bag to the ground and looking perfectly disheveled. I wanted to run to him and fling my arms around him, like something out of the movies, but then he would look at me like I was delusional. But I wanted to do something for him. He looked exhausted and when he took off his coat, he shivered.
“Are you okay?” I finally asked.
“Yeah,” he said tiredly. “Job gone wrong, but it’s all good now.”
I nodded, but before I could say anything else, there was a knock at the door. Cara was standing on the other side, holding onto Evie. His face immediately lit up, and I was once again jealous of his daughter. I was so focused on that, that I totally missed everything Cara and Rocco said. He was already striding past me into the living room with his daughter, while I stood there like an idiot.
I made dinner and did my usual routine at night while Rocco got Evie ready for bed. When he came out of her room, he looked like he was about to drop. He didn’t even bother with his gear bag. He headed for the shower, but when he didn’t come out after his usual five minute shower, I took the liberty of going to see if he was okay. Through the steam I could see him leaning against the shower wall, resting his head against it like he had lost all energy. Making a split second decision, I got out of my clothes and slipped into the shower behind him. When I wrapped my arms around him, he didn’t tense like I thought he would. Instead, he gripped my hand and pulled it up toward his heart.
Resting my head on his back, I stayed like that until he turned around a few minutes later. Looking up into his eyes, I saw heat smoldering, urging me to give him what he needed. He didn’t even need to ask. I found that I really liked having him in my mouth. I liked the salty taste of him filling me in a way that I never imagined I would have.
Getting to my knees, I glanced up at him as I took his erection in my mouth. He wasted no time in slipping his fingers through my hair and pulling me closer to him. His length was longer than anything I was used to, and I still wasn’t able to take him all the way down without choking on him, but he didn’t seem to care. Instead, he slowly thrust in and out, pushing a little further in every time. But I got tired of that real fast and swallowed him down as far as I could. I knew what he liked, and he didn’t like to go slow. I worked my mouth over him, taking him deep and fast. I ran my fingers along his balls, tugging slightly. His grip tightened in my hair and his hips bucked, pushing his cock further in my mouth. I sucked him hard until I felt his grip tighten painfully in my hair and his cum shot down my throat. I wrapped my hands around the back of his thighs and held him inside my mouth as I continued to suck every last drop from his cock.
When I finally released him, he hauled me up by my elbows and kissed me hard, pushing me against the shower wall. His fingers went right to my pussy, slipping into my wetness.
“Do you like sucking me that much?” he whispered against my ear.
“Yes,” I said breathily.
“Good, because I fucking love when you suck me.”
He thrust his fingers hard inside me, pumping in and out as his thumb worked my clit. I grasped at his shoulders, trying to stay upright as he fucked me harder and harder. When his lips found mine again, there were no gentle or sweet kisses. It was hard and raw and so fucking amazing. I felt the familiar quaking in my legs and the shivers that raced through my body, and then I was falling apart in his arms as he held me up. He never stopped kissing me, but his kisses turned gentler, sweeter. It made me wish for things that we would never have. He didn’t want me, not like that, and I had to remember that, no matter how bad it hurt to stick around.
✯✯✯✯✯
“What did you mean when you said that your parents weren’t really around?” he whispered in my ear as we lie in bed.
I ignored him for a minute, sure that if I didn’t answer, he would get the hint. He didn’t.
“Brooke,” he said in a warning tone.
“What do you want me to say? They j
ust weren’t around.”
“You know, it’s impossible to get even the smallest answer out of you.”
“Yeah, I’m a tough nut to crack,” I said sarcastically.
“Look, for every answer you give me, I’ll give you one answer to any question you have.”
I shifted to look at him. “You know that’s not a very enticing proposition.” He looked offended. “You’re already pretty open with me when I ask questions, so that’s not really a great deal on my end.”
“Why don’t you want to tell me? Is it bad?”
“No. It’s just in the past. I made my peace with it, and I just choose not to dwell on it.”
“So, you’re not feeling like you should share with someone that cares about you and get that shit out of your system.”
I shrugged. “What would be the point? And since when did we start caring?” I asked curiously.
His face hardened a little and he rolled away from me, staring up at the ceiling. I rolled my eyes, hating that I was going to tell him, just so he didn’t sit there with a grump on his face. Was that what caring was all about?
“They weren’t your typical parents. I lived next door to Reese and her parents were kind of the same way. They were all friends and they went out together a lot.”
“Like, to parties?”
“I have no clue. They were just always on their way out the door. At first, I didn’t like Reese. She always played by the rules, and I hated that. I figured that if my parents weren’t around, then I could do whatever I wanted. I was actually pretty mean to Reese for a long time. But then she saved my ass once and it changed the way I looked at her.”
“What happened?”
I laughed a little. “We were in the drug store and I snatched some candy off the shelf. Reese didn’t know, but the cashier saw me and stopped me from leaving. He called the police to scare the shit out of me.”
“Let me guess, you weren’t really scared.”
“Not like I should have been. The police took us to the station and tried calling our parents, but of course, they didn’t answer. They got ahold of Reese’s grandmother, but I sat there for hours, just waiting for my parents to actually answer. When Reese’s grandmother showed up, Reese demanded that her grandmother claim me too.”
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