by Erin M. Leaf
“My bedroom,” Jenna said, voice shaking. “What are you doing here?”
“Good fucking question,” Felix said, angrier at himself than at her. His contract was now screwed up beyond all belief. He might as well paint a goddamn sign on his forehead that read: fuck me sideways. No way he could claim the kill, even if he took down Edwards. Clients paid for quiet, simple removal, not messy shootouts in suburban neighborhoods. He mentally kissed the money goodbye, and slid along the wall to the bedroom. He knew there were at least three other men in the house besides Edwards.
“Nick told me to run,” Jenna said, hand twisted in Felix’s shirt.
“And we will, just as soon as I get him out of there,” he said to her. He eased up to the bedroom, then pulled her hand free. “Stay right here. There are three left, along with your ex.”
Jenna nodded, pressing herself against the wall. Felix crouched down again and rolled into the room. One shot took down the man in the corner. The next one took down the thug near the window. Grapeshot flared past the body, but the crash of glass barely registered as Felix watched Nick twist and snap the neck of the goon holding a pistol to his head. The man collapsed, and Nick handily caught the guy’s weapon as the guy slid down, bringing it up and aiming at Felix.
“Whoa, easy,” Felix said, lifting his shotgun to the side. Nick’s hair stood on end. Gunshots littered the wall behind him.
Nick glared at Felix. “What the fuck are you doing here?” He held his purloined weapon steady. Felix knew one wrong move meant death. He could see it in Nick’s gaze, and damned if that didn’t turn him on. This was a man who wasn’t a stranger to violence. “Talk fast,” Nick said.
“I’m here to help.” Felix nodded to the men he’d killed. He watched Nick glance at the bodies. “I heard gunshots. I came in through the back door.”
Nick inhaled sharply, then lowered his gun. “He tried to kill my sister, God only knows why. The vindictive bastard went out the bathroom window.” He ran a hand through his hair, messing it further. “Fuck.” His gaze lifted, pinning Felix in place. “How the fuck do you know Quincy’s full name? I didn’t tell you. And what’s with the bullshit over your last name? I know you didn’t tell the cop Zamaro,” Nick spit out.
Felix made a decision that he hoped wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass. “I accepted a contract on Quincy Edwards. And yes, you’re right about my last name. I don’t give cops my real name. However, I gave it to you.”
Nick’s eyes narrowed.
Interesting. He knows exactly what I mean by that. Felix watched Nick’s body language. Surprisingly, Nick didn’t tense up.
“Obviously, the job is blown to shit, right now,” Felix added, strangely sanguine about the entire clusterfuck.
“Why should I trust you?” Swinging the pistol down to point at the floor, Nick nodded to the bodies on the ground. “Clearly, you have anger management issues.”
Felix bit back a smile as he shrugged. “You’re not dead, are you?” He watched Nick’s hands. The body always gave away the next move. He didn’t want to hurt Nick, and the best way to ensure that he wouldn’t have to was to head off any unfortunate outburst before it happened.
Fortunately, Nick merely snorted as he flicked the safety on the gun. “I have good instincts about people.” He shoved the weapon into the waistband of his jeans. “Don’t prove me wrong.”
“I’m not going to shoot you in your sleep, Nick.” Felix relaxed his arms, bringing the shotgun around. He ejected the hulls and pocketed them. “Jenna’s in the hall.”
Nick scowled. “I told her to go out the back.”
“There was a man in the kitchen. She had no safe egress.”
After a moment, Nick grunted. “Fair enough.”
Felix wasn’t surprised when Nick opened the closet and extracted a large bag. Whatever Nick did for a living, it sure as shit wasn’t just web design, because that looked like a go-bag to him.
“We need to move. This house is compromised,” Felix said. His instincts told him they had minutes, not hours, to get the hell out of here.
“We?” Nick lifted an eyebrow. He unzipped the outer compartment on his duffel and shoved the pistol inside.
Felix nodded. “I have a safe house.”
Nick tilted his head. “There’s help, and then there’s help. What am I going to owe you if we go with you? You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who does favors for free.”
Felix pursed his lips. “We can discuss that later.” Truth was, he didn’t want Nick to feel like he owed him anything, and that was enough of a departure from his regular modus operandi that he wasn’t feeling too confident about his decision to fuck the contract all to hell. “Shit.” He sighed. “Let’s just agree that you owe me one and leave it at that.”
“Uh-uh. Not a chance.” Nick scanned the room, then crouched down by the man whose neck he’d snapped. He rifled through the goon’s pockets. “No ID.”
“Not surprising. Edwards has a lot of unsavory colleagues.” Felix quickly searched the other two bodies. “Nothing here either.”
“Whatever. Let’s move,” Nick said, heading for the doorway. He paused, looking back at Felix. “I’ll owe you one, but I get to decide on the value of the favor.”
Felix frowned, but then he nodded, short and sharp. He’d already decided not to collect. Nick’s condition on the agreement didn’t mean a damn thing to him. He didn’t need money. He already intended to retire soon, so he didn’t need help with any business. There was literally nothing Nick had that Felix wanted.
Except an explanation for why I’m suddenly so fucking desperate for his frigging company, Felix thought, abruptly frustrated with himself.
“Hey.”
Felix stood up from his crouch. “What?”
“Thanks,” Nick said quietly. “That was a shit situation.”
Felix stared at him for a long moment. “Yeah, it was. Why aren’t you more upset about it?” He already knew Nick wasn’t the upright citizen he pretended to be, but he wanted to see what the man said when directly confronted with that fact.
“Because you’re not the only man in this room with a few unusual and not necessarily legal extracurricular talents,” Nick replied, and then he slipped into the hallway.
****
Nick found Jenna sitting on the floor, knees drawn up and arms wrapped around her legs. “Hey, it’s okay.” He crouched down. “You’re okay, sis.”
Jenna hurled herself into his arms. “Oh my God, Nick! He could’ve killed you.” She pushed her wet cheeks into his shoulder.
“But he didn’t. I’m fine.” Nick ran a hand down her hair, wishing he could take away her fear. He’d never expected Quincy to follow them here with a bunch of goons. He cursed himself for not doing any research on the guy. If he had, he’d have found out that her ex wasn’t just a run of the mill dick-wad.
“I’m sorry,” Jenna sobbed.
“Shh. I’m fine. We need to get out of here, though.” He wondered what she’d think when she discovered he’d agreed to let Felix take them to his hideout. He barely knew the guy. And he kills people entirely too easily, Nick thought, remembering the boom of Felix’s shotgun. Not that I’m much better. He grimaced as he recalled how easy it had been to snap the neck of the thug who’d held him at gunpoint. I don’t really have a leg to stand on when it comes to killing, do I?
“Where are we going to go?” Jenna leaned back, wiping her face. “I have no money. I have nowhere to go.” Her tone grew increasingly hysterical.
“Hey, hey, I’ve got you, and I have a plan,” Nick said, urging her to her feet. “It’s going to work out.”
“You don’t know that,” she said, voice shaking.
“I do know that.” Nick glanced back at the bedroom. Felix stood in the doorway. When he caught Nick’s gaze, he nodded towards the back of the house. “Okay. We’re going to go with Felix, now. Do you have anything you need to grab?” Nick asked his sister.
“Wait, what? Felix?�
� She whipped her head around. “We don’t even know him!”
“I have an off the grid cabin,” Felix said softly, walking closer.
Jenna stared at him. “Why should we trust you?” she asked, uncannily echoing Nick’s question of a few minutes ago.
“Because he helped us, and he doesn’t work for your ex,” Nick said, trying to head off any further questions. He didn’t have any answers for her, but their options right now were limited. In survival mode, you went with gut instincts more often than not, and his gut told him to go with Felix. “Do you need to gather anything before we go?” he asked his sister again.
She shook her head. “I put some clothes and stuff in the duffel earlier, like you told me to.” She plucked at the bag Nick had slung over his shoulder. “And you said I couldn’t take my phone, so…” She shrugged, eyes welling up. “This sucks.”
“It’s temporary. A few days or weeks from now you’ll wake up and the world will make sense again,” Felix said, walking down the hall.
Nick raised his eyebrows at Felix, but the man didn’t elaborate as he passed them.
“What does he know?” Jenna muttered. “He’s not being attacked by an insane ex.”
“It doesn’t matter what he knows or not,” Nick told her, guiding her towards the kitchen. “He’s got a place, and we need out of here, like, yesterday.” He inhaled. “And I trust him.”
Jenna nodded, letting him tow her past the body in the kitchen. “Oh, God,” she said, staring fixedly at the blood on the floor.
“Don’t look.” Nick pushed open the back door and hustled her down the steps. Felix waited for them near the hedges bordering the backyard.
“Too late,” Jenna said, shoulders hunched. “I knew Q was crazy, but I didn’t think he’d try to kill me. My God.”
“Freak out later when there’s time and space for it. Right now, we need to move, sis,” Nick said, tucking his fingers around her elbow. He hustled her across the yard, wishing he didn’t have to drag her out again, but they had no choice. God only knew where the hell Quincy had taken himself off to, the asshole.
When they reached Felix, he pulled them through the forsythia and pointed to the far side of his house. “We’ll go around that side. I parked in front of my garage.”
“You sure about this?” Nick asked, grabbing Felix’s arm before he could lope away. “We don’t want to rain on your parade, so to speak.” He thought about Felix’s contract on Quincy, and decided then and there to not mention it to his sister if he could manage it. She’d never trust Felix if she knew what he did for a living. And she’d never trust me again, either, if she knew I’d been lying to her about my job. God help me if she finds out what I really do.
“Positive.” Felix smiled slightly. “My parade was already cancelled due to rain.”
Nick smiled back at him, surprising himself. “The contract?”
Felix nodded, then shrugged. “I was getting bored with my life, anyway. It’s time to shake things up a bit.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Jenna asked.
Nick tucked his sister under his arm. He could feel her trembling, and a stab of guilt shot through him for joking around with Felix. “Felix has a few unusual talents that can help us, that’s all.” He urged her across Felix’s yard. Dew from the grass wet the bottom of his pants, but he barely noticed. “Let’s get going. We can talk about it later.” He aimed a look at Felix with those words.
Felix nodded. “Yes.” He unlocked the door of his truck, and Nick helped his sister into the backseat. “Duck down, so no one can see you,” he told her.
She nodded, stretching out on the seat. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be such a pain in the ass.”
“You’re not a pain in the ass. You’re my sister. That’s worse.” Nick smiled when she snorted, and then he covered her with the quilt he found on the seat. “Just relax. You’re safe.” He kissed her forehead, willing her to calm down and let him take care of her for once.
She pulled the blanket up over her shoulders. “Cold.”
“She’s in shock,” Felix said quietly from the front seat.
Nick sighed, knowing Felix was right. “Try and sleep, Jenna,” he said, dropping his go-bag on the floor. He tucked the quilt up around her neck. She smiled tremulously at him, then closed her eyes.
“We need to hurry,” Felix said, scanning the perimeter. “Won’t be long before Edwards sends more men here. Vindictive bastard. I can’t imagine that killing his ex-girlfriend is a sanctioned hit in the circles he runs in.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so either. He’s just a bitter sonofabitch. Can’t stand to let a woman get the best of him.” Nick climbed into the passenger side, and buckled up, then gave Felix a hard stare. “You’d better not be screwing with me,” he said in a low voice.
It didn’t matter how hot the guy was, he couldn’t afford to think with his dick right now. He was trusting Felix with his sister’s life. He pressed his lips together before he could say anymore. He thought about the knife he’d tucked into his pocket, and the gun in his waistband, but after seeing the way Felix dispatched those men with a freaking shotgun, he wasn’t so sure going head to head with the guy was the way to play this situation. If Felix’s offer to help went pear shaped, he’d have to get Jenna out of there quietly. He nodded. Direct confrontation wasn’t his favorite option, anyway.
“Trust me,” Felix said, as if he could read Nick’s mind. He pulled his seatbelt on. “I’m not screwing with you.”
“Trust, huh?” Nick exhaled. “Not an easy thing to do, man.” He glanced back over his shoulder. His sister looked exhausted. Dark circles ringed her eyes.
“I know.” Felix started the truck. “We’ll be driving for a while. Get comfortable.”
“What, you want me to take off my shoes? Prop my feet on the dash?” Nick couldn’t help the snark. Tension thrummed through him like electricity in a livewire.
Felix just smiled as he drove down the street.
“Fuck.” Nick rubbed his eyes, letting the smile slide from his face. “This situation is bullshit.” He noticed that Felix hadn’t put on his headlights, despite the darkening shadows.
“Yeah, but at least I’m not bored anymore,” Felix said a few minutes later. He’d just pulled onto the interstate, and they were headed north. His wry tone had Nick laughing out loud despite himself.
“That’s good? Not being bored?” Nick asked, thinking about his life the past few years. “I could use a little boredom right about now.” Hell, if he could retire tomorrow, he would.
“Not being bored is good,” Felix assured him, flicking on the headlights after they’d driven a few miles. “Boredom leads to sloppiness. Sloppiness leads to death.”
“You sound like a pessimistic Yoda,” Nick said. He shook his head and twisted around. His sister was out, head lolling to the side with the rhythm of the vehicle. He looked out the rear window, watching the other cars on the road. “I don’t see anyone tailing us. Good call with the lights, earlier.”
“I would’ve taken a different route if we’d been tailed,” Felix said, giving him a sardonic look. “This isn’t my first rodeo.”
No shit. As if that weren’t completely obvious, Nick thought, but he didn’t say it out loud. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the nitty gritty details of Felix’s profession. Bullshit. You already know he’s not an upstanding citizen, a little voice in the back of his head whispered. The image of the bodies on the floor of his rental house floated to the front of his skull. He wasn’t squeamish, but damn. That was a lot of carnage. “Why the shotgun?” he asked, before he could wrestle his curiosity into silence.
Felix glanced at him, and then shrugged. “It’s a very common weapon. Everyone and their mother has a shotgun, especially in this area.” He checked his rearview mirror, then slowly sped up, shifting into the fast lane of the interstate. “Bears, you know.”
“Bears,” Nick repeated, then he laughed out loud. Felix had a point. North Jersey h
ad one of the highest black bear densities in the country. “There’s no way they’re going to think a bear broke into the house.”
“Doesn’t matter. The cops won’t be able to trace anything. There are a million and one Remington Wingmasters just in the Mid-Atlantic states. No one is going to be able to track the shotgun I used in your house to us.”
Nick nodded reluctantly. Felix knew his shit. They drove in silence for the next few hours, and then Felix took an exit that led into the Catskills. Rolling mountain roads gave way to a dirt track.
Feels like the forest just swallowed us whole, Nick thought, squinting as he tried to see through the trees on either side.
“Don’t even bother. There are thousands of acres of nothing around us,” Felix said, once again reading Nick’s mind. “My cabin isn’t much further.”
“You’d better not be a serial killer,” Nick joked, feeling the exhaustion of the day and the fight finally catching up to him. Even if he is a killer, I’m not sure I care. I just want a place to fucking sleep at this point.
Felix turned an expressionless face to him. “Depends on the definition of serial.”
Nick stared at him, and then his lips twitched into a grin as he caught the almost invisible smirk in Felix’s gaze. “Ha. Funny.” The man is a contract killer, you idiot. Technically, that could be defined as being a serial killer, he thought, amused.
“I get your worry. You can’t be too picky about your friends,” Felix said, smiling.
Nick shook his head. “I’m not that picky. As long as you brush your teeth regularly, wear deodorant, and don’t fart inside a nice restaurant, I’m good.” He saw Felix’s surprise, and smiled wider. “And I’m too fucking tired to fake being straight any longer.” He sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Damn. I need sleep.”
“I already knew you weren’t straight,” Felix said, slowing the truck. He turned onto an almost not-there path, and Nick gripped the oh-shit bar above the window so he wouldn’t get thrown off the seat. “What are you faking?”
“Clearly, not much,” Nick muttered, feeling almost punch drunk with weariness at this point. He didn’t care if flirting made Felix uncomfortable. His don’t-tease-the-straight-boys rule was long gone—buried under his fuck-it, you-only-live-once exhaustion. “What about you, then? Do you know you’re not straight?” he asked provocatively, but before Felix could answer, Jenna woke up.