by Erin M. Leaf
Felix snorted. “No. I went just fucking right.” He may not have ever done this with a man before, but it wasn’t fucking rocket science. He knew what he was doing. “Hold on.”
Nick grabbed the edge of the counter. “Come on, Felix. I’m not a goddamn porcelain doll. Do it.”
Felix exhaled, and then he grabbed Nick’s hips and began fucking him in earnest. He adjusted his angle until he felt Nick’s muscles seize up. That’s the spot, he thought, grinning. “I’m going to make you come, Nick, just from this.” He fucked harder. “And you’re not going to touch yourself. You’re going to just take it. You’re going to take me so fucking deep you’ll be able to taste me on the back of your throat.”
Nick didn’t speak as he hung onto the counter. A fine sheen of sweat slicked his back, and Felix felt his own body heat up as Nick’s hole tightened around his dick. He moved faster and faster, until he couldn’t keep track of anything: all that mattered was fucking Nick hard enough to make them both forget their names. He shoved in, going up on his toes, and then finally Nick cried out. “God!”
Felix bared his teeth in a hard grin as Nick’s spine bowed. Warm jets of cum coated the counter beneath them, and he hammered into Nick faster, holding his hips so tightly he knew he’d leave finger-shaped bruises. Nick’s asshole squeezed him again, and then again, and then it was all over. Pleasure shot through Felix like a fucking freight train. His hips jerked hard, slapping into Nick’s ass so roughly he worried he’d hurt the younger man, but when Nick grunted, pushing back to meet him, he knew he could let go. His climax raced through his body, and he leaned his head down on Nick’s back, almost crying with the intensity of it.
A long time later, his softening cock slowly slipped out and Felix forced himself to step back on shaky legs. He didn’t want to let go, but Nick had put his head down on his arms on the counter, and snuggling while standing up was just not an option. Snuggling at all is not an option, Felix reminded himself, but then he looked down and saw his jizz leaking from Nick’s ass. Slowly fading handprints marred Nick’s hips. “Fuck,” he muttered as his cock gave one last twitch. Satisfaction and something stronger, more primal, swept through him at the sight. He liked that he’d marked Nick up. He liked his fucking cum dripping out of Nick’s ass. “Fuck,” he said again, not entirely sure where the hell his head was going. He took a deep breath, trying to gather some semblance of control.
Nick snorted as if he knew exactly what Felix was thinking. “Yeah. That was … huh. Something.” He stood up and cracked his neck. When he turned around, Felix reached out. Nick pulled him in and gave him a tight hug, not seeming the least bit surprised at Felix’s desire for connection. “Jesus Christ, Felix. What the fuck was that?”
Felix closed his eyes and held on. He knew exactly what Nick was asking, and he had no answer. He just knew he was totally, completely fucked.
****
Several hours later, Nick stared at the steady rise and fall of Felix’s back from his side of the bed. The man breathed deep and easy, but Nick knew he wasn’t asleep. “We could do jobs together. Didn’t Zero say something about you being tired of your career?”
After a long, silent moment, Felix sighed and rolled over. “It’s frigging two AM. Do you really want to have this conversation right now?” He rubbed his eyes tiredly, and shoved the covers down to his waist. “Shit, we should have pulled the shades down.”
Nick made a face. “I can’t sleep either.” The light from the full moon shone down into the bedroom. It was bright enough to read. Bright enough to keep him awake. Yeah, that’s why I’m tossing and turning. The moon, he thought sarcastically. And it has nothing to do with my sudden and stupid interest in staying with Felix after we take care of removing Quincy Edwards from the face of the Earth.
“I thought you were only sticking around for your sister,” Felix said, scratching a hand through his short beard. His eyes told Nick he knew exactly what direction this discussion was headed, and he didn’t like it.
Nick let his gaze move from Felix’s face to his insanely muscular torso. The man was built for brawling. And fucking, he thought, flushing as his body remembered with it was like to have Felix looming over him. Pressing into him. He’d never in his life enjoyed a fuck that much. No man had ever been strong enough to hold him down before.
“Not too many jobs for a thief in rural Jersey, you know,” Felix continued as if Nick hadn’t just been chasing that same damn thought in a mental loop inside his brain over the past few hours.
“North Jersey isn’t the back of beyond. My rental is only an hour or so from the city.” Nick pointed out after he forced his brain to think about what Felix was saying and not what he looked like.
Felix exhaled. “What are you really asking me, Nick?”
Nick pursed his lips. “Just saying I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you some more.” He lifted a shoulder. “You know what I do for a living. I know what you do. It’s nice not having to lie and explain away the hours I spend doing jobs at night. I like that freedom.”
“Freedom?” Felix eyed him, then put his arms behind his head. “You’re talking about dating,” he said flatly. “That’s the opposite of freedom. And I thought you didn’t date. Didn’t have the time, or something.”
He sees right through me. Nick shrugged. “I could change my mind. Try dating, or whatever you want to call it.” He schooled his face to blankness. No way was he going to let on the way his heart pounded against his ribs right now. “You seem cool with the gay thing, so…” He trailed off.
Felix rolled over on top of Nick. “I’d planned on heading out west after this last job.”
Nick shuddered as Felix’s warm, nude body slid across his. “Heading out?”
“Across country. I want to build another cabin in Oregon. Or maybe Washington.” His lips quirked. “The state, not the capitol.” Felix rolled his hips, grinding his erection into Nick’s junk.
Nick’s cock rapidly hardened. “Jesus, Felix. I can’t think straight when you do that.”
Felix smirked. “You’ve never been able to think straight, from what I can see. You’ve been a homo your whole life.”
Nick groaned. “That was bad. No more puns from you.” He grabbed Felix’s ass and pushed up into him. “Fuck. You feel good.”
Felix kissed him, hot and slow and filthy. By the time he lifted his head, Nick couldn’t remember his own name, let alone focus on what they’d been talking about. “You bastard. You’re trying to distract me.”
“Is it working?” Felix’s hips moved in a slow grind.
Nick swallowed, hard. “Yeah.”
“Good.” Felix dipped his head down again and bit into Nick’s neck.
“Fuck. What are you, a vampire?” Nick rolled them until he was on top. He wanted Felix to fuck him again. Hell. If he takes off for the west coast, I’m fucking following him. He’s too damned hot for me to let him get away.
“You think too much,” Felix said, hand suddenly on Nick’s cock.
“Says the man who insisted we not go storming into Edwards’s bolthole because we needed to approach the situation more carefully,” Nick managed to gasp out. He thrust his cock into Felix’s perfect grip half a dozen times before he got control of himself. He pushed Felix’s hand away. “Stop, or I’m going to come all over you.”
“That’s kind of the point,” Felix said.
Nick scowled, and lifted up. He took Felix’s erection in hand and positioned it at his hole. Felix went still. “Yeah. You’re starting to see my point, aren’t you?” He slowly lowered himself down, not caring that he hadn’t prepped at all. His ass was still loose and slick from earlier, and Felix’s dick slid right in with only a little bit of an ache. “Admit it. We make a good team.” Nick exhaled, enjoyed the feeling of fullness. In this position, Felix’s cock was hitting right on his prostate. He lifted up slightly, and then waited, watching Felix’s face.
“I’m not used to having a partner,” Felix said, voice breaking as Nic
k screwed himself down very slowly.
Nick bared his teeth. “It’s too late for regrets. If you move across the country, I’m fucking following you.” He moved up and down, gritting his teeth. He was so fucking close, and they hadn’t even done anything vigorous. In a moment of clarity, he realized that this was what he’d been looking for all along, even when he hadn’t known he’d been searching. “Jesus.” His hair dampened as pleasure curled through him. “What the hell are we doing?”
“You’re asking me?” Felix started thrusting. All Nick could do was hang on. “I wasn’t in the market for a boyfriend.”
Nick choked on a laugh. “Because you thought you were straight, you dumb motherfucker.” And Nick didn’t know how the hell Felix had ever believed that. No straight man ever fucked another dude like this. The kissing is what really gives it away.
Instead of answering, Felix closed his eyes and arched his back. Veins stood out in his neck. Nick frowned, gripping Felix’s arms. “Don’t do that. Fucking look at me while you’re balls deep in my ass.”
Felix opened his eyes.
Nick’s breathing hitched. The intensity of Felix’s arousal seared Nick to the bone. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t imagine his life without this anymore, even though he’d only known Felix for a few short days. “I’m right here, Felix. This is you and me.”
“I know,” Felix said, hips moving faster. “Don’t you think I fucking know?”
“Don’t you fucking forget it,” Nick gasped, even as his climax abruptly pushed through him. His cock jerked, and hot spunk coated Felix’s chest, and then his chin. Nick shuddered, riding out the pleasure. Felix clenched his teeth and thrust up one last time, and then he, too, let go. His gaze never left Nick’s as his hips pushed up, screwing hard. Warmth spread inside Nick, and he didn’t regret barebacking a bit. He wanted this connection.
“Jesus Christ,” Felix moaned, hips still jerking. He held onto Nick’s hips with the strength of a maniac.
“Yeah. Fuck me hard.” Nick tightened his fingers around Felix’s biceps in return. The slight sting of the stitches from his gunshot wound pulling at his skin barely registered. He stared into Felix’s eyes until he knew that the other man would never, ever forget this moment. “This is it, Felix. This kind of shit happens once in a lifetime, if that, and you know it.”
Felix slowly unclenched his fingers and relaxed onto the mattress. He didn’t speak, but his eyes said volumes.
Nick waited for Felix to say something, but when he didn’t, he finally let go and rolled to the side. He sensed Felix’s bone-deep exhaustion, but also his worry. “Don’t sweat it.” He put a hand on Felix’s shoulder. “It’s not like I’m going to do something stupid.”
“Too late.” Felix snorted. “We are so fucked. You know that, right? This…” He waved at them twisted up together on the bed with a free hand. “Is a liability.”
After a moment, Nick shrugged. “So what? I like to live dangerously.”
“I kill people for a living, Nick. I can’t afford liabilities.”
“Uh-huh. You do know who you’re talking to, right?” Nick laughed. “I’m a thief, Felix. I’m used to living on the edge of disaster.”
Felix sighed.
Nick rolled into him, snaking an arm around his waist. “Anyway, you’re going to retire, right after we find Quincy and make him pay for terrorizing my sister.”
“You seem very sure of that,” Felix said, voice low.
Nick stared out the window. The moon had finally slipped below the tree line, plunging the room in darkness. “I have good instincts.” He very carefully did not mention to Felix that those good instincts of his were telling him that his sister wasn’t safe right now. There wasn’t anything else they could do, and he knew it, but he hated leaving her at Zero’s. The guy had insane security, and had been in business for decades, but still … Jenna was his sister. He couldn’t help but worry.
And maybe that’s what Felix means by liability, Nick thought, even as sleep dragged him down into the night.
Chapter Ten
Felix watched Nick from the corner of his eye. The younger man frowned at the highway, and Felix increased their speed. The day had dawned warm and sunny, but the clear blue skies didn’t at all calm Nick down. He’d woken up this morning with one goal in mind, and he’d made sure Felix knew about it. Nick was worried about his sister. Strangely, Felix understood that.
If anything happened to Nick, I’d be more than fucking upset. I’d be enraged, he admitted, wondering how the hell he’d managed to fall in love with a man in the space of a few days. He shook his head, alternately pissed at himself, and amazed. After his mother died, and he’d left home, his emotions had sort of flattened out. Nothing jarred him—not boot camp, not sniper school, not his service overseas. His career as an assassin had been one of calculation, not excitement. As the years passed, he’d begun to believe himself incapable of stronger emotion, but not anymore. Nick had shown up in his life and all of his preconceived notions about attachment had been thrown into a dumpster and set on fire.
“Why didn’t Zero respond this morning?” Nick asked, for the third time.
“I don’t know.” Felix took the next exit, and headed for the warehouse. He’d known Zero for decades, and it wasn’t like the man to ignore his texts, particularly given how few he sent. Zero wasn’t generally awake this early, but he had to know that this situation was a special case. For all his talk of it, Felix didn’t call in favors. He especially didn’t show up at his old friend’s hidden apartment bunker with a girl and her brother, asking for help. He glanced at Nick. His blond hair had slipped across his face, and Nick shoved it back impatiently. Worry etched lines into his forehead.
“We’ll be there soon,” Felix said, trying to soothe him. Clearly, he sucked at it, because Nick gave him a look that spoke volumes. “I’m driving as fast as I can. If I go any faster, some random cop with a quota to fill is going to pull us over,” Felix added.
“Yeah, yeah. I know,” Nick muttered, staring out the window. He fingered the knife strapped to his arm.
Felix suppressed a sigh as he took the exit they needed to get to Zero’s place. After another tense half hour of driving, he pulled up and parked in the alley. “Looks fine,” he said, knowing even as the words left his mouth that the relative calm of the place meant nothing.
Nick tossed him a disgusted look as he got out of the truck. Felix shook his head. He deserved that. He followed Nick to the door.
“Shit.” Nick was staring at the ground. A smear of old blood decorated the crumbled cement of the stoop.
“Doesn’t necessarily mean anything. It’s old,” Felix pointed out, shoving open the door. The darkness of the warehouse felt good after the bright daylight. He edged inside, keeping his back to the wall.
“It wasn’t there yesterday,” Nick said softly, following him inside. “It’s not that old.”
Felix didn’t reply. Something about the warehouse felt wrong. He headed for the hall on the far side the space, taking care to muffle his footsteps. When he reached the door, he frowned. It wasn’t like Zero to leave it even slightly ajar. He drew his Glock, holding it down by his thigh. He had no intention of going off half-cocked and running into the corridor shooting like a villain from a shitty suspense novel. He’d been a killer for years. He didn’t make messes. He didn’t make any drama, if he could help it. Quick and clean was his motto. A soft sound from Nick had him freezing in his tracks. “What?” he asked softly.
“The door,” Nick said, just as quietly.
Felix looked. Bloody fingerprints marred the edges. “Fuck.” He moved forward as the hair on the back of his neck prickled. When Nick tried to rush past him, he grabbed him and shoved him back. “Stay behind me.” He glared at his lover until Nick nodded, short and sharp. The man wasn’t happy about it, but Felix didn’t care. This was what he did. Nick might be an excellent thief, but he wasn’t a killer. Well, at least not like I am, Felix amended. He knew damn we
ll Nick could take someone out if necessary, but he wasn’t a contract assassin like Felix.
He slid inside Zero’s door, pausing to let his eyes adjust. Every light in the place was on, blazing down on a scene straight out of a fucking disaster movie. Furniture lay on its side. Broken glass littered the floor. Felix’s glanced over the place, absently registering the damage to Zero’s favorite painting, and then his gaze locked onto the small foot sticking out from behind the sofa. He walked forward, crouched low to present a smaller target. His heart slammed into his ribs when he saw the tiny hole centered in Jenna’s forehead. He looked up, meeting Nick’s gaze.
“No,” Nick said, face twisting. He rushed forward, landing on his knees next to his sister. “No, no, no…”
Felix took a deep breath. He hadn’t secured the rest of the place. He put a hand on Nick’s shoulder, wishing he could do something. Nick’s pain radiated through his muscles. Felix squeezed, but he didn’t think Nick even noticed, so he stood up and headed for the bathroom. It was clear of intruders, and a total fucking mess. Blood streaked the side of the tub. He shook his head and went to the bedroom, cautiously edging inside the door.
“Took you long enough,” Zero said from the floor at the foot of the large bed. His voice sounded weak. Sticky.
Felix glanced at him, ruthlessly suppressing his emotions. He didn’t have time to have a fucking breakdown, even if Zero was his oldest friend. He looked at the closet. Blood pooled near the door. He walked closer, then sighed. The closet was empty. The apartment was safe, at least for now. He grabbed a handful of towels and hurried back to Zero. “What happened?”
“They fucking broke in, is what happened,” Zero said, coughing. Blood speckled his chin. “Made a goddamn mess.”
“Yeah. Hold still.” Felix carefully eased his friend’s hands up and away from the wound in his chest. “It missed your heart.” He was afraid to roll him and check for an exit wound. The man had lost a lot of blood.