The Nullifier

by Erin M. Leaf

  “A gas explosion?” Nick had to hand it to him: Felix knew his shit.

  “If we’re lucky, they might even think we died in the mess.” Felix pointed upstairs. “It’s a nice way to get rid of bodies. And it will be a perfect explanation for the mess in the woods. Lowlife drug dealer bites off more than he can chew when he invades rival’s bunker. The cops will love it.”

  Nick nodded. It all seemed too fucking easy. “So, how many states are we really talking about? Still fixated on the west coast?” He didn’t care how far they went, but he needed to know so he could reorganize his contacts and keep his business intact.

  “Yes.” Felix rubbed his jaw. “This place is going to be crawling with law enforcement in a week or so. I’m thinking about Oregon.”

  Nick raised his eyebrows. “You sure about that?”

  “We’ll check in with Zero, first. Maybe give it a few days, but yeah. I’m sure.” Felix walked closer. “Are you having second thoughts?”

  “Fuck, no.” Nick stood his ground. Felix walked right up to him, looking like sex and danger and bad news. And if there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s a man with those qualities. “I told you. If you try to leave without me, I’ll stalk you.”

  Felix smiled. “You may regret this.”

  “That’s not your problem,” Nick replied.

  Felix reached out, then gently brushed Nick’s hair out of his eyes.

  Nick held still. The look on Felix’s face worried him.

  “This is your last chance to back out.” Felix slowly and deliberately tightened his fingers in Nick’s hair until he couldn’t move his head. “I’m not in the mood for games.”

  Astonishingly, Nick’s cock hardened again. “What makes you think I’m playing?” he whispered, not even trying to fight Felix’s grip. He could break free, but it would hurt. Maybe that was symbolism for their entire fucking relationship. He smirked.

  “It would be so easy to fucking kill you,” Felix murmured, leaning in as if to kiss him.

  “And I’d kill you right back.” Nick’s hand twitched, and the blade he kept at his wrist popped into his hand. He pressed it right up against Felix’s heart. “You don’t scare me.”

  Felix inhaled sharply. “Fuck.”

  Nick smiled and leaned in, capturing Felix’s mouth in a soft kiss. “Admit it. We’re perfect for each other.”

  Felix groaned, releasing his grip on Nick’s head. “I guess so.” He pressed closer, until the tip of Nick’s blade bit through his clothes.

  Nick eased up the pressure, not wanting to actually cut his lover. Felix fought him, pushing in harder.

  “Jesus, Christ, what the fuck are you doing, Felix?” Nick couldn’t believe how aroused he was. Hadn’t they just gotten done fucking?

  “Give me your knife,” Felix said.

  Nick frowned, but Felix let him go. “Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  Nick pressed his lips together, but he offered his right hand. His blade sat on his palm: slim, sharp, deadly.

  Felix deftly plucked the blade out of his hand. “Give me your hand.”

  “So fucking pushy,” Nick said, scowling.

  “Just do it.”

  Nick sighed, then raised his left arm and aligned it with Felix’s, wrist facing up. He had an inkling of what Felix intended, but he couldn’t be sure. He glanced at Felix’s expression, but nothing on his face explained what he meant to do. I don’t have to do this, Nick told himself, but then Felix spoke.

  “Good. Hold still.”

  Nick opened his mouth, about to protest, but then his lover slashed down with the knife. “Fuck!” Pain slammed into him. “That fucking hurt, Felix,” Nick said. Before he could snatch back his arm, Felix had grabbed him.

  “It won’t kill you.” Felix was turning his arm, pressing the shallow wounds he’d made together. “Blood to blood.” He gripped Nick’s arm right below the elbow.

  Nick licked his lips as he slowly let his fingers tighten around Felix’s arm. His heart felt like it was going to jump right the fuck out of his chest. The cut on his forearm stung, especially with Felix grinding his own wound against it. If he’d ever had any doubts about Felix, they’d completely disappeared. No one does this kind of shit anymore, he thought, staring down at their arms. Blood trickled out from beneath where they were pressed together.

  “Blood to blood, Nick,” Felix repeated intently.

  Nick looked up. Felix’s hazel eyes bored into his. A thousand and one questions clamored into the front of his brain, but Nick ignored them all. The only thing that mattered was Felix, standing here waiting for him to reply. “Blood to blood, Felix,” he murmured, voice cracking. “You and me. That’s all that matters now.”

  Felix nodded, short and sharp, and then he kissed Nick, hard. “It’s done.” He released Nick’s arm, then pulled a few lengths of gauze out of his pocket. He wrapped Nick’s wound first, then did his own.

  “You planned this?” Nick asked, knowing this particular wound would scar. Felix had judged the depth perfectly. They didn’t need stitches, but it would be a bitch to heal.

  Felix lifted a shoulder. “Not quite.” He looked around his cabin. “Time to go.”

  Nick fingered the gauze as he followed Felix to the door. “You have a hell of a way of declaring commitment, Felix.”

  Felix held up his arm. “This is a lot more permanent than words will ever be.”

  Nick stared at him, and then snorted. “Good point.” Somehow, the sting of the new wound made his grief over losing his sister feel less overwhelming. It was almost as if the pain in his heart had an outlet. Maybe as it heals, I’ll somehow learn how to miss her less, he mused, fingering the gauze. “All right,” he said aloud, mentally feeling his way out of the morass of emotions roiling in his gut. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  After a short, sharp nod, Felix turned the knob and opened the door. Outside, late afternoon sunlight slanted across the clearing. It was hard to believe that just a few short hours ago the quiet woods were a scene of carnage. Nick watched the light silhouette Felix’s body. Nothing about the man screamed “killer”, but his utter competence bled throughout every one of his movements. He’d never looked more fucking hot to Nick. Felix paused, then looked back.

  “You ready?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” Nick smiled, and joined Felix on the stoop. “I’ve been ready for years.”

  Epilogue

  Six weeks later, somewhere in rural Oregon…

  “Zero says that Robert Edwards still has people watching the warehouse,” Felix said, looking up from his phone.

  Nick pushed the last floorboard into place, hammering down the corner with his fist until he was sure it was wedged in properly. “Yeah?” He ran a hand over his forehead, wiping the sweat away. Laying down a new hardwood floor was a pain in the ass, but neither of them wanted to have a troop of contractors snooping around their new place. Privacy was somewhat of a goal for a retired assassin and a thief. “Zero is living in that souped-up RV of his, right? How is he managing? He just had surgery a few weeks ago.”

  “According to Ariana, the surgery wasn’t complicated. The blood loss was the bigger concern. And Zero is in excellent shape.” Felix suddenly grinned. “As for the warehouse, Zero says it’s perfect bait. Edwards can’t seem to resist poking around in it.”

  Nick rolled his eyes. “I thought Quincy’s uncle was smarter than him, but maybe not.”

  Felix shrugged. “Not our problem.”

  “Why doesn’t Zero just kill him already? Clearly, he knows exactly where Edwards is. This seems to be taking a hell of a long time,” Nick said, frowning down at the floor. The last board was bowing a bit. He banged on it again.

  “He’s looking to take down the entire organization, not just the head guy,” Felix replied. “Again, not our problem.”

  Nick sat back on his heels. He almost wanted it to be their problem: it still pissed him off that Quincy’s uncle had helped his idiot nephew kill Je
nna. On the other hand, he’d hate to see Felix take up killing again, and he knew that Felix would never let Nick deal with Robert Edwards on his own. If he hunted Edwards down, Felix would come with him. And over the past few weeks, his lover had mellowed to the point where he even cracked a joke occasionally. Nick sighed, once again pushing his frustration away. He knew he would never really get over his sister’s death, but he was coping better these days. “Whatever happened to that guy who checked up on Zero for us in the hospital?”

  “Ariana’s son?” Felix asked. “She said he’s staying with Zero to make sure he doesn’t overdo it.”

  “Damn. He isn’t on Edwards’s radar, is he?” Nick worried that Ariana’s son was going to get fingered as one of Zero’s acquaintances. Since neither he nor Felix would have moved across the country without some way of getting real updates on Zero’s condition, they’d asked Ariana to keep tabs on him. She’d had to hand over Zero’s treatment to a surgeon. She’d asked Julian to check in on Zero, who’d still been in the hospital recovering when they’d first headed to Oregon. No one at the hospital knew that Julian was Ariana’s son, so it kept him from being noticed by any of Edwards’s thugs. No one realized that Julian knew Zero in any way other than as a delivery man for a certain excellent coffee shop near the hospital where Zero had spent a week recuperating.

  “He’s fine. No one knows anything about him in connection to Zero, although his mother says that he seems pensive these days. Whatever the fuck that means.” Felix stood up from where he was fitting in quarter-round molding, and headed over to Nick. “Looks good.”

  “Pensive, huh.” Nick grimaced, then stretched his neck out. “This is a hell of a lot of work.” He smoothed a hand over the wood he’d just installed.

  Felix shrugged. “It is what it is.”

  Nick stood up. “That was the last section, thank fuck.” He rolled his head, trying to work the kinks out of his neck. Banging down wood planks was murder on his back. “How do you know Julian is okay?”

  “Because Zero mentioned him. Again.” Felix held out his phone to Nick.

  Nick took it and read the email. “Huh. Zero seems strangely cool with Julian’s company for a man who supposedly enjoys his solitude.” He grinned. In the email, Zero detailed how impressed he was with Julian’s calm and competence.

  “Zero can use the company after all the years he’s spent holed up alone in that warehouse,” Felix said, smiling. “At least he doesn’t suspect that we had anything to do with sending Julian to him.”

  “I think there’s a bit more than mild approval in that email. Maybe some frustration, too,” Nick said, rubbing his chin. “Love is in the air.”

  Felix barked out a laugh. “Are you fucking serious?”

  Nick raised his eyebrows. “Zero is a stoic motherfucker. When was the last time he sent you an email like this?”

  Felix scowled. “Never.”

  Nick smiled. “Precisely.”

  “Why in the hell are we even discussing this?” Felix asked, unclipping his tool belt from his waist and letting it fall to the newly install floor. “Zero is a grown man. He can handle his own love life.”

  Nick smiled. “You just don’t want to talk about the L word.”

  Felix stared at him, hazel eyes narrowed.

  Nick walked up to him and cupped his cheeks. “You can’t even think about it without getting all pissed off and angry.” He leaned in and kissed him.

  Felix growled. “You are such a shit.” He grabbed Nick by the arms and wrestled him up against the wall. “You know how I feel.”

  Nick smirked. He did know, even if Felix had never said the words out loud. “You love me.”

  Felix scowled. “Shut. Up.” He punctuated his words with two hard kisses.

  Nick licked his lips. “Admit it.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Sure thing. After you say you love me,” Nick taunted, liking the way Felix’s cock grew harder the more belligerent he became. Their relationship might not be all roses and unicorns, but it worked for them. And he liked to rile Felix up. He dismissed Julian from his thoughts.

  As Felix likes to say: not my problem, and right now I have more interesting things to think about. Like how long it will take Felix to lose control.

  “You know I do.” Felix yanked at Nick’s jeans, undoing the button and zipper with little finesse.

  Nick gasped as his cock sprang out. “I know you do, and I know I do, but you’ve never said it out loud.”

  “Jesus Christ, Nick,” Felix said, wrapping a fist around Nick’s cock.

  Nick groaned, pushing his dick into the rough warmth of Felix’s palm. “I love you,” he said, just to see the flare of heat and irritation in Felix’s gaze.

  Sure enough, Felix glared at him. “If you don’t shut the fuck up—”

  “You’ll what? Not fuck me?” Nick had Felix’s shirt half off now, and he ran the tips of his fingers over his lover’s taut abdomen. “Uh huh. Thought so,” he said, when Felix didn’t reply. He dropped his head down on Felix’s shoulder and opened his lover’s pants. Felix’s erection slipped right into his hand, hot and heavy. He pressed closer, lining their cocks up together. “God, that’s fucking perfect.” He cupped them both with his hands, batting Felix’s fingers away. “I got this, lover.” He stroked them steadily, not wanting to go off too quickly, but everything felt so good, he couldn’t help speeding up. Felix smelled like sawdust and sweat and musk. Nick swallowed, hard, trying to keep from coming like a fourteen-year-old boy experiencing his first fucking hand job.

  Felix’s hips jerked as Nick twisted his thumbs over the tip of his cock. “Shit.”

  “Yeah,” Nick said, rubbing the copious amount of pre-cum all over them. “Yeah, come on, Felix. Do it. Come all over my hand, baby.”

  Felix groaned, and then he grabbed onto Nick’s shoulders so hard it hurt. His erection swelled, and then thick, hot jets of spunk coated Nick’s cock. Nick grinned, even as the heat of Felix’s pleasure tipped him over the edge, too. He shuddered as he orgasmed, then slumped against Felix, thinking of what else they could get up to that day. It was only mid-morning, after all. They could fuck on the staircase. They could make out in the kitchen. They could even say a fuck you to wearing clothes for the rest of the day, if they wanted to.

  “I love you,” Felix whispered into Nick’s shoulder.

  Nick’s thoughts fractured. “What?”

  “You heard me.” Felix leaned back, smiling faintly.

  Nick flushed. “Wow.” His heart tripped at the expression on Felix’s face. He knew how Felix felt, but hearing the words out loud stunned him. “I love you, too.”

  Felix pulled him in for a hug. “Is this what it’s like for all those people out there?”

  Nick knew Felix meant people with normal lives. People with regular jobs and spouses and children. “I have no idea,” he said, chuckling as he hugged Felix tight. “We are not normal, and we’re never going to be normal. And I don’t really give a flying fuck about being normal, either.”

  Felix laughed. “True.”

  “Let’s just be happy we met, and leave it at that,” Nick suggested when they’d finally let go of each other. He swiped at the mess on his groin halfheartedly, then gave up. He needed a shower. Looking at his lover, he grinned. So did Felix. Maybe they could fuck in the bathroom.

  Felix’s eyes twinkled. “So romantic.”

  Nick rolled his eyes. “I’m a thief, not a romance novelist. You get what you get, and you don’t get upset.”

  Felix snorted. “Come on. Let’s go clean up.” He slapped Nick on the shoulder, and headed for the stairs.

  Nick watched him walk, all contained power and skill wrapped up in a truly excellent body. He didn’t care that Felix killed people for a living. He didn’t care about their age difference. Even after all these months, he still couldn’t believe that Felix was his guy. My own, personal nullifier. He almost laughed out loud at his fucking spectacular luck. He felt like he’d pulled t
he biggest heist of his career. And all because I broke my rule about not fucking a straight guy.

  “You coming?” Felix asked, looking back at him.

  “You bet I’m coming. I’ll always come with you, Felix,” Nick replied, smirking.

  The End

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  Other Books by Erin M. Leaf:

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  BONUS SAMPLE CHAPTER

  ROCK STAR BABY

  Bad Oak Boys, 1

  Erin M. Leaf

  Copyright © 2015

  Chapter One

  “You did what?” Bardulf asked his little sister, trying to make sense of what she’d just told him. Her silky blonde hair slid over her shoulder and across her cheeks as she made a pouty face at him. Bardulf resisted the urge to tuck it behind her ears. She was sixteen now and would probably bite him if he tried it. Sometimes he forgot she was growing up. And sometimes I want to pretend she’s still that little girl with the pigtails who drove me crazy when I was a teenager. Her being grown up makes me feel old. He pushed his mug of coffee toward the center of the old wooden table. The caffeine he’d already drunk sloshed in his stomach uncomfortably.

  “Well, Dad went all Alpha on me and wouldn’t let me go to the concert, so I put your name on the prize form instead,” Faylen said, bouncing a little on her heels. “He said I didn’t have enough control of my wolf form yet to not lose it if I get excited.” She rolled her eyes. “As if I’d shift in front of humans! In an arena! Ugh. Dad can be such a fossil.” She flung herself down into the chair next to him and tossed the envelope she’d carried into the room on the table. “He’s been impossible lately. I heard him yelling at Mom this morning. Again.”