I sighed, irritated that I had chosen a woman yet again that expected more. I just wasn’t equipped to deal with women. After getting kicked out of the military, there wasn’t a single fucking woman on this earth that I trusted, and that included the sexy woman in front of me. Especially not after she threw me through a fucking window.
“Look, it was fun, but it’s just sex. It’s not like I took you out on a fucking date or anything.”
“God, I had no idea you were such an asshole.”
“Hey, let’s not forget how all this shit started. It wasn’t exactly romantic.”
“You came into my room!”
“You didn’t say no,” I reminded her, feeling my temper flare. There was no fucking way I was going down this road with her. “Look, we’ll just go our separate ways. I don’t need this bullshit. If you feel so terrible about all this, I’ll just stay out of your way.”
“Fine by me,” she snarled, stomping to my door and slamming it closed behind her. I shrugged it off and laid down on my bed. I had no time for women that wanted to be dramatic. I could have understood her feeling angry if I had taken her out a few times and then kicked her ass to the curb, but that wasn’t what happened. If she was expecting me to feel all gooey and shit with her, she was looking in the wrong fucking direction.
I still felt the burn of betrayal, even three years later. Kiera and I had been serving together for nearly two years when she accused me of rape. I still didn’t understand it. I didn’t have any answers from her, any idea of why she would accuse me. I hadn’t even seen her that night, not after chow. I had made a call to my parents around the time that she had accusing me of raping her. But the phone records didn’t prove that, and I couldn’t figure out how the fuck an entire phone call could disappear.
I could still see her up on the stand, refusing to look at me as tears ran down her face. She fucking believed that I had raped her. But she knew me, and I couldn’t figure out how she had gone from trusting me with her life to thinking I could do something so terrible to her. Maybe it was someone that looked like me or had the same timber to their voice. Either way, she was adamant that it had been me. Of course, the court couldn’t prove it was me. There was no semen, no evidence whatsoever that it had been me. Still, the military just couldn’t let it go, they couldn’t let it get out that a woman had been assaulted and they weren’t convicting anyone. So, they did the next best thing for them and had me dishonorably discharged for conduct unbecoming a marine.
I still felt the pain deep inside. I wasn’t sure what was worse, being accused of rape, knowing that it came from someone that was supposed to trust me with her life, or being kicked out of the military. I had given my life to the military. I had been wounded several times, almost dying once for my country when I stepped in front of a bullet for one of my brothers. I had gotten lucky, and once I recovered, I returned to my unit to continue serving, because I felt that deeply in what I was doing. I would have died for my country, but now I was perceived as a stain on the military. I was nothing to them. All of the men and women I served with were shocked at first, but once my sentence was handed down, I was nothing to them. I tried to contact them. I wanted to explain and tell my side of things, but no one wanted to hear it. They didn’t believe me.
So, I spent the next few years trying to find work. Most places looked at me like I was a piece of shit. As soon as they ran a background check on me, I knew I was fucked. A dishonorable discharge was as good as a felony conviction to a civilian. I had gotten a few minimum wage jobs, but nothing that I could live off of. And the employers always treated me like shit. They would eventually find a reason to fire me, citing some bullshit about me being late to work or not working well with others. Eventually, I just gave up and found the underground fighting ring. It was a good way to let out the anger I felt burning deep in my gut, but it also gave me some much needed cash. And then I was living in that roach motel I called an apartment because I was too worried that the money wouldn’t keep coming in. I couldn’t afford to spend that money on a house or a nice truck, because if I had even one bad fight, I could be out of the ring for good and have no source of income.
About a year ago, I had called up an old buddy that I went to boot camp with. He had gotten out a few years back and started up a construction company. I figured that it was good, honest work, and I wasn’t above taking the shit jobs to stay above water. But, like everyone else, he knew about my DD and said he couldn’t help me out. He said he couldn’t have someone that would disgrace the uniform working for him.
That was part of the reason I was so reluctant to help Knight out. I didn’t want to make any friends that could betray me, and I didn’t want to become a part of a team that could turn on me the way my unit had. But when Knight talked about getting my life back, all I could think of was getting the respect back. I wasn’t sure I could go back into the military if Knight was able to accomplish what he was promising, but the taste of freedom in was in my mouth, like when you’re out in the desert dying for that last drink of water.
I rolled over in my bed and finally felt myself relaxing. This was one really awesome bed. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had slept in anything this comfortable. And the pillows were like sleeping on little clouds from heaven. I closed my eyes and let my worries drift off. I could think about them after I figured out this case. Hopefully I would have some sign of what to do with my life when this was over.
I whistled happily as I walked through Reed Security. Hunter had come to get me earlier after I slept in. So sue me. I hadn’t gotten such a good night of sleep in years. I felt refreshed and ready to take on any of the shit that could possibly happen today.
Blake walked out of the training center with sweat dripping down her skin and into her sports bra. And that was about the biggest scrap of material she was wearing. Her shorts barely covered her ass, which wasn’t a bad thing from where I was standing. My eyes were glued to her body as I took in her muscles and the way the sweat slickened her skin. It was so fucking sexy. She cleared her throat, glaring at me and letting me know that she wasn’t too fucking happy with the way I was eye-fucking her.
I grinned at her, happily taking in every last inch of her. “If you needed a workout, you could have come and knocked on my door.”
She walked up to me slowly, seductively, and ran her finger down my chest. My cock swelled in my pants, and I was two seconds from telling Hunter to fuck off. Her hand trailed over my cock, squeezing gently. Fuck, I groaned in excitement, but then she grasped me hard and twisted. My eyes bulged and my breath caught in my throat as she yanked me to my knees. I collapsed, unable to hold myself up, and then her knee came up, slamming into my face. I barely heard Hunter’s laughter as I laid on the floor, cradling my injured cock as she stepped over my body and walked away.
“Holy shit. What did you do to her?” Hunter laughed.
I moaned in pain and rolled over to my stomach, hoping the pressure would ease the pain in my cock. That was the second time that woman had taken out my balls, and the third time she had kicked my ass. I was beginning to think that I really wasn’t a man. It wasn’t normal for a woman to be able to do so much damage.
“Hey.” Hunter tapped me on the shoulder. “We gotta go. Meeting in ten.”
“Just leave me here,” I said pathetically, not sure that I could get up if I wanted to. Bombs could be exploding around me and the fucking roof could collapse on top of me, and still I wouldn’t fucking move. I wasn’t sure what hurt worse at this point, my cock or my ego.
“Can’t. We have to get going. If you think this is bad, just wait until Knight gets ahold of you. He’ll kick your ass just for getting hurt three fucking times in three days.”
“She nailed me in the balls,” I groaned.
“Yeah, I saw that.”
“Fuck, that hurts.”
“Yeah, I’ve been there before.” He sighed heavily and motioned forward. “Alright, let’s go.”
I slowly
pushed myself up to my knees and groaned again. I was dying. I was sure that I was dying. There was no other explanation for the pain that was coursing through me. I breathed in and out through my nose, trying to get to the point where I could move without feeling like my nut sack was being seared in half by a fucking blow torch.
“Dude,” Hunter said, leaning down. “This is fucking pathetic. Get your ass up and move.”
“She twisted my balls,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, I know, and if you don’t shake it off, she’s gonna keep doing that shit. You have to show her that you’re stronger than her. You have to prove that you can take whatever she dishes out. And frankly, at this point, that’s gonna take a lot of work. That’s three times she’s fucking kicked your ass.”
“I know,” I bit out. “I was there, remember?”
“Hey, I just thought a little reminder would help.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Hey, here she comes,” he said quickly, motioning for me to get up. I stood quicker than I should have and pasted a smile on my face, though I was pretty sure that it was pained and didn’t at all show that I was handling this. She walked down the hall, freshly dressed in a pair of black cargo pants and a white tank top. She looked fucking hot, but I didn’t dare say that to her. I didn’t need another kick to the balls.
I grinned at her as she walked past, but right when I thought she would keep going, she stopped in front of me and leaned in close. They say not to show fear, so I let her lean in, even though I was itching to run. I felt her hand brush against the front of my pants, and I swear to God, my dick crawled up into my body and my balls shriveled into raisins. They knew crazy, and this woman was crazy incarnate. Her lips curved up into a sexy smirk that had my body warring with what to do. My dick couldn’t decide if it was ready to flee the country or jump out to play.
And just as fast as she was there, she was gone, walking toward the very conference room that I had to enter. My shoulders slumped in relief and I wiped the sweat from my brow that started dripping into my eye. I jumped as Hunter’s hand slapped down on my shoulder, and turned to glare at him. He burst out laughing, taking obvious pleasure in my terror.
“Holy shit. Whatever the fuck you did, I highly recommend that you never do it again.”
“Believe me, I’m not planning to,” I muttered as I followed him to the conference room. As I limped into the conference room, Knight’s irritated glare hooked on me and then down to my leg.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he snapped.
I glared at the woman across the table that had a gleeful look on her face. “Nothing.”
“It doesn’t look like nothing. I swear to God, if you can’t go five minutes without getting hurt, then I can’t have you going out on a job.”
“Well, if she would quit fucking attacking me,” I snapped, realizing only too late that by admitting that she was kicking my ass was only giving her more pleasure.
Knight turned to Blake and raised an eyebrow.
“What? If he wasn’t such an asshole, I wouldn’t have to keep treating him like the dog he is.”
“Christ,” Knight muttered. “This is about fucking?”
“Hey, all I did was look at her. She’s programmed to fucking hate me,” I said.
“And you’re programmed to be an asshole,” she snapped.
“Children, can we please put aside our petty differences and get to work?” Cap asked.
I glared at her one last time for good measure and she stuck out her tongue at me, which for some reason pissed me off even more than her twisting my balls. I was really beginning to hate this woman, but I wanted to fuck her into the floor at the same time. I would take my cock and strangle her with it just so I could see those pretty eyes widen in terror as I shoved it down her throat.
“Dude, you’re fucking growling at her,” Hunter whispered, kicking me under the table.
“That’s because she’s the devil,” I muttered, never taking my eyes off Blake. At first, I just thought that she was hot and deadly. Now I was pretty sure that she was the devil in disguise, sent here to torment me with her sexy body and her pussy that I could still feel wrapped around my cock, while she kicked my ass. I clenched my fist and bit down on my knuckles to keep from leaping across the table and strangling her. Or kissing her. Or fucking her.
“Okay,” Hunter said slowly, clearing his throat. “Anyway, I think we should get down to business. Knight, what do you have for us?”
“I’ve gotten the two of you into the facility as Mr. and Mrs. Gregson.” He slid some documents across the table to both of us, smirking as we opened them.
“Dick? You named me Dick?” I asked incredulously.
“Well, you are one,” Blake smirked. She glanced down at her own paperwork and then shot an evil look to Knight. “Virginia?”
“It makes you sound pure,” Knight smirked.
“Bullshit,” I coughed into my hand, ignoring the look she shot my way. If she was a virgin, then I was a monkey’s uncle. Maybe she was a virginal witch, sent here to curse all men and toss us into volcanos to save her race. It was the opposite of Joe vs. The Volcano. And I was the sacrificial man.
“The two of you are going into the facility for fertility testing. Once inside, I need you to insert this,” Knight said, holding up a flash drive looking thing, “into a computer.”
“Any computer?” I questioned.
“Any computer. It may not tell me what I want to know, but that’s only part of your job. While you’re there, you’ll need to take a little detour through the facility. With a company that big, there’s going to be an IT room. I need to know how many guards there are, shift changes, security features, basically anything we need to know to get into the facility. I have these cameras,” Again, he held up a small object between two fingers, “that you’ll need to plant around the facility. Once the cameras are planted and I have access to a computer, I can start hacking my way in and figuring out how to get into that IT room and get the information we need. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” I said, raising my hand. “This sounds like a simple in and out job. Why do you need me and the she-devil?”
“I’m trying to keep Reed Security out of this,” Knight said.
I glanced at Cap and then Hunter. “You do realize that we’re sitting in the Reed Security facility and two other employees are in the room, listening to us plot.”
“This is off the books. You’re being paid by me. Where we meet is of little consequence because no court would be able to prove that we met here. Reed Security is in no way attached to breaking into this facility. Am I clear?”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you scared that we’re going to be captured and interrogated by a bioengineering company? Geez, I get it. Reed Security isn’t involved.”
“You need to go meet Rob in the IT room. He’s gathering the documents you’ll need for the facility, along with your extensive profiles for your characters. One of the ladies is bringing the clothes that you’ll need to look the part. Any questions?”
I shook my head and glanced at Blake. “Medusa?”
Chapter Fifteen
Blake
“Medusa?”
His smirk really grated on me. How could I have ever thought he was so hot? He was an emotionally unavailable prick, and while I wasn’t expecting roses and wine from him, would it really have been so bad to not get kicked out after I gave him a blow job? I gritted my teeth as I tried my best not to jump across the table and kick his ass again.
“Why would I have any issues, Cassanova?”
His jaw hardened and the pencil in his hand suddenly snapped. With the flare of his eyes, I knew I had hit my mark. I grinned victoriously, barely restraining myself from standing up and doing a ‘suck it’ dance that was playing through my mind.
“Well, while it’s really fun to sit here and watch you hate fuck each other with your eyes, I have more important things to do,” Hunter said, rising from his seat.
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“Why are you here if you’re not going to be helping on this job?” I asked curiously.
“Because Knight gets into trouble, and call me crazy, but I don’t want to be the one that has to tell Kate that he’s disappeared.” He shot a pointed look at Knight.
“So, you’re his protector or something?”
“Let’s just say I’m watching his back to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. But hey, if you decide to push Parker through another window or knock him out again, I’ll gladly come and help out.”
I grinned as he fist bumped me and left the room with an icy glare from Parker.
“Are you two sure you can pull this off?” Knight asked.
“Why? Because she looks like she always wants to rip off my balls?” Parker asked.
“Hey, I can be professional. Just keep your bedroom eyes off me and we’ll be fine.”
“I don’t have bedroom eyes. You were walking around in workout gear that could hardly be labeled clothing, and then you’re offended when I look? If you don’t want the attention, put on some fucking clothes,” he snapped.
“Oh, I don’t mind you looking,” I said sweetly. “I like knowing that you’re drooling over my body with zero chance of ever touching me again.”
Cap sighed, leaning back in his seat. “Maybe we should send in one of our teams. At least Florrie and Alec could pull off the loving couple routine.”
“I’m not involving the company,” Knight bit out. “Not unless we have to. Besides, Florrie’s already showing. It’s not believable that they’re going for fertility testing.”
“Lola and Ryan then,” Cap suggested. “Hell, we’ll have Burg dress up as a woman if it means that we can pull off this job without two people killing each other.”
“We can do this,” I snapped, not liking that someone was doubting my ability to do a job. “Just because I hate him in here doesn’t mean that I can’t go out on a job with him and do what’s needed. Trust me, I’ve spent my entire career working with assholes. One more isn’t going to make me lose my shit on a job.”
Parker: A Reed Security Romance Page 12