by Erin M. Leaf
“What?” Bradley asked, eyes wild.
“Pity you don’t know shit,” Mick said, plunging the knife into his neck. He held the bastard’s gaze until his eyes went blank. Then he stood up, shaking the blood off his hands. He hadn’t killed many men in his life, mostly because he enjoyed it too fucking much, and no thief could afford that kind of addiction. This guy though, yeah. This guy deserved it. No one hurts my sister and gets away with it. He let himself revel in the satisfaction of the kill for a moment, then glanced up.
“Oh God, no, shit—” Marcus blubbered.
Mick looked at Knox and saw an answering hunger in his gaze. Knox had enjoyed watching him cut Bradley. Shit. This is … really not good, he thought, and then Knox tightened his arm around Marcus’s neck.
“Where is she?” Knox asked, voice low and menacing.
Marcus went wild, shoving and kicking. Knox moved back, trying to control him, but Mick knew they wouldn’t get anything out of the guy. He shook his head. Knox nodded, then tightened his arms until Marcus’s neck cracked. Knox let go and the body slumped to the floor.
“Fuck.” Mick walked over to the sink and rinsed his hands and blade. He was still shaking. “Is Jack dead, too?” He was even more aroused now, knowing that Knox had seen him kill Bradley. You are so screwed up, he thought, wondering for the thousandth time why he didn’t feel any remorse. Or shame. I should be ashamed of myself. He felt shame for feeling this good, not because he killed a guy. No way could he ever let Aileen know what he’d done. She’d be messed up for life. He knew enough about human nature to understand that he was irrevocably damaged, but that didn’t mean he had to traumatize his sister.
“Yeah. I had to neutralize him in order to deal with the other one.” Knox cocked his head. “Don’t do this to yourself, Mick. They deserved it. They took your sister and gave her to that fucking perv. They betrayed you.”
“Yeah, I know.” Mick ran a wet hand down his face. The cool water felt good on his skin, but he was still vibrating with tension. “The trouble is, I don’t regret it. I wish I did. This thing in me that likes this shit—” He broke off, not knowing what to say to explain the monster in his head. “I’m not a good man. Not by a long shot.” He grimaced. “You maybe don’t want to hang around with me. I might infect you with this, whatever it is.” He pointed to himself.
Knox laughed. “I kill people for a living, Mick.”
“But you don’t enjoy it. Not like I do. For you, it’s just a job.”
“I do like it, and I don’t regret it, either. I have a code. I only kill bad guys. That helps.” Knox walked over and trapped Mick against the sink, arms on either side of Mick’s torso. “Don’t talk yourself into feeling shitty over them. They’re not worth it.” He kissed Mick, soft and gentle.
The sweetness of his lips almost broke Mick. His heart knocked on his ribs so hard he couldn’t breathe without trembling. “Jesus, Knox. What the hell?” Knox’s body was hard and hot against his. He put his hands on Knox’s arms, digging his fingers into the muscle. His onetime captive felt solid. Strong.
Knox smiled against his mouth. “I know you liked cutting him open. I could see it on your face. It’s okay. I liked watching you do it.” He nibbled on Mick’s bottom lip. “Blood is my favorite color.”
Mick shuddered, his erection suddenly so hard it hurt. “Fuck. That’s sick. You know it. I know it.”
Knox kissed him again, biting at his bottom lip. “So what? You’re in control of yourself. You don’t go around killing people who don’t deserve it, do you?” He bit Mick’s jaw.
Mick drew in a shaky breath. “No.”
“Then let it go. Don’t let this shit fester in your head.” Knox kissed him again, hard and ruthless this time. He tasted like cherries, of all the fucking things.
“Christ.” Mick slid his hands up and into Knox’s hair. “We deserve each other,” he muttered.
Knox answered that statement with a roll of his hips. His cock pushed against Mick’s hip like a brand.
Mick swallowed hard, then pushed him away. “I need to find my sister. I don’t have time for this.”
Knox stepped back. “You’re not going anywhere like that.” He looked pointedly down at Mick’s erection.
Mick grimaced.
Knox lifted an eyebrow, glancing around at the carnage in the kitchen, and then, suddenly, he went to his knees. His hands went to Mick’s pants.
“What the fuck?” Mick asked, startled, but then he groaned. Knox had his pants open already. His cock bounced out, hitting Knox in the chin.
“Yeah, that works for me,” Knox said, and then he opened his mouth and sucked Mick’s erection inside.
Mick entire body went rigid as soon as his cockhead hit the back of Knox’s throat. “Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.” He scrabbled at the counter at his back, fingers clumsy and stupid. “Oh Jesus, you—” He broke off when Knox swallowed. Mick groaned. “I thought you weren’t gay.”
Knox slid off. “I had an epiphany the past five months, following you around. I’m not gay. I just want you.” He swallowed Mick’s cock down again, looking up at him through absurdly long eyelashes. His dark eyes glittered with lust, and something else. Something a hell of a lot more dangerous.
That makes no sense, Mick thought, but then the pleasure of Knox’s tongue rubbing at the underside of his dick shuddered through him. Mick jammed a fist into his mouth and bit down. He would not come like some fourteen year old… Shit. He trembled, eyes going from Knox’s lips wrapped around his dick, to the blood on the floor and the bodies just beyond the kitchen table, and then back to Knox’s mouth. He was so fucking close he could taste his orgasm in his throat. Knox gripped his balls and pulled, not particularly gently, and then it was all over. Mick cried out, head going back as his dick pulsed. White-hot pleasure rushed down his spine. Knox swallowed it all, like he’d been sucking cock for years, and then he sat back on his heels and licked his lips.
“Huh.” He wiped at his mouth with a thumb and forefinger. “Tastes weird.”
Mick stared at him, knees locked so he wouldn’t go down. “Your lips are swollen.”
Knox laughed, and stood up. “Gee, I wonder why.” He crowded up against Mick. “I could get used to you in my mouth.”
Mick frowned, still mostly blissed out and therefore confused. “What?”
Knox undid his pants. Before Mick could figure out what the hell was happening, Knox was stripping his own cock, fast and rough. “Fuck, you look good. You smell good. Christ.” He leaned his head on Mick’s shoulder. The back of his hand knocked against Mick’s still-too-sensitive dick, making him twitch.
“Let me,” he said, trying to push Knox’s fist away, but it was too late. Knox growled, and then strips of semen jetted out all over his hand and Mick’s half-hard junk. Mick’s dick valiantly tried to fill again. Knox sighed, then let go of his cock and slumped in against him.
“Holy hell.” Mick put his arms around Knox. “That was hot.” He felt over-stimulated and maybe just a bit confused.
Knox grunted into his neck, letting Mick take more of his weight.
Mick ignored the rapidly cooling spunk on his groin and tried to get himself to settle the fuck down. Usually an orgasm relaxed him, but not this time. His mind was revving up all over again. “I need to find my sister before that bastard hurts her.” He ran a hand up and down Knox’s back. Absently, he noted that the assassin had muscles on top of his muscles. I sure know how to pick them, he thought.
Knox sighed, standing up. “I know.”
Mick glanced at the bodies on the floor. Cleaning up the blood was going to be a major pain in the ass. “Fuck. What a mess.”
“I know a place we can dump them.” Knox hiked up his jeans and zipped the front closed after carefully tucking himself inside.
Mick watched Knox straighten his shirt. He licked his lips. “I think I need a drink.”
“No time for that. Come on.” Knox leaned past him and ran a towel under water in the sink. “Clean up.” He sl
apped the damp cloth against Mick’s abdomen. “You can drink yourself into oblivion later, after we get your sister.”
Mick caught the towel before it fell. “You’re taking all of this rather well.” He gestured at the mess in the room, then wiped his skin clean. He tossed the towel onto the counter and put himself back together. His cock twitched as he zipped up over it. Down, boy.
Knox shrugged. “I’m more upset that I can’t fucking forget you than I am about a bunch of dead bodies that don’t mean shit to me.”
Mick went still. “What are you talking about?”
Knox rolled his eyes. “Like you haven’t noticed me stalking you for the past few months? Come on. You know better than that.”
Mick nodded slowly. “Yeah.” Every time he’d looked over his shoulder he’d felt eyes on the back of his head. He’d known Knox was out there. He hadn’t tried to put a stop to it, either. And what does that say about me?
“Stop obsessing.” Knox grabbed Mick’s wrist and squeezed. “You did what you had to do. Now it’s time to do the rest.”
Mick looked into Knox’s dark gaze. “You know something.”
Knox smiled. It wasn’t a comforting grin. “Yeah. I do.”
Mick felt his face ease into a smirk as he let the monster that lived inside him come to the fore once again. “Okay, then. Let’s go.”
Chapter Eight
Knox merged his SUV onto the interstate, squinting against the oncoming headlights that glared into the windshield. Motherfucking truckers, he thought as he swerved slightly to the right. An eighteen-wheeler nearly clipped the side of the car as it whizzed past. The last thing he needed was to end up a statistic on the side of the road. Not now. Not when he had a reason to keep driving, for the first time in his life. He pressed a palm against the scars on his chest. He liked the way they split into pieces the tattoo his father had forced on him.
“Where to next?” Mick asked.
Knox glanced over at his lover. “DiLorenzo’s place. Where else?” They’d dumped the bodies where Knox knew no one would ever find them. Probably the bears’ll pick the bones clean before anyone even thinks to look for those losers.
“And where is that, exactly? His Green Street place is a bust.” Mick ran his hands down his jeans. A streak of dirt marred the right knee. “And also, there are only two of us, Knox. I’m not liking the odds. DiLorenzo probably has an army surrounding him.”
Knox laughed. “Nope. You picked off all his best guys already.” He let his lips curl. “Or rather, you set them up and then DiLorenzo removed them for you.” He eased into the passing lane and sped up a little. It was already past midnight and he wanted to get this shit done and over with. God knew what that bastard had already done to Aileen. “And nobody wants to work for him anymore, on account of his killing off his own people. Stupid fuck. That kind of shit is bad for business.”
Mick snorted. “Well, that’s kind of what I was going for, when I set them all up.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Jesus, I hate that asshole.”
“He’ll get what’s coming to him.” Knox eased back into the slow lane once he’d passed the truck going up the hill. No sense in getting a ticket now. “We’re not far from his secret hidey-hole.”
Mick angled his body towards Knox. “We’re in the middle of nowhere.” He frowned. “Well, as nowhere as you can get in New Jersey.”
“He’s got a house on the lake.” Knox pointed to the glove box. “And he’s got a serious problem with his security. Open it up. I put a surprise in there for you.”
Mick unlatched the small compartment and pulled out the baggie with the key card Knox had stashed inside earlier that day. “What’s this?”
“Access to DiLorenzo’s compound.”
Mick whistled. “How in the hell did you get your hands on this?”
Knox smiled. “I have my ways.” He’d tell Mick if the thief pressed him, but he hoped he didn’t. Frank liked his privacy, and Knox wanted to keep it that way. Frank had shown up at his door the morning after their little talk and given him the card. “I got this late last night, after you left. Take the fucker down,” he’d said. Knox had promised him he would.
“I won’t ask,” Mick said after a long pause.
Knox nodded. Smart guy. He knows how this shit works. That was the biggest compliment Knox could pay someone, but then, he’d figured out that Mick was a sharp one months ago, when he’d slipped Knox’s tail over and over again.
“I leaked DiLorenzo’s schedules and his lovely little blackmail side business to the FBI,” Mick said casually. “And then I emailed DiLorenzo and told him about it.”
Knox froze. Well, shit. “You’ve got steel balls, that’s for sure,” he muttered. No wonder DiLorenzo snatched Aileen. He’s probably losing his fucking mind by now over this. “I found out about DiLorenzo’s blackmail scheme, by the way. My source had it all laid out in a pretty little spreadsheet. I already knew about the trafficking.”
“They’re going to nail him to the wall.” Mick took the keycard out of the plastic bag and put it in his pocket.
“No, they’re not.” Knox gripped the steering wheel so hard it creaked. “Because DiLorenzo is going to be dead soon.” And after that, I’m going to keep Mick too busy to fuck around with the fucking government and their pet drug dealers.
“He had a bunch of politicians in his pocket.” Mick offered this tidbit of information as if he expected Knox to be surprised. He wasn’t.
“Jesus Christ, Mick. You think the FBI is clean? You think our government doesn’t know about the shit that’s goes on behind the scenes?” He glared at the road, barely seeing the white passing lines flashing beneath the car. “They know. They all fucking know. That’s how this shit works. They pay assholes like DiLorenzo to keep everyone in line. And then the politicians pay other assholes to keep the FBI in line. It’s a circle jerk, Mick. Everyone’s got their dicks out and in dirty hands.”
Mick shoved the glove box closed. “So what if it is some giant clusterfuck? That raving lunatic has my sister. He killed my aunt. The end.”
Knox nodded. “Yeah. And he’s going down for that. But don’t expect miracles to happen. Someone else will replace him.”
“I don’t give a damn about someone else.” Mick laughed bitterly. “Do I look like a fairy godmother to you? My mother and stepfather were murdered right in front of me when I was fifteen. I know how fucked up the world is, believe me, and I’m not trying to fix it.” He adjusted his seatbelt. “But I won’t let Aileen be used as some pawn in that sick fuck’s game.”
Well, that explains a few things, Knox thought. “Fine. As long as we’re clear about our objective.”
“I just want to get my sister back.” Mick let out an explosive sigh. “And I would like to flay DiLorenzo alive, but I’ll settle for him being extremely dead within the next twenty-four hours.”
And there’s our exit. Knox slowed the car down and eased off the highway. “Well aren’t you lucky, Mick. Dead is what I’m good at.”
Twenty tense minutes later, Knox rolled the SUV to a stop at the bottom of a wooded hill. “This is as close as I can get without anyone noticing and coming to investigate the car.”
Mick undid his seatbelt. “I usually like to do research before I break in somewhere, but I guess we’ll have to improvise.” He checked his knives, then rolled his shoulders. “How exciting. It’ll be like when I first started out in the business. What a rush.”
“Fucking hell,” Knox muttered, eyeing his lover’s jitters. “Try not to go crazy.”
Mick smirked. “Define crazy.”
Ignoring that remark, Knox got out of the car and stretched the kinks out of his spine. “I have a spare piece in the back, if you want it.”
Mick shook his head as he flowed out of the passenger’s seat, graceful as only a thief could be. “No thanks. I’m fine with my blades.”
“Silent but deadly,” Knox said. “I thought I smelled something gross.”
Mick blinked
, then laughed. “You made a joke.”
“No.” Knox bit back a smile. “I don’t make jokes.”
“You did. Asshole.” Mick eased the door shut. “Do we have a plan?”
“Break in. Save your sister. Kill DiLorenzo. Maybe set something on fire. The end.”
Mick chuckled. “I like it.”
Knox closed and locked the vehicle, and then joined Mick on the road. “There’s a trail that leads to the perimeter. There.” He pointed.
“Oh joy. Tromping through the woods in the dark. Sounds like a recipe for a broken ankle.” Mick checked his knives again, clearly a nervous tic, and then he started forward. “Let’s get to it. The night isn’t getting any younger.”
Knox followed him into the trees, going slowly until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. “DiLorenzo doesn’t have a fence. He usually relies on men to do security, but for some reason he’s shorthanded these days. I have no idea why that would be.”
Mick flashed him a smile. “What a shame.”
He smiles like a shark. I like it. Knox grinned. “Isn’t it though?”
Ten minutes later they ran into their first guard right where the tree line ended and a pristine lawn began. Mick had the man on the ground and bleeding out from a hole in his neck before Knox could do anything. He’s fast, ruthless, and deadly. Just my type. He glanced around wondering if he’d get to kill anyone or if Mick was going to take out everybody singlehandedly. “Do you always go for the jugular?”
Mick gave him a look that said stop-fucking-around asking dumb questions.
Knox smiled, then motioned him towards the back of the mansion. Instead of replying verbally, Mick obediently headed along the trees, keeping to the shadows. He paused when they came to the pool area. “He probably has security cameras,” Mick said quietly. He pointed to the corner of a shed. “Yup. I count three covering this side of the house.”
“Is there a blind spot?” Knox asked.
Mick squinted into the clearing, then lifted an eyebrow. “I’ll be damned. There is. Sloppy.” He made a face. “I’m disappointed.”