The Exit Strategy Bundle

by Jocelynn Drake

  Of course, in the bright light of the cabin, it was easier to see that Kai was still a damn handsome man even after the years that had passed since he’d last seen him. Thick, black hair and rich, tan complexion. He was of Asian descent, but Gabriel could detect no accent when he spoke. The man could be American for all he knew, while Gabriel was still teased that his own accent came off as forced British. At over six feet tall with wide shoulders, he was definitely an imposing figure, and standing near Justin didn’t make him look any smaller.

  The exchange of looks between Kai and Devlin seemed to happen in the blink of an eye, and then Kai was turning, rushing outside. Gabriel and Justin followed, but they didn’t have to go far. Kai had stopped only a few feet away from the cabin, both his hands shoved into his black hair.

  “I caught only hints of him here and there. He must have kept the boy hidden. There was never a whisper of a kid,” Kai said with his back still turned to them. “I wouldn’t have taken the damn contract…”

  “Most people wouldn’t take a contract put out on an innocent man. The best of us wouldn’t,” Justin said. “That’s why they lied.”

  “Who?” Kai demanded. He spun around and took a step toward Justin. “Do you know who issued the contract?”

  “Someone with a hell of a lot of money.”

  Gabriel took a step closer to Justin and placed a hand on his shoulder. He needed to touch the man. Even when Kai’s anger wasn’t directed at them, Gabriel felt uneasy. Every instinct screamed for him to place himself between Kai and Justin even if his brain was telling him that it was unnecessary. “We don’t know the exact details, but it looks like the oil industry stands to lose the most from Devlin’s research. We’ve got our handler digging now.”

  “What are your plans?” Kai demanded. Justin and Gabriel looked at each other, unsure of how to answer that. Or even if they should answer that. “I’m not a threat to Relic and his son.”

  “We’re taking them back to our home. We can protect him better there while we try to uncover who issued the contract,” Justin said.

  “We’ve got more breathing room if you’re walking away. If you can keep it quiet—”

  “It’s an open contract,” Kai interrupted.

  “What?” Justin said. “No! It’s exclusive. Marilyn said it was exclusive.”

  “I had a one-week exclusivity agreement.” Kai sighed. “I had one week to find him and kill him for a bonus. After the week was up, the contract went wide and became open. That was two days ago.”

  “Fuck!” Justin shouted. He paced away from Gabriel, his hands balled into fists.

  “That’s going to make our lives a little bit more difficult,” Gabriel murmured.

  “Do you want more help?”

  “No!” Justin immediately said.

  “Justin!” Gabriel groaned.

  “It’s not because I’m worried he can’t keep his dick in his pants around you,” Justin replied.

  “Holy fuck! It was one time years ago!” Kai shouted back, shaking a finger at him like he was slow. Kai stunned Gabriel. He’d not expected the other assassin to remember that brief time together.

  Justin walked back over to Gabriel, crowding in close. “I just don’t want another assassin running around our house. We just got it.” There was a needy sound threading through his words that nearly broke Gabriel’s heart. He understood. Justin didn’t let anyone walk around his house, invading his safe space. It had been hard enough for him to let Gabriel in more than a year ago. He couldn’t allow Kai in. Not so soon. Not when they were still making the house theirs.

  Reaching up, he cupped Justin’s cheeks with both hands. “I understand. We can protect Devlin and Jake in our house just fine.” He leaned across the last inch separating them and gently brushed a kiss across the corner of Justin’s mouth. The man relaxed against him with a little sigh. Gabriel loved how Justin relaxed so easily with him. It was a heady power he would never get enough of.

  Reluctantly, Gabriel stepped from Justin and turned his attention to Kai, who was watching them with a curious expression. He wanted to ask him what he found so confusing, but there wasn’t time for that.

  “We’re leaving in the morning, heading to our house in Colorado. Would you be willing to follow until at least the Colorado border? Devlin has made it clear that we don’t know what we’re in for when it comes to traveling with a six-year-old.”

  Kai’s frown deepened. “What’s he mean by that?”

  “I’m guessing that making the trip back in ten hours is unrealistic,” Justin said.

  Scratching his head, Kai said, “Could you like…give him a sedative?”

  Justin chuckled. “I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Devlin doesn’t want to drug his son.”

  “Even to protect him?”

  Gabriel could only smile. Three men stood in front of the cabin who clearly had no idea how to deal with a child. This was going to be a fucking mess. “Are you free? Can you follow?”

  “Yes. I can follow. You won’t see me,” Kai said. “But what about after that? I don’t appreciate being fooled by this contract. There are rules. A code. I’m not walking away from this.”

  “Dig into who issued the contract,” Justin prodded. He flashed the man a wicked grin. “We certainly wouldn’t have a problem with you taking out the bastard who thought it was a good idea to orphan a kid who’d been adopted just three years ago.”

  Kai grunted. “And your handler is looking into the contract as well? How will we share information?”

  Gabriel smirked when he looked over at Justin. “Do you want to give him your cell number or should I?”

  “Aww…come on, G Love. I trust you. I don’t trust him, but I trust you.”

  “Fuck you,” Kai said, but it lacked the heat that had been behind those words earlier.

  But despite Justin’s words, he was already pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket. They swapped numbers quickly. Gabriel glanced over Justin’s shoulder as he typed. He did notice that Justin provided Kai with Gabriel’s number as well, but he also took the time to threaten to remove the man’s cock and balls if he ever laid a hand on Gabriel again. Kai replied with an emoji of a little guy flying the bird.

  “I don’t want to receive bullshit memes from you now that you’ve got my number,” Kai grumbled.

  “Oh, you should be so lucky as to receive a meme from me, asshole. I’m funny,” Justin boasted.

  Gabriel rubbed his eyes. He had a sneaking suspicion that Kai and Justin were going to get along far better than they should once Justin stopped threatening the man. He was also sure that Justin was going to send him memes just to drive him insane. And Kai was going to like it because deep down, he was lonely like they all were.

  Flipping off Justin, Kai turned and walked wordlessly toward the road. He likely had a vehicle stashed somewhere close by. When the man disappeared from sight, Justin turned toward Gabriel and shook his head.

  “You had to fuck him,” Justin grumbled.

  Gabriel smiled and stepped close. “If I’d known how things were going to work out, I would have done a lot of things differently.”

  “Sweet talker,” Justin murmured before kissing him softly. Gabriel wanted to deepen the kiss, but he could feel eyes on them. This time, he had a feeling that it was Devlin peeking out the window.

  “Why don’t you calm Devlin down and see if we can scratch something together for dinner? I’ll get the stuff out of the SUV.”

  “Sure. See if you can avoid any more sexy assassins on the way back.”

  Gabriel flipped Justin off over his shoulder, chuckling to himself as he walked away. Justin definitely kept things interesting.

  Chapter 8

  “When do you think Kai spotted Devlin? Or us for that matter?” Gabriel asked as he brought Justin a glass of water.

  After grabbing their gear from the SUV, Gabriel returned to the cabin to find Devlin in the kitchen pulling together a meal of spaghetti and meatballs. The ai
r was already tinged with the delicious scent of garlic and butter. Jake was sitting on the couch next to Justin, talking about the bighorn sheep they spotted one day as they hiked.

  They had an enjoyable dinner, with Jake doing most of the talking, while Gabriel and Justin tactfully avoided anything that had to do with their line of work. They didn’t want to lie to Jake, but they weren’t going to talk about how they tracked targets and the interesting ways they killed them. Gabriel was well aware what a bad influence they could be. His nephew Alexei already knew too much about his true line of work, but that was only because his own family had been so horrible.

  Devlin was quiet, seeming to sink into his own thoughts. Gabriel wondered if he was ruminating on his dead husband or the decisions that had brought him and Jake to this place in their life. Judging by the frown that marred Devlin’s face, his reflections were a grim matter. Jake glanced over at his father a few times, his own cheerful mood dimming. Jake made it sound like they were on an extended vacation with their camping and hiking. Devlin was trying to give his son an interesting adventure as he protected him from the danger. Gabriel hoped he and Justin would be able to keep that illusion going in Colorado. The boy had already been through enough.

  With a great deal of prodding, Devlin and Jake went to bed after dinner. They planned to be on the road by six a.m., but they’d already seen a glimpse of how easily distracted Jake was. Gabriel was starting to mentally recalculate their departure, moving it to a more likely seven a.m. if they were lucky.

  “I’m not sure about Devlin,” Justin said, accepting the water with a nod of thanks. “But I’m sure Kai spotted us at the grocery store. Our attention was almost entirely on Devlin and the kid once we saw them. It might have just been strange luck that he caught sight of you, but not Devlin. He could have been hitting the store for supplies himself or watching for Devlin. If he spotted you first, he would have made sure you didn’t see him.”

  Gabriel sighed softly as he settled on the couch next to Justin. “True.”

  It wasn’t late, but he knew that at least one of them should be trying to get a little sleep while the other stayed up. Kai might not be a threat to Devlin anymore, but he didn’t want to take any chances that someone else wasn’t lurking out in the woods, waiting to attack. It was unlikely, but he and Justin wouldn’t be getting a good night’s sleep until they were back in their own bed.

  “Do you want the first watch, or do you want to sleep?” Gabriel asked. He leaned forward and put his own glass of water on the coffee table.

  “Really? Bedtime already?” Justin’s low voice was a seductive purr that sent the blood rushing to his cock. It had been days since they’d last fucked, and Gabriel wanted nothing more than to indulge, but the timing was not great.

  “Don’t,” Gabriel said in the firmest tone he could manage. It wasn’t nearly as strong as he would have liked. Justin was a temptation he struggled with at every turn. “They are in the next room, and we promised to keep them safe.”

  “And we are,” Justin whispered. He leaned closed, teasing Gabriel’s parted lips with just a flicker of his tongue.

  The bedroom door opened and they jerked apart, both turning to see Jake shuffle out wearing a pair of superhero pajamas. He blinked and rubbed his eyes against the bright light, stopping when he spotted Gabriel and Justin on the couch.

  “Hey bud,” Justin greeted with a smile. “What’s wrong? Can’t sleep?”

  “I need a drink of water,” he replied. A tentative smile lifted the corners of his mouth and he walked closer to the couch.

  “Let’s get you set up then, so you can get some sleep. We’ve got an early day tomorrow.” Justin jumped to his feet and walked to the kitchen. He grabbed a clean glass out of the cabinet and filled it with some filtered water from the fridge. By the time he was done, Jake was standing at the breakfast bar that separated the L-shaped kitchen from the living room.

  “Is it going to take a long time to get to Colorado?” Jake asked between sips of water.

  “We’re going to have to drive all day. We should be there by dinnertime if we’re lucky.”

  “Are you up for a long drive?” Gabriel asked. He didn’t want to drug the kid, but his priority was getting Jake and Devlin somewhere safe. Justin narrowed his eyes at Gabriel as if he could read his thoughts, but Gabriel smiled innocently at him.

  “Oh, yeah. It was a really long drive from our house in Washington to here. Dev and I played games and I had my tablet so I could watch movies.”

  “Well, make sure that’s charged for tomorrow.”

  Jake nodded as he took another drink. “Will I be able to play with the dogs tomorrow?”

  Justin nodded. “And the two cats.”

  “Are they big?”

  He grinned. “All of them are big.” Gabriel couldn’t argue with that. Those two cats prowled the house like fluffy lions. They’d probably give Jake some space for the first day or two until they figured out what to think of him. But if they could learn to tolerate the dogs, they’d be just fine with a pair of houseguests. Plus, if they showed Jake the laser light and the catnip, the cats would be his instant friends.

  “Are they nice?”

  “Very nice. You’ll probably have a bed buddy or two, if you don’t mind.”

  The little boy bounced on the balls of his feet in excitement. “I don’t mind. I love dogs and cats. I’ve always wanted a dog, but Daddy and Dev said we couldn’t have one until I was older.”

  Justin’s smile dimmed a little. “Well, we can look at this as good practice.”

  “But for now, I think you better get to bed. You don’t want to be tired on the drive tomorrow,” Gabriel said, though it didn’t make much sense. If Jake was tired, he could just sleep in the car, but it was better if the boy slept now and wasn’t too cranky in the morning.

  With a nod, Jake pushed his half-empty glass toward Justin, who was still standing in the kitchen. He turned and looked over at Gabriel, then to Justin. “You’re going to keep my Dev safe?” Gabriel could see the joy wrought by the promise of dogs and a new adventure had drained from his young face, leaving behind a deep sadness.

  “We’re going to keep you both safe. I promise,” Justin said.

  He gave a relieved sigh and hurried to the bedroom at a jog, closing the door behind him.

  Justin stared at the closed door for a moment before he looked at Gabriel. “Nothing is going to happen to them. We’re keeping them safe and alive.”

  Gabriel nodded, loving his man just a little bit more. If Justin could will it so, he would. They needed to keep Jake and Devlin safe so that they could go back to their normal lives, so that they could find a way to be happy again. The death of Adam and being forced on the run had robbed them of so much already.

  Pushing off the couch, Gabriel walked into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Justin while the man continued to hold the edge of the sink. He brushed his lips against Justin’s shoulder. “We’re keeping them safe. We got here in time.”

  Some of the new tension eased from Justin’s frame and he relaxed against Gabriel. “They’ve lost enough and they shouldn’t have.”

  “And we’re helping them draw a line in the sand now.”

  Justin turned his head toward Gabriel so he could see the half smile on his lips. “How did you get so smart? You just know me.”

  “I’ve always been this smart. You’re just lucky I’m on your side now.” Leaning forward, he stole a kiss that soon turned into two. Gabriel wanted more, to turn Justin around and plunder his mouth, but he instead broke off the kiss and took a step backward. “You need to go to sleep. I’ll take the first watch.”

  “Just one more kiss,” Justin demanded, puckering up his lips.

  Gabriel narrowed his eyes at the man for a second before taking a wary step closer. As he reached him, Justin turned and pulled Gabriel flush against him, deepening the kiss so that Gabriel was melting in his arms and softly moaning. This was what he’d wanted from the star
t, what he’d been starving for. The taste, the heat, the gnawing hunger that was lighting a fire in his veins. He wanted to be pinned to the damn kitchen floor and fucked within an inch of his life.

  But the timing was bad. Not now. Soon. At their home, he could have Justin all he wanted.

  Reluctantly, he ended the kiss and stepped out of Justin’s arms. “That was evil.”

  “You loved it,” Justin said confidently.

  “Not the point. Go lie on the couch.”

  Smirking, Justin reached down and adjusted himself, keeping eye contact with Gabriel the entire time. He strolled out of the kitchen. Sitting on the couch, he pulled off his shoes and lay down. Gabriel remained in the kitchen for a moment, gripping the edge of the sink as he attempted to get his libido under control. If he was so damn smart, why did he let Justin push all his buttons? Easy. Because he loved it.

  When his fucking hard-on finally started to subside, he flipped on the work light over the stove and turned off the main kitchen light. He then silently moved through the rest of the small cabin, flipping off the other lights so that the place was blanketed in a gentle darkness. From his own bag, he grabbed his small e-reader with the intention of catching up on a new book he’d started before they left for Montana. If he was going to be awake, he might as well get a little reading done.

  “I can’t sleep,” Justin announced into the darkness.

  “You haven’t even tried,” Gabriel murmured, trying not to smile.

  “I need a glass of water.”

  Gabriel didn’t even bother to look up from his book. “Your glass of water is still on the coffee table.”

  “I need a fresh one.”

  He sighed. Okay, now he was getting annoying. “You know where the water is.”

  Justin swung his feet back to the floor and snatched up his glass before marching into the kitchen. “Come here. I need your help.”

  He clenched his teeth and fought the urge to snap at Justin. He was being ridiculous and Gabriel couldn’t understand what game he was playing. Putting his e-reader on the coffee table, he silently moved into the kitchen to stand next to Justin. He expected the man to playfully steal another kiss, and Gabriel had to admit that he wasn’t averse to the idea. His body was certainly open for kisses—and a whole lot more.