Finn was lying across my body, running her fingers over my chest and had the fiercest look of concentration on her face. As if she was memorizing every inch of me. While my legs nearly hung off the bed, hers rested squarely in the middle. I marveled that someone so small be could so strong, so alive and utterly kind.
But she was here, in my arms and if the nibbling of her lip was any indication, aroused.
“Tell me more about you,” I asked her in the dark of the room.
And like the open book she was, said, “I’ve never fallen in love with things. I fell in love with people, places, and experiences. One day, I was sitting on Ryan’s porch waiting for him to finish his homework and I hated how on edge I felt. Just sitting idle made me really uncomfortable. So, I asked myself, is this what you want to be doing when you die?” Curling in close to me she continued, “I decided that day, that’s how I would live my life. By not wasting a moment of it by doing shit that kills time.”
“How old were you when you had the epiphany?”
Chuckling softly, she said, “I was ten years old, Nix.”
While she showered, I mapped out our drive uncaring that we were essentially driving in one big circle. The urge to take her and run, hide forever if we had to, was strong but, it was futile. Men like me were hunters, trained to track our prey and once the instinct was triggered, we could not stop. Which meant we had to face this head on and if that meant cutting down my own brothers, so be it.
Just as I told Swift and Creeper, they had a choice. They could have said no, turned down the order. But they were so conditioned to kill, to please a man we’ve never even met, that they copped out. By allowing someone else to think for them, they became pawns.
Exactly as I had been until, Finn. Until I realized I had wanted more.
And like Finn, being idle was making me uncomfortable.
We could only run for so long before paranoia caused one or both of us to make a fatal mistake.
She deserved to live her life without looking over her shoulder.
But how did I fix this without losing her?
The buzzing on the table had me reaching forward to take the call. I already knew who it was. Besides Finn, she was the only one to ever use the number. It wasn’t difficult to figure out.
“Operator.”
“Phoenix,” she says happily as always. Though, I had no clue what in the hell made her that way. She was a death dealer for fuck’s sake. At the very least, she should sound solemn. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”
She may have been the only constant in my life prior to Finn, but Operator was a necessary evil in the business. That didn’t equate to being friends and meeting up for happy hour. We never discussed feelings or anything personal. We were executioners, our currency was blood.
The devil paired us, nothing more, nothing less and I needed to remember that.
“Not feeling chatty today,” she chuckles. I won’t lie, she did have a cute laugh. Over the years I’ve thought about what she looked like. And with each conversation, my assessment changed. However, her looks meant nothing in the grand scheme. She was a messenger and quite often, annoying. She knew too much, was always a step ahead and that made her dangerous.
So when she says, “How’s our girl?” I lost it.
“My girl,” I warn her. “Mine.”
“Down, boy,” she teases but I wasn’t in the mood. Because I was a killer, a tracker, a monster. I despised how easily she read me. How she knew what’d I do before I even did it. Hence, driving in a fucking circle. No matter where I fucking went, she’d find me. Find us. “So, I was watching the news this morning and imagine my surprise when I caught the story involving two unknown men wearing lame suits found dead in a state park. You’ve kept me very busy indeed. Tell me, are you planning on breaking all the rules, Phoenix?”
“They approached us in broad daylight,” I counter reasonably. “It was self-defense and it was contained. No one saw anything.”
Huffing she says, “They were idiots anyway. Okay, I believe you. But I’m dying to know who killed who.”
So she didn’t know everything? Shocking. “I’m responsible for both.”
“Oh no you are not,” Finn says from behind me. “I want credit, dammit.”
“I like her, Phoenix,” she chuckles again. “Put her on speaker.”
Another thing about the Operator, you didn’t tell her no. I know because I’d tried once and an hour later my car had exploded. Glaring at Finn, whom I was trying to protect, but was glaring right back at me, I hit the button and closed my eyes. This wasn’t going to end well, I fucking felt it.
And the last thing I needed was these two to actually like each other… The universe couldn't handle these women together.
“Finn?”
“You know it is,” she says sitting next to me wearing only a towel and a smile.
“It’s me, Operator.”
“No shit, hey, I want credit for my part. Nix can’t have all the fame.”
“Nix?”
“That’s what I said.”
“You gave him a pet name,” she says softly. “That is so sweet.”
“For a death dispatcher, you have a beautiful voice.”
Silence met us both and where I was sweating, Finn was checking her cuticles. “Thank you,” she finally says. “I called for two reasons.”
“And they are?” I ask gruffly.
“First, I watched your video, Finn.” Stiffening beside me, Finn glares at the phone wanting to strangle it.
“Yeah?” she retorts. “How’d I do?”
“I’m not grading an exam here,” she counters back. “But, I was curious and wanted to know more about you. I’m sure Phoenix told you it’s my job to know all.”
“So, you watched an unauthorized homemade porno to gain insight into my personality?”
“Maybe,” she concedes vaguely.
“What did you come up with?”
“That you are one hell of an actress and I hope you castrate him for abusing your trust, your career, and your image.”
“He’s on my list of to-dies,” Finn waves it off.
“Good,” she says followed by a sigh. “On to business. The two of you have caused quite a stir and while many of your bothers haven’t stepped up to take you out yet, I just got word that he has.”
“He?” Finn asks frowning, and as for me, my stomach cramped.
“He as in the motherfucking loose cannon known as Vulture,” I offer with dread. Fuck, I was sweating...
“Killer name,” Finn says absently, only she had no idea what we were dealing with. I, however, did. Vulture was insane, blood thirsty, and cruel. He toyed with his prey, prolonged their death. In all the years as Middle Men, I had the displeasure of meeting him once. And once was enough. Finn didn’t stand a chance against him. Aside from Vulture, none of us enjoyed killing. He lived to kill, fed on the pain. If I had to describe him in one word, it would be rabid.
“Why are you helping us?” I ask Operator.
“I’m not,” she says easily. “Or rather, I’m not doing any more for you two than I am the others.”
“You should change your name to Gamemaker,” Finn says rolling her eyes.
“I don’t follow…” The Operator mumbles.
“In the Hunger Games, Plutarch Heavensbee is the infamous Gamemaker,” Finn clarifies and I for one had no idea what she was talking about.
“Is that a movie?” I ask once again, clueless.
“Uh yeah,” she says frowning.
“Can’t say that I’ve seen it,” Operator replies.
“Life is a movie in my head,” Finn continues. “Anyway, in this scene I’d, of course, be Katniss, Nix-you would be Peeta and you-Operator would be the Gamemaker.”
“Go on,” she suggests enjoying this and I understood her excitement.
“Plutarch is the leader of the rebellion,” she explains and her hands were going wild. Finn was on an adventure taking us along for the ride. “Oh! Are you planning on overthrowing the capital?”
Laughing, Operator says, “I don’t think so? But, I like keeping my options open.”
“I need to dry my hair,” Finn announces. “Later, Operator.”
“Later, Finn,” she says back. A moment later, she clears her throat and does the very last thing I expected her to do. For the first time ever, she showed emotion when she says, “Take care of her, Phoenix.”
Emotion in this game never boded well for the players.