Chapter Thirty-One - Harper
Just like your brother… I replay that sentence in my head over and over. She emphasized your when she said that. But why be so obvious? This kid is confusing me. One second she’s on our side—if we even have a side—and then the next minute she’s not. She’s creating problems for James on purpose, like she’s warning me not to trust him.
And this just pisses me off. That this stupid thirteen-year-old girl thinks I’m dumb. Of course, I do my best to play dumb, and in fairness, she didn’t catch the show when I snapped the guy’s neck during the daring rescue. So I should cut her some slack.
But nothing about this group makes sense. Nothing about what we’re doing makes sense. If James is after Nick because my father ordered a contract on him like the other assassins, then why all this bullshitting around? I have no idea where Nick is. I’m pretty sure he’s not waiting for us in Palm Springs at this Merc guy’s house. So… “What the hell are we doing?”
“Taking a piss, Harper,” James says as he pulls off the road and into a parking lot and stops the Hummer in front of a place that claims to be a visitor center. There are two cars in the parking lot. Including us. “They have food here too. Next chance is couple hours away.”
“I want food!” Sasha says as she opens her door and jumps out. I open mine as well, and the heat blast is so powerful I almost can’t breathe. All three of us hurry under the shade of the front awning and then sigh with relief when we enter the air-conditioned building.
“Here,” James says to Sasha as he thrusts some cash at her. “Get something for everyone.” She smiles at the bills and then trots away. I’m still watching her, wondering about her story, when James tugs me off in the other direction. We head towards the bathrooms and just as I’m about to pull away and go into the ladies, he ushers me into the men’s with him.
“What are you doing?” I push him off me, but it’s too late. He’s already got both my wrists and I’m being forced back against the wall. “Really?” I laugh. “You’re gonna take me by force in a government building?”
He glares at me, those hypnotic green eyes of his deathly serious. I shut my fucking mouth and stare back. Is this a fight?
“You still think I’m a rapist?”
“You have a thing for manhandling me,” I snap back. I have lost my patience with this man.
“Why are you with me then, Harper? Because you might not think I know you very well, and that’s probably true, I’ve been a watcher in this relationship so far. And one day a year and three months of stalking barely count. But here’s what I do know about you. You might not be able to kill me outright, but you’d put up a damn good fight. And if you didn’t want to be in this restroom with me, you’d be somewhere else right now.”
I yank my wrists free and push him off me with two solid palms to the chest. He rocks back just far enough so I can slip under his arms, and I turn to stare at him. “You’re right. I would, so what do you want?”
“Your brother is not my hit.”
“The hell he’s not! Even I can figure that shit out.”
“Even you?” James laughs. “Please. Spare me the stupid blonde routine, OK? I know better.”
“You were contracted to kill all the other assassins and that includes Nick, doesn’t it?”
“No,” he says, the clenching of his jaw a warning that I’m beginning to push him.
“You’re lying.”
“So I’m a liar now too? A rapist and a liar.”
“Don’t forget brother-killer. Or was that a lie too? Is he still alive?” The look I get in response almost makes me piss myself. But it’s too late now, so I take it a step further to see how much James can take. “If you’ll fulfill a contract on your own brother, then what’s to stop you from doing the same to mine?”
He turns away from me, walks to the door, reaches for the knob, and then he twists the lock and turns back. “Loyalty.” And to my surprise, his one-word answer is low, almost a whisper, yet powerful enough to make me pause. “I’m a loyal employee. But I’ve only ever worked for one guy. Myself. My brother broke his word to me. He killed someone I cared about in front of my face. He was about to steal his ex-girlfriend and baby away from a safe home and bring them into a life that would get them both killed in a matter of weeks. So regardless of how you feel about what I did, my brother had to die to save these other two people. It was a call I made in the heat of the moment. I saw a chance to set things right for my niece, to free her from Company life, and I took it. You of all people should understand what that little girl’s life would be like if the Company got a hold of her. If she fucking lived. Because I had a little sister and she sure the fuck isn’t around anymore. So if my little niece was taken, she’d be promised to some old fuck as soon as the next assassin got a hold of Tony. So I’m not fucking sorry. He’s dead. I did it. And it was the right thing to do.”
I hold my breath through that entire explanation and then it comes out in a rush as he finishes. His jaw and fists are clenching in unison, like he’s got so much tension and rage building, he has to let it out slowly and with complete control. Otherwise he might explode. “Who do you work for?” I finally manage.
“Me. I work for me. How about you? Who do you work for?”
“I don’t work for anyone. I’m not a hired killer.” I snarl out the words, but it has no effect on him.
“No, you kill for free. You kill for yourself. So it looks like we’ve got something in common after all.”
I huff out a few incredulous breaths at that remark. “Boy, Sasha is right. You are delusional if you think my escaping a life of sexual slavery with some old man—”
“I’m not that old—”
“Tet,” I cut him off. “You are insane if you think my father was giving me to you. OK? No offense, because you’re hot and I’d go back and do it all differently if I thought you really were the guy I was promised to. But there’s no possible way on earth that’s the case. OK? So yeah, I killed a bunch of people to get away. And I’m not sorry either. I’d do it again and never think twice!”
I bite my lip as my hysterical words echo off the tiled walls for a moment, and then the place goes quiet.
He takes three quick steps towards me and I back up instinctively, but I hit the sink. And then before I can come up with another plan, he’s pressed up against me, standing over me almost. His stare is captivating because everything about his expression, his body language, his breathing—all of it says this moment counts. His hands hover over my shoulders and then he gives me a crooked smile.
“Harper,” he says calmly.
“What?” I snap again.
“I want you. I’m going to touch you. I’m not fighting with you anymore. It’s a waste of time. I’m going to fuck the shit out of you right here, right now. In this goddamned desert shithole bathroom even though you deserve to be fucked on a tropical beach or somewhere with a mountain view, or, hell, even the goddamned Hummer would be better than right here. But you know what?”
I swallow down my surprise. “What?”
“You gotta make the most of what you got. And we’re not on a tropical beach or in front of a goddamned beautiful mountain. And fucking Smurfette is probably out in the Hummer. So this is all I got.”
“None of this has anything to do with the fight we’re having.”
He smiles and then nods at me. “Oh yes, it does. Because here’s the thing, Harp. We are about to have makeup sex. Right the fuck now. And if you don’t want me to do that, then feel free to finish this fight properly. You ready?”
“So you’re gonna force me.”
“I’ll count to three so you can have a few more moments to decide. One.”
My heart begins to beat wildly. “What the hell—”
“Two.” His hands are still hovering above my shoulders but now they slowly descend to rest on my upper arms. “Three.”
I expect to be turned around, pushed against the sink, and fucked from behind.
But that’s not what I get at all.
His hands descend down my bare arms, stopping at the elbow for a brief moment to caress the soft skin on the underside. And then they continue down to my waist. He eases them underneath my tank top, and then places both palms flat against my skin. “I’ll take that as permission to proceed, but feel free to stop me at any time.” And then his strong hands grab my waist and place my ass on the edge of the sink. He cups my face and leans in, his lips lightly touching mine.
I kiss him back. With tongue.
I can feel the smile on his lips. Because he knows I gave in with that tongue. He won this fight hands down. I am out for the count before the bell even rings.
“I win,” he whispers into my mouth. “I’m not here to fight with you. I’m not here to trick you. I’m not here to kill your pain-in-the-ass piece-of-shit brother. I’m here for you, Harper. And that’s all there is to it. And if I have to yank your cute little ass into a roadside bathroom to make you understand that, I will. Every single time. I will. You and me,” he says, pointing to each of us. “We are the only ones who matter.”
I shake my head as I try and absorb this. “I don’t understand any of this, James. Why, why, why? All I want to know is why?”
“Why, Harper? I have no why answers. Your father, your brother, Sasha probably, they have the why answers. But your father and brother are lying and Sasha is very close to copping out on her own. So we’re gonna let all this run its course and you’re gonna follow my lead.”
I don’t know what to say. Some of this makes sense. Especially Sasha. She wants to tell us what she knows, but she’s holding out for reasons that have nothing to do with loyalty to the people working against us. She’s holding out until she can trust us. So he’s right about that.
I rest my head on his shoulder as he unzips his pants, pulls out his dick, and grinds his hips against me. “Lift up,” he says, his voice still soft but controlling.
I lift up and then my shorts are dangling off my ankles.
Then his hands slide under my ass, lifts me up, and he walks me across the bathroom and pushes me up against the heavy wooden door. His cock slides in, but so slowly it’s driving me crazy. “Harder,” I whisper. “This doesn’t qualify as fucking the shit out of me.”
He chuckles against my ear as he slides out, again, so very, very slowly before entering me again. “You’re wrong, Harp. You’re so wrong.” His hand slides over my behind and one finger finds the bud of my ass. I moan a little as he pushes it inside, and then something overtakes me, and I’m pushing back against the pressure. “More,” I pant. “I want more.”
“Baby,” he growls, “you will get all of it very soon. But right now this will have to be enough. Now, put your hand under my balls and hold them, like you’d hold something very precious.”
My hand is in motion the second he asks. I love when he tells me what to do during sex. It’s so completely fucking hot. My fingertips find the soft skin of his balls and I cup them gently, moving them back and forth in my palm. “Yes, that’s perfect, Harper. I want them in your mouth.” I’m already struggling to be let down so I can make his wish a reality, but he stops me. “Not here. Because I will want to fuck you all night long once I get your head between my legs.” He removes my hand and lifts my fingers to my lips. I suck on them the way he likes. They slide in and out slowly, like we’ve got all the time in the world to orgasm.
Then the door handle jiggles next to my hip and then comes knocking. A man’s voice talks in Spanish.
“Ignore him,” James whispers. “He is no one to us. I meant what I said. We are the only ones who matter.”
The man knocks again, talking louder this time. But James responds with a hard thrust and I moan. Another thrust, another moan. And I realize he’s doing it on purpose when the demands on the other side of the door become furious.
“Me,” James says, lowering his face so I have to look him in the eyes. I instantly forget the commotion on the other side of the door and all I see is the soul he’s hiding behind the green. “Only me, Harper.” He leans in and bites my shoulder, making me squeal.
“Yes, do that again.”
And he does. He fucks the shit out of me. Slowly. Taking his time. Thrusting his hardest. Ignoring the world on the other side of the door until he spills himself inside me, calling out my name as I moan his.
We collapse into an embrace, a hug really. And wait for the aftershocks to dissipate. And now there are more voices outside. Someone threatening to call the police. I raise my eyebrows at James for that one.
“Please,” he says, probably loud enough for the people outside to hear him. “It’s the fucking Mojave Desert. I’m pretty sure no one’s coming.”
And then he sets me down and grabs a few wet paper towels to clean me up. “Thank you,” I whisper, as he holds my shorts open so I can step back into them. He even pulls up the zipper and buttons them up. And then, when we are good and ready, he unlocks the door and opens it up. We get angry stares from the little Mexican guy, a thumbs-up from some teenager, and a look of disgust from an older couple.
“Sometimes,” James says, stopping in front of the old people, “you gotta grab that moment, ya know? I just never know which ones will be the life-changers, so I treat them all the same. We had a fight. And then we made up. Life is good again. So”—he does a little bow to the smirking old lady, who is charmed by his honesty—“my apologies.”
He holds my hand, swings it, actually, until we reach the Hummer, and then he opens my door for me and goes around to jump in his side.
“Well,” Sasha says. She’s lying down on the seat of the Hummer stuffing her mouth with multi-colored candy worms, sweating like crazy because it’s hot as hell in here. “If you try and explain what took you so long, I will plug my ears and sing la-la-la. So just don’t.”
“Finally,” James says as he starts the Hummer and puts it in gear. “I have a way to render the Smurf speechless.”
And me too, I think to myself as I stare at the desert going by. Me too.
Because slow and honest will get me every time.