"All I'm saying is that this is getting old." Ashley dropped down on the couch adjacent to the one I was lounging on. "Don't tell me you don't understand. It's always me going out on a limb."

I lifted my eyebrow and tried to hold back the tongue lashing the wayward bitch deserved. "It's always you because that is the way we planned this shit from the beginning. I should have recorded our original conversation. You didn't want me marrying some random rich bitch and leaving you here to sleep alone at night."

Mikey poked his head into the living room from the kitchen. "Are you guys seriously fighting over who's doing what again?"

"Always." I got up and walked toward the scent of red meat frying. "You almost done with lunch? I'm fucking starving."

"Nate. We're not done." Ash got up and followed me into the tiny kitchen. The apartment was nothing to write home about, but it was part of the cover. We didn't need anything fancy. We were hood-rats from the poor side of New York. We hadn't done anything to legally earn the money we had tucked away between the old mattresses in the bedroom. We had to be careful.

I jerked around and gripped her arm, tugging her against me and narrowing my eyes. "Yes, the fuck we are. You wanted to be the bait, so shut the fuck up with this noise. Understood?"

Her blue eyes widened a little, but that was the extent of her reaction. She was too tough to cry. She'd been through too much already. Crying was a weakness neither of us could afford, nor one I would put up with.

"I don't get it," Mikey started as he glanced over from the stove, his big belly almost touching the dials. Sorry bastard was going to die of a heart attack just like his daddy did a few years back.

"Surprise, surprise." Ash jerked from my grasp and walked to the fridge, her long blond hair dancing behind her.

My eyes moved over the curve of her ass, and I couldn't remember the last time I had her on her knees, but something told me if she kept up with her bitching, it wouldn't be long. Someone needed to shut her up, and I had the proper tools for making it happen.

"Fuck you, Barbie." Mikey shook his head and turned to face me. "I don't get why you guys keep having this fight, man."

"Because Ash is a girl, buddy." I patted his chest and moved around him to grab a beer before Ash could close the fridge. "She's got estrogen and shit."

"Fuck you both." She walked out of the kitchen after giving us both a 'go-to-hell' look.

"You couldn't handle us both." Mikey snorted and I rolled my eyes. The girl could handle both of us and a couple more thick dicks. She was a whore on her best day.

"What are you confused about?" I popped the top on the beer and leaned against the counter. "I mean, right now... in this moment? What's fucking with that empty skull of yours?"

"There are two jobs in yours and Ashley's scheme. One of you had to find a rich fucker and marry them, and the other one kills the spouse off when it's time."

"I already know this." I tilted my head to the side again as he wiped his hands on his t-shirt.

"I know, but Ashley isn't a killer. She's being stupid wanting to trade spots with you, or is she wanting you to do both, because that's-"

"I'm right fucking here." Ash appeared back in the opening of the kitchen, her hands on her hips, her eyes filled with the same torrent of emotions I'd seen far too often on her pretty face - anger, disappointment, disgust.

"And he's right," I barked. "You make no goddamn sense right now. Is your current cock not keeping up? You've been a little too bitchy lately. Wanna share the reason?"

"Yes. I. Do." She walked across the kitchen and slapped me before I realized what she was up to. Never in the twenty-something years of knowing her had she ever hit me.

I reached up and gripped the base of her throat as I walked toward her, moving her out of the kitchen.

"Don't ever hit me again." I pressed her against the wall as her eyes fluttered closed. Bingo. She wasn't getting fucked the way a slut like Ashley liked to be fucked. That's what all the fuss was about. Funny enough, I couldn't just leave it at that. Her thinking she had the right to hit me needed to be nipped in the bud.

"I'm angry," she whispered and slid her hands over my hips. "And I miss you. Stop pushing me away. I know something is up with you."

"Nothing is up." I ground against her as my cock grew thick and hard in my jeans. I hadn't felt the warm wetness of a woman's lips in a few weeks thanks to Ashley's newest hubs wanting to wine and dine her day and night.

"You're lying." She glanced up at me, and a million memories moved behind my eyes. She was my childhood, my first lover, my best friend.

"Hey, if you guys are gonna start fucking, please, for the love of all things holy, just do it in-"

"Shut it, Mikey." I glanced over at him, my fingers still wrapped around Ashley's neck. I turned back to her. "You wanna play wife to these rich guys, or you wanna pick up a gun and snuff out some innocent young girl who reminds you of your sister, Ash? Which is it?"

The light in her eyes died a little, and I wanted to hate myself for hurting her, but I couldn't. She needed to remember that we were just friends, fuck-buddies, business partners. There was no white-picket fence at the end of our crime spree where she and I would exchange rings and end up growing old together. No future I could see had that ending in it.

I didn't love her like that.

"I don't know. I hate living over there with him, Nate. It's not my place, you know?" She gripped my ass, massaging hard like I liked it.

Electricity shot across my lower stomach and I stifled a groan. It had been too long.

"I'm gonna let you go, but only so you can sink to your knees." I leaned in and brushed my nose against hers, playing the bastard I was. "Be a good girl and drink deeply, yeah?"

"Asshole," she whispered and lifted up, pressing her soft lips to mine. "I hate you sometimes."

"I know you do. Knees." I spun us before releasing her and pressing my back to the wall.

She dropped to her knees, her tight miniskirt riding up her thighs as she frantically tore at the button on the front of my jeans. I swatted her hands away and worked my jeans over my hips. A groan left me as she moved up and ran her cheek by my length.

"Awww... really? Shit," Mikey groaned and turned his back to us, walking back into the kitchen.

"Not now, man." I slid my hand into Ashley's thick blond hair and used my grasp to bring her in closer as she gripped my cock and leaned in to suck it deep into her mouth. Pleasure danced across my exposed skin and left my knees weak. I needed to find a few bitches to spend my nights with until our latest scheme was over and my whore was back where she belonged - in my bed.

Her fingers dragged down the top of my thighs lovingly as her face contorted and she gagged.

"Such a big dick, Ash. You're such a good little slut." I pulled her closer and deep-throated her as she moaned low and guttural.

I rolled my hips, massaging her throat in short, hard thrusts. She took it like a champ, but she always did.

"I hate you guys," Mikey mumbled from the kitchen.

I glanced over to find him leaning against the door frame, a thick hamburger in one hand and a tent in his pants. He took a deep bite of the burger as I turned my attention back to Ash. Mikey had seen more than his share of my intimate moments thanks to being my best friend. He was good with them unless they were with Ashley. He couldn’t stand her.

She moved back and reached up to stroke my sloppy wet cock. "Stop driving so hard into me. It's been awhile. I'm not used to-"

"Talking too much." I pulled her back toward me and worked my dick in and out of the tight O she provided for me. The sting of her nails against my skin felt good - too fucking good. I wasn't going to make it much longer, but I didn't really need to. I wasn't trying to impress anyone.

I jerked her back as my balls tightened. "Open wide."

She nodded and tilted her head back as I moved up closer and pumped the swollen flesh of my cock. The orgasm slammed into me full force, and I gave myself over to it as a string of grunts announced the arrival of a much-needed release.

"Fuck me." Mikey turned and walked back into the kitchen as I pumped all the come I had into the pretty girl's mouth.

She moved back to rest on her knees, glossy-eyed and mouth swollen and pink around the edges. "You know I love you."

"Yeah, I do." I tucked my dick back in my pants. "Get up and let's eat."

I walked to the kitchen, not offering her a hand. She was a viper, and me being anything but stiff and unyielding around her was long over. She was the devil I knew, and love didn't mean shit to her. It was a word she casually threw around, as did everyone else I knew. Love was for pussies and romance novels.

"Move," I grumbled to Mikey as he stood in the doorway, his burger dripping ketchup on the plate below as he held it suspended with his thick fingers.

"You're a dickhead. You didn't even help her up."

"She can get up on her own. She's gotten quite used to that position, haven’t you, Ash?" I picked up my beer from the counter where I set it down and drank deeply from it. I turned to find her gone.

"Don't get me wrong," he snorted, "I hate that cunt, but why are you so rough on her?"

"And I hate the word cunt. Stop being one and find another word." I finished the beer and tossed the bottle into the trashcan.

"Whatever. Answer my damn question."

"Why do you care if I'm hard on Ash? You don't like her on a good day."

"True, but it just seems disgusting. I don't know." He shrugged and took another bite of his burger as I made mine.

"She's in love with me, whatever the fuck that means. She needs to get over it."

"Because you're not in love with her?"

"No. I'm not. Nor will I ever be." I turned my face to the right to see her standing there, the expression on her face one that I'd not soon forget.

Devastation.

"Fuck you too, Nate. I'm done with this shit. You can go sleep with some random shrimp dick and have him show you all over town as his new toy. I hate you." She turned and stormed back toward the bedroom.

"No, you don't, and I don't like seafood, remember?" I took a big bite of my burger and leaned against the counter.

"You need to fix that. This latest guy has more money than God, and it's all hers if you can pull this shit off." Mikey moved up to stand in front of me.

"Stop acting like you know something. You don't." I popped him in the chest. "I'll make it up to her when I finish my lunch. Fuck off."

"Make it up how? You just crushed her dreams you cunt." He chuckled and I popped him again, this time in the nuts. He bent over, dropping his plate to the ground and groaned. "I'm going to get you back for that."

"No, you're not." I pushed at his forehead before walking out of the kitchen. "I'm going to do what she wants me to do, Mikey." I pulled my shirt over my head and dropped it in the hall somewhere.

"What's that? Die?" He snorted, his voice growing dim as I headed toward the sound of her throwing shit around my bedroom.

"No, fuck her like she likes to be fucked. Violently."