Chapter Fourteen
Three weeks later…
T he last few weeks had flown by, and Wrath spent every spare second with Rogue—which turned out to be every night with the exception of two when Rogue had taken a job out of town and his own work had kept him local.
Wrath tried every once in a while to convince Rogue to take a permanent position with Erebus, but so far, Rogue hadn’t made the decision.
Their conversation had been an eye-opener for Wrath, and he had learned a few things about Rogue in the process.
Rogue couldn’t be pushed into anything. Ever.
“Quit pressuring me.” Rogue’s voice had turned hard and flat.
“I’m sorry,” Wrath murmured. “I just wanted us to work together.”
“We are working together,” Rogue pointed out and Wrath couldn’t argue with that. They had done a handful of jobs together.
He shut up after that and Rogue immediately noticed when he had gone quiet. Rogue took his hand and pulled him out of the door. Treated to dinner, Wrath had to remind himself that Rogue had a lot of tragic history to work through.
It was going to take time to build a relationship and trust, and that could not be done in a matter of weeks.
It could take years.
He didn’t mind, and the thought of him and Rogue being together for years kept him happy.
The nightmares kept Rogue up when they slept, and all Wrath could do was hold the man in his arms. A knot formed in his chest thinking of the ragged, raw sounds coming from Rogue’s throat.
He shook off his worry and walked down the long hallway and through the living room into the kitchen. There were small pieces of Rogue everywhere—a shirt here, shoes there, and a hairbrush on his dresser. Two toothbrushes graced his bathroom sink counter.
But Wrath was smart enough to not take the assassin for granted. He started a pot of coffee and stared out the back window at the ocean.
Rogue could disappear at any time, he reminded himself.
Right now, though, Rogue seemed to prefer being with him and Wrath was going to take the opportunity to meld them together in any way possible.
His cell phone buzzed and brought him out of his head and into the present. He reached over and plucked it from the long granite-covered bar that separated the kitchen from the living room.
It was Savage.
“What’s up?” Wrath asked his boss.
“Is Rogue there?”
The man in question wandered in from down the hallway. Yawning, Rogue scratched at his stomach through his white t- shirt. In loose sweatpants and bare feet, not to mention those messy dark curls, Rogue was mouthwatering.
“Yeah.” Wrath held out the phone to Rogue. “It’s Savage,” he told the man.
“Put it on speaker.” Rogue nodded at the phone and walked past him to the freshly brewed pot of coffee.
“You’re on speaker,” Wrath told Savage after hitting the button. He went back to making eggs and bacon on the stove.
“Smells good,” Rogue murmured, sipping at a mug of black coffee.
“I don’t even want to know what you two are talking about,” Savage grumbled. “Rogue? I’ve got a lead on Rebel. He completed another hit last night.”
“Who’s Rebel?” Wrath whispered and Rogue filled him in, making Savage wait.
Wrath wondered how many more of Solomon’s young assassins were out there. For years, the fucker had been snatching boys and turning them into killers, so it stood to reason that there could be hundreds of them.
“Text me the address and I’ll go have a look after breakfast.” Rogue stayed where he was, leaning against the counter next to the stove, sipping coffee.
Wrath smirked. “Bye, Savage.”
“Call me with an update!” the man shouted before Wrath punched the end call button and went back to flipping the bacon over. He liked his crunchy and so did Rogue.
“So…” he said casually. “I didn’t know you worked for Savage.” Nor did he like the idea of Rogue not telling him.
Corded arms wrapped around his waist from behind and Rogue put his chin on his shoulder. He loved that the man was so easy around him.
Oh, it wasn’t all of the time, there were still times Rogue checked out, but sometimes, the assassin forgot about his past and became a charming, funny, and gentle man.
Rogue nodded. “Once in a while, I do.”
Wrath huffed, glaring at the bacon in the pan, and Rogue sat his coffee mug aside and stepped up behind him. The man’s big, muscled body engulfed him, brushing against his back.
“It slipped my mind,” Rogue husked near his ear, sending shivers down his spine. Rogue ran his palms down, cupping and squeezing his ass before moving them around the front of his track pants to slip inside the waist. Rogue cupped his junk and Wrath grew hard.
“The eggs will get cold,” he cautioned with a grunt.
“Let them.” Rogue reached around him, flipped off the stove, and took the spatula from his hand to place it on the counter.
When he was spun around and backed up into the long granite bar opposite them, Wrath wrapped his arms around Rogue’s neck.
Far be it for him to argue when his man was hungry for something other than food.
“This looks like the place.” Wrath frowned over at Rogue, who was texting on his phone.
The city of Keeler, California was not far from the Nevada border, and on the drive, Rogue had suggested they go over for a visit after finding Rebel.
Drive out of state?
It was an odd request, but Wrath agreed because it sounded like Rogue wanted to spend time with him.
“What if we find Rebel and what do we do with him while we’re in Nevada?” Wrath questioned, driving his SUV into a small neighborhood located in a quiet subdivision of track homes.
“We’ll take him with us,” Rogue mumbled, his eyes on his phone.
“Who’s that?” Wrath felt his irritation rise.
The man jerked his eyes up from the phone. “A friend.”
Well, that sounded like a lie, but Wrath stayed silent and his gut turned sour. As far as he knew, Rogue had never lied to him.
Was Rogue involved with someone else?
Wrath shoved aside that way of thinking. No way in hell was he going to be a jealous dick.
“Is your friend in our profession?” He jerked his chin toward the man’s phone.
“Kind of.” Rogue rubbed a hand at the back of his own neck and tucked away the cell.
“How did you meet?” He parked the truck and shut off the engine.
“That’s a story for another day,” Rogue murmured.
Wrath shut off the engine and turned abruptly in his seat to hold Rogue’s gaze.
“What’s going on?”
“There’s someone I want you to meet.”
“Okay…” Wrath puzzled over who Rogue was close to other than Echo and Fisher, but he came up empty.
Was this person family? Had Rogue found his relatives and wanted him to meet them? The thought sent warmth to replace the sourness churning in his stomach.
Whoever this person was, they were important to Rogue.
“Come on,” Rogue said before he could formulate a response, and Wrath followed the man out of the SUV.
The home was nice and the middle-aged, nicely dressed woman with her dark hair pulled back in a bun smiled at them as she welcomed them inside.
“Are you here to look at the room for rent?” she asked, taking in the casual attire they’d purchased from the second-hand store a few miles away.
“How much is the rent?” Wrath smiled, turning on the charm. He placed a hand on Rogue’s back and urged him farther into the front hallway.
“It’s twelve hundred a month. You have access to the entire house, your own bathroom, plus the pool out back,” she told them, leading the way into the large, nicely decorated interior. “There’s a washer and dryer in the garage along with gym equipment. Oh, and dinner meals are included.”
“That’s a steal for twelve hundred,” Rogue said.
She laughed. “It is, but this also serves as a halfway house, so I keep the prices down.”
“Ah, I see,” Wrath said, gazing out the patio doors at the sparkling pool.
“Is that a problem?”
“No, it’s no problem,” Rogue assured her. “How many people live here?”
“Right now, I have three.”
“Can we think about it?” Wrath asked.
“Of course.” She led the way back to the front entryway. “But don’t take too long.”
“What if we came back around dinner sometime and met the rest of the tenants,” Wrath asked.
“Absolutely! How about tomorrow night? I’ll cook extra.”
They left and she waved when they drove away.
“I saw a Hilton hotel a few miles back, let’s get a room there. That way we can…relax,” Rogue suggested, sliding his gaze over him.
Wrath’s cock twitched.
“Relaxing…sounds good.”
He squeezed the steering wheel; he wanted to fuck Rogue and be fucked.
It was a good damned thing that he’d thrown the condoms and lube in his go bag before they had left his house.
It would save time.