Chapter 23
Nathan
I tried to keep up as Vincent spoke, but the deeper he got into his story, the harder it was for me to understand what he was telling me.
It was the shit that didn’t exist in real life, only on the big screen in high octane action movies.
But as he told me about the first man he’d killed when he’d been sent out on his own for his first solo operation, I knew it was true.
He was an assassin.
There was just no other way to describe what he was telling me. He’d been given a target with orders to pull the trigger, and he’d done it.
That simple.
Except that it wasn’t, because I knew this man. I knew in my bones that he wasn’t capable of cold-blooded murder.
“How many?” I interjected.
“How many what?” he asked, his voice solemn.
“How many people have you killed?”
Vincent straightened and hardened his jaw. “I lost track after the first twenty or so.”
I managed a nod. “Go on,” I said, because I knew in my gut there was more to his story. He was a hard man, but he wouldn’t just pull the trigger and end a life for no reason.
“About three years into the job, I knew something had changed. I’d trusted the man in charge of the unit, so we’d always had really good intel about our targets and why they were being terminated.
But when the guy retired, the unit got a new director, and I knew pretty much right away that things were different.
I was assigned to take out this twenty-something-year-old grad student, but something about the whole thing was wrong to me.
So instead of completing the job, I followed the kid and tried to learn as much about him as I could.
Turned out he was this genius who was designing a guidance system that he was hoping to present to NASA for their space program.
Only, the government decided they could put the guidance system to better use on their ICBMs.”
“ICBMs…those are intercontinental ballistic missiles,” I murmured. “They carry nuclear warheads.”
Vincent nodded. “The kid wasn’t interested in giving his technology to the government, so they took it. When he discovered the theft, he threatened to go to the press. That was when I was called in.”
“They wanted you to silence him.”
“Only they didn’t sell it that way. The kid’s parents were Middle Eastern, so they sold me on the angle that the kid was trying to sell the guidance system to the highest bidder.”
“What happened to him?” I asked. “Were you able to save him?”
Vincent stiffened and sat back a little. “You’re so certain I didn’t do it?” he asked in confusion.
I shook my head in disbelief. “Vincent, I know you,” I whispered. “You’re…you’re not like that. Whatever you did early on, you did it because you believed it was the right thing. And because you had proof.”
He studied me for a long time before continuing. “I didn’t do it, but I knew my handler would just send someone along who would do the job without question. I helped get the kid and his parents set up in another country with new identities. But doing that painted a target on my back.”
“They came after you,” I said softly as things began to make sense.
“The team they sent found Pierce instead of me that night.”
I swallowed hard as I remembered the gruesome details he’d shared with me about his brother’s murder.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I became the hunted,” Vincent responded.
“So I got smart. It was that or face a lifetime of running.” He settled back against the cushions.
“Three years of killing people for the government taught me who the power players were. So, while they played cat and mouse with me, I did the same with them. I convinced those in power that killing me wouldn’t safeguard their precious secrets. ”
“That worked?” I asked.
“Not at first. I had to prove that I was in the game until the end. Every team they sent after me I sent back in body bags. And every time they tried to take me down, I leaked some of their secrets. Not enough to bring any one person down, but enough to make them uncomfortable. I became known as The Ghost.” Vincent waved his hand.
“I know, it’s a stupid nickname, but I was more interested in what it meant. ”
“What did it mean?”
“It meant anyone who came into contact with me should be scared. That I could appear and disappear whenever and however I wanted. That I could take someone down as easily with information as I could with my gun. Eventually the powers that be figured it was safer just to leave me be.”
“But…you still live like this,” I murmured as I motioned to the house.
“Because I’m not foolish enough to believe anything those fuckers tell me. You remember that child’s fable about the scorpion and the frog?”
“Yeah. The frog agrees to give the scorpion a ride across the river in exchange for the scorpion not stinging him, and the scorpion agrees, but then stings him anyway and they both die.”
Vincent nodded. “And the frog asks the scorpion why he did it and he says, ‘Because it’s my nature.’”
He fell silent, so I said, “You think they’ll keep coming after you. That they can’t help themselves.”
“I’ve built up enough relationships that I’ve got most guys running scared who will do their best to ensure I’m left alone, but there will always be that asshole who doesn’t like knowing I’m out there…
that with a few words I can take him and everyone around him down.
Add in the guys who want revenge for the loved ones I took out over the years, and there’s always someone waiting for that moment when The Ghost exposes a vulnerable spot. ”
I nodded as things began to make more sense. “I’m a vulnerable spot,” I murmured.
Vincent’s hand came up to clasp my neck so he could force my eyes up. “Baby, you’re not a spot – you’re my goddamn jugular.”
I wanted to cry, because while his words were proof that he was getting in as deep into this thing as me, he’d also sealed our fate. Being with me would put him at risk. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but there’d come a time when the next guy would come along and use me to get to him.
“When was the last time…that someone tried?” I asked.
“Three years ago.”
“But you’re…you’re out of the business?” I asked.
“I’ve been out for more than ten years. I have good relationships with a few guys that I’ll help out once in a while if they need it.”
“Like who?”
“Director of the FBI. Head of the NSA…that’s on account of Everett.”
“So Everett knows about you?”
“He does. He’s helped get the word out as much as he can that I’m off limits.
He also has enough contacts that he can help me out on occasion – like getting your house cleaned up without a lot of questions after we left that night.
He also hooked me up with Ronan, who’s the one who asked me to take your case. ”
“I thought Beck’s uncle was the one who asked you.”
Vincent shook his head. “Beck’s uncle and his father are friends with Ronan, but I didn’t know that going into all this. I ran into Dom by chance when I was meeting with Ronan and one of his men. Dom told me about Beck. He was the reason I agreed.”
“You didn’t initially want to do it?” I asked.
Vincent smiled. “Let’s just say I wasn’t your biggest fan when Ronan told me what you did for a living.”
I chuckled. “And now?”
Vincent’s expression turned serious as he held my gaze. “Definitely a fan,” he whispered, and then he was pulling me forward for a long, sweet kiss. When he tried to pull back, I followed until I was straddling his lap.
I grabbed his face to make sure he was focused on me when I said, “Thank you for telling me. Doesn’t change a thing,” I said softly. “But thank you for trusting me.”
Vincent nodded and then he was kissing me again.
His hands drifted down my ass so he could grind our cocks together.
It was a struggle to stop kissing him long enough for him to get my shirt off.
It wasn’t until his hand snaked down my pants and gripped my cock that I tore my mouth from his and let out a guttural groan.
He gave me several long strokes that had me bucking against his hand.
My breath was coming in hard pants as I said, “Do you…do you have anything?”
I hoped like hell he knew what I was talking about, because I couldn’t get the damn thought out beyond those few words.
“Uh-huh,” he murmured against my mouth. “Pants off,” he ordered as he pulled his wallet out of his jeans and began rifling through it.
I stumbled to my feet and practically ripped my pants off.
By the time I’d kicked them aside, he had his pants shoved down his hips and he was lubing up his dick.
I waited for him to tell me what position he wanted me in, but when he snagged my wrist and dragged me back down onto his lap, I lost all train of thought.
His slick dick rubbed up against mine and then his hand was there.
“Lift up a little,” he said. I used my knees to lift off him and let out a hoarse moan when his finger found my hole. I braced my hands on his shoulders as he pressed his finger inside of me in one swift move, and as he finger-fucked me, I tried grinding my erection against his body.
Then his dick was there and he was urging me back down. It wasn’t until his crown nudged up against my hole that I realized he was going to take me just like this – with me straddling him.
Riding him.
“Oh God,” I cried out as he began to sink inside of me. I dropped all my weight down onto him in my eagerness to get him fully inside of me.
“Slow, baby,” he whispered.
I shook my head. I didn’t want slow. I wanted fast and hard and hot.
The position gave me more control than I’d ever had before, which I eagerly took advantage of.
Even as Vincent tried to grab my hips to slow me down, I let gravity work in my favor.
The stretch bordered on painful as he bottomed out inside of me.
I sat there, heart thudding inside my chest, breaths seesawing in and out of me as I tried to adjust to how full the new position made me feel.
It wasn’t until Vincent murmured, “Your show, baby,” against my lips that I realized he was really going to let me have this.
He was going to let me control our pleasure.
I lifted up a little and dropped back down, but true to his word, Vincent’s hold on my hips was merely to steady me and not urge me on either way.
I found the rhythm I wanted after just a couple of minutes.
I could feel Vincent’s pants scraping my ass every time I lowered myself onto him, but the sensation just ratcheted my need higher.
I began to frantically ride him as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “So good, Vincent,” I growled as I chased my orgasm. “So close,” I told him, hoping he wasn’t far behind me.
“Take what you want, Nate. Wanna watch you come.”
It was the permission I needed. I lost all interest in where he was at and just used his body to my benefit. I was dimly aware of him urging me on with his voice and his hands, but I was too far gone to care. My one and only goal was to come.
I reached between our bodies and began desperately jerking myself off as the friction of his dick sliding in and out of me began to dictate how I moved.
“That’s it, baby. Shoot it all over me.”
Vincent’s voice broke through the haze of pleasure, and I looked down to see my hand furiously stroking my dick over the hard muscles of Vincent’s abdomen.
Our bodies were slick with sweat, and I used my free hand to clasp his neck as the orgasm raced up my spine.
I came hard and fast, but luckily, I managed to keep my eyes open long enough to see a jet of cum splatter across Vincent’s open lips.
Another shot of semen grazed his cheek. I was so turned on by the sight that I kept riding Vincent as I leaned over and ran my tongue up his cheek to collect the fluid.
His chin was next, and then I was kissing him and sharing my taste with him.
He eagerly lapped at my mouth as he took everything I gave him.
I felt his dick pulsing inside of me, signaling the end.
He shouted into our next kiss as he came, and I hung onto his shoulders as he jerked his hips upwards so he could press himself as deep inside of me as he could get.
When it was all over, we hung there in blissful silence as we both came down.
Reality intruded, and I realized that tonight very well could be one of my last nights with him.
And for the first time since I’d been attacked in my own home, I wasn’t eager to find the assailant.
How fucked up was that?