Xavier
It’s closer to seven in the evening before I receive a message from Hunter to let me know they have the information we need. One look at Miles, who is standing at the door to my office, a silent protector, and he knows. A single nod and I’m packing up to leave.
Hunter and Matthew aren’t at Hunter’s home and instead at the HQ in Mossman that Hunter uses as his staging ground.
I know the place, though I’ve never been inside.
Miles doesn’t ask for directions. It’s not the first time he’s driven by or parked nearby, watching the comings and goings. I’ve always kept an eye on Hunter from the shadows. Torturing myself by staying close, even when he wanted nothing to do with me.
Miles glances at me. “What’s the plan?”
“Find him, get what we need, kill him. Then we do the same to Roger.” A simple six-step plan. If Roger had left well enough alone, I’d have let him live. He’s not a rival, and he wasn’t a threat to my businesses. He changed the game and threw out the rules; now he’s going to die.
“And after that?”
A direct hit to the heart of the matter. “I don’t know.” I wish I did. Hunter is softening, but is that enough? Will he put distance between us again? My hands curl on my thighs. “I need him.”
Miles looks down at my hands. He visibly swallows and turns back to watch the road. Then slowly, so fucking slowly, the hand that was on the gear stick moves towards me.
My breath stops, heart pumping in my ears as I wait.
He’s not wearing his gloves right now. They’re sitting in the glove box, waiting for him to put them on once we get there.
He doesn’t always wear them around me, because he knows that I’m careful and won’t step over the invisible line he’s had around him his whole life.
Is he going to—?
His fingers slide carefully over mine, the touch electrifying.
My heartbeat thickens, muscles tensing. The tips skate over the bumps of mine and the rings on my thumb and index finger.
There are lines of heat everywhere he’s been.
I want to tattoo the journey, a reminder of this moment.
Eventually he stops, curled around my hand, anchored there.
Anchoring me.
I can’t stop staring at where we’re clasped together. I’ve slept in the same bed as him, been a hair's breadth from touching his lips with mine, and this is the closest we’ve ever been.
His hand tightens around me when I thumb his skin. So fucking soft despite everything I’ve asked of him. None of his sins have soaked in, making him the perfect weapon. My weapon.
He belongs to me, just the same as Hunter. And Matthew. Our sweet, sweet teacher, in over his head. He has no real idea of what he’s stepped in, and that he’ll never be able to leave. I let him touch what’s mine. That makes him mine as well.
Miles stops at the lights, and I look up to find him watching me.
Almost warily, like a stray cat deciding whether or not it wants to run.
I never want him to run from me. I’ve spent years earning his trust, his loyalty, his love.
He means too much to me; I couldn’t stand the thought of having him startle and bolt.
Of course, I’d chase him to the end of the world and drag him back. That won’t make it hurt less. The same way that Hunter carves out my heart every time he turns from me.
We don’t exchange words. We have no need for them. His hand in mine speaks far louder than anything I could think of to say.
I’M SURPRISED TO FIND someone else there when we reach the HQ, considering the late hour. Moira Tiernan is standing at the kitchen counter, holding a mug with some kind of monkey-octopus hybrid on the side of it. Best not to ask, I’m sure.
Hunter is at the large dining table, pouring over what look like maps—and numerous pot plants, some with plants in them and some empty—with Matthew on the other side.
He’s perched awkwardly on his chair, a mug in his hand.
This one has writing on it that I can’t see.
If it’s as nonsensical as Moira’s mug, then I’m better off not knowing.
Moira gives me a once-over, clearly not impressed with what she sees. “I’ve heard about you.”
“Likewise.” Perhaps not through Hunter, but there’s no way that I’d let anyone this close to him without checking them out.
I’m impressed with her even if she finds me lacking.
Her credentials are impressive, and her skills are solid.
She smirks at me, then switches focus. “You must be the bodyguard.”
“Miles.”
Moira takes a sip of her drink, tapping a finger on the side. “Bodyguard.”
Miles doesn’t take the bait a second time, remaining a silent statue.
“Where do you even find these people?” Moira says, not without affection.
“Never mind, don’t answer that. I’ll go shopping for a boy toy in a different catalogue.
” She tips her mug up, finishing it off, and rinses it quickly in the sink.
“Alright, I’m out of here, boss. Unless you need me on this one? ”
“No, I need you and Six on your current job,” Hunter replies, not looking up from the dock maps he’s been studying. “Jericho is on call.”
She nods, satisfied. “Spencer and Kendrick?”
“They’re watching Olivia. There’s no more important task. They’ll stay in the safe house where they are until I give the word.”
“I’ll rendezvous with them once Six and I are done.”
Hunter softens, eyes warming. “Thank you.”
“I like her better than you.” She winks at Hunter, slaps me on the shoulder in a way I’m unsure is friendly or not, and then disappears loudly through the front door. She’s just as much a chameleon as Jericho is: loud until she’s not. No one would ever see her coming.
“She’s charming,” I say after she leaves.
“She taught your daughter how to punch someone in the dick,” Hunter says absently.
“Well. I think I just fell in love.”
“Careful, or I’ll have to fire her.” Hunter’s lips twitch, but the show of possessiveness slides right into my heart and settles there. It has to mean something.
He sighs and stands, running a hand through his hair. “Weapons are locked in the back. We’ll get what we need and go. The exchange is happening in three hours, and I want to make sure we don’t miss it.”
“So we’re doing this tonight?” Matthew asks, somewhat shakily. “Just walking right into a drug exchange?”
“Not quite,” Hunter says, finally turning from his maps. “And there’s no ‘we.’ You’re staying here.”
“No.” Matthew frowns. “No way. This involves me.”
“Not this part,” Hunter says firmly. “This part is dangerous, and you’re not trained for it.”
“I don’t care; you’re not leaving me behind.”
So stubborn. His eyes are blazing when I lift his chin with my thumb. “You think you’re ready for this?”
His lips tremble and flatten. “Yes.”
“No, duckling. You’re not.” I bend and kiss him softly before he can reply. There’s strength in his heart and an unexpected spine of metal. He’s still not ready for this kind of introduction to our world. He leans into me for a moment and then backs away. So very stubborn.
“I got shot at, and I was fine. I can handle this.”
“Being thrown into a situation like that isn’t the same as willingly walking into it.” He reacted in the moment because he had no choice, and Hunter was there to protect him. “You’re safer here.”
“I don’t care about being safe. I want to—I need to—” He cuts off with a frustrated sound. “I’m not going to just sit here and be useless and wait for you to come back. If you even come back!”
“What a vote of confidence,” I tease, rubbing his jaw with my thumb.
“You’re not leaving me behind.” The fear can’t be hidden; it’s there in his light-blue eyes and in his stubborn features.
Scared, and yet willing to push. I contemplate him carefully.
I understand where he’s coming from. I would never cower and hide when there’s business to be finished.
The difference is that I’ve killed before, and I have no issue with doing it again.
I raise an inquisitive brow at Hunter.
“No,” he says instantly. “This is a terrible idea.”
“If you want a future here, with him, then you need to let him see.” There’s no way Hunter, or I, could ever fully keep him away from this part of us. If Hunter is in this and wants Matthew in it, too, then we can’t hide him from it. It’s doing a disservice to him and to us.
“This is not his fight, and it will only cause damage that can’t be undone.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.” Matthew pushes back his chair and stands. “I’m not a child, I don’t need coddling, and I’m going. So just deal with it. Now where are these weapons?” He trips a little over the last word. None of us mention it.
Miles clears his throat, gaining his attention. “This way.” He holds out a—now-gloved—hand. Matthew doesn’t hesitate, slipping his own inside. Miles looks my way for a split second, one that holds a thousand words passing between us, and then leads Matthew down the hallway.
“I don’t want to know how he knows where to go, do I?” Hunter asks dryly.
“Probably not.” I’m not even sure how he knows. I never asked him to come inside. How did he get inside undetected? This place looks like a regular, too-high-priced house in a wealthy neighbourhood, but it’s a fortress in disguise.
Matthew stays near the doorway as we equip ourselves with handguns, knives, and sufficient ammo. “Are—are you—these are just in case, right? A protection thing.” He nervously palms his pants. “Like, better to have it and not use it kind of deal.”
“Perhaps.” We’re more likely to need them than not. The chances of getting in and out undetected aren’t in our favour. I don’t mind if we need to leave bodies behind.
In fact, it’s the point.
It’s not until we get into one of the black-tinted SUVs that Hunter and his team all use—an identical fleet that are untraceable but won’t flag on a police search—that Matthew speaks again.
“So where are we going?” he asks from the back passenger seat. He’s sitting behind Hunter, who’s driving, with Miles behind me.
“Port Botany,” Hunter answers. “Jericho will meet us there.”
“Isn’t that place huge? It’s where transport ships dock, isn’t it?”
“Most of them.” Hunter flicks on his indicator and slows at a set of lights, behind a white SUV with a dog hanging its head out the window. Cute.
“But it is huge, right?”
“According to the Port Authority, over sixteen hundred ships and two point five million containers come through this port every year.” Hunter frowns when the SUV changes its mind and goes forward instead of left.
He growls something under his breath before turning himself.
“It has the capacity to hold seven million at any given time,” he continues.
“Seven—seven million?” Matthew’s mouth opens in shock. “How are we supposed to find anyone in that?”
“There aren’t seven million there right now. We also know where they’re going to be. Or close enough to. They’ve picked the furthest point from the main roads.”
“And where is that?”
“Bulk liquids berth. They’ll use the shipping containers to hide themselves while they transport their load to an unmarked container that won’t show up on any incoming or outgoing records. Security does physical sweeps, but it’s sporadic.”
“Wouldn’t they have, like, cameras and stuff?”
“Sure.” Hunter switches gears and speeds up as he hits more open road.
This time of night it’s quieter. Not quiet, but quieter.
The Sydney streets darken and become a different city.
“They’ll have taken care of those, and don’t forget that they have workers on their payroll.
You can put all the security you want in places like this, and it will never be enough.
Trouble still gets through. Technology isn’t ironclad, and everyone has a price. ”
“I don’t,” Matthew says confidently. “Money isn’t some magical key that opens everyone’s morals.”
“You do,” I tell him. “Not every price is monetary. If they came for your family, your loved ones, threatened you with things that matter? That’s your price.
” People like him are easier to manipulate, for those willing to do anything to achieve their goals.
Murder is easy, for those with no conscience.
Matthew visibly swallows, startled and unnerved. “I—you’re right. I didn’t think of that. But you got Terry, didn’t you? The one that helps them at the docks?”
There’s a special beauty in how Matthew sees the world.
Not just naivety. It’s not so much that he sees the world in black-and-white—even though he does—but that he looks for the good, not even registering that the world isn’t all rainbows and sunshine.
It never occurs to him to look for what’s hidden underneath.
“They have more than one,” Miles says. He winds down his window and rests his elbow on it, hand resting on the curve of the roof. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were involved with management. Drug runners usually are.”
Hunter snorts. “You say that like you’ve never been one of them.”
“I haven’t.”
I lick my lips and look out the window. “We closed down that part of the business when my father died.” Died.
Such an innocent word for something that took my soul with it.
One line too many crossed. I’d do it again, for Hunter, for what was almost taken from me, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t damage pieces of me.
Even then, it took me years to clean up the mess left behind and throw out the trash associated with my father.
A lot of years and a lot of blood on my hands.
I did it for the hope of a future that only existed in my dreams. I never thought I’d get a second chance with Hunter even as I begged for it every minute.
Miles never had anything to do with that side of things.
I shielded him from it, in a way that I wasn’t able to do for Hunter or my mother.
Easier to do when my father dismissed him, thinking of him only as my pet project.
Not worth using as leverage. Not yet. I know he would have one day added Miles to the people he used to keep me in line.
“But you were involved with it before?” Matthew asks. There’s no judgement in his tone, only a need to understand who we are. He’ll come to regret that, I’m sure of it.
“I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of.” And some I am. My past is a history of complications.
Matthew tilts his head and then, unexpectedly, smiles at me. “It’s okay.”
I don’t know what to say to that. No one has ever responded like that. Hunter sends me a knowing smile. He lifts my hand and kisses the back of it before letting go. The simple touch has my body in overdrive, warmth spreading and heart thumping so loudly I’m sure they can all hear it.
A loving gesture. One he hasn’t shown me for so long. I could almost imagine we’re right back at the start, where he looked at me with nothing but love in his beautiful eyes.
I’ll do anything to keep it there.