Chapter 2
Phoenix
Watching one guy blow another should have been a turn on in most cases, but the sight before me just made me sick.
Maybe if the act hadn’t been taking place in a dirty, narrow alley surrounded by garbage, I could have found something erotic about the whole thing.
Though doubtful, considering the guy doing the blowing was my target.
Under normal circumstances, he was exactly my type…
lean, slight and almost on the pretty side.
But knowing who he was and what he’d done made any attraction I might have felt for him null and void.
I’d been following Levi for only a few days now, and while his routine was mundane to say the least, I hadn’t yet seen him do anything that would warrant me putting a bullet in his brain. Ironically, he hadn’t even jaywalked when he’d had the opportunity to.
I’d half expected him to return to the property on Mercer Island that had once belonged to Seth’s parents, but the guy hadn’t strayed beyond his nighttime work at a small Mom and Pop grocery store and the rundown apartment building he lived in.
The only other place he visited was the alley between a small church and an abandoned warehouse.
The first time I’d seen him disappear down the alley, I’d lost track of him and had assumed he’d used it to get from one street to another.
When he’d repeated the move the second day, I’d been ready and had quickly driven around the block to wait for him to come out the other side, but when he hadn’t, I’d been left with two options – the church or the warehouse.
Since the church had seemed like an unlikely destination for someone like him, I’d gone looking for him in the warehouse, which had turned out to be a squatter’s den full of homeless people and addicts, none of whom had run off when they’d spied me among them.
I’d spent the better part of an hour looking for Levi, but either he’d managed to get past me or he’d never been there in the first place.
So today, I’d decided I’d need to risk following him more closely.
The likelihood that he’d see me was greater, but the benefit was that the alley offered a considerable amount of privacy, so if I was lucky enough to catch him doing something like shooting up, I’d have the proof I needed that he was back to his old ways.
But I hadn’t expected to find him blowing some random guy.
It occurred to me that he could be a prostitute since it wasn’t unusual for addicts to sell themselves for the cash they needed for their next fix.
But I hadn’t seen any money exchange hands before the act and, in fact, Levi had looked less than thrilled to see the big blond guy.
The man Levi was servicing was considerably larger than him, though not quite as big as me.
His white-blond hair was stuck to his head from the drizzle that continued to blanket the air around us.
He was rough with Levi, using his mouth hard and with little to no consideration for the other man.
Even when Levi would try to pull back, presumably so he could catch his breath, the blond behemoth would tighten his hold on Levi’s hair and just keep ramming his cock between the widely-stretched lips.
As far as I was concerned, the young man deserved everything he got, but I couldn’t deny the flash of anger that rippled through me…
and it wasn’t directed at Levi. I couldn’t hear what the blond was saying to Levi, but based on the way his lips sneered as he face-fucked him, I had a pretty good idea.
I was close enough to hear the guy’s very loud groan of completion as he jammed his dick as deep into Levi’s mouth as he could get it, but I couldn’t make out any of wh at he said after pulling his dick free and slapping it against Levi’s chin.
His bare dick.
I shook my head at Levi’s stupidity. If he was going to sell his ass, he should at least be smart enough to protect it.
Not that I was an expert on the habits of prostitutes when it came to oral sex, but common sense dictated that the young man should have at least had the forethought to make his john wear a condom.
Between being an addict and this, Levi’s days would have been numbered even if I hadn’t been tasked with doing the job myself.
I watched as Levi stumbled as he tried to right himself and a flash of fury washed through me when the blond kicked Levi when the smaller man’s hands inadvertently landed on the guy’s thighs as he tried to stand.
Levi’s palms hit the ground and I watched as he hung there for a moment on all fours, water dripping off his wet hair which was plastered around his head.
An unwelcome thread of pity hit when I watched Levi spit out a small amount of white fluid which I knew wasn’t saliva.
I expected the john to leave at that point, probably even without paying considering the vicious kick he’d laid on the young man, but instead, he wrapped his fingers around Levi’s upper arm and yanked him to his feet.
I heard Levi cry out at the harsh treatment and saw him reach up to grab the shoulder joint of the arm the guy still had ahold of.
Levi’s eyes instantly dropped and he stood there in silence as the man spoke to him.
Frustration went through me at the fact that I couldn’t hear any of what was being said.
I saw Levi start shaking his head, which was clearly pissing off the other man.
Things escalated quickly after Levi let out a hoarse “No” that was loud enough even for me to hear.
The blond grabbed him and spun him around causing Levi’s back to hit the wall of the building behind him.
A vicious punch followed and before Levi could even bring up his arms to block his face, another hit had his head bouncing off the brick behind him.
I forced myself not to intervene, but the thought was short-lived when it became clear that Levi was making no move to escape the man or even defend himself .
“You think you can say no to me?” the man screamed as he wrapped a hand around Levi’s throat. “I own you, you fucking little bitch!”
I’d had enough and I was moving before I could even think better of it.
Levi’s instincts for self-preservation had finally seemed to kick in because his hands came up to grab the fingers wrapped around his throat.
But a hard punch to the gut had Levi gasping for air as he tried to curl in on himself.
“Hey!” I shouted. “Get your hands off him!”
The blond barely reacted to the order, so I wasn’t sure if he hadn’t heard me or he just didn’t give a shit.
It didn’t matter because I reached him just as he pulled his arm back to deliver another brutal blow.
I caught his fist as it flew and put all my weight into throwing him backwards so that he was forced to release his hold on Levi’s neck.
Levi immediately crumpled to the ground as the blond fell back onto his ass.
The man was smart enough not to come up swinging.
Instead, he crab-walked backwards a few steps, his eyes full of a mix of surprise and fury.
But whatever he saw in my eyes, it was enough to deter him.
“This isn’t over!” the man snapped at Levi as he got to his feet and put more distance between us.
The man casually straightened his shirt as if he didn’t have a care in the world, but I did notice that he kept moving backwards out of my immediate reach.
I was half tempted to reach for my gun just to show him that if I wanted his ass in a sling, I’d have it.
I waited until the guy turned tail and hurried out of the alley before turning to confront the young man I’d just saved.
The young man I was supposed to put a bullet through.
“You okay?” I asked, though it was a dumb question to ask since Levi’s lip was already swelling and an ugly bruise was forming on his cheek. He was clutching his stomach with one arm.
“Yeah, thanks,” he said as he sucked in a few deep breaths. His voice was softer than I’d imagined it would be.
Of course, the only time I’d imagined it always accompanied visions of him telling Seth to shut up as he was being carved up with a knife .
The reminder of who this man was had me stepping back instead of reaching down to give him a hand.
Now would be just as good a time as any to pull out my gun and finish this, but I left my hand where it was.
As much as I thought this man was scum for the role he’d played in brutalizing an innocent family, Ronan’s orders had been clear.
And while giving head to a guy in an alley wasn’t the most moral of behaviors, it was hardly illegal since money hadn’t appeared to change hands.
“You need me to call someone?” I asked. The injuries didn’t appear to be life-threatening, but they sure as hell had to hurt.
Levi shook his head. “No, I’m okay,” he said as he carefully climbed to his feet. Once he was upright, he leaned against the wall to catch his breath.
“You really should press charges,” I said absently. “Your boyfriend shouldn’t get away with that.” Boyfriend was the politically correct word I’d managed to come up with. Because I was pretty sure the blond was Levi’s pimp…especially after the free blow job and the crack about owning Levi.
“No,” Levi murmured. “He’s not my boyfriend…he…he was just some guy who got me mixed up with someone else.”
It was the lamest excuse I’d ever heard, but I didn’t call him on it. I certainly didn’t want him to know I’d seen him performing oral sex on the guy. As it was, I had no clue how to explain my presence in the alley.
Levi’s light green eyes came up to meet mine. His gaze swept my body from head to toe and I felt my dick stir at the perusal. That pissed me off, an emotion I couldn’t manage to contain, because Levi quickly shrank back against the wall and watched me with fear-filled eyes.
“Well, if you don’t need anything else,” I murmured as I moved away from him. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t particularly like knowing I’d instilled fear in the guy. Which was ridiculous since he should be scared of me, considering what I was likely going to have to do to him.
“Um, wait,” Levi said as I turned my back on him.
I took my time turning back around and saw that he’d stepped away from the wall a little bit.
He tensed briefly and then glanced at a door on the other side of the alley.
“Listen, the kitchen doesn’t open for a couple of hours, but if you want to come inside to get out of this weather, I can get some coffee going. Father O wouldn’t mind.”
“Kitchen?” I asked dumbly.
Levi nodded, but when I didn’t react, his features fell. “Um, you’re here for dinner, right?” His eyes shifted to the door opposite us and I finally saw a small sign that I hadn’t noticed before.
St. Anthony’s Soup Kitchen
Hours: 7am-9am & 6pm-8pm
“Listen, it’s okay,” Levi said and I turned my gaze back on him. “Everybody needs help once in a while, right?”
It finally dawned on me what he was talking about. He thought I was there for a free meal. I was so surprised that I didn’t respond right away, which seemed to make Levi more nervous.
“I mean, you don’t have to be homeless to need a helping hand…”
His voice dropped off as he scanned my body again and I realized he was taking in my clothes.
I wasn’t wearing anything particularly fancy – just a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt that I wore untucked so it would hide my gun, which was at the back of my waistband.
But my clothes were clean and in good shape – not necessarily the typical clothes of someone living on the streets.
“You work here?” I asked as I glanced at the door again.
Levi nodded and then winced slightly before lifting his hand to steady his jaw. “I’m one of the volunteers. Father O lets me open and get set up so I can leave a bit earlier to get to my job on time.”
“Father O?”
“Father O’Shaughnessy. He’s the priest here.” Levi fell silent for a moment. “Why don’t you come inside? I think there’s some leftover turkey – I could make you a sandwich while you wait. It’s…it’s the least I can do for what you did for me.”
It was a terrible idea. The last thing I needed to be doing was interacting with the guy.
But I was also intrigued. Maybe the volunteering was just a ploy to look like he’d gone legit, or maybe it was a condition of his early release from prison.
If I could get him talking, I might get him to put the nails in his own coffin.
“Okay,” I said.
“Good,” Levi responded. A small smile graced his lips, but didn’t last long since the move also caused him to flinch in pain. “I’m Levi. What’s your name?”
“Phoenix,” I answered, not having an issue with giving him my real name. It wasn’t like he’d be around long enough to tell the cops about me anyway.
“Phoenix,” Levi said softly and I felt my traitorous cock twitch. Fuck, I absolutely could not be attracted to this guy.
“It’s nice to meet you, Phoenix,” Levi said as he stuck out his hand.
“You too…Levi,” I responded as I shook his hand.
And inwardly cursed myself as sparks of electricity fired through my palm and directly to my dick.
A whole hell of a lot of sparks.
Yeah, this was bad.
Really, really bad.