Chapter 2
RUDY
The cold hit harder once the sun went down.
It crawled through my fucking clothes and bit frosted holes at my skin.
My breath looked like smoke from a dying engine.
It reminded me of the van and I used that to push my feet harder.
We’d been running for hours now—mud on our boots and our hearts pounding like the damn hounds behind us.
“Keep fucking low, or your heads will be target practice for the snipers,” I muttered, forcing my way through a tangle of branches. “We’re close to the cabin.”
Que followed tight behind me, his silhouette a steady shadow in the dark. His body heat kept me going. I knew these fuckers were counting on me. Somehow I managed to get myself into being the leader of the gang of bastards.
Right now one bastard in particular was unusually quiet. Que never shut his damn mouth, unless it was around something. So it was odd that he wasn’t singing or cracking jokes about his face being so close to my ass.
I’d never admit it, but with everyone spread out and the sound of the hounds in the distance, I could really use him humming folk tunes. His presence was a weird comfort. Always had been. Probably always would be.
I could hear him breathing behind me, slow and even, even though his knuckles were raw and his jumpsuit was torn from the struggle of getting free from that hellhole.
“You sure Prat said the cabin was this way? I think you’re taking us in fucking circles, Rue-Rue,” Que said, mindful to keep his voice low. “And as much as I enjoy staring at your fine ass, I’m freezing my fucking nuts off, dude.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Cabin near a lake. Follow the smoke. Said the place seemed safe. He never got close enough to check it out. As for being cold, I’m sure you can find a way to warm up.” I glanced over a shoulder. “You think I’m stupid for trusting the Bible-thumper?”
Que snorted. “Meh. I trust him not to run his mouth. Don’t know about this magical cabin in the woods, though. As for warming up, your mouth on my cock would do just fine.”
I almost smiled. Almost. The sound of the dogs carried through the woods again, and it wasn’t as distant as before. My gut twisted. “Move your ass or they’ll feed your dick to those mutts.”
Nothing killed Que’s libido, but he nodded and we moved faster.
Crouched and quiet, following the faint glimmer of moonlight through the trees where the slight blur of smoke led.
Somewhere to our left, a twig snapped and both of us froze.
Que raised his makeshift weapon, and I lifted a hand to stop him before he ran off and bludgeoned a squirrel.
The woods fell silent again, except for the rush of the creek nearby. Maybe a lake.
Nothing else.
Prat, if you lied to us…
We followed a narrow path, our boots slipping on the wet leaves and the air seeming to get even fucking colder.
Finally, the trees broke open, and in the center of a little clearing was a cabin.
It was a sagging old thing with a stone chimney puffing faint smoke into the night sky.
Our beacon of hope. Warm light flickered in the window, and I ducked, snatching Que by the arm and shoving his ass down with me.
“Fucker didn’t bother mentioning that someone lived here,” I muttered.
“Yeah.” Que narrowed his eyes. “Imma kill him.”
I swallowed hard, trying to regroup, while glancing around to see if any of the others had made it here yet. “Maybe he never saw anyone coming and going. They could’ve popped up outta nowhere, I guess… but now we got a problem.”
The closer we got, the more wrong it looked.
The snow around the perimeter was trampled—like someone had dragged something heavy through it.
Except I didn’t see any cars. And pine needles were scattered across the porch.
I chanced a look into the window, which was half hidden by a curtain, and I could have sworn I saw a shadow.
A woman’s shadow, judging by the shape of it.
“Could be a hunting spot?” Que said quietly. “We could snatch their guns.”
“I think I saw a woman,” I grunted back.
“Chicks can hunt. God, way to be sexist, man.”
I ignored Que’s rambling and continued to survey the area, growing more anxious by the minute.
We can’t kill whoever’s in there. They need to let us in willingly. But we have to survive no matter what.
I crouched behind a log, staring at that faint light streaming out from the house. I could smell the smoke from the chimney, sugar, and something else. Something so sweet it smelled off, like a bottle of perfume left out too long. And sour. Which didn’t make much sense.
Que rubbed his hands together for warmth, tugging on my sleeve until I looked back at him. Then he was fluttering those boyish lashes at me. “You think she’ll like damsels in distress?”
“She won’t get a choice if she doesn’t,” I said.
My voice came out calm, steady, dark like it always did when shit went sideways.
“Once the rest of the boys get here, we’ll all go in together.
But you need to be the one to approach her.
Use that charm you claim you have. No noise.
No panic. We can get food, warmth, and lie low till we figure out what the fuck to do next. ”
Que shifted beside me, close enough that I could feel his body heat now. He was smiling, his eyes locked on mine with a playfulness swirling inside the deep pools of blue. “It ain’t a claim when you can’t deny my charm either. Don’t lie. You can’t tell me no if you wanted to.”
I opened my mouth, planning to argue with him, if only to prove a point, but Que had me pushed against the cabin, my back brushing along the frosted glass. His hands rustled with the snaps on my waist, and I lost my ability to tell the fucker anything.
“Let me hear you say no while your cock is in my mouth.”
The shadow moved again, drawing my attention to the window, and I watched her silhouette spin and sway like it was dancing. I could hear faint music playing through the whining of the wind. Something cheerful—holiday bullshit.
The cold slapped at my bare skin, and just as I hissed, the heat of his mouth enveloped me. My hand flew up to rest on the window, my mouth falling open and soft moans escaping me as he sucked my cock like the fucking good boy he could be… when he wanted to be anything.
I glanced down and met Que’s eyes, his lips tipping into that all-knowing smirk.
“What the hell are you doing? We can’t get caught out here like this. We ca—” My words were cut off by my strangled moans.
“Live a little, Rue-Rue. You’re so tightly wound. Relax. I got this. The bitch will let us in, but right now, you need to let go. Don’t go hiding in your head.”
Truth was, I couldn’t think about anything but how hot his mouth felt. Holy fucking hell. It’d been so long since I had felt him like this. Whenever we could slip away during laundry duty or whenever Que paid off a guard—usually with his mouth—to get us some alone time in my cell.
I wasn’t going to last long. I turned my face, my breath fogging the window and my eyes barely open. But then I felt a warmth beneath my palm, and I opened my eyes to look through the glass to find a beautiful red-haired woman staring back at me. Her hand hovering above mine.
I opened my mouth with every intention of warning Que, but the way he sucked my cock and kneaded my balls felt too damn good. So instead, I just stared at the woman as my come shot out and coated his smug fucking face.
“Fuck, I missed that.” He grinned as he jumped to his feet and peered over my shoulder. “Who do you think is in there? You know what? Doesn’t matter. My turn. I don’t care if they can hear—”
Que stopped talking suddenly. He could see her now. A pair of pink lips parted into an O-shape, and emerald-green eyes that were staring right at us.
I smiled, unable to stop the euphoric hum in my blood when I spotted the others making their way towards the cabin from the tree line. Seemed our little Peeping Tom was about to get quite the surprise when nine men appeared on her doorstep offering a bit of holiday cheer.
“Guess we’re about to find out.”