Chapter 11
Pip
After things took a hard left with Henny, I knew pulling back was the way to go. Unfortunately, my personality was a bit all or nothing, so that meant giving a bit of the cold shoulder to the one person I wanted to spend all my time with.
I became an expert at avoiding him over the next couple of days. Well, avoiding him as much as possible while also watching his back.
Silent protector.
That was the role I played. Because talking would reveal too much. And I wasn’t ready for him to tell me again that he wanted to fuck me and wouldn’t. All because he thought I wouldn’t stay. Idiot.
If he’d asked me what I wanted, then he’d know staying was the plan. Being in Vegas wasn’t a hardship. I could build a home base here. Could find something to keep my time busy between contracts.
Or maybe I stop taking the contracts altogether.
I had more than enough money. A fuck ton of it. I mostly killed for the sport these days.
With a busy workload for Rel, there was, thankfully, no time for interrogating me. The shipment was set to leave tonight, so we’d been focused on logistics, planning, and ensuring Ricardo’s bait and switch worked.
Henny kept shooting glances my way when we got a second or two to breathe. I ignored them all, claiming I needed to check on someone or take a call. If he opened his mouth to speak with me, I’d find an excuse to leave the room for a minute.
Somebody was bound to ask me if I had a coke problem any day now. I was dipping out just that much. No white powder addiction here, guys. Just a fucking mess of a personal life.
I knew it might have been childish to keep avoiding him. Henny would give me an earful the minute he got me alone long enough to. That brain of his worked on precision and facts. He had to be spiraling with frustration over not being able to explain his disappearance.
His whispered words the night he came back weren’t enough.
I wanted him to spiral. Wanted him to stew.
Because if I let him pin me down, I’d have to face the deeper issues. What did one say after exchanging a moment like we had?
Hey there, thanks for the praise kink masturbation combo. Can we do it again soon? Or maybe something like Do you remember what it was like when I came so hard it made you want to fuck me, but you chose to disappear instead?
Yeah, nope. I didn’t want to go over all that.
Except we absolutely did need to go over it. I’d been pushing off the inevitable. Sleeping in Henny’s bed, being close enough to smell his perfect manly scent, and acting like I wasn’t falling hard with each beat of his heart under my cheek even though I was, wouldn’t hold for much longer.
Damn. Look at me being Shakespeare.
I’d burned the vision of him stroking my cheek and calling me baby into the back of my eyelids.
The day of the shipment, I realized my time had run out. Rel had told me to stick close to Henny’s side and then reiterated the fact when it came to the plan Ricardo had put in place. He wanted all of us safe until this was over. Until the rat was found.
My nerves were wound tight, which matched well with the darkening skyline. Sitting alone with Henny for hours, much like one would on a stakeout, meant there was time to talk. I knew he’d take advantage of the situation.
We’d spent too much time going over this plan, carefully setting it all in place, to screw it up simply because I couldn’t be alone in a room with him.
The key part of it all was the shipment we were waiting on was coming much earlier in the day than planned.
Instead of getting the men to unload it like normal, Henny and I would be in charge of getting things unpacked in a sealed off section of the warehouse.
This shipment was too big to get fucked up. Ricardo’s plan guaranteed the goods arrived. If it could also ensure they caught the traitor, then I’d consider it a success.
As the truck rolled into the bay, Henny took the lead on getting things squared with the driver.
Once the other man was paid, he grabbed a forklift and went about hauling the crates out.
They piled up quickly. In less than an hour it was done.
The driver pulled out with a fat paycheck, and Henny seemed pleased to see each crate accounted for.
“Now we check the inventory in each,” he said aloud. It wasn’t directed at me really. But since I was the only other guy in the room, I knew he spoke for my benefit.
I swung the crowbar I’d been holding over my shoulder as an intimidation tactic around to hit the first crate. The sound echoed around us, which earned me a scowl. Ignoring the reaction, I pried the first one open to see what all the fuss was about.
The inside was lined with foam packaging. When I lifted the top layer, I whistled at the sight before me. “Fucking beauties,” I mumbled.
As someone who used weapons often, I knew what good quality was and what wasn’t. The ones in this crate were well worth the price tag that came with them. I suspected Rel was going to get a nice sum for these.
No wonder they needed to find the rat. They’d been losing millions with each fucked up shipment.
“Check it against this list.” Henny held out a clipboard in my direction.
I reluctantly took it without looking him in the eye. Scanning over the page, I saw the crates all had numbers with inventory lists. It was very detailed, which was to be expected when dealing with anything Henny put together.
Once I confirmed what I needed to do, things were easy. I made it through the crates in a matter of minutes. It wasn’t the most exciting, but it kept my mind on something other than my current personal issues.
At least it did until I heard my name a little while later while working on the next section of crates.
“Pip,” Henny called out.
I raised my head from where I’d been leaning over inspecting one beauty of a piece I might beg Rel to let me test. My eyes went to a spot over his shoulder so I could avoid eye contact when I turned his way. I didn’t want to see whatever emotion he wore.
“How do you feel today?”
My jaw went tight. I didn’t feel like answering something so fucking stupid. How did he think I felt? I wasn’t walking on rainbows and shit. I’d come to do what Rel told me to do. Nothing more.
Talking to him wasn’t on the agenda.
Henny didn’t like my silence. He stomped over to me as I contemplated how to get out of this awkward situation. I couldn’t leave like I’d been doing. And keeping to myself didn’t appear to be an option anymore.
“We need to talk about what happened, Pip,” Henny declared.
“I don’t believe we do. We’re good. You delivered what you said you would. No need to rehash it all.” My tone was bored. I wanted him to believe he hadn’t affected me.
Sure, he’d seen the tears. I knew he knew.
But past that night, I’d managed to keep myself in check. And it needed to stay that way.
His voice turned sharp. “You know that’s not what I meant. I should have stayed.”
“Eh,” I shrugged. “It is what it is.”
“Is it? Because you’re acting like you don’t care, but I know you, Pip. You care.”
I scowled, my gaze connecting with his as I let the anger I felt at all this show. “Don’t tell me how I feel. It’s none of your business anymore. The deal is done. We can both move on working for Rel.”
“Stop.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“Yes, you damn well are!” His shout startled us both. After taking a breath, he continued. “You’re pretending not to care. I get why you’re doing it, but you have to stop.”
“I have to stop? Why? Because you say so? That’s not a good enough reason. Whatever you think we need to discuss isn’t all that important. Let’s forget it all happened. Maybe then you’ll see all of this isn’t needed.”
“Forget—you want me to forget what happened? Do you even think I can? For fuck’s sake, Pip, it’s all I can think about.”
His words lingered in the air between us. Everything in me froze at the things he didn’t say.
“Don’t say things you don’t mean, Henri. You’re not making sense.”
“STOP FUCKING CALLING ME THAT!!”
I smirked. “But it’s your name… Henri.”
Quicker than I thought he could move, Henny’s hand was at my throat. His tight grip forced me to look in his eyes. The fire in them made my traitorous cock come to life.
“You don’t call me that.” He leaned closer, his lips close enough to graze mine. “I’m your Henny. And you’re my good boy. I might have fucked up, but I learned my lesson. And now I’m thinking I need to teach you one as well.”
My mouth felt drier than the Vegas desert. I didn’t really know what to say to him. Not when he was holding me like this and standing so close.
“Cat got your tongue, baby? Where did all that sass go?”
I shivered, which was clearly the last thing he expected. The grip on my jaw lessened, and he leaned back. He looked me over like he was waiting for some sign to do… whatever it was he wanted to do.
“Baby,” he repeated.
That fucking voice. It was the same one he’d used when he told me I’d get my reward. The one that spoke so much praise to me that I came undone at his feet. The one that made me get up off the couch to go back to bed.
And he was using it again.
“You want me.” I licked my lips knowing just what the move would do to him.
His gaze caught the movement, and he surged forward. His lips took mine in a kiss that rocked me to my core. There was nothing else in the world except him and me and our mouths. Nothing but this feeling he brought out of me and the need I had for more, more, more of him.
“Pip,” he panted after pulling back. “Stop hiding yourself from me. Give me this. Give me you. I promise to take care of you this time. I won’t fuck it up again.”
I shook my head to clear the lusty cloud his kiss caused. “You can’t promise that Henny.”
The most beautiful thing happened then. He didn’t give me that partial lip curl thing he did. The one I told myself was a smile even though it kind of wasn’t.
No, this time he gave me the real deal.
Henny’s lips spread wide, revealing a perfect set of teeth and joy so bright I could have been burned from it. I wanted to be.
Fuck, he was gorgeous like this.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.
“Because you called me Henny again. After avoiding me for days, you’re finally coming back to being mine.”
Ignoring the claim, I told him the honest truth about what I was feeling. He needed to understand just how much time I’d put into thinking of him. Hell, I’d been days away from kidnapping him to show my devotion.
Probably a good thing it didn’t go that far.
“I avoided you because I didn’t want you to tell me everything we did was a mistake.
I didn’t want to be close to you and feel all this shit.
” My hands waved up and down between us.
“It hurts, Henny. I don’t like thinking I had a chance and then it gets taken away.
I’ve been patient. It’s my turn to get what I want. ”
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but the ringing of his phone interrupted us. I froze, the moment shifting since there were only two people who knew what we were doing. If they were reaching out, then something had changed.
“It’s Ricardo. He’s pulling in with a surprise.”
“A what? Does that mean what I think it means?”
“Not sure. Only one way to find out.”
We closed up the open crates, then secured the locks on all the entry points to the space. There was noise coming from the big bay already. When we reached it, I could see Ricardo’s car shut off, as the man himself exited the vehicle.
A hand went to my chest right before I strode through the door. “We’re not done with this conversation,” Henny said.
I managed to get out a broken, “Okay.”
He’d used that voice on me again. And now my heart raced as I wondered where things would go next. Would he kiss me again? Would he get past his own hesitant feelings?
If it weren’t for the lovely distraction ahead of us, I’d be dragging Henny back to the suite for those answers now. Fuck waiting.
When I didn’t say anything else, he dropped his arm. We made our way to where the men were gathering. I could tell with how Ricardo looked in our direction that Rel must have been behind us. His eyes were all soft and his smile wide.
“I’ve got a present for you,” he announced.
After a brief pause—probably to be dramatic and shit—he went to the trunk of the car. When it popped open, the present he had became real clear.
Ricardo pulled a hog-tied man out and forced him to his knees before us all. The idiot cried out like it was the worst punishment ever.
What a punk.
Henny and I stepped closer to take the guy in. I recognized his face. I didn’t know his name, but I knew he’d been around a while.
“What a present indeed.” I said with a dark laugh. “Tell me I get to play with it too.”
Henny smacked me with the tablet he managed to produce from thin air. “Enough of that.”
Where the fuck did that come from? Was he a part-time magician?
I growled at the thought of him performing like that. Crossing my arms to prevent myself from touching him, I waited to see when I’d get the permission I wanted to beat this asshole’s head in.
The stress relief would do wonders after the conversation I’d just been put through, and for the one awaiting me.
Pharrell moved closer as the room went quiet. “What’s going on?”
Ricardo spread his arms out, like he was fucking Jesus or something. It almost made me laugh, but a pinch on the hip from Henny kept me still, like the good boy I was for him.
“This is a present for you, Pharrell. I found him waiting at the location he thought the shipment was going to. He was going to intercept it. His back seat is full of weapons.”
Well, that definitely had the boss’s attention.
"You wanted to steal from me?" Pharrell’s voice was all barbed wire and acid.
The fucking idiot decided to spit on the ground in the boss’s direction. Ricardo didn’t much like that shit. He kicked the guy hard enough for him to topple forward.
“You do not disrespect him!"
Even I got a bit of a chill from the way he said it. Things must have been pretty serious between these two for all this lovey-dovey stuff to go down.
Other people wouldn’t see it like that, but I knew how these things worked.
Rel went over to the man, lifting his head and turning him until he couldn’t look anywhere but at his boss.
With the most frustrated tone I think I’d ever heard, he told the guy exactly what came next.
"I'm going to have to hurt you. And while I don't necessarily enjoy hurting my men, I do enjoy weeding out the bad fruit.
So, we're going to go have a bit of fun, and you're going to tell me who you work for.
The longer you hold out, the more pain you will find.
Your screams will be so loud they'll hear them at the casino. There is no relief for those who betray me, only death.”
Oh, joy!
It’s killing time.