Chapter 17
Aron
For all that we left as quietly as possible, there are still Syndicate goons on our tail.
It’s been three days since we gave authority over the Royal Syndicate to Don Yancy, and though there’s no official price on our heads, hitmen, assassins, and hopeful upstarts have been taking potshots at us the whole time.
One guy hit Matt in the back of the shoulder yesterday.
I took a bullet in the calf this morning, and we’ve had to adjust our trajectory through the woods twice to avoid other attackers.
We started carrying large sticks as improvised weapons, which have worked surprisingly well.
I think perhaps our pursuers weren’t expecting us to fight back.
They probably also started to back off after I caved in one assassin’s skull with said stick.
It helps that Syndicate-trained hitmen aren’t accustomed to trudging through the woods.
They’re used to city streets and back alleys, not deep vegetation and tree cover.
Matt and I played in the woods around the city as kids, though, and we’ve both kept ourselves fit.
It’s a little ridiculous how easily we can evade them just because it’s a different environment.
The blackout tattoos are healing as well as can be expected, but what we really need is a good shower and a change of clothes.
I have to give Matt credit for keeping us alive.
I’ve got the knowhow to kill and cook food for us, but he’s surprisingly knowledgeable about various plants and herbs that have been useful for our backs and gunshot wounds.
Considering I was at his side our entire lives, I’m at a loss to explain where he learned it all.
It’s like he’s got this encyclopedic memory, storing tidbits of data like a hard drive, but I can’t figure out where he got those tidbits from.
“Okay, spill it.”
Matt turns back to stare at me. “Spill what?”
“How do you know all this?” I point at the handful of what I thought were weeds but turned out to be valuable herbs that are helpful in fighting off infection. “I went to the same schools you did, took the same classes. How the fuck do you know this shit?”
Matt grins. “Television. Internet. Books. Magazines. Take your pick.”
“Seriously? You’re going to tell me you learned this from documentaries and bullshit like that?”
“I’m telling you, but you’re not hearing it.”
I toss my hands up in defeat. “Because it’s insane!”
Matt wraps his good arm around my shoulders and kisses my cheek. “You’re adorable when you’re befuddled.”
“And you’re a fucking witch. That’s the only explanation.”
“Or maybe while you were busy getting married and starting a family, I was continuing my education. It’s not a big deal. Just be grateful that I know this stuff. We’d be dead in another day or two without it.”
True. I guess what I’m most upset about is not the fact that he has all this knowledge beyond Syndicate dealings but rather that he had a life outside of the one I lived with him to learn it.
I’m jealous of that life, of the moments I missed by being an oblivious idiot.
How did I not see how much of my life revolved around Matt, how much I needed him?
So much pain and suffering could have been avoided if I’d realized sooner …
“What are you thinking about?”
I blink with a start. “Huh?”
“You zoned out for a minute there. I don’t know what planet you were on, but it wasn’t this one.”
“Oh. Sorry.” I swipe my hand through my hair, which could use a good shampooing. “Just thinking about the way events came about. Wondering what might have happened if—”
“Whoa! Just stop right there. There’s no changing the past, so don’t bother wondering.”
I suppose he’s right. “Okay, let’s look to the future, then.” I wave an arm at the forest ahead of us. “Do we know where the fuck we’re going? I know you said we’re avoiding the city and the old Empire ranch that we burned to the ground, but that only tells me where we’re not going.”
He chuckles low in his throat. “Fair enough. There should be a river a few more miles in this direction. If we follow that downstream, it’ll take us to the next town. Nowhere special, nowhere important to the Syndicate, but there’s a pharmacy there. A motel.”
“Um, Matt? We have no money for meds and a motel.”
“We’re former mafiosos. Stealing drugs and breaking and entering should be second nature to us by now.”
“And clothes? We can’t just wear these same blood-soaked suits forever.”
Matt shrugs. “I’m sure they have a ShopMart there.”
I shouldn’t laugh. It’s not funny.
So why can’t I help myself?
Laughter echoes in the woods as I double over from the sheer ridiculousness of it all. Here we are, formerly two of the most powerful men in the city, reduced to petty thievery and other misdemeanors to survive.
“What’s so funny?”
I shake my head, unable to speak or catch my breath from the laughter. My hand moves to grip my side as a painful stitch develops there. Matt rubs my shoulder sympathetically, but I catch his smirk in the edge of my vision. He made that crack on purpose.
Finally, I stop long enough to get a few words out.
“So … ShopMart first? I think we’ll need to look less like excommunicated mafiosos and more like average Joes.”
A twinkle lights up in his sapphire eyes. “There’s that. Also, ShopMart is less likely to notice missing bandages and such. We can patch ourselves up while I figure out the best way to break into the pharmacy and get us good antibiotics.”
“You think a late-night B and E is the answer?”
“Definitely. There are too many witnesses and employees at the pharmacy during the day. Security’s too tight then.”
“Have you ever been to a pharmacy on your own? Like, to shop or pick up a prescription?”
Matt stares blankly at me. “What do you mean?”
I stop and lean against a tree, crossing my arms over my chest. “Shopping. In a store. Have you ever done it?”
He trips on a root, stumbling several yards before catching his footing. “I—I mean …”
“Do you even know how to conduct a legal transaction? Once we obtain some cash, that is, we’ll have to shop for what we need like regular citizens.”
I watch as his shoulders slump, then start shaking. Soon, Matt’s laughing even harder than I just was. “I’m glad I have you with me, Aron. The notion of shopping for groceries never occurred to me. Literally did not cross my mind.”
“I was just kidding. I thought you and Tito bought groceries for the manor to keep it—How did you put it?—in stock.”
Matt wipes a tear from the corner of his eye with his palm. “We … might have stolen what we needed from the Syndicate supply rooms.”
I stifle a snort. “What?”
“Dad and I … We never actually went to a store or bought the supplies.”
“You’re impossible.”
A twig snaps in the distance, and we both freeze.
“Where?” Matt whispers. I pause and focus on the sounds around us, listening for more than just that one twig, for any sounds of renewed pursuit.
“Sounds like about a mile back.”
Matt nods. “Good. Plenty of time to reach the river and cross it before they catch up, then.”
We move out, taking care where we step to avoid making the same mistake our pursuers did. By the time we wade across the stream—I’ll have to give Matt a lesson on the difference someday—the sounds behind us have faded.
We reach the town Matt mentioned a couple of hours later, filthy and exhausted.
It’s not yet dawn, so Matt and I break into the ShopMart and run a quick snatch-and-grab of the essentials.
Food for the day. Clothing. Bandages. We clean out their stock of antiseptic, though since they’re not a pharmacy, we’ll have to wait another day to get antibiotics.
Breaking into the motel is trickier. Even though we don’t set off any alarms, the rooms have keycard entry. Matt gets us in, but it takes so long that I worry the maid service staff will catch us.
Once inside, we clean up first, then take care of our blackout tattoos.
Matt’s is larger by far, so I apply the antiseptic to him while he lies on his stomach.
He doesn’t move or flinch, but I cringe each time I touch the cotton gauze to his back.
The tattoo doesn’t appear infected, but something like that can happen so quickly …
I hope we find the antibiotics we need tonight.
My turn comes next, and, like Matt, I lie perfectly still and quiet.
After we’re clean and bandaged as well as we can be, we snack on the food we stole. It’s mostly junk, but you can’t expect five-star dining when you’re on the run. We turn on the TV and flip through the motel cable, but nothing much is on.
“Now what?”
I laugh. “I’m following your lead here.”
“Well, then, we’re both fucked.” He rubs my thigh thoughtfully. “I suppose we could finally get some sleep. We’ve got all day to kill. The pharmacy doesn’t close until ten.”
And sleep we do. We curl up next to each other on the small motel bed, careful not to put too much pressure on each other’s backs. Light dozing leads to full-on sleep, and not even the sunlight streaming through the threadbare curtains wakes us.
What does wake me, though, is Matt’s hand on my cock.
“What time is it?” I mumble.
“It’s almost time to hit the pharmacy,” he says, “but I want to pregame. Roll over and spread your legs for me.”
“Now? You can’t wait until we’ve got the antibiotics on board?”
“Please, Aron. I need this.”
I’d argue, but my cock seems to agree with Matt. I roll onto my stomach and get on my hands and knees, exposing my ass, taking over the task of stroking my shaft while Matt opens some stolen lube and preps my hole.
“I won’t touch your back,” he says as he slides two slick fingers inside me. “I’m gonna clap those cheeks though. I’m going to ride you so fucking hard, Aron. Just knowing that you’re mine for the rest of our lives … Fuck, I need you.”
“Then quit teasing me like a pussy and do it.”
Matt chuckles. “You’d know all about what a tease those pussies are, wouldn’t you?” He presses his dick to my asshole and inches in while he talks. “Nothing’s the same as my cock in your hole, isn’t that right?”
I grit my teeth and pump my hand on my cock even faster. “C’mon, Matt. Quit wasting time. Get in there and fill me up already.”
“But Aron … we have all the time in the world right now.”
If his words mean what I think they mean, he’s about to edge the shit out of me. To counter his easy approach, I back into him, slamming my ass into his crotch. Matt gasps and grips my hips with bruising force.
“Fine. I was going to play nice, but I see how you want it.”
That’s the end of slow and easy. Matt growls and starts ramming into me. His balls slap against mine, and the headboard bangs on the wall as I scream and shout. If the motel managers didn’t know we were here before, they know now.
Everyone on this floor knows.
As promised, Matt leaves my tender back alone, but that doesn’t stop him from grabbing my hair and pulling my head back.
He rides me like this for a full hour, and it’s all I can do to keep up.
Pleasure courses through me with each thrust, compounded by the sensations from my hand on my cock. I’m almost there … just a little more …
Matt comes with a shout, then pulls out and does something new.
He starts cleaning up his mess … with his tongue.
I’ve had girlfriends who were into giving rim jobs in the past, but they clearly didn’t know what they were doing compared to Matt. His tongue probes me almost as expertly as his cock, and before I know it, I’m coming hard all over the bed.
Matt straightens and pats my ass before getting down off the bed. “Okay. Shower time, then larceny.”
I can’t help but laugh at that.
We manage to get out of the pharmacy just minutes before the cops arrive. Loaded down with enough antibiotics to cure just about any infection, we move on to our next location: an abandoned, condemned house in a sketchy area of town.
No assassins come for us this night, nor the next, nor the next. It seems the few who wanted us dead either gave up or lost track of us.
The Syndicate is truly behind us now.
It’s just me, Matt, and the future ahead of us.