Chapter Thirty-One
F isher was pissed and he couldn’t seem to get a handle on his anger. Not only as a result of his discussion with Echo and Rogue, but also angry about one missing assassin.
Justice had ghosted him.
Yanking his cell phone from his front pocket, he dialed Justice’s number for what seemed like the twentieth time. He wasn’t sure about what he was going to say, but he would be sure to give the asshole a piece of his mind.
When it rang on the other end, he impatiently tapped his finger on the windowsill.
Justice didn’t get to be pissed at him.
He was the one that was supposed to be angry.
He was the one that was supposed to avoid Justice. And he sure the hell was the one who was in the right here, so what was the man’s problem?
The call went to voicemail.
You’ve reached Justice, leave a message.
Prick!
He ended the call and tossed his phone onto his worn couch before he followed it down. Kicking his feet up, he draped them over the arm of the couch and yanked the small pillow beneath his head.
The day was growing late, but he felt too restless to try and sleep. When his phone buzzed, he dug for it and pulled it from beneath his right ass cheek.
It was a text from Savage. Rather than respond, Fisher punched in the guy’s number.
“Ready for a job?” Savage said by way of answering the phone.
“Yeah. I have a question though.”
“What’s that?”
“Aren’t we supposed to be working in pairs?”
“Yes.”
“Well Justice isn’t.” Fisher crossed his ankles and stared out the window beyond his feet. He felt like a fucking snitch and that pissed him off even more.
“You want me to tell him to get his head out of his ass?”
“Yes.”
If Savage gave Justice an order, then he wouldn’t need to come up with a reason to seek out the man. If he gave Justice a piece of his mind in the process, then so be it, it was the least the guy deserved.
“I also have Bones or Falcon available.”
“What? Who are they?”
“Part of Erebus. Either one would be a good partner for you.”
He’d never heard of either man, but he knew one thing, he wasn’t partnering with anyone he didn’t know.
He’d be with Justice or nobody.
“Did you text Justice?” he asked suspiciously.
“Yeah,” his boss sighed. “He said he was busy.”
Fisher hung up the phone before Savage could say another word.
“That fucker,” he muttered and launched off the couch.
It was the middle of the night, but he knew where Justice slept, so there wouldn’t be a chance in hell that the assassin could avoid him forever.
Three o’clock in the morning was probably not the best time to pay a visit, but so the fuck what? He’d lost plenty of nights’ sleep because of Justice so payback was a bitch.
Asshole.
Tossing his backpack up and over the wall, he took a few steps back and ran halfway up before leaping to the top. Jumping down, he slid on his pack and walked through the hedges, along the flower bed, and to the front door.
This might be the tricky part. Somehow, he needed to get Justice to open the door.
He sighed, placed his hands on his hips, and studied the keypad near the front entrance.
“The door’s open.”
Justice’s deep voice came from the box and startled him, but he covered it by testing the knob. Sure enough, it was open.
So much for being stealthy.
Stepping inside, he softly closed the door and the lock engaged automatically. The entryway was lowly lit and he cautiously walked with silent steps to where the wall ended and opened up into the living room.
Easing off his backpack, he swept his eyes around the area and dropped the pack at his feet.
Had Justice opened the door from his bedroom? The lock did look high-tech and was probably operated from an app.
What should he do? And why the hell was he so indecisive?
Maybe because the last time he’d been here, he’d been locked in a fucking cage?
Oh right. He’d been drugged first and then locked up.
Fucker!
Justice’s big body suddenly caged him from behind and as much as he wanted to nut punch the asshole, he wanted to fuck him more.
When Justice nuzzled into his neck, Fisher’s dick stirred.
“You don’t get to be mad at me,” Fisher breathed, his forehead pressing against the wall. Justice ground against his ass and kissed his nape.
“And you don’t get to avoid me.” This time, Fisher moaned those words.
“Okay,” Justice agreed huskily.
When the man’s teeth closed at the back of his neck, Fisher’s cock tightened painfully. Justice caught both of Fisher’s hands in his and pressed his palms flat to the wall and Fisher arched his back, pushing his ass against the man’s crotch.
He thought about all the reasons he should not do what he was about to do and the main one was he needed to tell Justice about his past.
That was the only way to see if this thing between them worked. He’d need to open up and he wasn’t talking about his ass.
“Justice, we need to talk.” His voice was higher pitched than usual and Justice finally leaned away from him.
“I know.” The words were grumbled and gravelly sounding and when he turned, he spotted the grimace crossing the man’s rugged face.
They carried mugs of coffee from a freshly brewed pot out onto the back patio where the massive swimming pool’s surface sat like glass, its lights shimmering beneath the blue water. The whole thing was outlined with flowers, bushes, and even a few trees.
Justice had a gardener who came and took care of the garden. Fisher always thought the yard and house were like something he had once seen in a magazine.
Axel trotted out and headed around the yard. Fisher figured the dog was trained to do perimeter checks.
Justice settled into one of two comfortable patio chairs and Fisher sat in the other. Cradling the mug, he sipped the coffee. The brew was black and he didn’t drink it often, but tonight it hit the spot.
“I’m sorry.”
Fisher gazed at the edges of distant sand dunes he could see just past the wrought iron fencing. The sound of waves from the beach drifted on the air.
He knew Justice was sorry.
Of that, he had no doubts.
He took a deep breath. It was time to tell his story. Of what he could remember of it anyway.
“I was six when Tanis stole me from the orphanage. A lot of my years after that I don’t remember,” he murmured.
Justice turned his head to gaze at him and Fisher gave a nod, not meeting the man’s eyes.
“I have what they call cPTSD that makes me forget. The technical term is dissociation from reality. My psychiatrist called it trauma avoidance.”
He took another sip of his coffee, waiting for Justice to digest what he’d said.
“Is that why you said… what did I do?”
Fisher nodded. “Yeah. I honestly didn’t remember, but I had a feeling that you had done something.”
“Do you remember now?” Justice’s voice shook.
“Yes. I do now. My memories come back with time and if I don’t stress myself. I don’t know how else to explain it. I’ll forget at first and then something will trigger me to remember, or my brain will tell me I’m safe and then I’ll recall.”
“I fucked up.” Justice placed his mug aside on a nearby glass table and rubbed both hands over his face, bending his head down.
“We’ve got to work on our communication. If I had told you what happened and you would have told me about what you guys had planned, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
“True,” Justice agreed. “I should have discussed the orders I received, regardless of what Savage said. I’ll never keep something like that from you again.”
“Thank you.”
Justice gave him a sad pull of his mouth and then gazed at the swimming pool.
“When I was twelve, Tanis sold me to Solomon.”
Justice’s big hands fisted as the man absorbed just how many years he’d been subjected to Tanis.
“He sold the boys who grew too old for him.”
“Tanis is the ring leader,” Justice said flatly.
“Yes, and all these years, I thought he was dead.”
“Why did you think that?”
“Because Rogue told me he was.”
After leaving Echo and Rogue, the memory of how he’d found out that Tanis was dead had come back. He had flashes of Rogue holding him while he cried with relief that the monster was no longer breathing.
His mind had safeguarded him by slipping away the memories of Tanis until he could accept them without going insane.
His sudden need for vengeance thrummed through him, but he swallowed it down.
“I was with Solomon until the age of eighteen when I escaped. I tried to take Rogue and Echo with me, but Rogue was too brainwashed by Solomon and I couldn’t get Echo’s cage open.”
Justice reached over and took his hand and linked their fingers. Fisher took a breath and continued, getting it all said and done.
“I reported the warehouse to the cops, but by the time they got there, it was cleaned out. I kicked around for a while trying to find Echo and Rogue, but I was almost recaptured by Solomon. That’s when I joined the Navy. I figured the military would keep the fucker away.”
“How did you meet Owen and Creed?”
Fisher smiled slightly, both men were Army Special Forces. “On a joint Taskforce. They gave me shit for being Navy.”
“I bet,” Justice murmured.
There was a long moment of silence and then Justice squinted at him.
“What?”
“You came back,” Justice frowned.
“Yeah. I was older. I missed Echo and Rogue; they were my brothers even though we don’t share blood. I knew Tanis was dead and it appeared that Solomon had gone legit.” He took a sip of his cooling coffee. “Of course, when I found out it was a lie, I began searching for any lost boys.”
“I detained you the night we killed Solomon.”
“Yeah, that was a hell of a road trip up the coast to San Luis Obispo.”
Justice gave a silent and apologetic grimace.
“Sorry about that.”
“I liked that way more than the cage,” he joked.
Justice lifted their link fingers to his mouth and kissed his knuckles. “That time I wasn’t needed, this time, I was ordered to help.”
“But you failed to kill Blue.”
“That time. He’s dead now.”
“Seriously?” Fisher shot Justice a questioning look.
“Steel and I killed him two days back. Dave got the call, but I supposed word hasn’t traveled yet.”
“Speak of the devil.” Fisher glanced at his cell that was resting on the glass table.
One-handed, because their fingers were still linked, Justice tugged out his buzzing phone. “Mine too.”
“Answer it on yours,” Fisher said and Justice hit the speaker button.
“I’m here with Fisher,” Justice said by way of a greeting.
“All good?” Dave asked.
“So far.” Justice tightened his hand around his.
“Fisher?” Dave said as if getting his okay.
“Yeah, we’re working it out.”
“That’s good. Listen, I got a call about a crime scene that I need you both to check out.”
“Why? Crime scenes aren’t our thing,” Fisher said.
“Your name was found there.”
“What?” Surprise filled his voice.
“I’ll give you the address.”
Cold fear punched his gut.
“What is it?” Justice urged.
“We gotta go now!”