20. HUNTER
HUNTER
M addox rides shotgun in my Challenger as I drive thirty minutes outside the city until I’m pulling up on the outskirts of a gated compound.
Antonio DeLuca.
He’s a heavy hitter in the cartel and one of the largest heroin manufacturers in the country, which naturally means he has no shortage of enemies willing to pay obscene amounts of money to see him disappear.
He’s also a certified piece of shit, and the scars stretched across my back are proof of that.
It was only a matter of time before Antonio ended up on my radar again.
The last time Maddox and I went after him, we both nearly lost our lives. We underestimated him. We were young, reckless, and far too arrogant for our own good. Back then, we thought having guns and confidence made us dangerous, but Antonio didn’t hesitate to teach us a valuable lesson.
We escaped. Barely. But tonight, we settle the score.
Things have changed since then.
We’re not inexperienced idiots charging headfirst into situations we don’t understand.
We’re professionals now. Smarter. Better equipped and infinitely more dangerous.
We’re fucking lethal now, and nothing is going to stop me from putting that bastard in the ground where he belongs.
This isn’t just a hit anymore, this is personal.
Antonio may be ruthless, and he may have hundreds of men willing to die for him, but he isn’t as ruthless as Maddox. He isn’t as brazen as I am, and he sure as fuck won’t see either of us coming.
As the compound comes into view, I kill the headlights and roll the car to a stop beneath a cluster of trees overlooking the property.
“Home sweet home,” Maddox mutters, a darkness swimming in his tone.
I snort. I’ve never heard truer words, especially considering that we were prisoners here for a few weeks before one of Antonio’s men made a mistake that cost him his life. Valuable lessons were learned during our last little dungeon vacation.
Using thermal optics and a drone small enough to avoid detection, we begin surveying the compound from a distance.
Six security patrols and not a single blind spot on the cameras.
We watch for almost an hour, taking note of the guard rotations and both entry and exit routes, something we more than rushed years ago.
Tonight, we’ll take our time and do it right, because I don’t intend on turning this particular trip into another three week long stay while wrapped in chains.
We sit in silence, waiting for the right time, when Maddox glances toward me. “Do you think she’s ever going to forgive me?”
My lips press into a hard line, and I glance at Maddox, unsure how to approach this with him. I want to be honest, but every word that comes out of my mouth is only going to send him further into her arms, despite the fact he blew up her apartment.
Damn it.
I let out a sigh, knowing deep down I can’t lie to him, even if it means sabotaging everything I want.
“Yeah, man,” I tell him. “The fact that she agreed to come and stay at your place says it all. She just needs some time to cool off, and then I promise, she’ll go right back to hanging off your dick while hating on mine. ”
He smirks. “She really does enjoy busting your balls, huh?”
“Yeah, but the minute she stops, that’ll be the minute she’s done with me.”
Maddox lets out a heavy sigh, sinking into the seat and staring out at the compound ahead.
“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do here,” he says in a gruff tone, slowly shaking his head.
“No matter how much she claims to hate you, there’s no denying she wants us both, and despite already being that asshole, I don’t want to force her to choose. ”
I nod, knowing exactly where he’s coming from. “You’re falling for her, aren’t you?”
He looks back at me, and I see the answer in his eyes before a single word sails out of his mouth. “I’m not just falling, man. I’m already flat on the ground, hopelessly obsessed with this woman. There’s no turning back for me now. I’m in it until she tells me otherwise.”
“Shit, that’s what I was worried about.”
“You?”
I shrug. “To be completely honest with you, I have no fucking idea. I’ve never been in love with someone before. I don’t know how that’s supposed to feel, but I know I’ve never felt like this before.”
“Like what?”
“Like I can’t fucking breathe without her.”
“Damn,” he sighs. “Hate to break it to you, Hunter, but you’re just as fucked as I am. You’re in love.”
“Shit.”
My head falls back against the headrest as I stare out at the compound, watching the guards make their rounds.
“What the hell are we supposed to do?” he asks.
“Because I have to be real with you. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.
I’ve had your back since the first day of kindergarten, and that’s never going to change.
You’re like a brother to me, and I would give my fucking life for you, but Lyra . . . I can’t give her up.”
“I would never ask you to,” I tell him. “I see how much she means to you . . . and I’m not about to ask you to walk away, but I’m too fucking selfish. I’m not giving her up, not even for you.”
He sighs. “The way I see it, we have two options. Either we battle it out the old fashioned way—”
“A duel?”
“No, you fucking idiot. Rock, paper, scissors.”
I shake my head and roll my eyes. “Or?”
“Or we wait it out until one of us inevitably fucks up so bad that she forces us out.”
I let out a breath and fix him with a hard stare. “How badly would we have to fuck up? You blew up her home, and she’s still sound asleep on your couch. I don’t think there’s anything either of us could do that would have her walking away. I think she’s all in.”
He meets my stare. “And when she figures out I’m a killer just like you?”
“I don’t know, man. But the longer you keep it from her, the messier it’s going to get,” I tell him.
“If you’re really in this, you have to trust her to know exactly who you are.
Lay it all out and start this with a clean slate.
Besides, considering how easily she accepted me, something tells me you’ll breeze through. ”
Maddox laughs to himself. “Alright, so for now, we keep on keeping on. All three of us. Together.”
I glance at my best friend. “I always knew you and I were gonna be a package deal right until the end, but I never considered this would be the path it was going to take.”
He shakes his head. “Neither did I, man. Neither did I,” he says.
“I know I joke a lot, but I draw the line at sucking your cock. If Lyra wants some sword crossing shit to go down, I’m gonna need at least a few shots first. And I ain’t bottoming for you.
I’ve seen the size of that thing, and it ain’t going anywhere near my ass. ”
I let out a sigh and shift my gaze out the window before reaching for my weapons and double-checking they’re ready to go. “Come on,” I tell him. “Time to go.”
We step out into the night and with our weapons securely strapped across our bodies, I glance at my best friend over the top of my Challenger. “Ready for this?”
He nods, all talk of bottoming completely forgotten. “Fucking born ready.”
I wouldn’t expect anything less, and with that, we take off toward the compound, a gun resting securely in the palm of my hand.
I launch over the ten-foot fencing, scaling it like an animal before coming down on the other side. My feet hit the uncut grass with a soft thud, just seconds before Maddox comes down beside me, a single, sharp puff of air expelling from his lungs.
I don’t doubt that we’ve already been clocked by Antonio’s security team, but that doesn’t faze me as we hit the ground running, pushing ourselves to a sprint, hoping we can cut clear across the compound before the world slams down around us.
The compound is too quiet.
The patrol route that should be circling the eastern perimeter is gone, and one of the security lights has shifted position since our last sweep. Most people wouldn’t notice, but we do, which means we’re exactly where we want to be.
“Four coming from the front,” Maddox murmurs beside me.
I don’t break my stride as the adrenaline floods my body. “Three behind.”
We continue across the open ground toward the warehouse like two idiots with a death wish when the guards finally emerge from the darkness, closing in with weapons drawn.
Someone’s shouting orders, and I have to smile. “Nothing quite like a welcoming committee to start a hit off right.”
Maddox chuffs as though impressed by my rare show of humor. “Damn straight.”
A flashlight beam catches us as someone yells across the compound. Another guard raises a rifle, and I glance at Maddox at the same time he stares back at me. Then we move.
We forge straight into the madness like this is exactly what our bodies were made to do, evading bullets like mild inconveniences.
The first guard barely has time to react before Maddox reaches him. One second the man’s raising his weapon. The next, Maddox has him folded over and crashing into the dirt.
The second comes for me.
Bad fucking decision.
I grin as I welcome his attack, and as he races toward me, letting off shots through the night, I intercept him before moving like lightning, snapping his elbow and shooting him through the stomach with his own gun.
He gurgles, and I use him as a human shield before throwing his lifeless body against his friend and watching them crumble to the ground.
“Well,” Maddox says with a sigh, lunging past a guard and grabbing the front of his gun only to smack it up against the asshole’s face, breaking his nose in an instant. “This is not a very nice welcoming committee.”
The bodies are piling up, and for a second, it looks like we’re actually trying to win. Which is exactly the point. Now I can’t say that I’ve ever purposefully gotten myself captured, but there’s always a first for everything.