Chapter 13
Asher
God, this is a bad fucking idea.
But I’m the one on my feet; I’m in total control of this situation.
… I think.
My head drops back against the door as Ella wraps her soft lips around my solid cock. Her breath is warm, her fingernails sharp as she presses them into my thighs and takes my dick deep. It’s a sudden warmth, the back of her throat greeting me fast, and I moan, almost crying out her damn name.
I should stop this.
I was supposed to kill her, not—
“Oh, fuck—” I grip her hair as she takes me deeper, her throat tight and wet.
How has attempted murder turned into the best blow job of my fucking life?
And then she swallows.
With my fat, hard cock halfway down her throat, the woman fucking swallows.
“Holy fucking shit,” I groan.
And that’s her getting started.
She sucks me, licks me, treats my cock like it’s the sweetest thing she’s ever tasted, all while teasing and massaging my balls and looking up at me with those dark blue eyes.
It’s dizzying how good she is at this, and I suddenly want to kill any man who has experienced the same pleasure I currently am.
The sensation grows, tension building at the base of my spine and balls, and I groan.
“Ella, I’m gonna come, holy fucking shit—”
She speeds up, her rhythm absolutely fucking perfect, and I grip her head as I come. Stars burst behind my eyes and I grunt, emptying myself down her throat, my heart damn near bursting out of my chest.
I half slump against the door, hardly feeling Ella licking me clean until she presses her lips to mine. I deepen the kiss, tasting the salt of myself on her tongue.
“How long until you leave?” she asks quietly.
I swallow, not knowing how long to keep up this lie. “A few weeks, maybe.”
Ella sighs, the sound cracking my chest. “Then spend these few weeks with me. It’ll hurt when you go … but I can’t live above you and not want to see you every day.”
My heart is in fucking pieces.
Earlier as we lay on that couch, my hands close to her throat, I knew I couldn’t do it. I can’t hurt Ella. Certainly can’t kill her. I’m convinced she’s caught up in something unintentionally—I just need to convince Gable of that.
Either way, I can’t have her.
Not forever, anyway.
“Okay.” I kiss her.
My dick is already hardening again, and I lift her into my arms, about to take her to her bedroom, when my phone vibrates.
I know exactly who it’ll be.
“Shit,” I mumble, balancing Ella with one arm while checking my phone with the other.
GABLE: she dead yet? I’m bored
Fuck.
ME: you interrupted me.
Not a lie.
“Gable needs me,” I say, looking up at Ella. “Can I come over again later?”
She pouts but nods, and I place her back on her feet.
“Don’t be too long, or I’ll get started without you,” she says, and I do everything in my power not to propose.
“Okay, we’ve got the bone saw, or a good old-fashioned rug roll and dump,” Gable says as I enter Barnaby’s apartment.
“What do you think?” He stares at me, bone saw in hand, brows up as he waits for my answer.
I swallow, my skin still tingling from the orgasm, my stomach churning with guilt over the lies.
He sighs. “Okay, fine, we’ll leave her at home and call in a bad smell so her dad can bury her.
Happy?” Still, I say nothing, going into the open-plan kitchen and dropping the keys on the counter.
I can’t lie to him. Gable’s been my best friend for twenty years. He’ll see right through me; he always has.
“You’re being weird,” Gable says. “Did she poop when she died? ’Cos that’s totally normal.”
“She’s …” I rub the back of my head. “Not dead.”
When I meet his eye, he’s glaring at me. He drops the bone saw onto the couch, goes to the side table drawer and yanks it open, taking out a gun and spinning the silencer onto the muzzle. “You had your chance.”
I dart to the door, blocking his way. “You can’t.”
“I can. I will. I am.” He cocks the gun. “Move.”
“She’s innocent, Gable!”
He points the gun at the ceiling. “She is a walking, talking Range Rover. She’s a downpayment on a villa in Spain. She’s a fucking paycheck!”
“I’ve fallen for her.”
He gapes at me, mouth open. “You fucked her.”
I scoff. “I did not.”
He snatches my hand and sniffs my fingers. “Pussy!” He grabs at my belt and I twist away. “If your dick is wet, Asher Flynn, I’ll murder you, too!”
As I dart away, he goes for the door handle and I grab his arm, throwing him to the floor. His back hits the rug, the gun skidding away, and I leap on him. He slaps me and I push at his face to keep him down.
“I’ve been beating you up since we were twelve fucking years old!” he wheezes, his cheeks red. “I will beat you up now!”
He seizes my wrist and yanks my hand from his face—and punches me in the ribs. I exhale out a yelp, and he flips me off him and darts to his feet, but not before I kick the back of his knee and send him flying.
“You little shit—” He lunges for me.
I hold up my hands. “Truce!”
Gable freezes, breathless and red in the face, his eyes narrowed. “Actual truce or fake truce?”
I kick his knee again and as he curses my name, I bolt to my feet and go for the door. If I can get to Ella before him—
His forearm closes around my throat.
I gargle, the headlock firm.
“Say you’ll kill her,” Gable says.
I claw at his arm. “No!”
“Say it!”
“Let … go!” I buck and he releases me, backing away, putting space between us. We both heave in breaths, my hands on my knees, my throat dry. My brother glares at me, equally winded. “I’ll make you a deal.”
“I don’t want a fucking deal.”
“Just listen.” I straighten and wipe the sweat from my brow. “We call Cleo.”
He frowns. “What will she do?”
Cleo sends out the contracts. She’s the well of knowledge when it comes to this underground world, and if you get in good with her, you get the decent work before anyone else.
She loves us, finds me charming and Gable hilarious, and she’s how we know that any job we get is for a person who deserves their fate.
“We agreed when we started this that we wouldn’t kill anyone unless they deserved it,” I say. “I know for a fact Ella doesn’t. We call Cleo. We ask.”
“Cleo has never failed us.”
“People. Make. Mistakes,” I say, taking out my phone. I dial Cleo’s latest number, one she changes regularly, and it rings three times before her smokey voice sounds over the speakerphone.
“How’s my second favorite Flynn?”
Gable flashes me a smug smile, and I give him the finger. “We’re both here, but thanks.”
Cleo chuckles. “What’s up, my love?”
“The latest job we got. Ella Gibson,” I say. “What’s the reason for her bounty?”
“Ella who?”
I frown, and so does Gable. “Ella Gibson. She was part of the job with Barnaby Fisher.”
Cleo pauses. “I remember the Fisher guy, but I never sent through any job for a Gibson. Were they on the same paperwork?”
“No. Ella’s arrived two days later. But she’s in the same building, so we just assumed—” Gable says.
“Ella Gibson …” Cleo mumbles, clearly more to herself than us. I hear her tapping on a keyboard. “It didn’t come from the agency. There’s nothing here, guys.”
My skin chills, and I meet Gable’s eye. He looks equally confused and takes out his phone. He pulls up the message we got for Ella’s contract. It looks the same as all the others.
Someone bypassed the agency to send this to us.
We’re the best in our field, our success rate ninety-nine percent (one target fell off a building before Gable could shoot him, and I’ve never forgiven him for it), but people also know we have limits on who we’ll kill.
Whoever sent this to us wanted Ella in the ground but knew we wouldn’t do it without cause.
“Want me to make some calls, honey?” Cleo asks.
“Yes, please. Can you check Ella out, too? See if there’s any reason someone would want her gone?”
“Of course. Don’t forget it’s my birthday next week.”
Gable leans forward. “Gift is already on the way.”
I roll my eyes. “Kiss ass.”
“Thank you, sweetie. Love you both. Stay safe!” Cleo sings, then hangs up.
Now, we wait.
Gable collapses onto the couch, focused on his phone.
I sit beside him, my ribs still aching. “Who are you texting?”
“My dark web guy. I’ll forward him the message and see if he can figure out where it came from if Cleo can’t.” He elbows me in the ribs, and I wheeze. “That’s for the false truce, dickhead.”
I suppose it’s justified.
I drop my head back and stare at the ceiling.
I’ll have to delay Ella tonight. If it turns out she has done something to deserve this bounty, the last thing I should be doing is having sex with her when I find out.
Like it or not, I’m attached to her, and I’ll try to excuse what she’s done to keep her in my life.
If I keep my distance and find out she’s done something fucking heinous, I can send Gable over there to finish what I couldn’t even start.
Then move on with my life.
But what if she is innocent? Her bounty is still active, and if we don’t finish this job, someone else will take it.
An ache starts in my temple, and I rub it. “I’m gonna shower and get some sleep.”
Gable nods, and when I get to the bathroom door, he speaks.
“I love you, Ash.”
My smile is small. “Love you too, Gabe.”