The Agent
“Do you even know how to dance?” I asked as we found a spot amidst the crowd of swaying bodies.
Mateo yanked me against him, flushing our bodies against each other. “Yes,” he replied, a glint of mischief glittering in his eye. “Very well, actually.”
I raised an eyebrow as his fingers tightened around my hips, easing me into a rhythm with his. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“More than you can count.” He twirled me around and pressed my back against his torso. His breath brushed against my ear as he leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Now, do that dance you were doing the other night.”
A smile tugged at my lips as I pressed my ass against his groin and swung it around to the beat.
“Atta girl,” he praised, his baritone voice sending heat straight between my legs.
Leaning into the feeling, I raised my arms and looped them around his neck. My eyelids fell as the music hypnotized me, transporting me into a perfect world. One where only the two of us existed. There was no violence, no pain, no heartache. Just my body against his.
His hands slipped from my hips to my thighs, caressing the inch of bare skin between the slit of my skirt. He buried his face into my neck, inhaling a whiff of my perfume.
Through our clothes, I could feel his dick hardening his pants. The tip poked against my ass, trying to break free of its restraints.
“Focus,” I teased.
He peppered kisses up my neck, stealing a glance up at the VIP section. “I am.”
I followed his gaze to where Maria was still sitting with Jules, now practically knee-to-knee.
She wore a coy smile as she sipped on the drink he’d bought her. Every now and then, I heard her giggle at his flirtatious remarks. She was playing this role so well that it was almost uncanny. Watching her even I forgot the malicious tricks she was hiding up her sleeve.
Mateo spun me around to face him. “Don’t stare too long,” he scolded. “Remember, we’ve gotta stay in character too.”
I glanced down at our hips, now grinding against each other. “But, we aren’t necessarily acting, are we?”
He chuckled. “Don’t forget they can hear you.”
I almost rolled my eyes. “Oh, you’re no fun.”
“I’ll make it up to you later.” His eyes rose to the upper level again, stealing another glimpse of Maria’s progress with our target. “They’re on the move,” he commented.
I briefly looked over to catch Jules leading Maria past the VIP sections towards the back end of the club. “Should we follow her?” I asked.
“Nah, we don’t want to get too close. She knows the signal if there’s trouble. Just keep dancing and listen.”
Admittedly, it was hard to concentrate with the way Mateo’s hips were moving with mine. The heat that may have been feigned on his end was very real for me.
Despite all the conflicting feelings I had about him, one remained consistent - climbing closer and closer to the forefront with every intimate moment. I worried about it before, after our night in the hotel room, but now I was downright scared of it.
Mateo had made it clear emotions were not his strong suit. I didn’t want to push him away by harping on the matter. He’d already left me behind once. I didn’t want him to do it again.
A gunshot pierced through my ear, interrupting my thoughts.
Time froze, as it usually does after a sound like that. My eyes flicked between the statues of people around me, searching between their gaps of their stiff limbs for the source - or the victim.
But there was no body on the ground or gun in sight. The crowd around me continued dancing, not a lick of distress on their faces.
“It’s done,” Maria’s quiet voice rang through my earbud.
I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
Dancing with Mateo, I completely forgot about the mission.
I’d been so caught up in the fantasy that the gunshot caught me off guard.
The realization made me feel stupid. I never got lost in the fantasy of undercover jobs before - and I definitely wasn’t about to start now.
“Copy,” Mateo replied. He released my waist and grabbed my hands. “Come on. We’ll meet her out back.”
“Wait, that’s it?” I asked, jogging on my heels to keep up with his pace.
“Were you expecting something different?” He asked, shooting a raised brow over his shoulder at me.
“I don’t know. I just didn’t think it’d happen so-” I stopped myself as we walked through one of the back exits and reunited with Maria. My eyes widened at the blood and brain matter splattered over her dress and skin. “Oh my god,” I muttered, my stomach turning from the sight.
Maria’s brows pinched at my expression. She looked down at the mess as if it were nothing but lint clinging to her clothes. “Close range,” she murmured with a shrug.
Mateo ignored her appearance altogether and shuffled us along. “Keep moving,” he commanded.
I couldn’t tear my eyes off of Maria as we hurried down the emptier sides of the blocks to get back to the van.
There wasn’t an inch of remorse in her big brown eyes.
She strutted down the sidewalk like the popular girls in the movies, her perky chest and curls bouncing with every step.
The red stains of her dress and shoulders might as well be body glitter with the way it didn’t affect her confident stride.
I bet she didn’t even blink before she pulled the trigger.
Even I had my moments of hesitation when faced with instances where I needed to pull the trigger to defend myself or others. The people on the other end of my gun may have been criminals, but they were still humans - ones whose faces lived in my head for a day or two after I took their lives.
Taking a life wasn’t an easy feat. At least for those with some kind of moral compass.
How broken had theirs become that they were able to walk with confidence after such a brutal execution? How much damage would mine have to face in order to do the same?
As I watched Maria shimmy out of the dress and discard it like trash into a black bag, I didn’t think I wanted to know.