Ignite: A MM Mercenary Romance, page 4
“What’s first? A finger or a tooth?” I taunt.
Despite my attitude, panic looms at the edges of my mind. I hear Cain’s low voice demanding answers, but his words are nothing more than a fading rumble in my ears as I start to mentally spiral out.
I grit my teeth. Not the time, Ezra.
A firm, calloused hand slides around my throat, choking me back to reality. Strangely enough, warm blood rushes low in my body. I shift in the chair again.
Woah. Do I… do I like this? Since when have I ever not cringed away from a human’s touch that wasn’t Jakey’s?
Again, he demands, “Who are you?”
His fingers constrict tighter around my neck. Without thinking, I tip my head back to expose more of it for him. Fuck. The pain he’s giving me only seems to be confusing my body, strangling the panic seeking weakness in my brain. I don’t think I want him to stop.
“Batman,” I wheeze. “Wait, shit. Redo. I’m your worst nightmare. Does that sound more threatening?”
He digs his fingers into the soft spots just under my jaw, and I whimper. Not because I’m afraid, like he assumes, but because I want more of this. Which is a wild thought. I blame my inability to think straight on my stiffening dick. Why is it doing that?
“You don’t know who I am, do you?” he says.
“Sure I do. You’re the guy that’s going to fuck me up, right?”
He shoves at my neck, tipping the chair backwards. I brace for impact with the floor, lifting my head enough to avoid hitting it. The force is still enough to draw a grunt from my chest.
“I don’t think you understand your situation,” he says slowly, coming to squat beside me. His head cocks, and a lock of dark hair falls over his forehead. He shoves it back into place, the only sign of his irritation with such an emotionless mask over his face.
“Obviously not,” I reply sarcastically.
“How did you get into my building?”
My heart hammers in my chest under his scrutiny. Lying has never got me anywhere in life, so I stick with honesty. “By being invisible.”
His mouth turns down, confusion kneading his brows together. “You a spy?”
I run the tip of my tongue along my lip ring. His eyes dip there, watching the movement. I don’t miss the way his pupils dilate before he tears them back up to glare at me.
Faster than I can blink, he flicks out a small pocketknife and swipes it across my cheekbone. White-hot pain blooms there, but what he doesn’t know is that the pain only serves to ground me when I’m all wound up.
I grin at him as warm blood drips into my ear. “What kind of business is this? Do you often cut up clients? Offer consulting on how to dish out torture? Or do you order bone tattoo man to rip people apart like pulled pork?”
Cain leans in closer, and I glimpse the little flecks of gold in his red-brown eyes and the faint scar on his chin. His teeth are a bit sharp. And his scent… I draw the hint of eucalyptus deep into my lungs, trapping it there.
My throat tightens as my hard dick jerks in my slacks. I’ve never had a reaction like this to anyone, and it throws me for a loop. I test my restraints again, desperate to move. Pace. Run.
“You’re not a client,” he replies in a cold tone. “You’re a thief. A bad one, at that.”
He flicks his knife closed, splattering droplets of my blood on his polished leather shoes. He doesn’t seem to care.
“I snuck in here, didn’t I? Would have snatched that drive, too, if you hadn’t recognized me,” I say, beginning to enjoy this little exchange more than I should.
I can see the effect my sass is having on him, making him bristle with rage. Slowly, I’m breaking through his polished exterior. I think I’d like to see him lose his cool. Which is just further proof that I’ve lost my mind.
Cain snarls. I brace for another cut, almost welcoming it. He lurches my chair upright. Seconds later, my hands and feet are cut free. He yanks me to a stand, practically carrying me by my neck over to the desk, where he pins me down.
His weight pressing against my hips makes it impossible for me to move. And impossible for me to ignore the hot desire coursing through my body when he glares down at me, his chest rising and falling with aggravated breaths.
Oh, fuck. I definitely like this.
“Is this your first time interrogating someone? Seems like you don’t know what to do with me,” I say, unable to resist further teasing him.
His knife makes another appearance. I should be frightened. I know that. But somehow I’m more turned on than anything else. When he kisses the tip of his blade against my chin, I can’t help my hips from pushing against him, rubbing my aching length against his muscled thigh.
Cain rips his body away.
“Too late,” I whisper, voice sounding husky in my ears. “I felt that.”
The evidence of his arousal strains against his slacks, far too thick and long to hide. His pupils are blown wide now, nearly hiding the warm brown irises. The fact that he’s turned on by our exchange, too, has my entire body thrumming with excitement.
Funny, he came in here to intimidate me, but I think the roles may have reversed.
“Do that again, and I won’t hesitate to kill you,” he threatens, as if I’m to blame for his body’s reaction. Shit, he’s really painfully attractive, though. What was I supposed to do? The knife tease isn’t helping cool me off, either.
I palm my dick through my soft pants. “Can’t help it. Upsetting you is pretty fun.”
Cain struggles to regain his rigid composure as tension sizzles between us. I’m laid out, fighting a boner from hell, and he’s acting like he wants to carve me up for it, but he’s too scared to put his hands on me again.
The door knob turns, and Cain moves out of its path as it swings open.
“You’ve got a call on line three,” a male voice sings.
The man who appears in the doorway has striking blue eyes and a shag of silver hair. The rest of him is all grayed out, too. Silver earrings. Charcoal suit. The outline of silvery white-ink tattoos barely visible on his pale hands. They almost look like scars.
“Is this the little thief who broke in?” he asks.
Cain tucks away his knife. “Told you not to disturb me when I’m in a meeting.”
“Is this a meeting?” Silver guy questions. “I think I’m going to need your definition of meeting. Last week, it was wet work in the interrogation room. Today it’s torturing intruders in the empty corner office that should be mine. Next week it’s going to be sex swings in the break room. Again, your definition is so broad.”
Shit, wet work? Yeah, I’d say these guys are bad news, and I somehow avoided getting dragged into whatever torture chamber they’re hiding in this building. Doesn’t mean they won’t still take me there. Maybe this is just the initial “give me hope” portion of their fuckery.
Cain growls. “Wouldn’t have to waste my time here if you’d done as I’d asked and tracked the guy down, Rev.”
Rev’s face lights up with pure joy. “This is the runaway witness? Why, he’s on the wrong side of town!”
Cain brushes past him. “Finish this up. I want a summary report on my desk by the end of the day.”
Rev sighs. “Always stuck with the grunt work. You owe me.”
The door clicks shut, and Rev turns those startling iceberg eyes on me. “Exceptionally sunny day outside, isn’t it?”
“Torturing me isn’t going to work,” I tell him, though my pulse is pounding under my skin.
“No?” He approaches slowly, hands reaching out to pat over my body. I grit my teeth through the process, and when he draws back with the stolen employee badge, he flashes me a wicked grin. “There’s Seth’s badge. You telling me you snuck in here and you didn’t bring a single weapon? Should we be offended?”
“I don’t get caught.”
He raises a brow. “Like… ever?”
“Ever.” I nod, and the movement causes more blood to drip into my ear.
He looks amused. “And how often do you go about breaking and entering?”
I rub fingers over the marks the zip ties left behind, my brain working every angle to get me out of here. I can’t leave without the hard drive. That was the whole purpose of this trip. The only way to assure Jakey doesn’t become a target again.
“Couple times a week.” I shrug. “West Bank is a bit easier to navigate for me. This isn’t really my scene.”
Rev cocks a brow. “I see. And what would motivate you to foolishly break into our company?”
Witnessing Cain’s efficient way of disposing of criminals has me wondering if I shouldn’t disclose information about Gabriel. Maybe Sinro could get me and Jakey out of this mess. Cain might not be so easily convinced of my innocence, but Rev seems entertained enough by what I have to say.
“I had no choice. Either I steal the hard drive or my friend gets fucked up again by some bad guy and his gunmen.”
Rev clicks his tongue. “And I didn’t even have to get my hands dirty. Got a name for me, kid?”
I nod. “Head of the rodeo had on a shirt stitched with the name Gabriel. He seemed like a typical drug lord, but he had a ton of weapons.”
Rev considers this information, running his thumb under the curve of his bottom lip. “Sounds like we may have a common enemy. Why don’t we see if we can help each other out?”
Heart skipping, I roll up to a seated position on the desk to better examine him. Blood rolls down my cheek to the corner of my mouth, and I flick my tongue out to swipe it away before it dribbles onto my shirt. I had planned on returning the stolen clothes, but I don’t think the shop owner will appreciate the new stains.
“Cain’s the bad cop, isn’t he?” I say.
Rev flashes a grin. “Caught on to us already. We’ll have to shake things up. Though Cain really sucks at faking sympathy.” His head drifts to the interior window, and I watch Cain march out of an office, phone in hand, body coiled up with near-palpable fury.
“So, any idea on where this fuckhead’s holed up?” Rev inquires, drawing my attention back to him.
Was he honestly this trusting? Or was this part of the mind games he’d mentioned? I couldn’t get a good read on him. He smiled a lot, but that humor never touched his pale eyes. He probably got away with fooling most people, but I’ve become hyper-critical of others out of necessity. I pay attention to details.
I spit blood onto the carpet and draw my feet up on the desk until I’m curled in a ball, which only makes his smile grow. “So look, I’m all about spilling the beans on this dude, but I need reassurance that you’re not going to kill me or toss me out just to get off’d by this guy.”
“A negotiator. Have you considered a corporate job before?”
I fiddle with one of my safety pin earrings. “Suppose I wouldn’t turn it away for the right pay.”
Rev’s head tips back with a musical laugh. “Oh, Cain’s going to have a field day with my summary report on you, kid. You’re something else.”
“Summary report?”
“Yeah, he trusts me to pick you apart. Figure out if you’re gonna be a liability to the company.”
My brows hitch up. “Do I look like a liability?”
Rev’s grin is wicked. “Oh, you’re a liability. Just not in the way Cain thinks. What’s your name, pretty boy?”
“Ezra,” I reply. “Just Ezra.”
“How about this? I go grab my laptop and we pin down where you met this crime lord. Then I’ll talk to Cain about some sort of protection for you and your friend.”
“I’d prefer that in reverse order,” I mumble.
But Rev’s already striding for the door, leaving me to mull over if I’ve made a colossal mistake.
He returns with a laptop, two cans of Mountain Dew, and a box of tacos. Again, I have to wonder if he’s fucking with me. Earning my trust just to chop me up into pieces or something.
However, I’m not going to turn away food. Crunching away at our tacos, we dig up old satellite images of the abandoned warehouse. Rev leans back in his chair. “I’m not good at sugar coating shit. You’re in deep, Ezra. We’ve been tracking this guy for months. He’s rapidly moving up rank on our priority list.”
He clicks through records of Gabriel on his computer. Arrest reports for every kind of crime you can think of involving cars, drugs, and guns.
A sliver of fear burrows into my chest. Did I just permanently etch my name onto Gabriel’s shitlist by giving up his location? What if Sinro isn’t equipped to handle this situation?
“How is he not still in jail?” I ask, frowning.
Rev taps his fingers on the desk in perfect rhythm. “Good chance he’s got the right connections. Might be why police don’t try to fuck with his operations.”
The door to the office opens, and Cain appears. His features twist with barely restrained anger. Rich brown eyes coast over me, then Rev, then the food wrappers from our little gathering.
“You,” Cain says with force, a finger pointed at Rev. “My office. Now.”
Rev closes his laptop and drags it off the desk. Before striding out the door with his boss, he gives me a wink. “Don’t worry, Ezra. I’ll handle the big bad bossman.”
CHAPTER SIX
CAIN
Istorm into my office, ignoring the curious glances from my staff over their cubicle walls.
Closed off from straining ears, I whirl on Rev. “What the fuck are you doing? I asked for a report, not for you to make friends with the guy and buy him goddamn tacos!”
Lack of sleep and chasing around criminals has me in a mood today, though some would argue I’m always in a mood.
Add in the fact that my dick decided to wake up at the worst fucking time possible. Why did the little thief have to have to be so fucking pretty? Who the fuck has a right to look like that?
Failing to restrain his grin, Rev takes my fury in stride. He’s known me long enough to not be afraid. Sure, I’d slugged him a couple of times. He’d swung on me, too. But we’d never raise a weapon against each other. He’s the one guy I can’t shake, no matter how dark I go.
Rev’s an anomaly. He’d waltzed into Sinro Enterprises shortly after I’d started it up. Told me he didn’t need an interview, just a few minutes to prove his skill with pistols at the gun range. I hired him after two perfect shots. It didn’t take long after that to discover the heartless killer beneath his mask of light-hearted amusement.
Rev leans back against the slate gray wall of my office and slips his hands into his pockets. “The guy took a job under duress, Cain.”
I slam a fist down on my desk, uprooting a can of pens and my stapler. “I don’t give a fuck!”
Rev just blinks back at me. “Why didn’t you shoot him, then?”
“What?” I ask incredulously.
“If you think he’s such a threat, why tie him up in the office and not in the lower levels where we normally do this work?”
I blow out a hot breath. That’s the million-dollar question of the day, isn’t it?
“I…needed to be certain he wasn’t working with our enemies.”
“Name the last time you’ve dragged someone back here to question their alliances. You’re quick to pull the trigger, Cain.”
“Yeah, because those other people were all confirmed criminals!”
“And we both know this guy’s innocent.”
I tug at the longer pieces of my hair while pacing behind my desk. “Fuck you.”
Radiating a calm I wish I possessed, Rev continues, “He has no clue what’s on the drive or how to access it, but he did help locate one of Gabriel’s warehouses.”
I scoff. “Gabriel threatened a fucking kid into stealing the drive back? He can’t be serious. He’s gotta have another team moving in on us.”
Rev tilts his head, his silver chain earrings swinging with the movement. “I don’t know. He said he’s never been caught. And his name is Ezra, by the way.”
“I don’t care,” I snap back.
“Sure, boss.” Rev gives a quiet laugh. “Ezra’s apparently quite the con artist. Clever, too. We should consider hiring him, if not for his potential, then for the fact that Gabriel would slaughter him the moment he steps out of this building empty-handed.”
I drop into my chair. Stressful days and nights of shitty sleep weigh heavy on my bones. I had a tough sell with a new client this afternoon. Not to mention, criminal operations seem to keep popping up left and right. If it wasn’t for my business, this city would be overrun with corruption.
“He sneaks in, and you want to offer him a job.” I shake my head. “You’ve gone soft, Rev.”
“I just recognize talent. You hired me as HR, after all.”
Rev was good at reading people. He studied them like they were all experiments. I knew the real reason he did it. Made it easier to mimic emotion so he could better fit in with society.
While Henry enjoyed picking apart bodies, Rev liked to play with them when they were still squirming and crying, and he did it without an ounce of remorse or regret. He slept soundly at night. Enjoyed working long hours, too.
I run my hands up and down my face.
“Just go talk to him. Maybe without dicing him up,” Rev says, opening my office door. “We don’t need Henry unsettling the floor with his strange cleaning methods.”
When he’s gone, I ease back in my chair and spin it side-to-side. What the hell do I do now? The little thief strolled through my front doors like he was out for a leisurely walk.
But if Rev is convinced he was being manipulated, I had to give value to that. I don’t have much of a moral compass anymore. However, I don’t condone the slaughtering of innocent civilians.
How was it I now felt responsible for this guy? Because, yeah, Gabriel would tear him apart if he left here without the drive.
I could keep him locked up until we dealt with Gabriel. That seemed like the best solution.
Deep in my thoughts, I lose track of time behind my desk. The flicker of half the office lights shutting off signals the departure of the cleaning crew. I glance out at the dark skies. The streets are already flooded with traffic, lit up like a circuit board.
