Don't Hate Me (Club Pétale), page 14
But if she was just a normal person… what would she think if she knew what I did? I couldn’t help but think of my job in comparison. Or how it felt to pummel that man into the ground. I hurt people. All the time for the sake of my job.
He wasn’t the first, nor was he the last. Men like him—men who hurt people—brought out something dark in me. Something I had no control over. But she… she would never find that out.
I waited for her to ask me about my job, but she stayed silent.
“Are you going to ask about mine?” I asked hesitantly.
“Nope,” she said, popping the “p.” “You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
I shifted in my chair. Sweat coated my palms, and my mouth went dry.
I could tell her. It would be easy… then why couldn’t I? Why couldn’t I just open my mouth and say it?
“And if I hurt bad people to protect others?” I finally asked.
“Then I would call you a hypocrite.”
Her words caused me to freeze. They shot straight through my chest like a knife, stopping my heart.
“Because why are you allowed to but others are not?”
“My job makes it complicated,” I explained, all of a sudden feeling like I needed to defend myself.
She let out a hum.
“So it’s the job that’s the hypocrite?” she asked. When I opened my mouth to spill everything, she raised her hand. “I’m not trying to give you a hard time, sorry. I was just curious.”
“Hypothetically…” I trailed. “I believe some of those acts can be… forgiven depending on the who. Though my job might say otherwise.”
Quinn’s eyes lingered on me for another moment longer. Was that too much? Does she think I’m some sort of monster now?
But her eyes gave no indication of it. Instead, there was a sort of… intrigue in her face that caused my chest to swell.
“Good to know,” she said, then rose from her seat. She handed me the discarded napkin she left on the table. I hadn’t noticed when she wrote her number on it. “Text me sometime. If the background check comes back clean, that is.”
My face heated, and I took the napkin from her, careful not to crumple it up.
“If you don’t hear from me, it didn’t,” I said and sent her a smile. “Though I really hope it comes back clean. I want to see you again.”
The smile that spread across her face caused my heart to stop. She swooped down, not just to brush her lips against mine but to give me a deep, knee-quivering kiss.
I couldn’t help but return it.
When she pulled away, we were both breathless, and her lips shone in the light.
“I want to see you again too,” she said in a low voice. “But in all honesty, the background check won’t stop me from finding you again.”
Before I could respond, she stood and left the café.
“Hey if anyone asks, the senator never got arrested, okay?”
I paused, unpacking the light lunch I had brought myself and looked up at Ryan with a bewildered expression.
The room was quiet, the light sounds of the children playing outside muffled by the windows. I looked over my shoulder out into the backyard.
Mrs. Bennett and her kids were out with two other secret service agents. The children had decided to play with bubble wands. One of the agents scowled when the bubbles popped on his suit, the other afforded the children a genuine smile and said something to them I couldn’t make out.
“I don’t talk about my work outside if that is what you’re worried about,” I said, turning back to him with a strained smile. “Besides my contractual obligations, it’s not like I have friends.”
“But you do have a partner,” he said, his eyes flitting back to the windows. “In all the time you’ve been here, you’ve never reported one.”
“It’s new.” Less than twenty-four hours since I put in the paperwork. “I didn’t know you were so interested in my personal life.”
“Well, it’s not just the senator that we need to keep safe, right?” he asked. “Ross told me about your situation.”
Why would he do that? All the hair raised on the back of my neck, and my mouth went dry. What the actual fuck? Did no one know what confidential meant?
I tried not to panic, but it was hard when we both knew what my situation meant.
“We’re not supposed to talk about it,” I said, looking down at my sandwich. I wasn’t all that hungry anymore.
“Not supposed to talk about what?”
We both jumped, our heads snapping over to the entrance where the senator leaned against the doorframe, seemingly unbothered.
Ryan let out a sigh and relaxed against the counter.
“Nothing, sir,” I said, turning around with my sandwich in hand. I took a bite just so I wouldn’t have to talk but regretted it as soon as the bland food hit my tastebuds. My anxiety was raging inside me and causing my stomach to ache.
I wasn’t safe anymore. Not if they were giving my secrets away like candy.
The excuse was that my superiors needed to know just in case anything happened. But someone on Ryan’s level never should have counted. He shouldn’t have clearance for those files.
“What are you not supposed to talk about, agent?” the senator asked again.
The command in his voice was clear. I hated when he did that. It wasn’t often he used that tone with us. I had seen him use it on his kids and subordinates, but rarely on the agents.
Because at the end of the day, we were there to protect him, not bow down to him.
I chewed my food before swallowing it with a grimace.
“The fact that you got arrested,” I said, giving him the sweetest smile I could muster. “Ryan here was just making extra sure that I wouldn’t go running my mouth about you stealing those jewels. But don’t worry, I abide by the documents I sign. And anyway, they let you go, no? Must have all been a misunderstanding.”
I don’t know what felt better. Getting back at Ryan for his obvious and inappropriate digging into my life or the look on the senator’s face as he realized the weight of what I just said.
“You have time to gossip?” he growled toward Ryan.
“It’s my lunch break,” I said, waving my sandwich, though neither looked at me.
“Just covering my bases, sir,” Ryan said.
His tone was surprisingly meek, his eyes lowered to the floor, and his posture looked like he was trying to shrink in on itself.
I understood how terrifying it could be on the other end of that stare. How the sliminess of his gaze made your skin feel. The senator had a nice mask, but inside you could tell his soul was just as corrupt as the people we protected him from.
But there was no reason for Ryan to act like the senator had any kind of power over him.
“Dad, look!” the older daughter called from outside. And just like that, the deadly tension that had been rising around us broke. The senator’s face changed in the blink of an eye, turning him into a completely different person.
I have got to stop working with politicians.
He left us without so much as a nod. When he was out of hearing range, Ryan let out a heavy sigh.
“I thought we were on good terms,” he muttered.
“Would be if you didn’t pry,” I said, taking another bite of my sandwich. It hadn’t been the first time someone had tried to pry into my past, but it still stung nonetheless.
One thing this whole situation taught me was that the only person I could trust was myself.
Quinn
You work fast, little agent.
I couldn’t stop the curve of my lips as the first, then second, message came in. I hadn’t expected her to message me so soon, but I wasn’t complaining. I had been thinking of her since I left her apartment, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it to myself, I couldn’t wait to get back into her bed again.
It’s Blake.
From the arcade.
So we are sticking with the cover story now, are we?
Before I could respond, a sound not too far in front of me sounded in the night. Steeling myself, I put the phone into one of the pockets of my vest before grabbing the gun from my thigh holster.
In front of me was a looming building that resembled more of a warehouse than the hideout it was supposed to be. It was also surprisingly hard to find, as it had been nestled between two shipyards, but I guessed it was good for whatever legal business they ran.
“Alright! Fuck, don’t get your panties in a tw—”
He didn’t have time to finish his sentence before I swiftly shot him straight between the eyeballs. There was a silence as his body fell to the ground, but then chaos rang out. I barley registered the blood splattering across the exposed part of my face.
Men inside started yelling. The shuffling of their feet and click of their guns caused spikes of adrenaline to run through me.
Instead of running into the open warehouse, I jerked to the side, letting another man run out into the night. My uniform helped me blend into the shadows, so he too was unaware that he was about to die until I grabbed him and used him as a shield to enter the warehouse.
Gunshots rang throughout, many of them embedding in the chest cavity of the poor man I was holding.
“Gather reinforcements—”
I used the automatic at the man’s side to shoot one of the supposed leaders off to the side, mostly because his yelling was grating on my nerves.
There were only two more people in the main room, both of them running toward me. With ease, I shot both of them multiple times in the head before they fell to the ground with a thud. Only then did I push the dead man I had used as a shield away from me with a noise of disgust.
The silence that filled the air was a bad sign because none of the men I had just killed were my target, meaning the man in question may be using this as a means of escape.
I took an automatic from another dead body before heading down the hallway that connected this building to another. In my mind, I brought up the image of the blueprint, following the red dotted line to where I knew the man would be stationed.
Not his office, though. There were probably men waiting for me there.
As soon as the gunshots rang out, the coward would run to his safe room.
It was hard not to hear the thundering of the footsteps coming down the hallway as they followed me.
I could have stopped and killed them all in minutes, but I wanted this over as soon as possible.
Especially when my fingers itched to reply to my little agent.
Imagining Blake on her couch, staring at her phone, and waiting for me to respond caused me to move even faster, and before I knew it, I was flying down the stairs and kicking the door to the boss’s safe room open.
“Get her!” the boss yelled as I came into view. The room was small but decked out like his personal man cave. A leather couch was placed straight in the middle, with him cowering behind it while his two bodyguards struggled to ready their guns. Both of them had been sitting on a set of recliners, not at all expecting me to be here so soon.
The smell of beer, sweat, and smoke caused my nose to twitch.
I dodged to the right, narrowly missing one of their shots, but when I did, the other seemed to finally get his shit together and fire his own gun.
White-hot pain shot up my leg as the bullet grazed me. Normally I took pleasure in the fight, but this time it only made me angry.
Not only did I have things to do after this, but I had been so ready to end it all that I had somehow gotten myself injured.
Rookie fucking mistake.
I lunged for him, getting close enough to wrap my hand around his neck and hold him close to me before switching to my handgun and firing multiple rounds into his chest.
I swung us around as the other fired at me, but he was too slow. With a single shot, he was down.
Then I turned to the man, and only then did a single ounce of excitement run up my spine.
I caught sight of him trying to scurry up the walls and to the small window that lined the ceiling. It was pitiful to watch him try to jump up high enough to get his hands on the sill before dropping to the floor.
I stalked toward him, pulling out my knife.
Make his death painful, the note had said.
Easy said, easy done.
I grabbed the small tuft of hair the man had left, forcing his head to tilt back. I should have had something to say. Maybe taunt him a little, make fun of how disgusting he was… but instead I just sunk the knife right in between his ribs. I could feel the blade puncture his left lung with ease.
He would drown in his own blood as he gasped for air. All I had to do was wait.
Just to be safe, I punctured the right one as well. It was probably quicker than the client wanted, but it wouldn’t allow him the chance to escape.
Not that he would get very far.
The sound of the rest of his men running down the stairs caused me to let out a noise of frustration. I turned to them as they flooded in, showing them what I had done to their boss before throwing his body to the ground.
“Come on,” I said, and I readied the second gun I had strapped to my left thigh. “Let’s get this over with, hmm? I have places to be.”
Their cries filled the room as they charged. I stretched out my neck, loosening up the muscles that had tightened in the time it took me to storm the place.
Two minutes. Two minutes, and I can give into the urge to text her back.
Two minutes and thirty-four seconds. Not bad.
I sat back on the bloodied leather couch with a heavy sigh.
The world around me had gone silent.
Off to the side, there was the sound of water droplets falling onto the concrete floors of the hideout.
No, not water. My eyes turned to look at the destruction I left.
Bodies lay sprawled on the floors. Some bleeding out from multiple stabbings to the stomach and chest, while others are long dead from bullet wounds to the head.
My target was lying at my feet, each breath getting shallower than the last. The sound of fluid filling his lungs was disgusting. I almost regret letting him live this long.
The vibration of my phone caused a burst of excitement to go through me.
I fished it out of my vest, not caring about the blood smearing over it and the screen.
If you gave me a fake number, I‘ll kill you the next time I see you.
I let out a laugh. God, this little agent was something else. Death threats over a government-monitored phone? Ballsy.
People have lives, baby. Trust me when I say I have been itching to respond to you. I was just… preoccupied.
The bubble that told me she was typing popped up and then disappeared again. I wished to be back on the rooftop, looking into her window as I watched how she responded to my messages. Did she blush? Was she excited to hear from me?
But instead of responding, the agent took it one step further. My screen lit up, showing her on caller ID and a picture that I took of her the first night when she was sleeping. In the picture, her face looked so serene, so innocent. Her hair was a wild mess around her head, and she was holding onto her blanket for dear life.
Warmth readied in my chest, and I answered the call.
“Did you miss me?” I asked, shifting on the couch to a more comfortable position. One that allowed me to lean my head back against the cushion and spread my legs. My body pulsed with pain, reminding me of the battle I had just won.
I should probably leave. No doubt someone heard the commotion and called the cops. But I couldn’t bring myself to. Not when Blake’s voice filtered through the speaker.
“Should I be worried that my girlfriend is preoccupied in the middle of the night?” Blake asked. Her tone was hard, but I could tell that she was more teasing than anything.
I let out a breathy chuckle. The sounds of her intake of breath caused a burst of heat to run through me and travel south.
“Is this your way of asking me out, baby?”
“I kinda guessed that it was clear when you agreed to a background check,” she said, the pout obvious in her tone. “I thought if you didn’t want anything serious, you would have backed out.”
I hummed and wiped the blood from my hands off on my uniform.
“What about Bailey?” I asked. “Do I have to worry about someone stabbing me in my sleep?”
There was silence. It was reckless of me to ask, but I wanted to know what Blake thought. She obviously was okay with moving on, but once she found out… would she be upset? Would she regret what was happening with us?
I shouldn’t have been excited about her finding out, but I was.
“I didn’t know you knew her name,” she muttered.
Shit. Should I not have spilled that?
“Everyone in that place knows,” I said, then paused. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about it on the phone.”
“She’s not a problem anymore,” she said. “It wasn’t serious, and she ghosted me a while back after a fight. It’s just me and you now.”
I left out a sound of disbelief. “I dunno,” I said, letting my voice trail. “Maybe you can give me something to sweeten the deal?”
“I’m not sweet enough for you?” she asked with a laugh that caused my heart to skip a beat.
Reel it the fuck in, agent.
“I may need a reminder of just how sweet you are,” I said, dropping my voice low. “Touch yourself for me, baby, remind me how you felt.”
“I thought you said you’d never done this before,” she said, her voice breathless. Like she had already started the party without even fucking inviting me.
“Those perfect nipples first, baby,” I said. “Pluck on them for me. Pretend it’s me. Don’t you dare try and get yourself off yet.”
She let out a whine, but I heard a shifting of her clothes and a light moan not long after that.
“If I were there, I would take my time with you,” I said, letting my own hand wander down my front. “I would kiss every part of your body before circling my tongue over your nipples. You would be writhing, grinding against me while you begged me to touch you, but I wouldn’t. Not until your head swam and your body felt so hot you might explode.”
