by Tabatha Kiss
I hesitate. “It’s a really long story, Dani. We don’t have time.”
“Start with the current events then.” She crosses her arms, practically swimming inside the thick arms of my shirt. “You broke into my apartment today, didn’t you?”
Shit. “I didn’t—”
“Tell me the truth, Fox, because I sure as hell didn’t open those blinds.”
I sigh. “Yes. I did.” She opens her mouth to shout, but I talk over her. “I had to make sure I could watch you from across the street, so I broke in and opened your blinds after I left the house earlier.”
She frowns. “How long exactly were you watching me from across the street?”
“Since the moment you came home.”
“Even when I was—?”
“No.” My eyes fall to the floor but I pick them back up quick. “I looked away while you were… undressing.”
“You little pervert!”
“Dani, come on. I looked away. Your bodyguard was picking his teeth and playing Candy Crushers.”
“Oh, please.” She rolls her eyes at me. “Smith was playing Candy Crushers?”
“Yes.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I’m not lying to you, Dani.” I hold her eyes, hoping that she’ll believe me. If I can’t get her to believe me about this, then she’ll never trust me at all.
Finally, she sighs. “Who are these Snake Eyes people?”
“They’re an elite group of highly-trained agents,” I say, choosing my words carefully. “Snipers, soldiers, hackers, you name it — pretty much the best there is, making them the deadliest people on the planet. They work in squads, each agent performing a different task to plan and finish a job.”
“What kind of job?”
“Assassinations.”
She shakes her head. “That’s ridiculous. People would know if something like that existed.”
“No. There’s only a handful of people in the whole world that know about it and they’re all powerful enough to keep it quiet. The President included.”
“Then how do you know about it?”
It’s the question I’ve dreaded since I set foot in Los Angeles again. I knew I’d have to tell her about Snake Eyes but I debated how much truth to include in that. No matter what I came up with, it meant lying to cover up a piece of the truth and now, looking into her perfect blue eyes, I know I can’t lie to her. Not about this.
I reach for the top of my shirt and I flick the buttons free all the way down.
Dani gasps and holds up a hand to block her view. “Fox, what are you—”
I raise my undershirt and wait for her to look again. It only takes a moment for her curiosity to peak and her eyes fall on my chest. She steps forward, drawn to me with bewilderment on her face, and reaches out to touch the black ink traveling up my abdomen. My entire body reacts to her touch, spiking several degrees in less than a second. Her fingertips glide up the cobra’s tail, starting at the bottom near my navel and curling upward until they reach its head tattooed between my pecks.
“Because I used to be one of them,” I say.
“Fox…” Her whisper buzzes the hairs on the back of my neck. “You…”
I drop my shirt back down and her hand falls to her side. I step back and lean against the waist-high dresser across from the bed. She takes my lead and sits down on the mattress, her little eyes flickering in the dim lamplight. The lull between us is loud, almost deafening, but her thoughts tumble out of her eyes. She’s scared and confused, but she has every right to be.
I move across the dresser and reach down to pull open the mini-fridge by the floor. Several tiny bottles of alcohol line the bottom shelf. I grab two random ones and look back to see her holding out a hand. I smirk and grab two more to pass off to her.
“Thanks,” she says. She twists the cap off one and swallows a large gulp of it without even looking at the label first. Her face contorts and a quiver shakes her entire body, but she takes a second sip. “Where did you learn to shoot like that?”
“I trained as a sniper in the army.”
“Before you were discharged?”
I nod. “I showed a talent for it pretty early on. Infiltration, stealth, recon. Whenever they located a possible enemy base, they sent me in first to gather intel. Gained a pretty good rep for it.” I open one of the bottles and take a swig. Vodka. Strong vodka. “That went on for about three years overseas until one day my C.O. called me in to tell me I’d been dismissed.”
She squints her eyes. “But you’ve been gone for five years…”
“They put me on a plane and dropped me off somewhere in France with no explanation. I sat down at some cafe in Paris and a few minutes later, this guy sat down with me.” I pause to take another shot of vodka that burns down my throat. “He said that he’d been watching me for a while and he could use a man with my talents.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him to piss off,” I answer. “But then he told me that he’s the one that had me discharged and it’s up to me whether or not my record says honorable or dishonorable.”
“They can’t do that…” she says. “Can they?”
“It didn’t take long for to me find out that there’s not a whole lot Snake Eyes can’t do, Dani.”
She looks down. “What did you do?”
“The only thing I could do. I joined him.”
“Why didn’t you just take the dishonorable discharge and come home?” she asks, desperation clouding her tone.
“Because to him, dishonorable discharge meant two bullets through my eyes,” I explain. “I didn’t really feel like dying that day.”
“What did honorable discharge mean then?”
“Killed in action.” She nods softly but says nothing. I scratch an itch in my beard before continuing. “Then he introduced himself. Mercer Black.”
Dani finishes off her tiny bottle and her face twitches again. “So that’s where you’ve been this whole time?”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean you’ve…?” She can’t even bring herself to finish the question.
“Killed people?”
She flinches, but just barely. “Yeah.”
“Yeah,” I confirm.
“Innocent people?” Her eyes swell up, dreading the answer she already knows.
I twist the cap off another bottle and bring it to my nose. It smells fruity, like cheap wine. “I don’t know.”
“What, like you didn’t ask?”
“It wasn’t my job to ask questions.”
She scoffs. “I never pegged you as a just following orders kind of guy, Fox.”
“It was kill or be killed, Dani,” I whisper. “I don’t expect you to understand it.” I swallow a mouthful of crap wine, hating every drop of it. “It sure as hell wasn’t what I enlisted for but they didn’t give me much choice. I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Why did you enlist?” she asks. “You could have stayed home.”
“No, I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because—” I bite my inner cheek, curbing the rush of words just aching to fall off my tongue. I’ve never said them out loud before. I promised I never would, but… “Because your father told me to leave and never come back.”
She blinks and the color drains from her face. “He what?”
I lose myself in the memory. “He saw us kiss, Dani.” Her eyes wince with embarrassment. “The next morning, he told me to get out. Being a nineteen-year-old, C-average jock, I went to the one place I knew would take me.”
“That’s why you left?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why you enlisted?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why…” She pauses, the truth clouding her eyes. “That’s why you never said goodbye to me.”
“I wanted to,” I say slowly. “But I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave if I had and your dad was pretty serious about having me gone, so… I
left.”
“Does your mother know about this?”
“No and I don’t want her to know, so please keep this to yourself.”
She nods. “Why would he do that to you?”
I run a finger along the edge of my beard and I feel the warmth billowing off my face. “You were the next big thing,” I recall. “He knew a scandal would kill your career before it ever began and he was right about that.”
She shakes her head. “No, he wasn’t.”
“Beautiful actresses don’t have illicit affairs with their stepbrothers, Dani. No, he was right.”
“No.” She slides her feet to the floor and stands up off the bed. “He’s been wrong about everything.”
“Dani…” I grow tense as she wanders the floor to stand in front of me. It’s not safe for her to be so close.
“Fox, I am so sorry.”
I furrow my brow. “For what? You’ve done nothing wrong…”
“I should have said something,” she argues. “I could have done more to make you stay.”
“You had no way of knowing what was going on, Dani.”
“That just makes it worse!” she says. “I was so self-absorbed; I couldn’t see passed my own reflection.”
“I wouldn’t put it that way.”
“What other way is there to put it? My father, he’s…” She shakes her head. “The worst part about it is that I can’t complain at all. I’m rich, famous, pretty. It’s all because of him — right down to my freakin’ genes.”
I fight the urge to look at her chest heaving up and down. Her shirt hangs low with buttons undone, revealing the top curve of her breast. She’s so close to me, I could reach out right now and—
“You would never have gotten this far if I were in your life,” I say with closed eyes, fighting every urge in me. I keep my tone firm. “Think of all the people you’ve inspired; all the lives you’ve changed. The world wouldn’t be the same without Roxie Roberts.”
She frowns. “I hate that stage name.”
“I could tell.” A chuckle bounces in my throat. “Does anyone even call you Dani anymore?”
“No one except you.” Her cheeks flush wild with pink spots. I bet Bennett doesn’t let her drink much.
“I can call you Roxie, if you want,” I offer.
“No.” She shakes her head. “I like the way you say my name. Always have.”
A few short inches of air sit between us. I can smell traces of her scent around me; that blissful apple spice aroma that always drove me crazy. Her wet, cherry lips shimmer in front of me as she presses them together.
“You should do your hair,” I say quickly, leaning back. “We need to hit the road.”
Dani takes a quick step back and the pink fades from her cheeks. “Okay…” she mutters. Annoyance crosses her face and she grabs the hair dye, scissors, and comb off the bed with a wave of her hand. I can’t stop myself from looking at the gentle curve of her ass within my boxer shorts as she charges for the bathroom. She performs a short spin to glance back at me before closing the door behind her.
I fill my lungs with fresh air to rid myself of the apples lingering up my nose. My cock twitches with extreme disappointment but lays to rest against my thigh. Maybe her new hairstyle will work to my advantage. Her long, flowing hair has always been a turn-on for me.
I fall down on the bed and cover my eyes to block out the light.
Chapter 8
Dani
I stare at my new hairstyle in the mirror. I’ve never gone black before and I’m honestly not sure if I like it at all. I have naturally pale skin and this color just makes all my flaws stand out like a damn sore thumb. And I fucking hate it when it’s this short. It scrapes the top of my shoulders. Might as well just kill me right now, Mercer.
I turn away from the mirror and toss the empty dye box in the trash can.
“Fox?” I step out into the motel room. He’s lying on the bed with his arm draped across his eyes. His chest rises and falls. “Fox?” I walk over to him and shake his shoulder.
His arm juts out and his fingers wrap around my neck.
“Fox!”
He sits up fast and opens his eyes. Fear, anger — you name it, it crosses them. I tremble in terror as he recognizes my face and releases me from his strong grip. “Dani…” he sighs and pulls his hands away from me. “I’m sorry, I…”
I feel my neck, pressing down for any bruising but it doesn’t hurt. “Are you okay?”
He forces a laugh. “I’m fine, I just…” His eyes travel up to mine and he loses his words. Goosebumps spread across my skin as nostalgia carries me back in time. He’s looking at me now like he did on the night of my birthday.
“Fox?”
He glances away and clears his throat. “How long have I been asleep?”
“A few hours, maybe,” I say, shrugging. I push my fingers through my hair to draw his attention upward again. “How did I do?”
“It’s fine.” He steps off the bed and wanders away without looking at me.
“Just fine?”
“You know what I mean, Dani. You look good.” He grabs the handle on the mini-fridge and takes the last tiny bottle of booze stashed inside.
“Okay then…” I plop down on the bed. “What now?”
“Now…” He twists the cap off the bottle and pours the entire thing down his throat as if he’s putting out a fire. “Now, we get out of town.”
“Like, now now?”
“Yes,” he answers, tossing the empty bottle into the trash.
“It’s three in the morning.” I point to the clock on the bed.
He reaches for his jacket hanging on the back of the door. “You can sleep in the car—”
“Fox, please,” I beg. “Can’t we just stay here for a few hours? I’ve had a pretty rough night…”
His fingers twitch on his jacket and he casts a sideways glance at me. “Fine,” he finally says. “We can get a few hours rest and then go, but… only a few hours, okay?”
“Okay,” I agree, nodding my head. I run my fingers through my hair, pushing it away from my face. It still feels so foreign and smooth, like it’s not even mine. I catch him staring and he quickly turns away. “Where are we going?” I ask.
He paces by the bathroom. “When I escaped Snake Eyes, I took something with me.”
“You escaped?”
He nods. “I worked on Mercer’s squad for about a year and a half before I found a way out. It wasn’t easy and I almost got killed in the process…”
I blink with wide eyes. “What happened?”
“I was sent on a solo mission to take out the bodyguard of a Russian mob boss,” he begins. I lean back against the headboard and pull the blanket out from under me to drape across my feet. He watches, but pretends not to. “In and out, should have been easy for me — and it would have been but I had other plans. Before I left, I accessed Snake Eyes’ network and made two copies of their master file.”
“Master file?”
“It’s a list of all assignments given out to members and how much money exchanged hands. We’re talking decades of names, unsolved cases, and executions big and small. Billions of dollars in trade.”
“And you have that?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I read it?” I ask, curiosity peaking.
“No one can,” he says, his lips twitching with amusement at my excited eyes. “Not without the right decryption.” I sit back in disappointment. “Anyway, I made contact with the Russian, laid down arms, and I gave one copy of the file to him in exchange for safe passage back to the states.”
“That sounds real freakin’ dangerous,” I say. “You’re lucky he didn’t shoot you.”
“He did, actually.” I tilt my head in shock and he smiles again. “We had to make my disappearance look convincing so that later when Mercer tracked my whereabouts, he’d find my blood and figure I was taken out and disposed of. It was just a graze, nothing too horrible.” He runs a pointed finger alon
g his bicep and I exhale the breath I’ve been holding for the last minute. “The Russians were supposed to use that file to make Snake Eyes disappear.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Because they were competition.” He shrugs. “A hitman can’t make any money if there’s someone better above them on the call list. The only issue was the encryption. I told him up front that I had no way of decrypting it but he just laughed and insisted he had a guy that could take care of that. He sent me packing with a bandaged arm and a new passport and I left…” he pauses, “after a few hiccups.”
“Hiccups?”
“It’s a long story,” he says. “But it ends with me making it back here.”
“How long have you been home?”
“Six months.”
Six months. He’s been back here for half a year now and he never said a word.
“Dani, I couldn’t come back to L.A.,” he says, reading my eyes.
“Why not?”
“Because if Mercer ever realized I was still alive, he’d go after my family first.” He looks at my cheek. “Looks like I was right about that.”
“How did he find out?”
“I’m not sure…” He runs his fingers through his beard and scratches an itch. “I’m guessing the Russian’s plan didn’t go so well.”
“So, he finds out you’re still alive and he comes after me,” I say. “Why?”
He takes a breath. “He knew how I’d react.” I say nothing, waiting for him to explain. “Mercer was… friend might be too strong a word, but I guess it qualifies.”
“You were friends with the asshole that shot Lamb and cut up my cheek?”
“You make some interesting acquaintances when you work for an underground assassination squad,” he jokes.
I don’t laugh. “So… he knows that you have feelings for me?”
“Had,” he says with quickly, without the slightest hesitation. “I don’t anymore.”
“Oh…” I swallow a lump in my throat. “That’s good.”
He shifts on his feet. “Long story… still kind of long, but… I know someone that can probably decrypt my copy of the file.”
“Probably?”
“He’s the best chance we have. I’m hoping I can use it as a bargaining chip.”
