by April Kelley
“Are you wearing a communication device?”
“Nope. It’s in my pocket, deactivated. You can check it if you want.”
“Why aren’t you wearing it?”
Max stopped fucking with Sydney then. “Because this is between me and you. If you wanted the rest of my team to help you, you would have come to the house, but you didn’t.” Max smirked at him. “I figured out you trusted me, at least to some degree, that day we talked on the phone, and despite what you think, I’m not playing you. I won’t, Sydney, so will you cut the shit?”
Sydney uncrossed his arms then. His shoulders lost some of their tension. He looked down, not meeting Max’s eyes for the longest time. When he did finally look up, Max saw the fear he’d suspected was there all along. “I need to know why she’s doing this to me.”
“Victoria Mize used to be Demon Elite’s boss, but she started acting strangely. Justin found out there was a contract out for his head and that you were the one that took it. Crash, another team member, took his protectee to an agency safehouse, only the safehouse was compromised. That was Victoria’s first mistake, because it started the investigation against her.”
“Why?”
“An agency safehouse doesn’t get compromised. Ever. We knew someone on the inside was fucking with us then. We figured out it was Victoria a long time ago. Victoria isn’t stupid, Sydney. She knew we’d get her eventually. She needs someone to pin her entire operation on, and she’ll forge the paperwork to prove it was you. Right now, we took her funding away, and the authorities are starting to get suspicious. She left the agency and is running scared. The only reason Guthrie’s still working for her is because he’s loyal to her entire family.”
“So take Guthrie out and fix the problem.”
Max shrugged. “That would go a long way. She’d lose the only loyal person to her. She’d also lose her pseudo-Sydney Marshall. It would go a long way, but it won’t be enough. There’s paperwork, remember. And her entire sex slave operation leads back to you.”
Sydney sighed. “I’m fucked, aren’t I?” Sydney ran a hand through his hair.
“Come back to the Lakehouse with me. We need you as much as you need us.” Germ could just deal with it if he didn’t like having Sydney in the house.
Sydney’s full fuckable lips pursed and his eyes narrowed. “I said I trusted you, not the rest of those bastards. And I don’t work with anyone. Always alone. Every time.”
Max sat up. “How’s that been working out for you?”
“Fuck you. Just fine until now.”
“Key words there are until now.” Max stood, intending to walk out the door and let Sydney stew in his stubbornness for a while. When he saw that lost, scared expression on his face, Max couldn’t just walk away. Instead, he stood in front of Sydney, wrapping an arm around his waist. He gave the man a brief kiss, just letting Sydney’s flavor seep in, and then he pulled back. “When I get more information, I’ll call you.”
“You’re not gonna try and fuck me?”
“Not this time, Syd.” Max felt his chest tighten from just looking at Sydney. Whatever he was feeling wasn’t something he’d ever experienced before, and he needed time to think.
Chapter Four
Sydney thought about nothing else but Max the entire next week. Even as he sat on the bus, swaying to the rhythm of the moving vehicle, his mind turned to the man’s sly smile. He felt a little used, even though they hadn’t actually fucked at the club. Max hadn’t texted or called. Sydney was starting to get a little irritated by the silence.
It wasn’t even the way he had just given up the information on Guthrie that left Sydney reeling, and it wasn’t the way the man had talked to Sydney, as if they were on an equal playing field. At least in Todd’s office he had. Sydney had to show Max he wasn’t some stupid kid who didn’t know what he was doing. When Max was giving him the information, Sydney felt like Max had finally stopped trying to get in his pants long enough to really see him as a partner, at least on a professional level.
The way Max had sat in that chair, with his arms on the armrests and his legs spread wide as if he had nothing to hide, made Sydney think they could try to be friends. And Max hadn’t turned into the flirtation fuck boy after they were done talking, either. Even the kiss was one that was meant to comfort.
Maybe Max wanted more. Okay, Max totally wanted to fuck, and maybe Sydney would be fine with that if Sydney’s life didn’t hinge on maintaining a good relationship with Max. Despite what Sydney had told Max about working alone, even he knew he couldn’t. Not with something so big hanging over him.
He had Max in his corner, and if Sydney was a different man he’d cry in relief. He wasn’t a crier. Instead, he pulled out his phone and decided to break the silence himself. No texts. No calls. I feel used, Max.
I haven’t fucked you yet. It’s customary to wait until after I slip you my johnson to feel used.
Sydney chuckled, and the lady who sat across the aisle from him gave him a look that suggested she thought he was strange. “Texting my friend. He thinks he’s funny,” Sydney explained and smiled.
The lady smiled. “I take it you think he’s funny too.”
“Yeah.” To Max he texted Very funny. You’ll be lucky if I ever let your johnson get near my ass.
I agree.
You agree with what?
Being lucky if that happened. I’m calling you. Getting ready to drive.
His phone rang a second later, and Sydney answered it immediately. “Hi.”
“Hey sexy. How have you been? Nothing too stressful I hope.” Max was asking if he’d had any trouble with Mize. The concern made him smile.
“Nope. It’s been quiet.”
“Good.”
Sydney smiled. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For driving all the way here last week, just to meet with me. You could have written me off, and you didn’t.”
“No need to thank me. I told you I would help however I could and I will. That’s a promise, sweetheart.” The way Max said the endearment made Sydney sit forward in an attempt to hide his growing erection. He felt like a teenager again, when all it took was a stiff breeze to blow past his dick and he’d get hard.
“Yeah.” Sydney was well aware his voice grew husky, but he couldn’t help it.
“So when will I get another chance to see Mystery? Totally dug the pole dancing.”
“Glad you liked it.”
“I’m thinking of having a pole installed in the house somewhere.”
“Why? You thinking of taking up pole dancing?”
“Maybe. I need to find a good teacher first. Know anyone?”
Sydney chuckled. The bus pulled to a stop, and Sydney stood. “Maybe. The bus just stopped. I got to go.”
“All right.” Max’s deep voice rolled over him again with just that one word, and Sydney felt as if they were having phone sex again.
“Will you call me later?”
“Sure.”
Truthfully, Sydney wanted to talk more, but he wouldn’t tell the man that. Instead, he said his goodbyes, pressed the end call button, and stuffed the phone back in his pocket.
He was still smiling when he stood, getting ready to exit the bus. He looked to his right absently. It was automatic for him to scope out the people around him, wanting to know what he was walking into.
Sydney’s smile died when he saw one of Mize’s men standing in the middle of the sidewalk just outside the bus’s open door. There was no mistaking him, because he didn’t hide the fact that he was looking for someone. Every person who got on and off the bus he practically dissected with his eyes. Sydney sat back in his seat again, apologizing to the man behind him. “Wrong stop,” he mumbled, not that the man really cared, as he got off the bus without a second glance in Sydney’s direction. The bus door closed a second later, and Sydney sighed in relief. That could have been bad.
Sydney’s leg
shook with nervous tension and he gripped the seat in front of him.
When the bus screeched to a stop at the next place, Sydney stood again. He looked out the bus window, scanning the sidewalk with his eyes, even as he moved. He didn’t see anyone, suspicious so he exited. He didn’t go in the direction of his apartment. Instead, he started walking in the direction of the strip club. He had friends there that would help him lay low.
He pulled the hood up on the sweater he wore. He had made it two blocks before he sensed someone behind him. There was also a car that had past him about ten times in the same number of minutes.
Shit.
His heart beat wildly against his chest as he tried not to panic. He ducked into a Chinese restaurant quickly. “I want to order ten large sweet and sour chickens,” he yelled out to the lady that came out. “You can charge it to my friend. He’s a big blond guy in a suit. Can’t miss him.” Sydney covered his crotch with his hands and then crossed his legs. “I gotta pee.”
She said something in Mandarin he didn’t understand and waved her hand in the direction of the back of the store.
Sydney turned and ran down the hallway. The restaurant was long and narrow, as was the hallway he ran down. He was out the back door just as he heard the hostess lady yell, “You pay.” Hopefully she wasn’t chasing him down the hall and instead was talking to the goon who was following him.
Sydney turned just in time to dodge the punch aimed at his face. Instinct ruled him after that. He punched the man as hard as he could in the gut and watched him stumble back. The goon recovered quickly, connecting a fist to Sydney’s face, cutting his lip open. When the man grabbed him by the hair, he stilled, waiting to see what his next move would be. Sydney didn’t have to wait long when the man pulled out a gun. He batted at the gun immediately, not letting the man have that kind of leverage over him. Grabbing the man’s hand and twisting it suddenly, he heard a bone snap right before the man cried out in pain and let go of Sydney’s hair. The gun fell to the ground and Sydney picked it up, aiming it at the man.
“Fuck you and fuck that bitch you work for.” Despite Sydney’s words, his hands shook as he looked around the area.
An old, beat up sedan was just a few yards to his left, and he headed toward it. He ran over to it, getting behind the wheel and locking the door. He bent down and pulled out the wires he needed. His hands shook so bad that he couldn’t get the wires separated the way he needed too. Sydney stopped for a second and took a couple deep breaths, willing himself to calm down.
One of his worst mistakes of all time had been dating a car thief named Ted. Ted was brilliant at his job and could hotwire just about any car. Sydney had learned it quickly, absorbing the tutorial Ted had given him like a sponge. It turned out Ted was a douche who thought he owned Sydney after having sex just one time. The sex hadn’t even been that good. He had thought he could knock Sydney around. Sydney ended up beating him so severely he was in the hospital for several days. As far as Sydney was concerned, he and Ted were even. He taught Sydney how to steal cars, and Sydney taught him not to underestimate people that were smaller than him.
Ted currently worked at the gas station around the corner from Sydney’s apartment as an attendant and walked with a permanent limp. Sydney knew that because he checked up on the fucker every so often, making sure he didn’t try to beat on someone else.
When the car started, Sydney was relieved. He put the car in gear and drove. It took him almost an hour to make it to the interstate, because the traffic was horrendous. He’d thought making it to the interstate would be a relief, but it wasn’t. Not when the full ramifications of what he had done hit him like a speeding train.
He fucking stole a car. Shit.
The second bad decision of the day was pulling up in front of the Lakehouse Security mansion in a stolen car. Two in one day wasn’t exactly a record, but it wasn’t good news, either.
Sydney took a deep breath and got out of the car. He noticed the cameras in the corners of the building and knew the people inside were already aware of his presence. Sydney grinned and waved, then knocked on the door.
While he didn’t expect to receive a warm welcome, he never expected so many guns being pointed at him so quickly. They came around the sides of the house all big and menacing, their guns at the ready. Sydney just about wet himself, not that he’d show that to these guys. Instead, he grinned and raised his hands. “Where’s the love, huh?”
No one said a word, which was a good thing, really. Sydney already knew how the next few minutes would play out, and he wanted to delay the ass-kicking for as long as possible. The front door opened, and a man stood there staring at him. He was the scariest one of them all. His lack of fear said that this guy was the one in control. “What do you want?” Even as the man spoke, he nodded his head, looking at one of the guys to Sydney’s left.
Sydney felt someone behind him and knew what was coming, so he put his arms behind his back and let the man cuff him. “I need to talk to Max.” Sydney should have just called the man, but he had panicked and the thought hadn’t occurred to him.
“Why?”
Sydney clamped his lips shut and gave the man a defiant look. “Max knows why.”
The man nodded and Sydney was led into the house.
“Someone get Max here,” the man demanded.
“He’s gonna be pissed, boss.”
The man sighed. “I know.” The man looked at Sydney, eyeing him critically. “Send Ash into my office.”
Sydney didn’t know who Ash was or what he had to do with Max, but he wasn’t talking to any of them.
They led him down a hallway to the right of the foyer, and before he knew it he was in a huge office-slash-library that looked like it belonged in the colonial times rather than the current year. Books lined one complete wall and two desks were in the room. He was shoved down onto a couch that sat in the center of the room.
The boss man sat in a chair opposite him and regarded him for long minutes. “My name is Justin.”
“I’d tell you my name, but you already know it.”
Justin nodded. “Why are you here?”
“To talk to Max.” Hadn’t they already gone over this? How much clearer could Sydney get?
“Why do you want to talk to him?”
Sydney kept his mouth shut and refused to answer.
Justin sat forward. “I have the best torturer in the entire nation about ready to walk through that door.”
Well, that sucked. “I’m not talking to anyone but Max. I don’t care what the fuck your torturer does to me.”
Justin sighed. “Yeah, I can see that.”
The next few minutes were the most tension-filled Sydney had experienced in a long time. When the door to the office opened, Sydney looked over at it, silently praying it was Max. Instead, a big blond guy walked through holding the hand of another man. The blond guy whispered something in the other man’s ear and the man nodded, walking across the room to another sitting area.
Justin stood up, and the blond guy took his seat over. They stared at each other for so long Sydney was sure that was all they’d ever do. Then the blonde guy said, “So you got a thing for Max, huh?”
Of all things he expected to come out of the man’s mouth, asking him about his feeling for Max wasn’t even on his radar. Sydney didn’t respond.
The man grinned. “It’s okay. You don’t have to answer. I already know the truth.” The man laughed. “That is your first mistake.”
“It’s my third today, actually.”
The man’s eyebrows creased.
“I keep track of them. Put them on a mental timeline. So the first mistake I made today was stealing the car I drove here. The second was coming here in the first place. And the third was falling for Max, although for accuracy’s sake, I’d say that happened last week.” Sydney grinned right back at him.
“So you fully admit that it is a mistake.”
Sydney smirke
d. “I did my homework. I know he’s got commitment issues.” Sydney shrugged, which was awkward given the way his hands were tied behind his back. “Seems like I always fall for guys just like Max.”
“Hm. So is that why you’re here?”
“Nope. Plenty of places to get laid in Chicago. I don’t need to come all the way here for that.”
The man regarded him for several minutes. “You want information?”
Sydney regarded the man, his eyebrows raised. He knew the man wouldn’t tell him anything substantial, but that didn’t stop Sydney from baiting him. “Do you have any that might interest me?”
The man shrugged and then sat forward. “Mize wants to send you to prison, which would fuck us. Killing you right now would fuck her. She can’t pin all the evil shit she’s done on a dead guy, now can she?”
Sydney smiled. “You think threatening me with death scares me? Mize wants to sell me into sex slavery first, and lucky for her she has a buyer who will take me on a temporary basis. Worse than fucking death, so I got nothing to lose, asshole.”
“So you know what Mize has planned.”
Sydney nodded and otherwise didn’t show any emotion.
The man started to speak again, but the door opened and in walked Max with a scowl on his face. Sydney was so relieved he wanted to cry, but he was better at hiding his emotions than that.
Chapter Five
Max walked right over to Justin and held out his hand. “He’s not a threat to us.”
“I take it there’s been more interaction than just your online messages,” Justin said.
“Yeah.”
Justin held out his fist, but didn’t give him the key to the cuffs right away. “You’re sure? It’s your fuck up if he is.”
“He’s on our side,” Max said.
Sydney chose that moment to speak up. “Actually, I’m not. I don’t give a fuck about anyone else but you.”
