by TJ Nichols
“You trust them?”
“She owes me.” Felicity wouldn’t be pleased to see him, but she’d be glad to no longer have the debt. He hoped she’d agree to help.
“Why are you helping me?”
“I owe you. I want to help you. I don’t want your death to be something I could prevent.” He stepped closer. “I want a chance to prove I’m more than… a problem fixer.”
“I could do with a problem fixer. I have a very tricky problem.” Cody held Olivier’s gaze, and while either of them could’ve closed those last few inches and taken a kiss to seal the deal, neither of them did.
CHAPTER TWENTY
CODY WANTED Olivier, but at the same time, all they seemed to do was hurt each other. Their desire was prickly and painful, yet he wanted it, even though there would always be murder between them. Their lives were entwined and had been for a very long time, if he believed in curses. And right then he was a believer.
Olivier’s fingers were cool around his. While Cody wasn’t sure how far he could trust a man who admitted wanting to kill him not that long ago, he’d seen the war in his brown eyes and the moment they became clear. He’d expected to die when Olivier said, “Thank you.” That’s when things got weird. He’d felt cold, and he’d struggled to breathe as a weight settled around him. It had lasted only seconds, but in that time, Olivier changed.
The razor-sharp edge disappeared from his eyes… and the birthmark vanished from his chest.
If Cody held doubts about the curse, the missing birthmark was enough to erase any lingering shreds. Making a birthmark disappear was real magic.
Olivier glanced away. “Come on.”
They went down the stairs like any other couple intent on going out and having fun. Cody couldn’t shake the feeling that they were running. He’d tried to make a stand and had failed, and he had no idea how to deal with his father.
All he really wanted was to walk away from his family and never look back.
Olivier pushed open the door, and they were on a busy street lined with bars and restaurants. Olivier held his hand and pulled him through the evening crowd. Olivier slowed to match the pace of the crowd. They blended in, and for the first time that evening, Cody began to think that maybe there was a chance. If they played it right and pulled the right strings—
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out to check who it was. “Shit.”
“Don’t answer it,” Olivier said without even asking who it was.
“It’s my father.”
“Of course it is. He’s wondering where you are. He probably turned up with a limo full of friends to make sure that it all went his way.” Olivier glanced at him. “I still can’t believe you bluffed.”
“What else could I do?” He hadn’t had much time or many options.
“This is it.” The club had a line to get in, but Olivier walked straight up to the bouncer on the door. They had a few quiet words, and the bouncer let them in.
Olivier was still holding his hand, but not like a lover. His touch was impersonal. When Olivier looked at him, there was something there, but the gap between them had been widening since that night in Cody’s hotel room. Was it too wide to cross? Did he even want to cross it? He didn’t know. Without the curse binding them together, what was left but lust?
Olivier smiled as they made their way into the club. Music pulsed and people danced. Olivier gave his hand a squeeze, and Cody’s heart jumped. Any man’s heart would have done the same if Olivier had smiled at them like that.
He should know better. The hand that held his had pulled the trigger of a gun not even an hour ago. That he was safer with Olivier than on his own wasn’t entirely reassuring.
“I need to talk to the DJ,” Olivier said in his ear over the music.
“That’s your person?” She had long, dark hair, all slicked back, and she wore a hot pink dress. She didn’t look like she knew which end of the flash drive to stick into a computer.
“Yeah. Coming? Or do you want to get a drink?”
“What?”
“We can’t go anywhere until she finishes and cracks the files. We’re in a crowd, it’s the best I can do right now.” He shrugged and then stepped closer. “It might be nice to appreciate still being able to breathe for a little while.”
“I’ll get two beers,” Cody offered, although it would use up the last of his cash. “And I’ll wait over there.” He pointed to an area with sofas to the left of the bar.
Olivier gave his hand a final squeeze and then let go. He sliced through the crowd as though he had a super urgent song request.
Cody made his way to the bar, got the drinks, and found a seat. He quickly drank the first half of his beer. He was alive. The adrenaline that had kept him moving had dried up and left his hands shaking.
He’d witnessed a murder. If he were a decent person, he’d have called 9-1-1 instead of kneeling on the floor with his mouth open like an idiot and then letting the priest take the fall. He clasped his hands to steady them and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
How many bad life choices had he made to be in the position where going clubbing with a hit man was what he did after seeing a murder in a church, where he wanted the hit man to stop giving mixed signals and kiss him?
How fucked up am I?
Very, was the short answer. If he was bound to Olivier by the curse, then maybe there was no way for him to resist. Maybe it was meant to be and he needed to stop examining it and just accept it. He didn’t like that idea much either. He’d always thought he was in control of his life.
Olivier returned and sat on the arm of the sofa next to him. “She finishes the end of this set in half an hour, has a two hour break, and then she’s back on.” He put his hand on Cody’s back and leaned forward to pick up his drink. “You okay?”
“It’s all catching up with me.”
“That’s normal.”
Cody turned his head to look at Olivier, and questions formed on his lips.
Olivier scanned the room and then glanced down. “Not here. Let’s be ordinary for the next thirty minutes.”
“I’m pretty sure we have very different definitions of ordinary.” Cody finished his beer, even though he should’ve made it last. He also should have eaten something before he drank, but it was too late for that.
“Yeah. Let’s try your ordinary instead of mine.”
“Mine?”
He leaned down. “What do you do in a club when you’re not arranging files to be hacked?”
“I’ve never done that. I go to have fun… and pick up.”
Olivier grinned and sipped his beer. “You’ve achieved half your goals already.”
He wasn’t having fun yet, but Olivier was right. He did have someone to dance with. “Do you dance?” Plenty of people went to clubs to drink and pick up but never set foot on the dance floor. “I’m not sure I’m in the mood.”
“Sometimes. We can just sit.” The smile was gone. “I just want to forget for a few minutes. I don’t know what I’m going to do in the morning.”
“With your niece?”
“She’s with a sitter tonight. I need to let Dad know.” He closed his eyes as though he were trying to seal up all the hurt.
Cody put his hand on Olivier’s thigh. “Come on, then.”
Even though Olivier stood, he still didn’t seem happy. He finished his beer as though he were dying of thirst. “Things didn’t used to hurt.”
“What do you mean?”
“There was a numbness to death. No guilt. Nothing. Now it’s there. All of it for everyone.” He rubbed where his birthmark had been.
A part of Cody was happy that Olivier hurt the way he had when he learned Connor was dead. “It will get better.”
“I know. I remember what it was like after Mom’s death. Before I let the curse take over.” He mentioned the curse as easily as other men might talk about sports or cars. “Mom was right about me. There was something wrong with me.”
/>
Cody put his hands on Olivier’s shoulders. “The curse is broken. And there’s nothing wrong with you that can’t be fixed. You did what you had to do to survive. Now you have to find a way forward.” And so did he. If he only got one night to feel alive before death caught up with him, he wasn’t going to waste it deliberating if they were right or wrong or all kinds of messed-up. He placed a soft kiss on Olivier’s lips. It didn’t feel wrong. “We’ll get through it.”
They had to, or they’d both be dead.
OLIVIER PUT his arms around Cody. He was glad Cody hadn’t left after that first warning. If he had, the curse would never have broken. He’d never have gotten to know Cody or understood the darkness within himself. How long would it have been before their paths crossed again and he completed the mission for this life? He kept touching where the ugly birthmark shaped like a broken sword had been. It was truly gone, but even that tangible proof didn’t seem real. It was as though he were waking up from a dream and trying to work out where he was—who he was.
While he didn’t share the buoyant mood of the crowd, it was nice to be surrounded by it. Anything was better than dwelling on what had happened. Tomorrow would come soon enough, and if the files didn’t give them some answers, they were in trouble. Not even handing over the flash drive would help them. That would’ve never worked.
Beneath the pain there was something new—a fear that his life would be over before he got to live it. The new sensations were unsettling. He’d gone through life numbed to everything. It was no wonder he couldn’t keep a girlfriend or a boyfriend. Felicity had once said that he was there in body but that he had no heart or soul. She hadn’t been wrong. He just hadn’t wanted to listen.
His most recent ex, Tony, had thought living together would solve the distance between them. But the distance was within him. He hadn’t known that back then. If he had, he would’ve avoided all relationships. As it was, his lovers had realized he was broken, and they all let him go. Even when he was the one to end it, they put up no resistance. No one had ever fought to save what they had.
He glanced at Cody as they made their way to the dance floor. They didn’t really have anything. One night didn’t count. That night had only brought his nightmares back because Cody was the key to either breaking free or remaining locked in. When Olivier closed his eyes, he could see Cody kneeling on the floor of the church, his eyes wide with shock and fear. Olivier hated the terror he’d caused. Cody didn’t know how close he’d come to pulling the trigger.
He couldn’t believe how overwhelming the urge had been—the anger, the hate, and the blame. He wanted Cody to be responsible for Marie’s death because it was easier to blame someone else than look in the mirror. If he’d realized that decades or centuries earlier, he wouldn’t have relived past mistakes.
But when he glanced at Cody, he wasn’t sure it had all been bad. Cody was still with him.
Because he needed help? Because they were bound by the magic that had kept him trapped? Or because he wanted to be?
He wasn’t sure himself. He’d expected the lust to fade along with the cold need to kill, but it hadn’t. The lust was still there, along with the memories of the night they spent together.
It was easy to hold Cody’s hand and pretend there was nothing beyond the walls of the club and the music pulsing through his bones. One day he’d like to not worry about what was coming for him. He wanted to be able to wake up and go to work and not kill anyone.
He needed to find that, but killing was all he knew.
Cody pulled him closer. “We’ve got fifteen minutes.”
They had longer than that. It would take Felicity a while to break into the files. But Cody was right—for a few minutes, he could try to forget. And though Cody was trying, his smile was forced, and his eyes were haunted. They were on the dance floor but they were barely moving, barely touching.
For all that was wrong with his life, Olivier had always known his parents loved him and didn’t want him dead. That had to count for something. His heart ached that Cody’s father didn’t care about his son at all. He put his arms around Cody’s neck and let himself be drawn closer. It didn’t matter why they were there, only that they were together.
The rest they could figure out when they worked out a way to survive.
Then Cody kissed him and silenced all other thoughts.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
FELICITY WIPED the sweat off her forehead with one hand and plugged the flash drive into the laptop with the other. “A little notice next time would be nice. You were never good at that, though. Always wanted things when it suited you.”
Olivier ignored the jab. “We need to know what’s on that. Fast.” Olivier didn’t want to tell her how dangerous the information was. The less she knew the better.
She lifted both eyebrows. “Who’d you double-cross?”
“No one. Just a little family drama.” Which was the truth, though little might be stretching it. A little drama usually didn’t end in death.
“Your boyfriend must have a dangerous family.” Her gaze was firmly on the screen.
Olivier didn’t answer. Not five minutes earlier, Cody and he had been pressed together. The heat still lingered in Olivier’s body. He’d been disappointed when Felicity’s set ended and they had to let the real world wedge between them.
Seeing her again reminded him why they got along. She was just as harsh as he was. They had clashed and made up many times, and their relationship had been one long fight until she woke up to how self-destructive it was. He’d been too dumb to pay attention.
Felicity loaded up a program, and the screen went dark. “I’m assuming you’ve tried the obvious? Family pets, birthdays, first girlfriend… or boyfriend?”
“I tried the most likely ones, but didn’t keep trying in case it self-destructed or something,” Cody said. “Connor wasn’t stupid. He knew he was being watched before he died. He wanted to make sure this was secure.”
“I don’t want to know any more, boys. I don’t want any of your friends or family knocking on my door. The favor doesn’t extend that far.” She gave Olivier a pointed look. “And I don’t want you to owe me one either. This makes us even, and I never see you again.”
“Not even by accident?” Olivier smiled.
Felicity didn’t return the smile. “Not even by accident. You don’t usually frequent the same clubs as me. Let’s keep it that way.”
It might be time for him to leave New York. Start over where he wasn’t known. Take Dani somewhere where his past wouldn’t threaten her life. The idea of going to Florida to live with his father didn’t appeal. He glanced at Cody under his lashes.
Cody wasn’t very good at waiting. He rocked on his feet, fiddled with his jacket, and glanced around as though looking for something to capture his interest so he didn’t have to count the seconds. Cody’s gaze landed on Olivier. The corner of his lips turned up, and his eyes brightened. Then his smile slipped away, replaced by a frown.
Olivier would’ve given anything to know what had just gone through Cody’s mind.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out ready to answer out of habit, and it was in his hand before he realized that it wouldn’t be Benitez calling him. He’d never call him again. That relief was short-lived when he recognized the number of one of the other problem fixers. The man specialized in shaking down those people who owed money.
“Merlo,” Olivier said. He put his fingers to his lips so Felicity and Cody would stay silent.
“The boss is dead,” said the man on the phone.
It was the confirmation he’d been waiting for, but he didn’t expect the call to end there. David would have new demands or suspicions—maybe both. He would try to get him to go back, squeeze him for answers, and then throw away whatever was left. “Shit. When? That’s two attempts in one day.”
“Over an hour ago. Priest says he did it. David’s calling a meeting down at the office. You need to be there.”
“My sister overdosed tonight.” He nearly choked on the words, but had to keep it together. Get through the night. Then he could fall apart. “I have family stuff to take care of.” He wasn’t going anywhere near the office. David wasn’t stupid. He’d worked his way up to Benitez’s second-in-command by being smart and resourceful. To secure his place, he’d want to look strong. And the best way to do that would be to eliminate anyone who could be a threat.
“Sorry, man, but this is important. You spoke to Benitez before he died.”
“I did. I told him I had what he wanted.”
“Do you still?”
“I can’t discuss that issue with you.” He didn’t want to discuss it at all. He hung up.
Cody and Felicity were both watching him. “I knew work would catch up to me sometime.”
Felicity held up her hand. “You still playing that game?” She shook her head. “I don’t want to know what you’ve done. Don’t touch anything. I don’t want your fingerprints on my stuff. I’m going to step out for a moment so you can talk.”
Olivier waited for her to leave and close the door. “There’s a meeting being called down at the office, to work out what happened and how to move on. They want me to go. I’m not going.”
“But the priest did it,” Cody said as though seeking confirmation.
“Suspicion and a new boss make for dangerous times.” His phone rang again. No caller ID. Was that a call from David? Twice in a day? That couldn’t be good.
“Merlo.” He glanced at Cody who mimed zipping his lips. The last thing Olivier wanted was someone to work out who he was with—or where he was.
“Olivier, I know you’ve heard the news. It’s a sad day.”
“Yes it is.” He wasn’t talking about Benitez, though. He was thinking of his sister. It didn’t feel real and wouldn’t until he went to her place. A lump swelled in his throat. He couldn’t wallow. He had to focus on the problem of staying alive.
“I’d like you to come to the office.”
