Wren lowered his legs from Jaeger’s arms and brought feeling back to his extremities. He clenched his ass and gripped Jaeger tight, holding Jaeger’s dick inside. Catching his breath Wren traced his fingertips across Jaeger’s sweaty brow. Jaeger looked pensive, but he smiled.
“Wait right there.” Jaeger grabbed the edge of the condom, withdrew his softened dick from Wren’s ass, and rubbed the muscle to relax it back to normal. Wren felt cherished. He’d never had a lover take such good aftercare of him.
He watched Jaeger walk to the bathroom to dispose of the condom, and then he heard the shower running. Jaeger returned to the bedroom, reached for Wren, and scooped him into his arms.
“Let’s shower, before we have to think about anything else.”
Wren nodded.
JAEGER HAD no qualms about fucking Wren. He was attracted to him, and their connection grew with every passing day.
Jaeger removed the leather band from his wrist before he got in the shower. The scar was raised and inflamed. It irritated him, and it seemed the closer he got to Wren, the more the scar transformed.
“What’s that?” Wren lifted Jaeger’s arm and kissed the inflamed broken sword, which sent chills throughout Jaeger’s system. He never allowed anyone to see it because he was ashamed of the disfigurement, and more importantly, because it was an identifying mark.
“I think I was born with it, but I’m not really sure. I don’t really remember how I got it, just that it always was.”
Jaeger rested his face on Wren’s palm and absorbed his heat. He leaned in for a quick peck to the lips, grabbed the washcloth and soap, and caressed more than cleaned Wren’s body. He paid careful attention to his ass, cock, and balls.
“I believe I may be extra clean below the waist.” Wren chuckled.
“Just need to make sure.” Jaeger turned Wren around and washed his hair.
“Lean back, babe.” The suds soon disappeared down the drain and Jaeger stepped under the spray, rinsed, and shut off the taps. Then he grabbed the towel, ran it over his body, and proceeded to dry Wren.
“Dress and then talk.” Jaeger donned a clean pair of jeans and tee, sans underwear. Socks and boots completed the ensemble. He claimed the desk chair and waited for Wren to dress and sit on the edge of the bed. Then he picked up the laptop, rewound the footage from the cabin, and ran through it looking for any other signs to indicate who the men were.
The men on the screen—one of them Luis—shakily picked themselves up from the explosion, dusted themselves off, and proceeded to trek through the rubble of the house. Approximately ten minutes passed before they exited the cabin, and Luis, blood dripping from his forehead, spoke into a cell phone. Jaeger panned closer to see his lips move. He was able to pick up part of the conversation.
Luis informed the caller on the other end that Jaeger and Wren were not in residence and there had been an explosion. He also informed the caller that any electronic equipment that was once in the cabin was no longer there. Dead end and where to go from there. Not knowing what the voice on the other end said, Jaeger surmised by the head nodding that Luis was being told to wait for further instructions. Luis and his companion walked from the cabin.
Jaeger lifted his eyes and looked at Wren, who appeared small as he sat cross-legged on the bed and played with a white string on his worn blue jeans.
“Now what? Luis is not going to give up and obviously neither is my family.”
“We move. They have no idea where we are, but we need to keep moving so no one can pick up our trail. And we start making our way back to New York. Less than two weeks, and you’ll be a free man.”
“Maybe I don’t want to be free.”
“What the fuck does that mean? You want to be caught by your family? No. The. Fuck. Way. Not on my watch.” Jaeger was adamant. He was given a job to do, and despite his previous feelings, Jaeger planned to fulfill his assignment.
“No. That’s not what I mean.” Wren reached for Jaeger, who allowed Wren to tug him down next to him on the bed. “What I mean is that, once this is over, I don’t know if I can walk away.”
“Walk away from what?”
“Walk away from you, silly. I know this sounds crazy, but I feel… I think we have a connection. Am I wrong?”
Jaeger knew that conversation was inevitable, but he had hoped it would be a while before he had to address it.
“Wren.”
“Oh, mierda. Did I just put my foot in my mouth? Think too much about this? Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Sometimes I jump in with both feet and think later. It’s just fucking.”
Wren spoke so fast he didn’t let Jaeger get a word in.
“Let me begin again, Wren. This job has taken a very different direction for me. I was tasked to protect you, and I crossed the line.” Jaeger saw the expression in Wren’s eyes and felt his body stiffen. “Don’t get huffy. I’m not saying I regret what we did, but right now my focus needs to be on keeping you safe. I should be apologizing to you. Not the other way around.”
Jaeger framed Wren’s face with his hands, leaned in, and pecked him on the lips. “Let’s see what happens. Okay? I’m not sure how things will work out in the end, but let’s be patient.”
Jaeger had hurt Wren’s feelings, of that he was sure. He only hoped he could keep himself in check, keep Wren safe, and deliver him to the federal court. And in the end? Only time would tell.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“SO, IN other words, you let them get away?” The conversation was not going well, and both parties raised their voices.
“They were your men, and obviously not capable of handling one little assignment. And now you’ve lost them.”
“Your man had the cabin wired. Very clever, not to kill my men. Just hurt them. Now we need to change plans.” Silence fell on the other end of the line.
“Will he contact you again?”
“I’m not exactly sure. He may stay to ground and surface when the trial is scheduled. He’s sort of a wild card in the agency. Good agent, but has his own agenda.”
“You need to figure the fuck out where he’d go. Back into hiding? Stay moving? I do not need this to blow up in my face any more than it already has. There’s too much at stake. Too much has had to happen to get to this point, and I will have it come to completion. Do you understand me? Now get me a fucking location.”
The line went dead. What the fuck was Chase thinking, getting in bed with a cartel thug? The guy was a very powerful ruffian who’d paid him a substantial amount of money for bits and pieces of information.
Small transactions led to larger ones, which in turn led him deeper into the abyss—the abyss that brought him to the point in his life where everything began to unravel. He hoped he could come out unscathed. But it wasn’t likely. If he was lucky, Tripp would kill him quickly and mercifully. If he wasn’t… he probably deserved what he got.
JAEGER WAS incensed. He’d hurt Wren’s feelings. The cartel wanted them dead. And someone in the agency had fed information to the bad guys. What the fuck was the world coming to when the good guys were the bad guys? Everything was topsy-turvy. And Jaeger needed to put the world back on its axis—and take a few people out with him. He didn’t give a fuck anymore. Wren had become too important to him, and he planned to make the most of their time together while keeping him safe. And in the end, he’d learn to let him go.
“Let’s go hit the local diner and eat a full meal and just enjoy the company.” Jaeger’s attempt to ease the frown from Wren’s face didn’t work, so he decided to kiss him and shock the frown right off him.
Wren giggled, and it warmed Jaeger’s heart. He was truly growing fond of Wren, and his soul seemed to soothe whenever Wren touched him. The heated kiss led to small pecks on Wren’s lips, eyes, and nose.
“Feel better?”
“Yeah. A little. Thanks.”
Jaeger placed his gun in the small of his back and then threw on his jacket. He tossed Wren’s jacket to him, nabbed the room key, and le
d the way out the door to the vehicle.
Belted into their new set of wheels, they drove into town and found a small, run-down-looking diner with numerous cars in the parking lot. The place was booming, so they’d have no trouble blending in, especially so close to the border.
They greeted the lady at the register, and she nodded her head to indicate that they could choose their own table. So they sat in the back and were served coffee and water while they looked at the menu.
“Steak and eggs?” Jaeger peered over his menu.
“Yum. That sounds good. I suppose they don’t have a side order of plátanos to go with those eggs?” Wren chuckled.
“No. This doesn’t look like the kind of establishment that serves fried bananas. But I bet we can get a slab of Canadian bacon.”
“No thanks. I’ll have the steak—rare. Mooing, actually. And dippy eggs.”
“You want what? Dippy eggs? Or is that over easy?”
“My mami always called them dippy eggs because I dipped my plátanos and toast into them. I bet if I order that the waitress will know what they are.”
“What are we going to bet?” Jaeger raised a brow, always up for a challenge.
Wren leaned in so others wouldn’t hear. “Blow job.”
“Blow jobs, huh?” Jaeger brought his hand to his chin and rubbed as he thought over his options.
“I think I may be able to coax you into a blow job, even without the bet.”
“That may be true, but if you win, I’ll add a little slit play for your erotic pleasure.” It was very apparent Wren enjoyed teasing the hell out of Jaeger.
“And if you win, what do you want? A special blow job too?” Jaeger noticed the shift in Wren’s movement and his suddenly sullen expression. The joy left his face.
“Wren?”
“Blow job too, with a little finger play.” The man smiled once again.
“Here comes the waitress, sir. Would you like to place our orders?” Jaeger smirked.
Addressing the harried but smiling waitress, Wren ordered two steaks—one rare, the other medium—with side orders of fried potatoes and dippy eggs. Jaeger beamed as the waitress jotted down everything Wren said and never missed a beat.
“Dippy eggs, young man? Used to tell my kids that when they were youngsters, eh?” Her Canadian twang brought a smile to Wren’s face, which in turn warmed Jaeger’s heart.
“Yes ma’am. Dippy, like my mama used to make.”
Pencil eraser in mouth, the waitress left them to put in their order.
“Looks like I’m getting lucky tonight.” Wren beamed.
“Babe, you would have gotten lucky no matter what.”
WREN’S EMOTIONS were all over the place. He floundered between happy, ecstatic, sexually satisfied, and sad—one step forward and two steps back. Wren needed to get back on track. He loved the banter he had with Jaeger, and winning a blow job was an added bonus. Sadness also clouded his thoughts. The thought of leaving Jaeger at the end and taking on a new identity left him bereft of any pleasure.
He wanted a companion in his life—someone who belonged to him and vice versa. He thought he had that with Javi, but then he realized that, to Javi, he was just a fuck. Javi, who wouldn’t or couldn’t come out of the closet for anyone. But Javi finally conceded, and how’d that turn out? Sitting in a pool of pity wouldn’t get Wren anywhere, so Wren needed to move on. He couldn’t change the past or predict the future.
They finished their meal in companionable silence, and then Jaeger left a tip and paid the bill. Together they strolled to the vehicle to head back to the motel. They’d be back on the road the next morning, bright and early, but that night, Wren would get his dick sucked. And if he was lucky, maybe a little more than that.
Jaeger was everything he looked for in a partner—strong, stoic, steadfast. Maybe a little scary, but everything else more than made up for it. The bad-boy routine looked good on the marshal, and Wren wanted to peel the layers away and see what was beneath the surface. Even his mami would approve—if she ever got to meet him.
Never one to hit the clubs or cruise the strip, Wren was happiest with computers. Sexual release usually came from his own hand, and then eventually with Javi—in secrecy.
Wren would need to divulge to Jaeger who Javi was and how he fit into the murder. Javi wasn’t able to speak for himself, but he should be remembered for the loving man he had the potential to become. Wren understood Javi’s desire to keep his sexuality under wraps. Growing up in a culture of machismo, many Latins were horrified to discover their son was a maricón. Lucky for Wren his mother loved him unconditionally and his uncle had no choice but to accept Wren’s lifestyle. His uncle might be in charge of the cartel, but his mother was a powerhouse with a propensity for speaking her mind and getting her way. She wasn’t the traditional younger sister to a powerful Mexican crime lord, especially once she became a widow. Fiercely independent and outspoken, she kept Wren sheltered from the evils of the world with the best tutors, carefully chosen friends, and everything Wren needed to grow up in a safe and happy environment. Until Wren realized his uncle was a criminal.
Wren didn’t realize they’d arrived at the motel until he heard the driver’s side door shut.
“Coming?” Jaeger mouthed through the window and indicated with a head nod.
Wren exited the passenger side, and Jaeger locked the doors with the fob. Strolling down the short walkway to their room, he followed Jaeger’s denim-encased ass. It was a view that rivaled any work of art.
Wren wondered what brought Jaeger to this point in his life. He was a man who knew what he wanted and made no bones about accomplishing the task. Just from the tad bit Wren gleaned when he first met Jaeger, Wren had some insight into his psyche. Jaeger didn’t appreciate people who thought they were above the law, yet his sense of duty created a turmoil in his soul. Wren hoped to be able to get to Jaeger’s inner workings since he’d become not only his protector but his lover.
“What time are we leaving in the morning?” Wren leaned on the door.
“Let’s head out around threeish. Gives us enough time to catch some zees.”
Wren watched Jaeger perform the ritual that had become routine in the short time they’d been together—remove the gun from his back, take the safety off, and place the handgun on the bedside table. Safe. Routine. Very Jaeger.
And those qualities were the very ones Wren found himself falling for. He was falling in love with his protector—who would deliver him to the court and then walk out of his life. Wren stopped dead in his tracks. He knew exactly what he needed to do. He would go forward and get the most pleasure he could from the next few weeks—even in the face of danger. If only for a little while, feeling treasured and loved would give him the strength to forge forward. But first, blow job.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
KNOWING THE ride was about to get bumpy didn’t improve Jaeger’s attitude. With less than two weeks left to deliver Wren safely to the courthouse, he’d have to be on his A game. He needed more answers—and fast.
Wren was holding back. Yes, he was the key witness in a cartel murder, but there was more to the story. Jaeger felt it in his marrow. He had to get to the truth.
After a night of blow jobs and mutual satisfaction, they left the motel early in the morning under the cover of the dark moonlit sky. He planned to travel the interstate until they got closer to New York, stopping at motels along the way. Jaeger needed to stay one step ahead of the bad guys until he had all the facts straight. Then he’d strike. Even with all his precautions, it was only a matter of time before one side or the other caught up with them. He needed to be the chess master in the ultimate game and capture the key player.
The enemy would assume their route would take them toward the border for supplies and a new vehicle and then south to the city. It was the only logical choice, and as much as Jaeger loathed to be predictable, speed was of the utmost importance. It was not the time to deviate from the plan.
By God,
he’d get the truth. The murder Wren had witnessed—that of a rival crime boss—was too neat. It could have taken place at any time and out in the open. But why the Rincón house? Jaeger knew that if it smelled foul, it most likely was.
As they drove down the interstate, Jaeger peered over the center console to admire Wren’s slack expression. His long chocolate eyelashes fell to his cheeks and covered his beautiful, luminous green eyes while he slept. His darker complexion and regal nose called to Jaeger’s soul. He felt a kinship that was all too familiar… yet distant.
Wren was testing his emotional stability. Years of being on his own, setting his own rules, and taking jobs that no other agent wanted gave Jaeger a stagnant view of the world. Was it possible for a man of his character to change so late in the game? And did he even want to? Was Wren O’Riley becoming that important to him that he’d change his own personality and become a lover instead of a fighter? As he looked at Wren in his sleepy and vulnerable state, the answer could very well be yes.
Movement from the passenger seat caused Jaeger to look over once again.
“How far are we? What time is it?” Wren stretched as best he could in the seat, straightened his legs beneath the dash, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Sorry I dozed off. I guess you wore me out.”
Jaeger smiled at the evening they’d spent. The blow job not only blew Wren’s mind, but his own as well. Not a selfish lover, Wren returned the favor on a classic sixty-nine, and then Jaeger fucked his man into the mattress. And he took him once more before they fell asleep and then again in the shower before they left the motel. It was a very good night.
“We’ve only been on the road for a few hours. Like I explained, the distance between where we were and the city is not that far—a day’s drive. But I want to stop along the way every few hours. We’re also going to stop back in High Peaks and scope out the cabin, just to check for any more movement. I know we have cameras, but my gut tells me going in person will give us more clarity about what’s happening.”
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