That’s what I hoped. And I hope that he missed the flinch I made. I knew that Gunner was his driver, of course I knew. But I wasn’t supposed to know. And my face had nearly betrayed the whole operation. I hoped that it was only nearly.
His eyes narrowed. There was a rap on the door. This time I was in control of my reaction. The impulse to relax would have shown my relief. Instead, I remained still. Steady. The door flew open.
Gunner came in. No, I’d spotted a fine difference. Horst’s eyes were harder. More guarded. It was a tiny distinction, but I knew this was Horst. Again I felt like I didn’t know what was going on. Like I wasn’t in control.
This was my plan, I told myself, trying to talk myself down. Liam and Declan are running it and they’re outside. It’s fine. Horst gave me a look that I took to be reassurance. Straight into character, he strode up to me, cutting halfway in front of Hammer. Horst seized me by the chin. Held my face. Looked at my clothes.
“You’ll do.” He pointed to the floor. Between his feet. I knelt. He turned to Hammer.
“I’m starving.”
Hammer shrugged like he didn’t care. He handed Horst the house phone. “Call room service.”
Horst looked down. “Are you counting the threads in my pants?” He slapped my face. “Open your dress, woman. And suck my fucking cock.”
The thrill that trickled down the inside of me told me that I was going to enjoy this. Assuming I survived. Well, I thought, I’ll enjoy however much I do survive. Finally, that thought gave me a chuckle that I did have to suppress. And then, if only for that moment, I felt like it was all going to be all right.
Horst growled into the phone. “Champagne. Cold.” His eyes narrowed as he looked down at me. “Be quick about it.” He was hanging up when he shouted, as an afterthought, “And cherry pie.”
Deliberately, I unbuttoned his black pants.
With a question in his voice, Hammer said, “You could have ordered in German.”
“They can understand me perfectly well,” Horst told him, “But it would be rude to my boss to speak in a foreign language, Sir.” That seemed to please the big man. He came closer to watch as I freed Horst’s massive member out of his open pants.
The scent, the heat and the rigid thickness of it made me want it. Even though I could have done without Hammer practically drooling a few inches away. It was a wonderful specimen of throbbing heat. The sight made my stomach flip.
I always wondered how porn actresses get their scenes done. How they perform like they’re lost in a dream of ecstasy while there are God knows how many people in headphones circling them, with cameras and microphones, or staring with tablets of notes. So, I guess I found out. Like I did with my husband more than once. You fake it.
Fake it when you’ve got your fingers and your lips wrapped on a huge hunk of hot cock. After you fake it for a while, the taste and the fat hardness of it will make you start to make it. And it was a fabulous cock. Feeling the tangy heat of it press along the roof of my mouth, I almost did get lost in the moment. In a number of moments, in fact.
He reached down to stroke and grip my throat. He held my head and half pulled, half caressed my hair. He raised my chin and looked into my eyes. His eyes flashed when I got him over the back of my tongue. He slid his hand into my blouse. I swallowed him way deeper when his fingers slipped into my bra.
He squeezed. I sucked. The sweet, dark taste of precum made me shudder.
Then Hammer moved nearer. I kind of wanted someone to shout, ‘Cut!’ But that didn’t happen. There was a bang on the door, though. Hammer grimaced. Horst caught my relief. His tenderness was in the gentle stroke he made on the side of my face.
“What is…” Hammer was standing and turning. The door opened and a man in the hotel’s uniform came in with a tray. I couldn’t see him around Horst, all I could see was his smart black pants with the hotel’s scarlet piping down the seam and his white gloves.
“Shall I set it down here, sir?” I recognized his voice. It was Declan. Still I couldn’t see him but an “Mmmm” ground up through my chest and along my throat. Horst’s cock stiffened as I gripped his ass.
“I don’t care where you set it.” Hammer as saying, “Just give me what I have to sign and get out.”
I could hear Declan’s grin as he said, “The lovely lady looks to be having herself a damn good time.”
“Here. Now get gone.”
“Thank you for the most generous tip, Sir.” Declan’s sarcasm did make me chuckle and I didn’t think I needed to hide it. Horst’s cock was enough camouflage. Anyway, Hammer was busy being angry at Declan. Declan left and Horst said,
“Let’s have some of that champagne.” He grabbed the bottle. He expertly pulled the cork. One hand stayed on the top of my head as he reached over to the tray and poured it into tall glasses.
He and Hammer took glasses and drank. Horst put one on a shelf nearest to me. “You can have some when you’re done.” He was enjoying the part. Then he asked Hammer, “Would you reach me a piece of the cherry pie, please, boss? That piece there. The nearest one. Thanks.”
“This piece?”
“Mm. Yup.”
“I’m having that piece. You can have this other piece.”
“Oh… um… okay…”
Hammer handed him a piece and grabbed the slice that Horst had pointed to for himself. He ate it greedily. “Damn good cherry pie.” And he rasped at Horst, “Eat yours.”
“Mm.” Hesitantly, Horst took a bit out of his.
“Finish it.” Hammer’s voice carried a menace.
Horst ate the piece of pie. Slowly. Nervously. The door was flung open. Gunner came in and slammed it behind him.
“What? Are you fucking twins?”
Gunner came around and behind me. “That’s exactly what we are, right, buddy?”
Horst nodded. “We’re fucking twins.” He grinned at Hammer. “We’re fucking twins and we’re both going to fuck her.”
Gunner leaned down to slide his hand down the back of my dress. Down to my ass. Down to lift my skirt. Hammer was red-faced and confused. He put his hand in his pocket and called out. “Bruno!”
The door opened again and Declan came back. “So sorry. Bruno’s taking a break.”
Hammer hauled a gun out of his pocket but his wrist was loose, like he hadn’t the strength to point the automatic. It just drooped. Still, I got up quickly. I backed away to the wall.
“The fuck… what’s… ” Hammer’s speech was slurred.
“I came in to check,” Declan said, “That everybody got the right piece of pie.”
“Yes, we’re all fine.” Horst smiled. “What Courtenay said worked perfectly.”
“Oh, yes, it must be right. I can see that the piece has gone from the dish.” Declan went to look in Hammer’s drooping face. “If one of the others had gotten it, they’d have keeled over by now.” Hammer’s jaw sagged. “It’s because you’re so much bigger, see,” Declan told him patiently. He patted Hammer’s cheek. “That’s why it’s taking a little longer.”
Hammer sounded woozy, “Maybe there wasn’t enough.” And he tried again to raise the gun. Declan lifted it out of his hand. “You’ve no need to worry there, Mr. deLunghi.” He smiled mischievously, “There was enough in that piece to wipe out half of Sicily.”
Hammer sank to his knees.
The door opened again. “Will some of you come and give me a hand, for fuck’s sake?” Liam sounded out of breath. He was trying to move the bulky figure slumped at his feet. It was clearly too heavy.
It took all four of the men to drag Bruno into the room.
Horst shook his head and looked at Gunner, “You can’t have shot him. What he’s wearing is practically armor plate.”
Gunner said, “Don’t look at me. I didn’t even see it. I was downstairs adjusting the CCTV. I switched it off before the last time he walked in here. The image will continue to be a still shot of the empty hallway,” he looked at his watch, “For another seven m
inutes and twenty seconds.”
Declan had on his modest face. “Throat punch.”
Liam stood amazed. “One punch?”
Declan grinned and lowered his eyelids.
Liam blew air. “You fucker.”
Hammer made a choking sound.
Declan leaned down to talk to him. “Ah, you’re still there?” and shook his head. “The last phase must be going pretty slowly.” And he tutted. “Probably quite nasty for you.” Hammer groaned and clutched at his stomach. Declan said, “Pretty painful too, I’d imagine.”
Hammer grunted as he nodded.
Declan stood back up. “That’s all good, then.” And to Horst and Gunner, “The idea was to hold your man, the bodyguard, up against a wall and put one of Mr. deLunghi’s bullets through his windpipe.”
Gunner’s eyebrows went up.
“Very neat,” Horst said, “The shot obliterates the injury from the throat punch and that becomes the cause of death.”
“You people are tremendous,” Gunner grinned.
“Well,” Liam cut in, “Maybe not so tremendous. I think what my friend is saying is, he’s too fucking heavy. We won’t be able to hold him steady to make the shot.”
Declan said, “We’d have to take off all his fucking armor, prop him up, shoot him and then put his clothing back together. It would be a snowball of fuckups.”
Everyone was quiet. I said, “Why not do it while he’s on the floor?”
Gunner shook his head, “They’re right for sure. The bullet would be in the wrong place. It needs to land in the wall.”
The only sound in the room was of Hammer’s weakening coughs.
Horst said, “Sit him up. Shoot from low down.”
Liam nodded and his bottom lip pushed up, “Could work.”
Declan nodded. “Good thinking.”
Horst said, “It will look odd if ballistics people check all the angles carefully.”
“But when they see the gunshot wound,” Liam said, “And then they find the powder in the bodyguard’s pocket.”
“He was called ‘Bruno.’” Declan said. “Apparently.” And he raised his eyebrows. He and Liam were snapping on thin rubber gloves. “No, it’s a cracking idea, fellers, I think it’s going to work.”
ORST AND GUNNER sat Bruno up and held him. Liam put the gun in Hammer’s hand and held the hand with both of his.
“I’d pull back and hold him at arm’s length if I were you, fellers.” He leaned all the way down to Hammer’s hand and he squinted to sight along the barrel. Hammer’s eyes rolled but he wasn’t completely gone yet. “I’m a pretty good shot, but this is fucking awkward.”
“Are you sure that’s going to be safe?” Gunner scowled as he stretched out his arms and pushed himself as far from Bruno’s body as he could.
Declan was impatient, “Look, did nobody alert you to the fact that this is a high-risk business? You should have been given a risk assessment folder in hi-vis yellow with big black letters that said, ‘EXTREME DANGER OF DEATH’ all over the front of it. Did you not get one of those?”
“Okay, okay,” Horst said, “Just let’s get on with it.”
Liam’s hand held Hammer’s hand with the gun. Hammer drooled. “Wait!” Liam said, “Give me a sheet or a towel.”
“What?” Gunner scowled.
Declan had already fetched a bath towel. “To catch the powder. If there’s a thick deposit on the floor there, it’ll be the stairway to fuckery.”
Liam smiled softly, “Courtenay, my sweet, could you possibly go into the suite across the hallway, grab a towel just like that one, and put it in the bathroom here?” He held out a keycard for her.
Everyone was uncomfortably aware of the time as they spread the towel out neatly under Hammer’s arm. Hammer was wheezing. “You are a tough fucker, aren’t you?” Liam tweaked his cheek.
Once again the Germans sat Bruno up and leaned as far back as they could. Liam put the gun in Hammer’s hand. He took hold of his hand and aimed the gun. Hammer made a tiny groan. Like he was talking to a child, Liam said, “Just one last little job, my man. Then you can sleep.”
He crouched to sight down the barrel. The gun twitched. Liam muttered, “Actually, you can sleep as soon as you fucking like. You’re not making this any easier.”
Courtenay came back with a towel and was halfway across the room when the gun went off. The bang in the confined space, dry smoke on the back of everyone’s throat that made their eyes bulge, and the bright flash, all meant that it took a moment before anyone saw the entry wound.
“Jeez,” Liam grimaced at Hammer, “That’s a messy fucking dum-dum bullet you’re loading. Do you have an unnatural love for all things gory and repulsive?” He skidded the gun along the carpet into the far corner of the room.
Declan scowled, “Well, there won’t be a lot of argument about his cause of death.”
Gunner’s face was tight. “His throat won’t be getting much of an examination.”
Courtenay said, “I’m going to throw up,” and she made for the bathroom. Quickly Declan whipped an airline barf bag from his pocket and handed it to her. “Don’t lose any and don’t spill any.”
She turned into the corner of the room, leaned over and heaved into the bag. He held out another.
Courtenay filled both bags and Liam took them. He stroked her back and looked into her watery eyes. She made a pale smile and nodded. “I’m okay.”
Declan asked him, “Where will you take them?”
“I’ll flush them in the room across the hall.”
Horst drove the cab with Gunner in front. Liam, Courtenay, and Declan sat behind in silence on the short drive back to their hotel. As the three got out, Liam told the Germans, “You did good work, fellers.” Gunner’s smile was thin, but he nodded.
Declan held up a hand to wave. Courtenay watched the cab slide away into the night.
Up in the room, Declan said, “I guess we could have finished packing after all.”
Liam was hurrying. “It would have made more sense.”
Declan closed the last case. “I think we got a little bit out of our routines.”
“Yeah,” Liam grinned, “I wasn’t even aware that we had routines.”
Gunner called Declan. “We monitor the German police. There’s a bit of fuss and noise about the damned bodyguard. When is your flight?”
“It’s in about four hours.”
“Well, I just thought I’d let you know.”
“Definitely the right thing to do. Thanks for that.”
He hung up. Liam asked him, “What is it?”
“I think we’d better get ourselves to not be here. Just in case, like. You know?”
Liam made a call. “It seem like there could be something of a situation.” Then. “Oh yes. All good. Like clockwork. We’ve just had a concern raised that there could be, you know, smoke. Fallout.” After a pause he said, “Well, no. With the greatest respect, sir, we didn’t want any part of this rolling clusterfuck in a dumpster fire in the first place.”
Four Hitmen: A Quadrouple Bad Boy Mafia Hot Romance (Lawless Book 3) Page 11
