“I’d challenge God, himself, for eyeing your kiester,” he answered with a smirk, “and, supposedly, he’d be the one I’d have to thank for making that kiester in the first place.”
“Good to know,” I said, laughing as I rolled my eyes.
“So, we don’t have much time ‘til Danny gets back,” Jace said, seeming upset by that.
I couldn’t deny that I was as well. Even with how much fun I had with Candy today, I was still worried about a lot. But with Candy’s words of encouragement and the strength I felt at being with Jace, I knew we’d pull through. I had to believe that.
“Hey Jace,” I said, deciding what we needed and hoping it would be okay.
“What is it?” he asked, his face growing with a mixture of curiosity and concern.
“Can we… well, do you think we have time to make love?” I finally asked.
I watched Jace for a moment, not even realizing I was holding my breath waiting for his answer. I knew that there wasn’t a lot of time left before he had to go off and Danny was only going to wait so long for him. A moment later, he was leaning forward and slammed his lips on mine. I moaned, arching against his kiss as I ran my tongue against his own. He groaned, wrapping his arms around my waist as we continued to kiss.
“Mm! Can’t believe you thought you’d have to ask that,” he said as he slowly pulled away from my lips. “I hate that we have to make this quick.”
“Then let’s not make this wait too long,” I said, already beginning to shiver from excitement.
He grinned and began to pull off my shirt and bra, letting my breasts spill out from underneath. I smirked as he gazed down at my breasts, his eyes seeming glued to my chest. I beamed under his attention, licking my lips.
“D-damn, you are so sexy,” he said, grinning wickedly.
“Mm! Hurry! Don’t make me wait for your touch,” I said, arching back for his touch.
Nodding, he leaned down, capturing one of my nipples in his mouth as he began to play with one of my other breasts. I shivered, arching against his touch, loving the feel of his mouth and hands on my sensitive breasts.
"O-oh! It feels amazing!" I panted.
"MM! Your breasts taste amazing!" Jace groaned.
"Oh! M-more! I want to see you too!" I smirked, beginning to slide off his shirt.
As his sexy bare chest was exposed, I began to move my hands down his chest, moving to his pants. I grinned as I unzipped his fly before slipping off his jeans and boxers in a single tug. I grinned as his thick, hard cock sprung out, and, shivering with anticipation, I began to travel my hand along its length, enjoying the feel of his pulsing eagerness in response to my touch.
"Ooh! Your dick is so sexy!" I grinned. "I need to taste it!"
"Mm! Me too! I want to taste you, too!" he panted.
After a moment, we had tumbled and rolled into a sixty-nine position and I began to lick at his cockhead, jerking the shaft of his cock as well. I moaned, continuing to suck and jerk his cock, enjoying the feel of his cock in my mouth and hand. I knew we didn’t have a lot of time, but I didn’t want to rush things, not when I felt as good as I did.
"MM! Your touch and mouth feel so good!" he said.
"AH! You taste so amazing!" I said, whimpering in pleasure.
He groaned, beginning to lap at my pussy, pushing two of his fingers inside me. I shivered, bucking against him as he continued to finger-fuck me hard as he continued to lap at my clit. I moaned, continuing to suck and lap at his offerings, continuing to jerk him off as I sucked the head and mewling excitedly at the beads of precum that seeped out.
"Oh fuck! Mm-Mia, your mouth… feels so good!" he cried out. "Wish this never had to end!”
"I wish it didn’t have to, either!" I said as I slid off of him, not wanting to wait any longer for more. "I can't wait anymore! I need you inside me so bad, Jace!”
"Oh! As you wish," he said.
I shivered, moving into the doggy-style position and lifting my ass up, panting in pleasure. I looked back, needing his cock inside me and I began to wiggle my ass, pleading with my body for him to make love to me. He didn’t make me wait any longer as he slid behind me, slamming his full length deep inside.
"You feel so fucking good, Mia!” he said, beginning to thrust inside me.
"That’s it, Jace! Make me feel good!” I said, beginning to push back against his cock.
I continued to move against him as he continued his own motions, thrusting his cock deep inside me. I whimpered, enjoying the feel of all of him as he continued to penetrate me and I couldn’t help but also push back against him. He groaned, taking my hips and even moving faster, and I could tell he was losing himself to the raw passion.
"Oh god, Jace! It feels so good,” I said, whimpering in please.
"Oh! So fucking good,” Jace said.
I shivered, continuing to push back against Jace as he filled me deep and hard. As we continued to get lost in the passion, I could feel myself growing close. Jace didn’t stop and I shivered, pushing back even harder. I could feel that he was getting close too and I wanted to come with him.
"I'm getting close, Mia!" Jace said, beginning to shake in pleasure.
"Me too, Jace!” I said, panting in pleasure.
I whimpered, feeling my orgasm grow close as Jace continued to pound deep and hard inside me, his cock continuing to piston deep inside me. I shivered, feeling my orgasm growing closer as I continued to push back against him.
"Oh, I’m so close!” I said, shaking in pleasure.
"Fuck! Here I go,” Jace roared.
I cried out as Jace began to come and I joined him, losing myself in the ecstasy. We had both completely lost ourselves in the moment, coming undone together. I wanted to stay lost in this feeling of pure bliss. As we both finished off the last few waves of our climax, I fell forward in the bed, trying to catch my breath. Jace fell beside me, wrapping his arms around my waist and I could feel how tense he suddenly had become.
I knew what happened next.
I hated that once again a perfect moment was about to be ruined.
“I don’t want to leave,” Jace murmured against me as I moved to slide away from him.
“I don’t want you to either,” I said, glancing down. “But this is the last clue, right? Who knows what you’ll find, right?”
He nodded, the frown never leaving his face as he slipped out of bed. Like me, I could see that, even without the detriment of having left yet, he was still feeling the effects of our parting. In that, I felt a strange, albeit depressing, sense of kinship; a feeling of connecting in that instant that was absolutely bittersweet in all that it represented.
An emotional connection based on a mutual sense of loss as one is about to leave the other, I considered. How awful…
It felt like the sort of thing we might have studied in some classical literature class. Like something from ancient mythology, perhaps.
One of those timeless, so-called “beautiful” tragedies.
“Tragedy,” of course, being the operative word.
I watched as he begun to get dressed, hating the dull emptiness that had begun to grow. After such an intense moment, it felt like such a sin to be ruining it like this.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Jace said, sliding his jacket on. “I love you, Mia.”
“I love you too,” I said, watching as he slid from the room.
Leaving me to my own thoughts.
Leaving me alone.
God, I hated how alone I suddenly felt.
SEVEN
~JACE~
As I made my way down the elevator, hating that I had to leave Mia once again after the sex we’d just had, I made sure that I was armed. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. A part of me hoped that there’d be nothing there tonight, that this would all be over after tonight.
I knew that was a fool’s dream.
The doors opened and I glanced up, seeing that Danny was sitting in the lobby. I stepped over, wondering how lo
ng he’d been waiting there for me. Danny, who had been staring at his smartphone, glanced up as I closed the distance between us.
“What’s up? Anything important on that phone of yours?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the look of concern on his face.
“Nothin,’” Danny said as he sighed, running his hand over the back of his neck. “That’s what concerns me.”
“Isn’t nothing usually a good thing?” I asked.
“Not when it has anything to do with Papa Raven,” Danny said, more mumbling the last part.
“Well, why don’t we go see if we can find something at the last place?” I asked.
“Sounds good,” Danny said, turning and heading out the front doors.
I glanced over, seeing his Harley Fat Boy parked beside mine. After he had used the bike to literally break through the gates of the old Carrion Crew’s hideout, it had been in dire need of repair—of “fresh lovin,’” as he might put it—and he’d since gone and worked some upgrades as well as some new additions to the bike. I had to admit, though it wasn’t the sort of motorcycle I’d traditionally ride, she’d come out of the proverbial “operation” as a truly breathtaking and beautiful piece of machinery. I moved onto my own bike, taking a moment to consider it from one tire to the other, and decided that, after all of this was over and done with, I would have to invest a bit of “fresh lovin’” to my own chopper, as well.
“Getting’ jealous of my beauty?” Danny asked with a laugh.
I felt my cheeks burn at that and forced myself to look away.
There were a few cardinal rules I tried to follow:
Don’t look at another man when using a urinal.
Don’t ask another man for advice on matters you wouldn’t feel comfortable asking your father.
And don’t ever—EVER!—let yourself be caught eyeballing another man’s wheels. It was almost better to be caught eyeing their girlfriend or wife before letting on that you coveted their ride.
Having said that, I couldn’t think of a single one of those rules I hadn’t, for some reason or another, broken at some point or another.
(In my defense, though, it’s a lot easier to sneak up and knock out a guy while he’s taking a leak than at any other point.)
Knowing better than to give him an answer, I busied myself on making a totally unnecessary show out of jump-starting my chopper and revving its engine, pretending to be suddenly wrapped up in the purr of the engine. Danny, likely seeing right through the phony show, started his own bike and I more listened than actually watched as his Harley roared to life.
I grinned. Embarrassed as I was at that little masculine blunder, I couldn’t help feeling excitement at getting to ride with Danny again. It really had been too long. With everything going on, we both hadn’t had much time to just “hang out”. I silently thanked Mia for taking her girl’s day today, for giving me the chance to have my own “bro’s day” with Danny.
“Ya ready ta go?” Danny asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, sorry,” I said, giving him the thumbs up and added, “You know where we’re headed, right?”
“Yup! The others are already there, waitin’ on us,” Danny said.
“Their being safe, right?” I asked, not liking that we weren’t there in case something did happen.
“Yeah, it’s fine, Jace,” Danny said, shrugging a shoulder. “They are ex-military, after all.”
“Fair enough,” I said.
With that, we both shot off onto the main road, heading towards the third (and final) spot where the last of the bodies had been found. It had only been three days in total, but time had gone so slowly and no matter how normal Mia and I were trying to act during the day, these nightly activities had been affecting both of us. I took a deep breath, working to get lost in the ride, get lost in the only time I had to myself. As we reached the location, another construction site, I glanced around, seeing how empty it looked.
“You think we might not find anything this time?” I asked, not bothering to hide how hopeful my voice had gotten.
“We will have ta see,” Danny said, sliding off his bike and heading towards the others.
I watched as Danny walked over to Marcus, Luka, and Erik, who were all standing by their own bikes. I moved off my own bike, heading towards the group and glanced around. The other two locations had been more populated with activity and I wondered if this was where the trail ended.
“Have you guys looked around at all?” I asked.
“We did,” Erik said.
The other two glared over at Erik and I assumed it was because Danny had given them orders to stay put until we got there. I only grinned, glad to see that they had taken initiative. There was no point in wasting time and I knew the three were more than capable at handling themselves in a fight.
“So, ya guys find anythin’?” Danny asked, moving his hands to his hips.
“Not a thing,” Erik said, sighing.
“Yeah, we looked everywhere too,” Marcus said, glancing around as he did.
“Well, what are your thoughts, Danny?” I asked, wondering if it would be worth it to even check again.
“I… I dunno,” Danny began as his phone began to buzz in his pocket.
“Shit, Mercury! You didn’t silence that before coming?” I said, narrowing my eyes over at him.
“Damn thing’s vibratin,’ ain’t it?” he tried to defend.
I gave him a damning look.
“Sorry,” Danny said, submitting to my point and cursing under his breath as he slid his phone out.
He stepped away and I watched him, waiting to see just who had called. I wondered if it had anything to do with this situation and as his face began to grow more concerned, that confirmed it. I glanced over at the three others, who had been watching with their own looks of concern.
“Why don’t you guys go home for the night? You’ve helped a lot as it is,” I said, smiling gratefully. “I’ll see you all tomorrow at the shop.”
The three nodded, saying their goodbyes and headed off. I turned back, glancing over as Danny stepped over to me. I raised an eyebrow, seeing that his face was still twisted in concern as he made his way back over.
“What happened?” I asked, my own concern beginning to grow.
“We gotta get back to the shop,” he said, already turning towards his bike.
****
We made our way to the shop in record time. I could feel the concern continuing to grow and I hated how quiet Danny was about the situation. I knew whatever he had found out was not good. I wanted to get back to Mia, wanted all this to be over, and somehow, I felt this was only the beginning. That the games were only ending now and the real war was about to start.
Fuck…
I parked my bike beside Danny as he led me into the office. I glanced around, seeing how empty the shop was with how late it was and wondered why he had us come here. He stepped over to the computer at the desk and turned it on. I watched, my nerves only continuing to grow and glanced over as the printer began to sputter to life, spitting out several pages.
“What’s going on, Mercury?” I asked as I stepped towards the desk, slamming my hands down in front of him.
“What’s going on is we just finished the wild goose chase,” Danny said, continuing to type as he stared at the computer screen.
“What? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I asked, glaring down at how nonchalant he suddenly seemed.
“It means that Mia was right, this was only a chase and it does lead nowhere,” Danny said, finally moving away from the computer to snag the papers from the printer.
“What? What do you mean? What are you talking about?” I asked, demanded, as I watched him finish up with his typing.
“It was a distraction, Jace,” Danny said, moving the papers in front of me.
On the pages were photographs of different areas of the city. In the photos were Papa Raven standing over a crew, supervising some kind of construction. On the last page, there were
four smaller photos of the finished buildings with several men standing around the locations. I glanced back at Danny, frowning.
“So… what? They’ve just been setting up new locations?” I asked.
“Four from the looks of things. It seems Papa Raven decided to branch out a bit since we destroyed their last hideout. What better way to insure the completion of these new HQs than to send us everywhere an’ anywhere except where he didn’t want us?” Danny said, running his hand over his neck. “And that’s not the end of it, they’ve begun selling again and at a much more rapid rate than before. The city crime rate has increased nearly two-percent in the last day.”
“Two-percent? What?” I asked. “How is that even possible?” My mind raced in panic. Was this really happening? I glanced back at Danny, unsure of what to do now. What could we do at this point? “What do we do then?” I finally asked.
“We take out these place one-by-one,” Danny said, shrugging. “It’s the only thing we can do. We got a lot of numbers still and I believe they’re still bigger than what the Carrion Crew’s got.”
“Alright, then let’s begin,” I said. “Let’s take these fuckers out!”
PART 2
The
(Un)Fortunate Four
EIGHT
~MIA~
I’d been here before.
I wasn’t sure how or where—I thought I would remember being trapped in a hell like this!—but it was too familiar to not be the first time. Not that it being familiar made it any better. In fact, it made it much, much worse.
I was trapped. It was dark, uncomfortably warm, and there was a smell. The smell, like me, was trapped. It hung somewhere between sweet and sour; reminding me all at once of thawing meat, fresh mulch under a hot sun, and something earthy, ancient. A deep part of my brain chanted that it was the oldest smell in existence, and another part, deeper still, assured me that I’d one day come to contribute to it.
I knew that smell. I knew it the same way I knew I was on the first step of a twelve-step staircase that led down into deeper darkness; the same way I knew that the surface my hands pounded against was a door that should lead to freedom. And I knew that that door—that freedom—was closed and that it would never be opened; that freedom had been stolen from me. And my brother, Mack—though he was only Malcolm in that moment—was the thief.
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