by Nicole Fox
I can already hear him now. Telling me what a fucking idiot I am. How unprofessional this is. That he should’ve killed me when he had the chance a long time ago. I put my head in my hands and take a deep breath, trying not to lose it.
Everything in me says that this is wrong, yet here I am. Sitting in this rundown diner with a girl I tied to the bathroom sink, like we’re on some kind of date. That is one thing I swore off permanently, one thing I need to keep reminding myself of.
No attachments.
I don’t make bonds. I don’t make friends. I don’t fall in love. I learned from childhood that love is dangerous. It keeps you off your game. It makes you feel secure, and then when it’s taken from you, you’re fucked. I won’t let Lucy be another lesson I learn the hard way.
But saying that is one thing. Executing it is another.
I’m not blind. She’s attractive, the exact kind of woman I would normally go for. She’s small, easy enough to lift off the bed and throw around. Easy enough to have my way with. And pinning her to the bed last night made me realize exactly that. I could practically hear her thoughts. Those wide blue eyes staring up at me hid a dark side, and if I weren’t me and it wasn’t such a shitty idea, I just might have wanted to see that side of her.
But this is strictly business. I didn’t agree to let Lucy work with me because I want to fuck her. If I wanted to do that, I could’ve just said so. I agreed to let her on this assignment with me because it’s been years since I’ve seen that kind of blind rage and hatred for another living person.
The last time I recognized it was when it was looking back at me in the mirror.
I know what she’s feeling. I know how self-destructive this shit is. It can tear a person apart from the inside if they learn to channel it. Lucy’s channeling it into hurting my next target, and I’ve never been one to pass up the chance for revenge. That’s the sick part about me. There aren’t many things I feel nowadays, but that fire that I saw burning in Lucy’s eyes?
I could feel it on her skin.
So, I’ll let her help. Maybe she has information about Konstantin that Mr. X doesn’t. She said she’s been researching him since she was young, watching him the same way I do when it comes to assignments. That kind of information can be useful, so long as she knows that after this, we’ll never see each other again.
After this assignment, she’ll go back to writing her books and I’ll disappear, cleaning up Mr. X’s business in the shadows where I belong. Anything more than that is how a guy gets killed, and in this business, I’m the only one that gets to do the killing.
Lucy’s taking a while to get back, so I survey the room, scanning. You never know when something can happen, and I need to be aware of my surroundings at all times. I take note of the three exits. The front door, the side door, and almost certainly a back exit in the kitchen that leads to the trash cans. The diner is relatively empty. There’s a couple in the back corner, maybe in their sixties, whispering and laughing over eggs and bacon. Two men sit at the bar, a few seats apart, while one reads the newspaper. Two waitresses, a cook, and a man wiping down the empty tables and picking up trash.
The news plays in the background, but I focus on my coffee, finishing off the cup of bitter black liquid. A moment later, there’s a waitress at the table. She wears a plastic smile and bats her lashes as she offers to fill my cup again.
“What happened to your girlfriend?” she asks. She reaches for the mug and fills it to the top for a second time.
“Not my girlfriend,” I grunt, looking out the window. For a moment, I worry that she left me here. It’s an irrational flash of panic, I know. I tell myself to calm down. She’s still out there. She’s just taking a while on the phone.
“Sorry,” the waitress giggles. “I just assumed you guys were together. Do you have a girlfriend?”
I look back at the woman with a blank expression. Is she really trying this shit right now? I’m sure if she knew what Lucy and I are planning on doing, she’d run screaming. That, or she’d call the police. From just this small interaction, I can already tell she’s not built the same way Lucy is. She’s probably never experienced heartbreak a day in her life. What I wouldn’t give to be that vapid.
“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
She puts her hand on her hip and tilts her head, chewing her gum as she says, “Now, I just find that so hard to believe. A handsome guy like you, all alone without a woman to keep him company at night?”
“Terrible, isn’t?” I mutter sarcastically. If only she knew that I had someone in my bed last night, and she was tied up with me on top of her.
“Well, if you’re ever looking to fix that problem, my name is Amber.” She leans forward and scribbles her name and number down on a napkin, sliding it toward me. “Give me a call and I’ll come running.”
I fold the napkin and put it in my pocket. “I’m sure you will.”
With a wink and switch of her hips, Amber sashays off to help the next customer. It’s almost amusing how wrong she’s read me. Even if I were looking for a quick fuck with no strings attached, she wouldn’t be high on my priority list.
When she’s gone, I sit back in my chair and shake my head. This whole thing is ridiculous. I need to stop kidding myself. I’m sitting here in a goddamn diner, getting hit on by overly confident waitresses, waiting for the girl I kidnapped to come back with my cell phone.
And just like that, I change my mind. This has to stop now. Lucy can’t come with me. I need to retreat, reassess, reassert control. And I need to leave her behind.
Right then, Lucy walks back in with a smile on her face. She takes a seat and returns my phone, folding her hands on the table. “Okay,” she says, smiling. “What now?”
“Nothing. I’ve changed my mind. You’re not helping me.”
In an instant, that smile drops. Her face falls, and she looks at me with a blank expression. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“But ...”
“I changed my mind. This isn’t something you need to be doing. You should go back to your normal life and pretend none of this happened.” The more I speak, the more upset she gets. Her shock turns to anger, and she glares at me like a child.
“You’re such an asshole,” she says through gritted teeth. “You’re an asshole and a liar!”
The people sitting in the booth across the room look over at us. I can feel their judgmental stares without even turning to see them. I lower my voice and lean forward so that only Lucy can hear me. “Stop it.”
“No!” she cries. “You told me I could help you, and now you want to go back on your word. I could’ve run away so many times, but I stayed because I wanted to prove that you could trust me. This whole time, I should’ve been the one wondering about whether or not I could trust you!” She stands up from the table, knocking a glass over. It shatters to the floor loudly.
The air in the diner shifts, and I can feel everyone staring at us now.
I push myself up too, trying my hardest to control my temper. Goddamn her for doing this right now. Does she know how dangerous this is to talk about in public? Does she know that anyone could overhear and we’d both be in jail by the end of the day?
“Lower your voice,” I warn her.
Lucy glances around self-consciously, and then does what I say. “You’re a douchebag and a liar, Roman. You’re a fucking liar.”
“I’m not involving an amateur in this shit. I’m going to take you home and drop you off and you can go back to living your life exactly how you were living before you ever met me.” Saying it feels wrong, but I know it’s right. This has to end before I make any other stupid mistakes. Not killing her was the first. Thinking I could trust her with something important was the second. There won’t be a third. Fuck no.
Telling her this only makes her angrier, but I’m tired of this.
“Liar! Fucking liar!” she hisses again. I can hear the sizzle of food in the kitchen, the creak of the eaves on the roo
f. Everyone is pretending not to listen, but I know full well that they haven’t missed a word. I feel an overwhelming itch to escape. I was born for the shadows, not the spotlight. And certainly not for the patrons in this shithole diner to gawk at.
I grab Lucy’s arm and tug her to the bathroom. She yelps and tries to drag her heels, but I don’t give a damn right now. Once we’re inside, I lock the door, spin her around, and shove her up against a wall, hard.
“Are you fucking crazy?” I demand. My face is inches from hers. “Do you know who could’ve overheard that conversation?”
“I don’t care,” she spits. “You told me you would help me hurt Konstantin. You told me I could work with you after I told you how bad I need this, and then you turn around and say I’m not doing this with you anymore? That’s such bullshit!”
There’s anger in her voice, but also something else. It’s vulnerable, a kind of hurt that she probably doesn’t want me to see. I can’t help but feel for her. Even when she’s mad, she still looks innocent. It’s enough to cloud my judgment about the whole thing.
She shoves me, making me stumble back. For a moment, I’m in shock. With how little she is, I never would’ve expected all that strength. “You’re a liar, Roman. Fuck you.” When I reach for her, she shoves me again. There are tears in her eyes.
Fuck.
I am a liar. And I am a piece of shit for doing this to her. I can only imagine how upset I would’ve been had I not given Aleksandr and Andrei what they deserved. I grab Lucy by both arms and start to pull her to my chest when she slaps me across the face. My next move happens in a blur. I spin her around and push her into the sink, bending her over it.
I see her reflection in the mirror, eyes wide with fear. When I lean in and press my lips to her ear, she shivers. “Get it the fuck together,” I warn her.
Her eyes harden. “Or what?” She pushes back against me, and last night comes back to me. I could feel her pulse against my palm as I held her down. I watched her chest heave up and down as she caught her breath. In that moment, I wanted to do more than just interrogate her.
“You know what,” I reply. I push my hips forward, against her this time.
“I don’t believe you.”
She knows what she’s doing. She knows how she’s making me feel. I’m sure she can feel the hardening of my cock against her ass, pressing into her insistently.
“Prove it,” she says again. She’s playing with fire and doesn’t even know it. She will soon. To wipe that smirk off her face, I reach around and unbutton her jeans. The look on her face tells me she wants to fight me, but thankfully she doesn’t. I yank the fabric down her thighs, exposing her smooth, round ass and the tiny pair of blue panties she has on.
Before I even consider touching myself, I run my hands over her smooth skin. Goose bumps follow wherever I touch. Lucy doesn’t even expect the swat until I give it to her. She jumps and yelps, covering her mouth with her hand. The second spanking is harder, and it leaves a red mark on her cheek.
When my cock aches hard enough to be a distraction, I finally undo my pants and free myself as well. Teasing, I drag the tip of my dick over the thin fabric, feeling her heat. I can feel her wet excitement already, and it makes me leak even more.
“Are you going to show me or what?” she says. Her voice is low and husky, daring me. Pushing me. Tempting me.
Fuck.
“Remember you asked for this,” I warn her. A second later, I jerk her panties to the side and bury myself deep inside of her.
Sliding inside of her feels like heaven. She’s hot and warm and wet, and with her legs together like this, even tighter than I expected. She lets out a soft moan when I fill her, her eyes falling closed. I steady myself before I begin to move. Let her get adjusted to my size. Let her become used to the stretch of me. When I’m sure she’s ready, I pull my hips back and thrust forward without warning.
“Fuck!” she cries, knocking against the sink as I move back and forth. I clamp a hand over her mouth, silencing her.
“Quiet,” I say in her ear, flicking the lobe with my tongue. “They’ll hear you.” I angle my next thrust, sliding deeper inside of her, faster than before. She whimpers against my palm, and I’m tempted to slide two fingers inside her mouth. I want to feel both holes, see how wet she can get for me, but I can’t. Now’s not the place for that.
I fuck her quickly, the sound of our bodies connecting echoing in the room. She groans in unison with me, one hand sliding down between her legs to circle around her clit. Just when she’s worked up a steady pace, I swat her hand away and take over for her.
Lucy gives me a pleading look in the bathroom mirror, using her eyes to beg for something. Anything. Any kind of attention that will relieve the pressure she’s feeling. I wouldn’t normally be this generous, not after she slapped me and told me that she wasn’t going to behave, but I give in. I roll her tiny clit between my fingers, slow circles, grinding my hips at the same time.
Her pussy walls suffocate my length, squeezing mercilessly. The feeling sends shivers down my spine, and I bite back a groan of my own. Just when I think I’ve found my pace, it’s Lucy’s turn to surprise me. She rolls her hips back to meet mine, proving that she’s not going to let me have all the control.
“Fuck,” I growl, widening my stance and bending her over the sink more. I thrust into her faster than before, each time eliciting a satisfying noise of pleasure from her. I fit perfectly inside, and she takes me as best she can, crying out when I slide nearly out and then right back in.
“That’s a good girl,” I murmur, leaning over her. My fingers on her clit are wet with her juices and slide around her with just enough pressure. “Does that feel good?” I ask.
She nods enthusiastically, pushing her hips back faster. I feel the warmth in the pit of my stomach start to rise, and I know that I only have a few more moments inside of her before I reach my peak. I push her head down and thread my fingers through her hair, ramming her, chasing that feeling. My hand slips away from her mouth and she nearly screams.
“I’m so close,” she pants, thrusting against me. “I’m almost there. Please don’t stop, Roman.”
I don’t have any plans to.
It doesn’t take much to send her over the edge. I speed my fingers up, adding more pressure, and drag my teeth along the curve of her shoulder. Her eyes meet mine in the mirror just as I bite down.
“Yes,” she whimpers, and I feel her whole body stiffen as she comes undone. The walls of her pussy contract around me, convulsing violently as her own orgasm tears through her. It’s enough to take me tumbling down with her.
A deep, throaty growl escapes, and I pump her with shot after shot, my hips snapping forward roughly, practically slamming her into the sink.
When I’ve finally emptied myself, I fold over her, burying my nose in the back of her head. She smells like motel shampoo and the heat of what we’ve just done. I don’t know what comes over me, but I’m tempted to kiss her. Spin her around and plant my lips on her, exploring her mouth as well.
I keep my composure, but fuck if it isn’t hard.
I can imagine myself against her, tongues dancing together greedily. She’d fight me at first before letting go and enjoying it. And when I’d pull away, she’d pull me back for more, because underneath this good girl is something even more delicious. Something more exciting than the innocence she has for the world and the life I lead.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, I slip out of her and tuck myself back into my boxer briefs. She does the same, pulling her panties up and then her pants. She pauses to fix her hair in the mirror, then turns around to glare at me. It’s amusing to see her pretending to still be pissed at me given how much she begged for me just moments ago. That sound isn’t leaving my head anytime soon.
Once we’re dressed, I start for the door. Then I hear something.
There’s a loud bang outside, followed by a scream. Lucy bristles, and I feel myself tense up. I hold up a hand, wordlessly
telling her to stop. Lucy nods.
I turn the knob slowly and open the door just a crack. When I poke my head out, I can hear more yelling and screaming. There’s another loud thud, then the sound of glass shattering. A husky voice shouts at the customers in the diner.
“Get on the floor! Now!” the yelling man orders, pointing his gun at the older woman in the back of the restaurant. “Get your ass on the floor right fucking now.” Terrified, she lies down flat on the tile, shaking like a leaf in the wind.
“What’s going on?” Lucy whispers.
“I don’t know. It looks like a robbery.”
At least, that’s what I think it is until I hear another man somewhere in the restaurant say. “Where is he? Where’s Roman?”
My blood runs cold. Hearing my name activates something in me. They call it fight or flight, but that phrase implies there’s another option besides violence. To me, there isn’t. There’s only fight—only killing these two men. I don’t know who they are or what they want, but they’re clearly after me.
Let them come. It’ll be the last thing they ever do.
“Here.” I reach under my jacket and unholster my second gun, placing it in her hands. “This is the safety. This is how you click it off. When you shoot, steady yourself, and prepare for the kickback.”
Lucy’s eyes go wide with fear. “Wait, what? You can’t go out there, Roman!”
“Those people will get hurt. Whoever these guys are, they want to see me. So let them see.”
Her lips purse like she’s about to argue some more, but I cover her mouth and look into her eyes. “If they come at you, you don’t hesitate. Do you understand me? You don’t hesitate or give them a chance to get any closer. You pull that trigger.”
Lucy nods and tightens her grip on the handle of the gun. I feel relief seeing that. “Good girl,” I say. “I’ll be back.”
Stepping out into the hall, I hold my gun out in front of me and inch closer into the main room of the diner. Everyone in the building lies flat on their stomachs while the masked men question them. One grabs the waitress, Amber, and pulls her up to her knees by her hair. She screams and fights, but his grip is relentless.
