Ramen Assassin

by Rhys Ford

  Sixteen

  “TELL ME about why Tatiana calls you Blackie and why you call her Boom Boom.” Trey scraped the last of the chicken makhani and rice onto his spoon, gathering up as much of the sauce as he could. “Or do you have to kill me if you tell me?”

  It was probably a mistake to stay with Kuro. Trey was dealing with the grief of losing Sera, the fear of someone trying to kill him, and balancing his attraction to the tall, dark, and handsome man sitting next to him. He was probably looking at Kuro through rose-colored glasses because Trey had to pick hard to find faults. The man was damn sexy, all lean muscle and broad shoulders with a careless mane of black hair and startling blue-flecked green eyes… all of which seemed designed to hit Trey’s buttons.

  He’d lusted after Kuro for a long time, but the ramen shop counter kept them apart, giving Trey space to fantasize without truly knowing the man. Up close, Kuro was devastating, a balm to his rattled nerves despite being a little bossy.

  Okay, a lot bossy, but Trey understood why. He was in over his head and Kuro knew his way around dangerous situations. After everything died down, he didn’t know where they were going to be or if Kuro would fade back into the background, leaving Trey alone. While promises were made, Trey’s experiences told him they were also often broken. He’d shattered quite a few of them himself, so he was torn between exploring the fascinating man life threw in his path and keeping his hands to himself, leaving him to nurse the grief and emptiness inside of him.

  But Trey was… hurting, and Kuro made him feel a hell of a lot better.

  “My full name is Kurotsuki.” Yuki the cat hopped over the back of the couch to sniff at Kuro’s hair. He reached back to scratch between her ears, starting her rumbling purr. She’d eaten the piece of chicken he’d held back for her, letting Trey feed her bit by bit until her belly bulged, but now it looked like she was back for more. “Kuro means black or dark. So a few people who were on the other side of the fence started calling me Blackie and it stuck in some places.”

  “So how did Boom Boom happen?” Trey lifted his arm, turning sideways to face Kuro as Yuki began to roam down the length of the couch. “Because for as long as I’ve known her, she’s been very cold and judgmental, but as soon as she spotted you, it was like fireworks.”

  “Tatiana can blow up anything. She’s a master at it. There is a technique to explosives. Anyone can devastate an area with a large payload, but it takes someone who knows what they’re doing to contain the damage,” Kuro replied. “She disappeared about seven months before I rolled out, but she was working less and less over the years. I’m surprised to see her here but not shocked she landed on her feet. If she’s out and isn’t dragging any baggage, then good for her. I’d just watch your back, because you never know when someone like her is going to slide back in.”

  “She seemed alarmed to see you.” Trey thought back to that night when his belly was full of good food and then suddenly filled with terror. “She called you an assassin. Said you killed her brother.”

  “The first is untrue, and her brother deserved killing,” Kuro countered thoughtfully, his fingers finding the tip of Trey’s ear beneath his hair, skimming down its curve. “And I wasn’t in as deep cover as she was, but it wasn’t like what I did for a living was broadcasted across the news. Not until the end, then a lot of well-placed bullets and a wall of photographers pushed me out. I can’t tell you a lot, but I can reassure you I was never sent specifically to murder someone. Have I killed people? Yeah. I just did last week. But never murder. No one’s ever asked me to do that, and I never will.”

  “Would you ever go back if they let you?”

  “Oh fuck no.” Kuro shook his head, chuckling. “I’m kind of scarred up. Day-to-day stuff, not a problem unless I overdo it, but pushing the limits would probably get me killed. Besides, I’m getting too old for that kind of work. Jumping out of planes and stealth missions are best left to people young and stupid enough not to realize Death’s tapping them on the shoulder.”

  Kuro’s fingers stilled, withdrawing from Trey’s hair. He smoothed out the strands, then let his hand drop away, and Trey felt its loss deeper than he should have. He’d wanted to lean into the man’s hand, anchoring himself against Kuro’s solidness. He didn’t know how to tell him how much he needed to be touched or how confused he was by Kuro’s tenderness.

  His thoughts were as muddled as his heart. Trey didn’t know if he was pushing himself closer to Kuro because he’d lost Sera or was building on his already growing attraction toward someone who liked him for who he was and not what he could do for them.

  “I don’t want to take advantage of you,” Kuro murmured, leaning his shoulder against the couch, facing Trey. “You’re in a bad place right now, and I’ve never really dated. Life just never had room for it, and it’s not like I don’t want you—because I do—it’s just that I don’t want you to feel like I’m stepping into… I don’t even know what I’m saying here. I’m torn between wanting to take you to bed and make you forget everything that’s happened to you over the last couple of weeks and sleeping out here on the couch because you probably need some space, some breathing room to help you sort things out.”

  “Are you saying you don’t trust yourself with me?” Trey tried to tease, but Kuro’s expression turned somber.

  “I never want you to feel like you can’t be safe with me,” he said. “I will never force myself on you. I’ll never take from you. If ever you decide to be with me, it’s because that’s where you want to be.”

  “What if that’s where I want to be tonight? And maybe tomorrow?” He pulled his legs up and sat with them crossed, facing Kuro. Every acting coach had schooled him about body language, about how sitting cross-legged or with his arms over his chest would put up a barrier between two people, signaling there was a wall, but it was a comfortable way to sit, and Trey placed one hand on Kuro’s upper arm, running his palm over the bulge of muscle beneath Kuro’s sleeve. “I got Sera killed—”

  “That is not true,” Kuro interrupted. “Between the two of us, if anyone can decide who’s responsible for someone’s death, it’s me. I’ve had a lot more experience in that. You were there, but you didn’t get her killed. You didn’t order those guys to pull those triggers, and you didn’t drive them onto your property. Whoever arranged that to happen, that’s the person we’re trying to find. Not you. Them.”

  “I feel responsible,” Trey protested lightly, distracted by Kuro’s thumb making circles on his left knee. “I miss her. I almost texted her to tell her about what you were making me for dinner because she’d be so jealous. And I feel really broken inside because I don’t just want you, I need you. If anyone’s taking advantage, it’s me. Until you held me last night…. God, I can’t tell you the last time somebody touched me. Not like that. Not like you. I felt like you wanted to hold me. And it felt so damned good. Can you blame me for wanting more?”

  THEY WERE probably making a mistake, but Trey didn’t care. He threw off his worries much quicker than he shed his clothes. Regrets were more than likely to make an appearance at breakfast the next day, a large bowl of sour next to his coffee, but tonight, Trey was going to live in the now.

  Mostly because tomorrow might be his last with the way things were looking, and if he was going to die, it would be with a smile on his face and knowing he’d given someone at least a little bit of pleasure before he went. The fact that he liked Kuro went a long way into knowing he’d made the right decision.

  It was hard to get undressed. Not because he didn’t want Kuro. Far from it. No, the man was a damned distraction, and Trey itched to get his hands on him. He’d peeled off his borrowed T-shirt, tossing it on the bed. Then his attention wandered, captured by the sight of Kuro tugging his shirt out of the waistband of his jeans. The lights in the bedroom were dimmed, but K-Town’s flashing, multicolored neon chaos pushed its way in, pouring dribbles of magenta and blue in through the exposed windows, their heavy blackout curtains held by wrought iron
hooks.

  His sexual past was… volatile, and he’d been with some of the most beautiful men the world had to offer, but Kuro Jenkins was in a league of his own.

  Trey embraced the moment he lost control of his desire. His fingers were on his jeans’ zipper when Kuro pulled his T-shirt up, snagging its opening on his chin, and for a brief mouthwatering second, he stood silhouetted against the windows framing the deepening night outside and the aged milk-honey brick walls.

  He’d taken up painting as a way to pass the time, and now Trey mourned his lack of talent. Or at least the kind of talent developed enough to capture the grace and power of Kuro’s lean body. His torso wasn’t perfect despite his honed muscles and golden skin. There were vicious scars along his ribs, long stretches of shiny, pale skin following the curve of his side. Puckered starbursts peppered one side of his chest and up over his shoulder joint, pulling at his skin as he moved. When the shirt finally pulled free, Trey was struck by the intensity in Kuro’s face and the simmering heat in his hooded eyes.

  “Told you,” he murmured through the rush of white noise coming in off the street. “Not a very pretty sight.”

  “I think you’re fucking gorgeous.” Trey closed the distance between them, his jeans open but forgotten. “Way past pretty. Straight into… beautiful.”

  Sleeping around Hollywood and on set brought a lot of pretty into Trey’s life, but Kuro looked… real.

  It was a body that looked lived-in, young and supple but wearing more than a few miles. Even if he hadn’t known about Kuro’s life before the ramen shop, seeing his naked torso would’ve told Trey there were stories beneath that skin. He traced the twisted stars on Kuro’s chest, his finger connecting them into a constellation only they could share. Trey didn’t get very far before Kuro snagged his wrist, drawing Trey’s hand up to his mouth, then kissing the palm of his hand.

  “Are you sure?” Kuro’s voice dropped deep, a slice of midnight velvet running over Trey’s skin.

  He shivered, stepping in closer to hook his fingers into Kuro’s loosened waistband and tug the other man’s jeans down until they rested on his hips. The deep V-cut of muscles below Kuro’s abdomen begged to be kissed, as did the powerful indent of his asscheeks, flexing when Trey explored them, his hands cupping Kuro’s taut rear end.

  “Never been so sure in my life,” Trey whispered back. “So you know, I don’t want this to be just for today or tomorrow. And it’s not because I’m grateful to you for saving my ass. It’s not because you make me feel safe. It’s because I like being with you and I feel like I am someone again, even if it’s someone I don’t know really well.”

  “Then let me introduce you to a very brave, strong, compassionate, and pretty nice guy I know,” Kuro said, dropping his head down to brush his lips against Trey’s mouth. “He’s had a kind of shitty life and has made a couple mistakes—”

  “A fuck ton more than a couple,” he snorted.

  “Okay, a fuck ton of mistakes,” Kuro murmured, then drank from Trey’s mouth until he was breathless. “And he’s a little lost right now, but I can’t wait to see where he goes as he finds himself. Because I think I kind of like him a lot.”

  KURO’S MOUTH left Trey gasping for air. He was flat on his back, spread over Kuro’s enormous bed and gripping the bedsheets in his clenched fists, begging for release yet wishing it would never arrive. His stomach was wet with beads of sweat, a drop growing heavy enough to trickle down his side, finding a depression between two of his ribs. His cock was cold now, pulled out of the warmth of Kuro’s mouth and then frosted with puffs of air blown through Kuro’s pressed-together lips. He clenched in his asscheeks, silently willing Kuro to stretch them out further with his fingers, but Trey couldn’t find his voice, lost in the turbulent ocean of sensations Kuro dragged up out of his body.

  He regretted nothing. And felt everything. Since the moment Kuro stripped him naked, then lowered him to the bed, Trey gave in to what his body needed—the touch of someone who cared about him. If there was one thing he knew for sure—other than he wanted to come so badly but couldn’t because there was more to do, more to explore—he knew Kuro wanted him in his life.

  That tidbit of knowledge humbled Trey more than Kuro telling him he deserved to be pleasured until he screamed.

  He’d already screamed at least four or five times, and when they’d started, he nearly bit through his lip, scared somebody downstairs in the ramen shop would hear him. After fifteen minutes of Kuro’s exploration of his body, Trey no longer gave a shit who heard him.

  “Kuro….” Trey arched, feeling the warmth of Kuro’s lips near his shaft. “I need you, man. Like really bad.”

  It wasn’t poetry. He couldn’t sing an aria proclaiming the glory of Kuro’s existence, and he wasn’t able to write a sonnet in his lover’s honor. Trey could only plead and moan, wishing he had words to explain how on the edge he felt. It was more than Kuro touching him. He’d taken his own sweet time going over Kuro’s body, leaving more than his share of purpling bites down Kuro’s spine, and the back of his throat ached, stretched out from him pressing the head of Kuro’s cock into the depths of his mouth, taking it in as far as he could and a little bit beyond.

  Trey had the taste of Kuro on his tongue, a salty, bitter sweetness with a hint of spice and a lot of promise.

  And he wanted more.

  Until only moments ago, he didn’t know how erotic it was to have a lover’s teeth scrape gently across his taint or run fingernails up and down the inside of his thighs. Kuro awakened his body, pulling him out of the numb malaise he’d been living in. Reaching for Kuro, he tugged at the man’s arms, urging him up.

  “Busy down here.” Kuro shook his head, licking around the base of Trey’s shaft. He shifted the angle of his fingers, his incredibly long stretch brushing up against the too-sensitive spot nestled in Trey’s body. “Unless you want me to stop doing this.”

  “I’d rather you be doing that with something else,” Trey admitted. His voice was a little rough and he couldn’t seem to get his tongue to work properly, but Kuro definitely understood him. There was another brush against his core. Then Kuro slid his fingers free, leaving Trey empty and aching. “God, I am not going to last long.”

  “We’ve got all night.” Kuro got up onto his knees, then stretched across the bed, grabbing the lube and condoms they’d left by the pillows. “Of course, I’m never going to be able to go buy anything from that corner store anymore, because nothing is as embarrassing as putting a box of condoms and a small tube of lubricant on the counter in front of an eighty-five-year-old Korean auntie who normally tells me to put on a sweater because it’s cold outside.”

  “If you think about it, it’s sort of like another kind of sweater,” Trey teased, laughing when Kuro growled at him. “Come on, or do you need me to open that up for you? Because they kind of remind me of those flavor packets you get in instant ramen, and I know you don’t have any experience opening those, whereas I’m a master.”

  “Who the hell says whereas?” Kuro stopped trying to open the condom’s foil pouch, looking down at Trey with intense curiosity. “I don’t think I’ve ever said that in my life.”

  “I was raised on television show sets and lawyers,” he reminded him. “I’m practically fluent in Latin and doublespeak at this point.”

  “Well, let’s see if I can make you lose your mind and a few of those fifty-cent words you keep throwing around.” Kuro slapped the empty foil wrapper onto Trey’s stomach. Resting on his knees between Trey’s spread thighs, he slid his hands beneath Trey’s knees, slowly pulling his legs up until his shins lay on Kuro’s hips. “Here. Take care of this for me. It’s been a long time. I’ve got to figure out how the bubble gum I got from that works.”

  Kuro must have worked everything out, because a moment after Trey tossed the condom wrapper onto the nightstand next to the bed, he felt the push of Kuro’s cockhead against his rim. The lubricant dribbled down his crack was warm, but the gentle glide of Ku
ro’s dickhead brought a welcome burn.

  Trey gasped when Kuro slid into him, the slow push dragging along his tender rim. Then in half a breath, they were fitted against each other, Kuro’s arms sliding around Trey’s shoulders, his weight balanced on his knees while Trey let out a small groan, adjusting to the press of Kuro’s cock deep in his body.

  “Any time it’s too much,” Kuro murmured, his lips ghosting over Trey’s throat, “tell me—”

  “Like I’m ever going to let you go,” Trey said, biting at Kuro’s earlobe. “Jesus, I can feel you up in my throat.”

  He held on, digging his fingers into Kuro’s arms, and pushed his shoulders into the pile of pillows at his back, bracing himself against Kuro’s long, hard thrusts. They found their pace after a few rolls of their hips, Kuro laughing in silky chuckles when Trey nearly pulled off of him when they couldn’t find a beat. Sliding a hand beneath the small of Trey’s back, Kuro guided him into a slow canter, their bodies moving in sync.

  Trey lost the world. It slid away from him in a fall of stars and sounds, drowned out by his own heaving pants and Kuro’s deep, low purrs. Los Angeles fell away. The busy street outside of the open windows faded into a muted hush, a whisper of dragonfly wings on a steady wind. Nothing mattered outside of their bodies rocking against each other, the slap of damp skin and the occasional murmured cry when Kuro shifted and Trey broke through his control, riding the shot of sparks curling up from his core.

  Kuro’s fingers were in his hair and his mouth on Trey’s lips when a lightning ember began to flow up from Trey’s balls to settle into his stomach, his cock beginning to tighten in its skin. He was afraid to touch himself, already feeling the tingle of prickles at the head of his shaft and the sticky wet of a drop of cum spreading over his belly. His cock was trapped between their bodies, their motions bringing Kuro’s hips and abdomen grinding down on Trey’s length.