Waiting to hear from Jason was just as boring as all the previous waits. The only difference being the hotel we found Five in had a much larger television channel selection. That, and Five was entertaining to be around.The night before was a power play, but when Six pulled out and came all over me, I realized what was really going on—he marked his territory. Leaving no room for debate—I was his.Possession was added to the growing list of things I was other than a person. Though something inside me liked the idea of being his.With Six I was able to knock some things off my kink bucket list—it was hot seeing a guy stroke his cock while he watched me get fucked.My bucket list was growing with new things and being checked off almost every day. I didn’t even know I had a kink section of the list until Six.“Are you ever going to tell me what all the numbers mean?” I asked Six from my usual position on the bed. It was a question I was tired of speculating in my own head, esp
The next day, we split off from the others and headed out in search of the missing Killing Corps.“Four of us hunting down three Cleaners and a handler hiding somewhere in the world. Easy.” Five chuckled as we headed out of the hotel room.“Just remember to check in,” Nine said. “We’ll set a meeting place and work our way there once we have everyone.”“And if something happens to one of us?” One asked.“Try not to die,” Six said, giving One a little smirk.She rolled her eyes and gave him a hug before moving on to Five and Nine for hugs as well. It was kinda strange.“You boys are my favorites, so stay alive, okay?”She stopped in front of me. “Goodbye, Lacey.” She held out her hand and after a beat, I took it. “I’m not sorry for who I am or what I’ve said to you, but I am sorry I was intimidated by you and thus treated you poorly. You were right—I won’t see you again and they’ll go back to being mine alone.”She turned and stepped away, leaving me to stare after her, t
“Oh, come on! How many shithole motels does this city have?” I asked after an hour of driving.We’d pulled into an almost identical architectural stain as the blood covered one we fled.“A lot,” Six said as he turned to me. “Vegas, baby.”I groaned and reached for the handle.My hands shook as I exited. While the adrenaline had worn off, there was some residual aftereffects that prevailed. Weakness and fatigue being some of them. Luckily my ears had stopped ringing, but there was still a strange feeling in them.Once again, the room was out of date and well worn. I collapsed onto the bed as soon as we entered.The images of the dead gangsters were on my mind. I couldn’t shut them off. I’d seen enough death to last a lifetime since Six.Death chased him and the other Cleaners. And only I knew why Three was able to be taken out.“You aren’t as great as you think you are,” I said, my face half mashed into the comforter. “The Cleaners aren’t invincible.”He stopped unloadi
For hours I watched Six meticulously clean each piece of the arsenal he picked up. Boxes of bullets emptied, pushed one by one into a clip for backup.He had a shoulder holster, and as soon as two guns were ready, he strapped them in, setting it aside. What looked like a smaller pistol was slipped into some other type of holster and set next to the other one. That left one more along with half a dozen full clips and at least two knives.“Are you going into battle?” I asked, completely enthralled and totally terrified.He stopped and glanced at me. “Preparing for as much as I can.”Preparing.I continued to watch him and realized that it was for that rarity he talked about—a firefight. If there was, what would happen to me? Caught in the middle, nowhere to go and no way to defend myself?“What about me?”He quirked his brow. “What about you?”“I’m just going to be left undefended?”“Lacey, this is a precaution. This is being prepared for the what ifs I can’t answer. The
The adrenaline was wearing off, the previous hour playing on loop. My ears hurt from all the shooting, and I probably had a little bit of hearing damage.“Was that a wetwork team?” I asked, remembering the term he and Jason used.He nodded. “They knew we were coming.”“Late?”“Four was here days ago. If he was killed there, there would be no reason to show up.”I stared at him. The gravity of what that meant was heavy. “So, there’s a leak in the system.”He nodded again. “That many men? They wanted to make sure I didn’t leave.”“Why?”His grip on the wheel tightened. “That’s the million dollar question. Two of us, maybe three, are dead. Hunted down and killed.”“You’re contemplating something,” I said as I studied his expression.The muscle in his jaw jumped. “You said Three probably drank the drugs.”“Yeah.”Six shook his head. “I just don’t see that happening.”“Why?”“We’re all very careful, paranoid, about where our drinks come from.”“You drank from the bar.
I pulled back the dressing on my leg and cringed. It wasn’t pretty. It was healing, but I kind of expected it to look better after a week.We stayed in the motel room the entire time, with only one trip out to a grocery and to switch out cars. Laying low in an entirely different fashion than before.And by switch out, I meant steal. It wasn’t one of the set-up, ready and waiting ones.During that time, he tried to get more information about Four while I learned the mechanics of guns, from safety to disassembling and cleaning. Not to mention the cabin fever that was beginning to consume me.“Does this look okay?” I held my leg out, and he stood up and walked over to examine it.His hand ran up the inside of my thigh as he took hold of my leg and turned it in the light. “It’s healing nicely. How does it feel?”“The pain is pretty much gone, just depends on how I move the skin.”He nodded. “Sounds about right. You should keep that off, let it get some air.”I moved to rest
I sat in a daze the next morning.No snarky remarks. Not even many words.There was blackness and a fracture and a huge ass identity crisis happening within me.The death Six and the Killing Corps dealt was real. It was rivers of blood and piles of bodies.And I was a part of it.I’d added a drop to the bucket that overflowed with red.Lacey was a different person from Paisley, and the lines between them were no longer blurred by obscurity. It was hard and absolute, and cracked, because I cracked. Because I saw for the first time what I had become. The difference between Lacey and Paisley.Lacey was a role I played, not the real me, but somehow I’d forgotten. Nothing of the last two months had been my life. The way I looked, the clothes I wore, the way I traveled, or the company I kept.I, Paisley, had killed people.They were people who were trying to kill me, so it was self-defense, but I couldn’t forget the high and the way I fucked Six after.“We’ve been here too
Stats:17 – number of times I’d been called some form of cattle or sheep or a cat8256 – times I tried to convince myself I was not developing feelings for my executioner8254 – times I succeeded in convincing myself I was not developing feelings for my executioner2 – times I failed at convincing myself I was not developing feelings for my executionerFuck meThings were beyond complicated. I was a rational human being, so logic dictated that you do not fall in love with a man who constantly reminded you he was going to kill you.The problem was, his dick was so good at helping me forget logic. He made me feel for him.The saying is you can’t help who you fall in love with, but really? Did it have to happen with a psychopathic killer?Though I didn’t think it was quite love, but…I’d never felt as alive as I did with him.Although I never thought I would develop any feelings other than loathing toward my captor, somewhere along the line, I had.Maybe I was