Hitman's Hookup: A Bad Boy Romance (7 page)

I cocked my head and examined his face while he made a phone call. I wasn’t sure if him not knowing the name of his target was standard industry procedure for private eyes or not. My only exposure to that field of work came from my obsession with
Veronica Mars
.

“Yeah. We’re in midtown Manhattan. 17th and 30
^th
. Black door out front –“ Phillip paused, looking shocked. “Oh. You know it. It’s – it’s
what?
”

CHAPTER EIGHT

CRUZ

It was a sex club.

Of course Flea knew it right off the top of his head.

Lily had nearly exploded with excitement at the news while I’d felt all of my reservations about this evening blowing up magnificently. What the fuck else could go wrong?

I was dragging a woman I’d met on a dating app into a sex club so I could go murder my target.

This week was nothing if not a rollercoaster.

“Serves you right,” she had said to me, taking me by the hand and confidently walking up to the doorman. I had no idea what she said to him – or maybe it was her unrelenting hotness that did it – but within thirty seconds of approaching the door we were let inside.

It was pitch dark. Lily laughed into the void. A feminine voice called into the dark. “Password,” she said.

“Shit,” Lily muttered.

Subtlety was not her strong suit. Thankfully, Flea the creep knew what the password was within sixty seconds of texting a contact of his. “Pony,” I said.

Lily bit back a laugh. I grabbed her arm to tell her to cool it. She retaliated by groping in the darkness until her hand was resting on my thigh to the right of my dick. I felt myself growing instantly. She gave as good as she got.

At least in terms of giving her a hard time she did. Though I had no reservations about her capacity in the bedroom.

“Masks to your right,” the feminine voice said. I heard Lily reaching and a moment later she was handing me a plastic mask covered in something soft and ticklish. I thought they might be feathers. “Are your masks on?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Enjoy yourselves,” the feminine voice said with a smile. I heard a door open and saw red light slip through an ever-widening crack. Music floated through the gap. I swallowed. Was I actually nervous about something? When was the last time
that
had happened?

Lily grabbed my hand and squeezed it once. Then I followed her into the club.

Everyone was wearing a mask on their face. The light was dim; there were only red lightbulbs in the black metal, spiky fixtures on the ceiling. I had lucked out. My target wouldn’t be able to recognize me at all.

There were about fifty or so people in various stages of undress surrounding us, some of them up on mini-stages, of which there were about five. Women in black rubber mini dresses with black masks were delivering trays of drinks to tables and booths. A man in a tuxedo much like mine and a white mask covered in rhinestones was being sixty-nined by a svelte, young woman doing a handstand over his chair. He reached out to the waitress and grabbed a drink with his face still between the young woman’s legs.

Lily tugged on my arm. “You’re staring, Phillip,” she said. She had a huge smile on her face. The mask she had grabbed in the dark was a scarlet red that matched her dress perfectly.

I cleared my throat and wandered over to the bar with Lily still holding my arm. Her fingers burned all the way through the fabric of my shirt and jacket. The room smelled like cologne and sex. I heard a woman shriek and moan from behind me. It was all I could do to not turn and stare.

“A vodka tonic and a sparkling water,” Lily said to the bartender, hopping up onto a black leather stool. I liked that she remembered I didn’t drink alcohol. She patted the one next to her. “Have a seat, Phillip. You look like you might not be steady on your feet for much longer.” Her eyes twinkled behind her mask. She was enjoying my discomfort. “Did you even check the exits? Or did the tits distract you too much?”

“You’re not even affected by any of this?” I asked her, pointing around the room.

She laughed. “Affected? In what way? I’m turned on as fuck. Does that count?” Her lips formed a sexy little pout. “I can’t imagine that you’re much of a private investigator if breasts and pussy distract you from the job at hand.”

She was right about that. In all my years doing my job, I’d never had a scenario quite like this one. I was used to hotels and waiting for politicians and drug lords to finish fucking prostitutes while I waited in the closet. But I’d never followed a mark into a sex club. I liked a more controlled environment.

This one was too unpredictable.

People weren’t following social cues and contracts in here. I relied on the steady predictability of human nature to do my job. My eyes wandered over to a woman chained to a wall while another whipped her with a riding crop. The woman on the wall was shrieking with some mixture of pleasure and pain. “I usually work alone,” I replied finally, resting my elbows on the bar top and leaning in closer to Lily. “And it’s a little distracting when all I can think about is fucking you, right here, right now, on this countertop in front of all these people.”

For once, I’d caught Lily off guard. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it. The bartender returned with our drinks and Lily compensated for her own silence by knocking back the contents in one quick motion and slamming it on the countertop. “Let’s do it, then,” she said firmly.

I almost choked on my fizzy water. “Hang on. We’ve got a job to do first,” I replied, holding back a laugh.

Lily leaned forward and whispered in my ear. I felt like my skin was on fire at having her mouth that close to me. “So what next, detective?”

I turned to face her, my lips an inch from hers. “I need to figure out where he went.”

She smiled and leaned away from me. “And take photos of him here? This
has
to be a smoking gun, right? I mean, the guy had a
heart attack
and nearly died last night in front of the woman he’s having an extramarital affair with, and now he’s been wheeled in here to get his rocks off. What do you think? Sex addict?” Her eyes glimmered with excitement. She was enjoying all of this.

I laughed. “Yeah, seems like it,” I replied.

“So where’s your camera?” Lily asked.

I froze for a millisecond, then patted my pocket. “Phone,” I replied, simply.

“I’m sort of surprised they didn’t confiscate our phones,” she said lightly, her eyes traveling over to the middle stage where a woman was naked and on all fours being Eiffel-Towered by two men. “They usually do that at places like this.”

I raised my eyebrows. “And how would you know that?” I asked, cocking my head and smiling at her.

She waved her hand in my face. “You keep making that face and I’ll be climbing on top of you in a second,” she said. “And you have a job to do.”

I bit my lip in pleasure. It thrilled me more than I wanted to admit that this goddess of sex standing next to me was turned on by a mere look from me. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I told you, Phillip. I like risks and adrenaline. I went to a place like this once with an ex-boyfriend. We had some fun. I’d say I’ve had sex in nearly every place you can think of. Except for the ocean. It’s on my bucket list.” She shrugged and went back to looking at the woman onstage.

I was about to ask her to detail what kind of fun she’d had exactly when I finally noticed a red-leather covered door in the back. One of the rubber-dress women was standing in front of it, her red glossy lips twisted into a smile as an older man and young woman walked up to her. He slipped the woman a tip and she opened the door.

Lily was thinking the same thing I was. “Where does that lead, you think? Extra rooms? Because I don’t see your mystery man anywhere in here.”

I shrugged. “It’s likely there are private rooms.”

Lily hopped off the barstool before I could stop her and wended her way over to the door. She passed in front of a tall guy with pasty skin that glowed pink in the light; he had a gold mask covering his eyes. He reached a black-leather-gloved hand out and slapped her on the ass. I was on my feet in a second, but before I could swoop in to rescue her, she turned around with a smile and slapped him across the face, curling her fingernails into his skin. The guy howled and Lily responded by grabbing both his shoulders and kneeing him in the groin. He buckled.

She adjusted her dress hem and kept walking, her ass wiggling under her dress. I left our drinks on the counter and tossed a twenty on the bar top, rushing after her. She made it to the door before I did, turning around to point at me. The woman guarding the door looked at me and smiled appraisingly. Lily reached into her bra and pulled out a bill of some unknown denomination. I made it to the door. “We’re good, sweetheart,” Lily cooed to me, trailing her pointer finger down my chest.

I tried not to shiver, but my cock was never good at following instructions. I’d never been around a woman with this much effortless confidence. She seemed to be fearless.

The red leather-covered door opened onto a dark hallway with painted-black cinderblock walls and real wax candles burning in sconces. “She said to go into any room with an open door, occupied or not,” Lily whispered. Her back was pressed up against my stomach. I needed her to move before she felt my hardness on her ass.

“Nice moves back there by the way with that guy you racked,” I muttered, shoving her gently to start walking down the hallway. We walked slowly in the dim light.

Lily laughed. “I have some experience,” she whispered back to me. “So don’t fuck with me.”

“Like I didn’t know
that
already,” I said. I felt a surge of joy and excitement at being back here with her. It was an unfamiliar feeling. I was used to the adrenaline, but not the joy. As good as I was at my job, I took no pleasure in it.

Mostly.

There were eight doors; each of them with a small, eight-inch-by-eight-inch glass window near the top. The first three were open and occupied. There were shadowy figures squirming over each other; the second room looked like it had five people in it. The fourth door was shut. I glanced in it. Lily was too short to see inside and I was glad.

That was my man in there, being fellated by two different women wearing black masks and black lingerie. My stomach nearly fell through my feet when I saw the right arm of one of his companions. On it was a ten-inch, shiny scar that marred her otherwise flawless tawny skin; it snaked down her upper arm and dog-legged onto her forearm. The mark ended in a black rose tattoo that I was all too familiar with.

It was like she knew I was at the doorway.

She looked up at me and our eyes met. She smiled.

I grabbed Lily by the arm and forcefully pulled her into the next open room. “Don’t talk,” I said to her. I ducked my head back out of the room quickly. No one was coming. I closed the door quietly and checked it for a lock. It had a small silver button on it. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing.

I looked at the ceiling. It was solid; made of concrete. That was good. There was no way to get into this room from the one next to it.

"What the hell is going on, Phillip?" Lily said loudly. I slipped my finger over her soft lips to tell her to stop talking. Then I hit the light switch. The room was doused in darkness.

All I could hear was the sound of moaning from the next room over. And I could hear Lily breathing. My finger was still over her mouth. We stood in silence, inches from one another. I could smell the saltiness of her skin and a whiff of coconut.

I couldn’t hold out any longer. The mix of danger and sex was too much. I reached my hand under her dress. She moaned.

Her hands found their way to my stomach. She slipped them into my tuxedo jacket and moved them down to my belt loops. I moved my finger off of her lips and rested the palm of my hand against her cheek. She turned her head, her lips grazing the tender underside of my hand.

A door opened in the hallway and I pushed her against the wall, out of the square of soft candlelight that came in through the window from the hallway. She gasped slightly from shock but said nothing.

The sound of clicking heels echoed. I listened as hard as I could. The footsteps stopped outside of our door. I held my breath, feeling like my heartbeat was going to give me away. My stomach was pressed against Lily's, holding her in place; my hand still between her legs.

The knob jiggled and turned. I reached my hand out slowly and grabbed it, pushing back against the person who was trying to break into the room. A moment later the jiggling stopped. I didn't let go yet. It was another minute before I heard the high heels clicking away back toward the entrance of the hallway.

I was still smashed against Lily. I could feel her heart pulse through my clothes.

The adrenaline of almost being caught hit me hard. It seemed like Lily was feeling the same way. Before I said a word, she was unbuttoning my pants and zipper. I pulled her face up to mine, bending down as far as I could.

I licked the outer edges of her lips softly, nibbling on the fleshy pillows delicately as Lily's hand found its way into my boxers. Then I shoved my tongue into her hot little mouth, feeling the urge to devour her whole.

I lifted her up by her thighs, working both my hands now up underneath the red fabric of her dress. Her breasts were soft and supple against my hard chest. Her skin was so soft under my hands. I grabbed two handfuls of her curvy ass and massaged it hard. Then I realized she wasn't wearing any underwear.

I held her up against the wall, kissing down her neck while she moaned. I was so hard I felt like there was a good chance my boxer briefs were going to rip. Lily had moved her hands up to my hair, grabbing handfuls of it while my fingers worked their way into her wet, hot slit.

I flicked her clit as gently as I could; her body was already bucking against the hard surface of the wall. "I want....you...in...me," she gasped into my ear with puffs of hot breath. Her hands moved to her breasts and she pulled out a something that crinkled.