Mercenary Trust (13 page)

“
Well, then dispatch her immediately,” the captain’s voice echoed in his
comm. Was there an edge of laughter in the captain’s voice, there? “You should
be able to handle her easily in a close quarters situation. You’ve been
trained.”

“
Yeah, but she’s got a shotgun, and Kevlar works, but not when it’s a
bunch of shotgun shells in such close quarters.”

The captain’s voice was even sterner than before.
“Such a sticky predicament. Might I suggest making use of some of your combat
training, gentlemen?”

Lockhart lined up another shot, letting his laser
scope blink twice once again. It went straight through Seraphina’s shoulder,
but all she did was to let loose a little cry of pain. Did that cry actually
seem …
excited
? Was she getting
turned on by this? What kind of fucked up training regimen did Langham do to
her? She turned toward the window and laughed.

“
Mr. Langham’s gonna be here in a few hours. All I need to do is make
sure none of you leave.”

Nick closed his eyes. “This bitch is crazy,” he
whispered into his comm. Kristian turned toward him. A corner of his lips
curled up in a lopsided smile.

“
Let me handle her. You get to the hostages upstairs.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “If you get anywhere near close
enough to her, that shotgun’s going to tear apart your Kevlar, man,” he warned,
whispering harshly into his comm.

“
I have an assault rifle, Castillo. I just need to put as much space
between us as we can. Besides, Lockhart is providing cover fire, provided he
line up his
fucking
shot. I have a
smoke grenade I can use. Make sure to get up the stairs as soon as you can.”

Caleb scoffed. “I’m a building away. You go and do
better, Guillory. I’d like to see you try.”

Kristian chuckled.

“
Could always just bring in the helicopter and gun the penthouse down,”
Pace helpfully chimed in.

“
No!” they all said firmly in unison. Even Turner and the Captain.

“
All right, geez!”

“
You ready, Castillo?” Kristian said. He pulled out the canister from one
of his pockets. “Ready, and … go!”

He threw the grenade into the air and it started to
whir around, spreading smoke all over. Seraphina shot at it just as it was
about to fall down, but all it did was make the canister’s smoke come out in
one large gush.

Nick ran as fast as he could, his batons at the ready
on either hand. He jolted up the stairs, rushing through the smoke and barely
escaping being killed by Seraphina’s shotgun. Bullets ricocheted right behind
him, and Nick realized if he wasn’t fast enough he would have gotten caught in
that blast. He ran up to see a guard trying to run him down. Nick swerved to
the side and threw the man over the railing of the staircase with a quick hoist
of his hand, before slamming the sides of his batons into the side of another
guard rushing on his way down.

Gunfire rang through the first floor as Nick finally
reached the second. Only two more guards stood there, standing beside both
Thaddeus and Cecilia, whose arms were tied behind their backs. Cecilia just
looked frazzled and all cried out, with dried, clumpy mascara running down her
cheeks, but Thaddeus looked like he’d gotten thrown into a garbage can, beaten
up, and almost fed into a garbage compactor. There were bruises all over his
face, and he looked like he was delirious.

In short, he looked like shit.

“
Thank God! You’re here!” Cece exclaimed. “Thad smells like tequila and
gym socks. Also, they beat him half to death!”

“
You’re welcome,” Thad murmured, spitting out a bit of blood onto the
floor. “They would have smacked
you
around. Couldn’t have them do that.”

“
I could have taken them,” Cece muttered as she glared at Thad, who was
too busy trying to remain conscious. The two guards shot at Nick, who was at
least fast enough to, once more, dive to the side in safety.

They both aimed their rifles right at Nick. He slowly
stood up and put his batons back in their sheaths. Then, he put both hands on
the pistols on their respective holsters.

“
Better make sure you don’t miss,” he said. “Because the moment you do,
I—”

Nick’s words were cut short by the sudden, sharp noise
of a
clang
.
The sound of a bullet ricocheting sounded right by Nick’s ears,
hitting the wall and then proceeding to its next target. He then turned to look
at one of the guardsmen, who fell down, dead, bullet right in between the eyes.

Talk about luck.

“
Holy shit,” Cece said. Her eyes went wide in terror. “That guy just up
and died!”

“
No, our sniper shot him,” Nick said, shaking his head and pressing a
button on his earpiece. “Nice, Lockhart. I was just about to show off,” Nick
said exasperatedly into his comm. “Your aim is extra shitty today.”

“
Sorry. My bad. Was trying to aim for the psycho lady,” Lockhart
muttered. “Again, I’d fuckin’ like to see you
both
try.”

“
It was a compliment,” Nick said, just as he pulled out a single one of
his batons and smacked it straight across the temple of the remaining guard. He
then jabbed the guy right on the rear with the prod part, sending convulsive
shockwaves right down his body. “Thank you, Lockhart.”

“
Yeah, yeah, don’t get soft on me now,” Caleb muttered as he shot yet
another time. This time, the gunfire stopped. “Boom! Yet another headshot. And
right on target, too! Who has shitty aim now?”

“
Thanks for getting her just before she’d have turned me into ground
meat,” Kristian said.

“
You’re welcome, Guillory,” Caleb said. “I’m getting out of here before
they figure out I’m on this building.”

“
All right. Frost, I think we’re ready for extraction,” Nick said.

“
Get me out of here!” Cece shrieked.

The sound of a helicopter’s blades started to become
louder and louder. A bright flash of light filled the penthouse. “The cavalry
has arrived,” Pace said. “Just in time to save the lady.”

“
Great job, everyone,” Commander Hennessey said. “Mission debriefing at
1100 hours. We all deserve the break to go and clean ourselves up. I’m sure
there’s still a lot we need to talk about, like what to do with the mastermind
behind all of this.”

Thaddeus slowly looked up at Nick, just as he pulled
out his knife to quickly cut through the man’s bonds. “Seraphina,” he
whispered. “Be careful.”

“
She’s been dealt with.” Nick didn’t really want to talk to the guy, but
he also knew that Thaddeus hadn’t meant to hurt Daniel, or have all this shit
happen in his life. Maybe it was a combination of pity, anger, and a little bit
of sadness at the man’s situation, but Nick didn’t really feel comfortable with
him just yet.

“
Big bomb on her,” Thad said, his voice slurring. “Thigh strap. Five
minutes. When the tracker doesn’t feel her pulse anymore…”

Well, that made Nick’s heart drop down to his stomach.
“
Mierda.
Guillory, that woman has a
bomb strapped to her! Grab Dr. Savard!” Nick exclaimed as he threw Thad over
his shoulder in one quick hoist. “Frost, get ready to fly as soon as we get
there!”

“
Don’t die on me, Castillo!”

Nick’s eyes widened as he heard Daniel’s voice inside
his earpiece.

“
Never,” Nick replied, his voice calming down just a little bit. “We
still gotta go on a second date.”

Thad snorted
right
behind him.
Well, moment’s over.

Almost made Nick want to leave his ass on the
penthouse.

Almost.

He ran down the stairs and kicked through the glass
doors just as soon as he saw the evac touch down on the helipad. The door
opened to reveal Lockhart was already inside, waving them in. Nick hoisted Thad
as carefully as he could onto the ‘copter. Lockhart was already strapping the
guy in quickly.

The end part of most extraction missions was the
fucking
worst
.

Nick then turned to see Guillory holding onto Cece’s
hand and running, then diving, straight into the ‘copter, pushing Cece into an
empty seat and strapping on her seatbelt.

“
Thirty seconds!” Turner’s voice was frantic.

“
Shit, fuck, shit, shit, shit, shit!” Nick cursed at himself as he dove
right in, just as Frost maneuvered the helicopter off of the pad and flew it a
good few meters away.

Suddenly, the penthouse burst into flames behind them,
propelling them forward a little bit more. The helicopter lost its balance a
bit, but they had an excellent pilot.

“
That was a huge bomb,” Guillory suddenly muttered. “Would have liked to
defuse that.”

“
Or you might have blown yourself up,” Frost chimed in unhelpfully.
“That’s always a possibility.”

And as the penthouse exploded into glass shards and
shrapnel behind them, Nick smirked as the helicopter flew away into the
horizon. He kept silent, remembering the fact that they
tried
to keep fatalities to a minimum, but most of it was no longer
their fault. Fighting a trigger-happy … secretary—assassin? What was Seraphina,
anyway?—with a bomb strapped to her body meant that those men’s fates were
sealed as soon as they’d won.

Well, shit. That was an exit worthy of an action
movie.

It certainly got his adrenaline pumping.

But best of all, he just fucking
crushed
it with that mission. That was a roaring success if there
ever was one.

Now he could get a good night’s rest, maybe with
Daniel in his arms.

Chapter Ten

“
Daniel’s upstairs. He’s waiting for you,” was the first thing Captain
Hennessey told him when they all got back to the house.

“
Go,” Kristian said to Nick, who was still looking at Thad’s beaten up
form and Dr. Savard, who looked like she could use a good shower. “We can take
care of them. You have to take care of someone else.”

Caleb beamed and waggled his eyebrows. Nick turned to
them and nodded, before running up the stairs.

Nick’s adrenaline was still rushing through his body.
He also had an erection, which was kind of odd all things considered, but he
couldn’t really control that part of his body. Like any red-blooded male,
erections just sort of happened.

It
did
come
in handy considering he felt like he had enough energy left inside him to fuck
Daniel into the mattress. Or be fucked by Daniel into the mattress. Again, he
didn’t really care whether or not who did who, just that Nick was one of the
guys in that equation was good enough for him.

All that mattered at the moment was that he had just
gone through one of the surprisingly riskiest missions of his life and come
back
alive
.

Nick stood in front of the door to his room and opened
it, catching sight of something that definitely caught him by surprise.

A fully naked Daniel, kneeling on top of the bed while
trying to bounce, or push down on … something. He was busy rocking his body
down towards something black, and from the look of things, well-lubed. Daniel
was grunting, his body undulating and quivering, as he pushed the object as far
as it would go. Was it a vibrator? A butt plug? Honestly, Nick didn’t really
care at that point, because of all of the things he expected to see, he
certainly didn’t expect any of this.

What he
did
expect,
however, was the very real, very visceral reaction he was having to seeing
Daniel fucking himself on a sex toy.

“
What a nice greeting,” Nick mused, crossing his arms over his chest. He
gestured over to the black object Daniel was currently trying to stuff inside
himself, amusement filling him in a way he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
“Where did you get that?”

Daniel looked up like he was a raccoon caught in a
trashcan. Eyes wide, lips quirking slightly into a half incredulous smile, half
shocked expression, he gave a nervous little chuckle and then looked down at
his lap where there was a very real erection springing up from his pelvis. He
then looked back up at Nick. “O-oh, um, I … I ran out and bought it at the
twenty-four-hour adult toy shop… And I used some of your lube. I wanted it to
be a surprise.” He took a deep breath, his face clearly flushed, and maybe just
a
little
bit uncomfortable. “Welcome
back.”

“
Well, this is definitely a surprise to me,” Nick said. He moved from his
spot, locked the door behind him, and began to pull off his Kevlar. “Here I was
thinking I’d have to wine and dine you a little before we could do this. Second
date, you know? But this is definitely a pleasant surprise.”

“
I hope you don’t think I’m being too eager,” Daniel admitted. “I just …
the thought of never seeing you again, if anything went wrong, it drove me a
little batty.”

Those words struck a chord inside of Nick. He offered
a more genuine smile as he pulled off the shirt over his head and set aside
anything that might hurt Daniel or himself, like his guns and batons, placing
them right into a cabinet far away from the both of them. “I think you’re just
eager enough. You’re perfect,” he said. “It kind of makes me feel good, you
know? To know someone is waiting for me to come home.”

“
Not exactly the kind of thing you’d expect from someone you’ve only
dated once, right?” Daniel asked, biting on the insides of his cheeks and
looking more nervous than any man with a sex toy up his rear should be. It
actually looked kind of cute.

“
I think it’s exactly the kind of welcome I want.” Nick leaned down,
curling a finger underneath Daniel’s chin and drawing his gaze upward so that
their eyes could meet. “I don’t know how many guys are willing to meet me naked
in my room after a mission, ready and willing to let me take a load off. Pun
intended.”

Daniel guffawed. “Hah, funny,” he said underneath his
breath. “This was silly. I know it’s all been really fast. I should have, I
dunno, maybe I should have just run up and kissed you instead of doing all of
these stupid things. I can’t afford this dildo. I barely have a hundred bucks
to me.”

“
No, don’t even think about that. Not right now,” Nick said, shaking his
head. He placed both hands on either side of Daniel’s face, and pressed their
foreheads together gently. “You’re one of the few people I know who really put
their heart into things. If it’s problems about money, we can find a way. If
it’s a job, hell, I’ll help you find one until you find the perfect one for
you. And hey, we do dumb things sometimes. These dumb things can lead to the
best experiences. Just look at where we are now.”

Nick placed a soft kiss right on the tip of Daniel’s
nose. “So why don’t we give this a shot?”

“
What do you mean?” Daniel asked, clearly hesitant as he looked up at
Nick. He swallowed rather audibly.

“
You and me,
querido
. Let’s
give it a shot. Who cares if we’ve only had one date? You let Thad court you
for some time before you both went monogamous. Why not try it my way this time?
Who’s to say that way was better than this way?”

“
Probably because throwing yourself into a relationship where you’ve only
met the person for less than a week is something most people would consider
idiotic,” Daniel muttered, before shrugging. But he did smile at Nick, which
the ex-Marine took as a good sign.

“
I know trusting again is going to be difficult, but if it helps, you can
see it as a trial run at being a couple. We’ll still continue dating. I still
want to take you to as many dinners as you want. But we’re gonna do it with the
expectation that we don’t see anyone else,” Nick said. “I know it’s crazy, but
I only want you. If you think of it as just dating, but not seeing anyone else
but each other, it doesn’t seem as weird.”

“
Yes, because look at all the gentleman callers lined up in front of your
room for me,” Daniel said. “Are you sure you’re ready to deal with all this
crazy?”

“
I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t at least up for the challenge,
querido
,” Nick said, extending his arms
outward on either side. “And besides, who better to teach me about being in a
serious relationship than the man who was monogamous for nearly a decade?”

“
Six years is only one year above half a decade, thank you very much,”
Daniel groused, but his expression changed into a goofy one when Nick pressed a
kiss against his lips.

It was quick, it was gentle, and it was definitely
Nick urging Daniel to see things his way.
Don’t
fight it
, Nick said in his head like he was saying a mantra. The way he
felt wasn’t rational. It wasn’t logical. It was purely emotional, and even
though everyone knew making decisions based on how you felt was never a good
idea, Nick just felt like this one wasn’t like that.

Daniel was … different.

“
What do you say, Daniel Walsh? Is that a yes? You want to take the plunge
with me?” Nick asked.

Daniel looked up at him, then down at the bed, and
then back up at him. The time it took for him to speak felt like an eternity.
Here was Nick, putting himself out there. True, he was probably a little
cockier than he intended, but that was something he couldn’t quite erase. He
wanted Daniel’s answer, even if it was no.

“
If I say yes, are you going to plow me into the mattress?”

Nick smirked. Immediately he felt some of the tension
in his body dissipate. “That’s a definite given, yes. And you can even ask me
to plow you any time you like. The reverse is also true.”

“
Then I guess I don’t have any reason to say no.”

Nick chuckled, leaning forward until he loomed over
Daniel’s body. “So naughty,” he purred, pressing a kiss against Daniel’s neck,
going all the way down until his lips were mere inches away from Daniel’s
shaft. His body was moving on autopilot, and it seemed like his mission was to
make Daniel writhe and moan underneath him in as fast a time as possible.

Not such a hard thing to do considering Daniel was
already fully naked and Nick was hornier than he’d ever felt in the past few
months combined.

Daniel’s breath turned harsh. “Are you … are you going
to suck me off?” he asked, and those eyes seemed to have glazed over in lust.

Nick pulled his shirt off of his head, tossing it
aside. “Yup,” he said succinctly, before wrapping a hand around the base of the
dildo Daniel was riding and gently sliding it in and out. “And maybe I’m going
to tease you a little with this, too.”

“
Oh, God,” Daniel moaned. He wasn’t even able to answer in a cohesive
sentence. His cock that had turned flaccid from conversation slowly twitched
back to life, and when he spread his legs on either side to give Nick better
access to his rear and his cock, Nick knew that he had better do good.

If only because his ego demanded that he do it
so
good Daniel forgot his own name. It
was kind of like that for him the last time they did it, and it was only fair
that he return the favor.

So Nick quickly pulled off his remaining clothes until
he stood completely naked, his dick rock hard and slapping against his stomach
from sheer arousal. Gingerly grasping that dildo, Nick began to thrust the toy
in and out of Daniel’s entrance with slow, concentric movements. He twisted the
shaft as he pulled it out, trying to provide as much sensation to Daniel as he
could, all while Nick’s mouth engulfed the domed, mushroom-like tip of his
lover’s cock.

Mm, lover.
That word felt like a little tickle up Nick’s system.
He had a lover. He had a
querido
.
That was definitely not something he’d expected just having moved to the city.

Daniel didn’t have a cock as large as his, which was
good, because Nick liked giving head and he didn’t really feel like choking all
the way down to the root. That Daniel could do it to him was amazing, and it
made his blood flow straight down to his cock in arousal, but he had to focus
on his lover’s pleasure right at that moment. One hand continued to stroke that
rubber dildo in and out of Daniel’s rear, while Nick slowly lifted and lowered
his head over that shaft.

The sounds of quick, harsh slurping filled the air. It
sounded almost filthy, the way he gulped in slow, languid suckles around
Daniel’s cock. He moved down until his nose pressed against the well-trimmed
thatch of hair right against Daniel’s pelvis, and let loose a little moan just
as he started to pull that toy out of Daniel’s ass.

“
Yes!” Daniel exclaimed. He arched his back. His lips were quirked into a
wide, joyful expression as he grabbed handfuls of the bedding around him.
Nick’s other hand slowly traversed up Daniel’s smooth body. Not quite thin like
a stick, but definitely not fat, Daniel had a healthy layer of chubby flesh
Nick could hold on to, grasping at his side and then up towards his chest.

Nick smiled. He chuckled around Daniel’s cock and let
his voice reverberate around the tender, aroused flesh.

“
N-Nick, I can’t. If you keep teasing me like that, I … I’ll…”

That was the exact moment Nick pulled off of Daniel’s
shaft with a lewd, wet pop. “Then do it, babe,” he said, continuing to thrust
the dildo into Daniel’s rear, angling it
just
enough to make Daniel’s eyes widen and his hands to grip the sheets even
tighter, until his knuckles turned white from the tension. “Come for me.”

As if to emphasize each word, Nick pressed that dildo
in as deep as it could go, angled right at Daniel’s sweet spot until the man
started to come right then and there. Spit-glistened cock twitched as rope
after rope of sticky, white cum coated his stomach. Daniel fell down onto the
bed in a happy little heap.

Nick took the time to slowly pull out the toy from
Daniel’s rear and tossed it aside. That hand went immediately down to his own
shaft, gently stroking himself and keeping himself nice and excited. He smiled
and leaned over Daniel’s body once more, lying chest to chest with him and
pressing a kiss against his lover’s lips.

He didn’t even care that Daniel’s cum was wet on his
skin.

“
This is what you get for starting without me,
querido
,” Nick said, almost as if he were chastising Daniel. “Now I
want to see your happy face when you come for me again.”

Daniel slowly reached up for Nick’s head, placing both
his hands on either of Nick’s cheeks—that was Nick’s move! Although if he was
being honest he didn’t mind being the recipient of it—and kissed him full on
the lips. Daniel’s tongue pushed in, sliding against Nick’s and teasing him
gently. That tongue tasted so good. Nick thought it was just the barest hint of
clean, masculine flesh. Daniel’s saliva was minty, too, like he had freshly
brushed and flossed. But just as Nick happily returned the kiss, Daniel slowly
began to pull away.