19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Xavier

I couldn't leave him again—I could see it in his face when he'd come after me, the way I'd nearly broken him. Being away from him had been a physical pain, something that burned every second we were apart.

All I wanted was to go back to the house and lead him straight to bed. I wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon taking him apart piece by piece, until he completely forgot the pain I'd seen nearly drowning him—pain that I'd caused.

I was so focused on the thought that I didn't realize until it was too late that there were two men standing in Axel's living room when we walked into the house.

I had no idea who they were, but they apparently knew me. One of them stared, with his lips parting slightly, and hazel eyes gone wide. The other moved in a blur of motion that was too quick for me to track—too quick, and too efficient, and just like that, I realized who was standing in front of me.

He was one of the deadliest people I'd ever seen, definitely the most dangerous person I'd ever worked with.

And fuck, he barely worked with other people. It was usually an afterthought, when we were both assigned to the same job without being told first, and I could always tell that it irritated him. He didn't want to know me.

"Kade, what the fu—" But that was all that I got out, because there was suddenly a gun pointed at me, and the only reason he didn't pull the trigger was probably because Axel acted at the same time.

Whoever the small man beside him was, Axel's gun was pointed squarely at his chest. It drew Kade's attention from me instantly, and his lips pulled back in a snarl. "Fetterman, if you know what's fucking good for you, you'll put that gun down now. If you don't, you're going to beg me to kill you long before I'm finished."

Yeah… that was definitely Kade. But he didn't look exactly right. He was taller, buffer. His body was covered in tattoos… and there was a ring of blue in his eyes that didn't belong there.

And…

He was exactly the same age that I remembered him.

Oh.

Oh, shit, I'd read about this on the flash drive.

"Fuck, you're like me, aren't you?" Kade's eyes never left Axel, even though the gun was still pointed at me. The young man beside him glanced at me, though, and his eyes widened.

"You're the guy from the building… the guy Clay stabbed with the needle. I saw you that night, but I didn't know if you made it." He actually smiled, and it was too sweet for the situation. "I'm glad you're okay."

It was a faint memory, crawling out of the building, the two figures standing in the distance… the smaller one leading the bigger one away.

"You stopped him from seeing me, didn't you?" When he nodded, I frowned. "Why?"

He looked at me with a flat expression, then made a point to glance between the gun pointed at my face and me.

Oh. Well, that made sense. But I didn't understand it. "Why? I didn't do anything to either of you." I paused, "Well, I did a lot to him, but that was a long time ago."

"Seth, stop talking to him. He's from that fucking facility. I don't know why you thought it was a good idea to help him, but I can finish the job now." Kade's cool expression never shifted, and Axel narrowed his eyes. Meanwhile, I mulled over the name—I knew Kade, but Seth? I'd only read it in the files on the flash drive. Now that I was looking at him, I recognized him from the video footage I'd watched. This guy was the whole reason Marshall stole the damn drive to begin with? He looked so… harmless.

"You aren't finishing shit, Kade. I called you here to help, not—"

"You didn't tell me why , Fetterman. You didn't tell me you had someone from that place here."

"Kade, for fuck's sake , I've never worked at a goddamn facility. Can you stop being a rabid dog for two seconds and actually look at me?"

My tone made him jerk slightly, but it was Seth stepping forward and slowly running his fingers along Kade's arm before dragging it down that finally made him relax.

"Kade, I think he's like you," Seth whispered, and I jerked my eyes to Axel. When I took a step toward him, he lowered his gun with a wary expression. It was obvious that he and Kade would both lift the weapons again if someone so much as twitched wrong.

How was I the more logical of the two of us right now?

"Like me?" Kade asked carefully, and I answered before Seth had a chance to.

"A killer for hire? Really good at my fucking job… though apparently not good enough to stay alive?" The body he was in couldn't have been much older than me.

"What the fuck are you—" He finally jerked his attention to me fully, and I wasn't sure if it was the expression on my face or the realization that I was there with Axel, but Kade's eyes widened… just slightly. "Xavier?"

"Bingo." I smirked, then watched as the rest of the tension slowly melted out of his body. At least one person seemed to understand that I wasn't Marshall Lister, so whatever past sins he'd committed, they weren't my problem. "You know, I can't remember you dying. I thought you'd still be out there somewhere, killing people from your luxury yacht for kicks and living the high life."

Seth's fingers on his arms twitched, and his hand slid down to squeeze Kade's side. The motion seemed so tender, which wasn't that shocking. What was shocking was the way Kade turned for just a second, running his fingers through the smaller man's curls before gently tapping him beneath the chin. "Shit happened. Didn't stop me for long, did it?" His gaze flicked back up to me. "I do remember you dying. We chased each other straight to the grave."

He remembered me dying? I almost asked him how, but Axel's arm looped around me, drawing me against him in a protective motion that settled the question somewhere in the back of my mind.

After all, I knew what happened when I had information fed straight to me. Since I wasn't in the mood for another horrible burst of pain, I'd settle for a different question.

"Why are you here? If you tell me it's to hunt me down and kill me because of Marshall Lister and his fucking sticky fingers, I might take Axel's gun and shoot you myself."

Seth actually laughed, a little burst of giggles that was entirely too cute for someone who still had his arms around a killer like Kade Neil. It made no sense.

They made no sense.

Then again, I didn't have a mirror to see us, but I knew exactly what I looked like leaning against Axel, so…

"I'm here because your boyfriend got into contact with me." Kade's eyes flashed up to the man in question. "Though he's lucky I answered after the way he responded when I called him ."

My brows hiked, and I glanced up.

"You told me you were a man who'd been dead for over twenty years. What the fuck did you expect, Kade?"

"I expected—"

"Maybe we should all take a second to relax?" Seth interrupted when Kade started forward again. His smile was so sweet, but his arm around Kade was tight. "We're here together, and we obviously have a common goal. So… wouldn't it be better if we all took a second to breathe and discussed this like sane adults instead of… you know… serial killers?"

I pulled away from Axel and made my way across the room towards the refrigerator. Kade watched me with careful eyes, like he was still worried I was going to do something to the man he was hovering over, but I just pulled out a bottle of water. "Axel isn't a killer. He just cleans up crime scenes. Honestly, he's a little ray of sunshine once you get to know him."

Axel rolled his eyes and made a show of putting his gun away before following me across the room. For just a second, I wondered if Kade was going to pull his weapon again and put a bullet through me. For just a second, it looked like he was wondering the same thing.

It wasn't until Seth threaded his fingers through Kade's and half tugged him to follow me that he finally sighed and nodded.

"You said you had a problem with a particular facility, Fetterman. What do you know about them?"

"Not much." Axel answered truthfully. "We have a flash drive full of information, and someone trying to kill or abduct Xavier every other week because they think he's the key to the kingdom or something." I winced, the slightest bit of guilt flashing through me.

Maybe if I'd taken the time to look through the flash drive more, I would have known why they were after me. Maybe if I'd hunted down one of the men and taken my time torturing the information out of him, I would have known what was going on.

Maybe if I'd done anything other than trying my damn hardest to make sure that whoever Marshall had been didn't interfere with who I was now, I would have had answers for the men standing in front of me.

As it was, I was still reluctant to take any part in this.

"They're after you?"

I slid the unopened bottle I'd pulled from the refrigerator along the bar, and Seth caught it before his question had even left his lips."Apparently. They keep talking about information I took. The last guys said something about taking me to meet their boss."

At that, Kade's mouth ticked up at the corner in the slightest smirk.

"If they're so desperate that they're trying to track you down, it means I'm doing better than I thought." He sounded so fucking pleased with himself. There was obviously more going on than I knew about, but maybe we were finally going to get a few answers, whether I wanted them or not.

"I think we all need to sit down and share information. You're here, which means you want our help, even if you don't want to admit it," Axel added the last bit before Kade had a chance to argue. "And I'm willing to share whatever information you want if it means people will stop trying to kill Xavier. So… consider this a mutually beneficial working relationship."

And like the killer other than myself in the house had agreed to the terms already, Axel walked across the room and made a point of sitting down on the couch, like we were just a group of old friends catching up.

I guess, in a way… we were.