Chapter Three

Little fucking punk.

Hawk let out the growl he’d been holding in and released Sky. The man’s body crumpled to the ground in a heap.

Taking a step back, Hawk turned sideways and placed his hands on his knees and panted, sucking in several deep, ragged breaths. He rubbed at his burning thigh and then at his arms where blow after blow had sent them aching.

There had been a couple of times he thought for sure Sky was going to take him down or hell, take him out, but he’d managed to get the upper hand.

Skilled didn’t really describe Sky’s ability. The guy was fucking top-notch, and it was a good thing that he himself was a master or he would have never gotten the upper hand. Maybe that was one of the reasons Solomon had offered him this particular job—just in case Sky tried to kill him.

Hawk thought about the garrote in his pocket and knew without a doubt he wouldn’t have been able to use it on Sky, the man was way too quick to get caught in that trap. The only way to kill the young man at his feet was by a bullet to the head. Which was kind of comforting when Hawk thought about it and he wasn’t sure why.

Maybe it had to do with the other assassins that would surely come for the man. Knowing that it would take a gun to kill Skylar Thomas did thin out the killers who would take the contract.

Because rest assured, when he called Solomon and refused to do the job, someone else would.

With a heavy sigh, he reached down and hefted Sky over one shoulder and walked down the alley.

A short Uber ride later dumped them out at the hotel in a rundown part of town where yesterday he’d rented a room. Other than a surprised look, the driver took his explanation that Sky was passed out drunk. Hawk lifted Sky into a fireman’s hold over one shoulder and turned to the faded lime green two-story motel and walked down the narrow walkway to his room.

Dumping Sky on the king-sized bed, Hawk dug into his bag on the ground. Ah yes…there they were. He tugged out a pair of handcuffs he kept in his supplies because sometimes marks needed to be moved to other locations before a hit could go down. He didn’t need to use them often, but he felt better snapping one end on Sky’s wrist and the other end to the bed frame. He yanked at the wood frame that was bolted to the wall, just to test its hold, and smirked. It looked like the owners didn’t want shit walking off.

He frowned and placed his fingers at Sky’s throat and zeroed in on the red marks on the man’s neck where his hand had bit into the skin. Running his fingers over the blemishes that he knew for a fact would become bruises, he felt for a pulse. Beneath the warm skin, Sky’s pulse beat strong.

The man should have been awake by now. Walking to the bathroom, he wet a cold washcloth and went back to the bed. Sitting next to Sky, he ran the cool cloth over the man’s forehead and then neck.

“Wake up, Sky.”

Hawk frowned and ran the cloth over the skin near the mean’s gaping neckline. The t-shirt Sky wore was miles too big and the collar hung down, exposing the unmarked skin at the top of his chest. With a tired sigh, Hawk tossed the rag to the nightstand and sat back.

“Sky, wake—”

The young man moved so fucking quick, Hawk found his neck wrapped in Sky’s free arm and the man’s thighs clenched around his waist. Using all of his strength, Hawk pushed his boots to the floor and stood. Sky came off the bed with him, legs squeezing him like a vice and that arm trying to strangle him. Hawk found his face pressed into Sky’s chest and he used one hand to push at a pressure point between the man’s neck and shoulder.

“Aaah!” Sky cried out and the arm around his neck loosened. Hawk thumped on Sky’s thigh and the man’s legs suddenly released him but both bare feet kicked out. One landed in his solar plexus and Hawk stumbled back, hitting the end of the bed before falling onto the edge of the mattress. Sky’s feet were a fucking weapon and they kept coming, kicking out blow after blow until Hawk scrambled out of range.

“Fuck!” he snarled after he’d rolled off and lunged to his feet.

“Fuck you! You motherfucker! I’ll kill you!”

Hawk gaped at the spew of rage coming from Sky’s mouth, although, he certainly couldn’t blame him.

“Yeah, well, from where I stand, that would be something, wouldn’t it,” Hawk responded dryly.

Sky bit at the air, making his teeth snap. “I’ll bite your fucking face off if you come near me.” After the rage and fear-filled words, the man proceeded to twist and jerk at the cuff, turning the skin on his wrist bright red while he clawed at the cuff and the headboard at the same time.

“Help! Help.” Sky started yelling at the top of his lungs.

“If you don’t keep your voice down, I will gag you,” Hawk snapped when Sky took another deep breath.

If he hadn’t been so pissed off, he might have laughed at the puffing sound that left Sky’s mouth instead of another high-pitched yell. The man deflated like a balloon and sank back on the bed with an arm draped over his eyes.

Running a tired hand over his face, he stalked across the room and disappeared into the bathroom before closing the door none too gently.

“Damn it all to hell,” he muttered, leaning both hands on the cracked counter and gazing at his hairy face in the mirror. He tried not to notice how haggard he looked, but it was apparent in the lines at the corners of his mouth. When he shaved, more lines would be revealed to match the crow’s feet near his eyes.

Fuck, he was pushing fifty in two years. This was to be the last job he took and then he was going to say goodbye to Erebus, the former SecDef, and Solomon. They’d treated him well through the years, but he’d had enough.

“This is the thanks I get for saying bon voyage,” he muttered at his reflection.

It’s karma for all those easy jobs you did.

“Bastard!” Sky hissed, making sure the sound wouldn’t drift outside of the room.

He didn’t want to be gagged. It was bad enough losing that fight in the alley to find himself handcuffed to a bed in a seedy hotel room with a fucking stranger.

A hot stranger.

Weren’t guys named Hawk supposed to be saviors? He was sure that Hawk stood for something like a champion or some shit like that, he’d have to look it up. He frowned at that. No, he wasn’t looking up anything on the guy and as soon as he could get the fuck out of there, he was putting Hawk and this town in his rearview mirror.

He rubbed at his throat where the guy had almost choked him to death. And damn if he hadn’t used all his strength to get that hand to release him before the dark closed in, but he’d been too weak.

Just wait until I get my strength back, he glared at the closed bathroom door and then clenched his teeth when the sound of the shower started.

He’d give anything for a nice shower and some soap right now. A picture of Hawk sliding beneath the shower with his big body bare slipped into his mind and he wondered if the guy had hair all over.

“Stop it!” he hissed and rolled from the bed. He could stand, but he was cuffed so he couldn’t go far. Maybe he could get that pack closer. He stared at the unzipped black bag that sat on the floor near the end of the bed.

After several attempts to stretch his body out and hook his foot or hell, even a toe around the handle, he failed. Breathing hard, he gazed around and landed on the lamp cord. Tugging the plug from the grimy wall, he began tossing the cord at the bag. It hooked over the handle on the sixth try and he tugged, but the fucking bag was too heavy.

What the hell was in there? Rocks? No, more like a machine gun or something equally diabolical because there was no doubt in his mind that Hawk was a killer.

A killer for hire. A guy who took people’s lives for fucking money.

How sick was that?

“That won’t work,” Hawk drawled.

Sky had been so focused on his task and thoughts, he hadn’t heard the shower go off nor the door open. He clenched the lamp in his free hand and jerked so that the cord came closer to him. Putting the lamp in his cuffed hand, he slid the cord into his free hand and aimed a squinty-eyed look at Hawk.

“I’ll fucking strangle you if you come near me.” He kept his eyes on the water that dampened Hawk’s beard and not the drops running down the man’s chest. Yep, the fucker had chest hair that ran down his stomach and dipped low beneath the white towel in a disappearing treasure trail.

“Don’t worry,” Hawk’s sneer brought his eyes snapping up. “You’re not my type.”

“What type is that? The breathing type?” he said from between clenched teeth.

Hawk smirked, the corner of his mouth tipped up, and he walked over to pick up the bag and put it on the desk all the way across the room. Sky’s hand clenched the lamp, he so wanted to hurl the thing at the man’s stupid smirking head.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

He sniffed. “What?”

“Throw that lamp. You’ll have to pay for it and since you don’t have any money, I’ll have to take payment in other ways.”

The saliva dried in Sky’s mouth and he gaped. “You wouldn’t.”

“That ass looks like it hasn’t been spanked in a while.”

“Fuck you! You have no idea of what my ass looks like!”

Hawk grinned, lifted a shaving kit from his pack, and walked back into the bathroom, leaving the door open.

A spanking? For a minute there, he thought Hawk was talking about giving him something else.

Gripping his makeshift weapon, he sank to the edge of the bed.

Maybe he should change tactics?