CHAPTER 3

TOMMY

From my place on the floor in front of the roaring fire, I watched, slightly amused, as her little arse sashayed down the hall to where I knew the bedrooms were. I’d recognised the house as soon as I’d opened my eyes. You didn’t live in it for most of your life and not remember your childhood home. Although it had changed a lot since I’d lived here. It looked like she was doing a complete refurbishment. The house had certainly needed it over twenty years ago, so I could only imagine the state it had been in when she’d moved in.

The small pot belly fireplace I was lying in front of was new, as was the flooring. When I’d lived here, the floor had been covered in a god-awful brown carpet with big orange flowers that had been popular in the seventies. My last memory of this house was leaving my father lying knocked out on that very carpet and my mother cowering in the corner.

We’d lived in this house on the charity of my Uncle Colm. Uncle Colm was Dad’s older brother, and the two of them differed like night and day. While Uncle Colm had been a hard-arse and didn’t take any disrespect, he’d loved his wife and boys. He’d never have lifted a hand to any of them. The same could not be said for my father. How he’d fallen so far from the family tree was anyone’s guess.

When I was twelve, I’d watched Uncle Colm as he’d beat the shit out of my father after I’d appeared at their house with broken ribs, a broken arm, and a black eye. The black eye hadn’t been my first by my father, but it had been my last.

I’d known as soon as he’d hit my ribs and heard the crack that he’d broken them, along with my arm that he grabbed and rammed over his leg. I can’t even remember why’d he’d gone after me that day, but I’d been hurting enough to ignore my mother’s pleas and had walked to my uncle’s house. Uncle Colm had taken me to the hospital, and we’d lied through our teeth about a motorbike accident. We’d told him that my cousins and I had gotten hold of a motocross bike, and I’d crashed it while not wearing protective clothing.

The doctor hadn’t believed us, that much I knew. He’d taken Uncle Colm aside to talk to him. It wasn’t the first time I’d been in Accident and Emergency, but it was the first time my parents hadn’t accompanied me. Uncle Colm had said something that had appeased the doctor and I’d left the hospital with him, a brand-new cast on my arm and painkillers for my ribs. That was the day I’d moved in with Uncle Colm’s family. From that day on, I only went home if my mother asked me to and only if my father wasn’t at home.

I don’t know how many times Uncle Colm tried to get my mother to leave, but she wouldn’t. Hell, we’d all tried at one time or another to get her to leave. She’d made her choice and nothing we could do would persuade her that there was more for her out there than to be used as a punching bag.

I’d had plans to join Uncle Colm’s business at sixteen, but he’d wanted me to finish school first before I got embroiled in the illegal arms trade. In the end, I’d chosen the military much to his disgust, but he’d still been there for me when I’d graduated, and he’d been there for me every time I’d come home on leave.

The military was where I stayed for the next twenty years before I handed my notice in. My intention had always been to come back home. But fate had another plan for me and instead I’d fallen into my next job by accident. I’d found being a civilian had been boring. After twenty years in the military, I’d needed the danger. It had been well-known throughout my unit that I thrived on danger. The more dangerous the assignment, the better as far as I was concerned.

Being an assassin for hire had never entered into my thoughts or my retirement plans. But I had all the right training and it paid good money. I was set for life on the money I’d earned while I’d been a man for hire.

I’d earned the name Ricochet. It was a name that was notorious in the underground. My name came about because my speciality was having a bullet ricochet back into the target. The first time it had happened purely by accident, but I’d cultivated the persona and practiced that shot until I could do it in my sleep. The name had stuck.

I’d never been out of work in all the time I’d been freelancing. Between how I got my name and the fact that I made it known that I would only take on a job once I’d scoped it out to ensure that no innocents were involved. I’d started to do this after the first time someone had tried to pull one over on me and have an innocent killed. Instead, I’d gone after the person who’d put the contract up, and by the time I was finished with them, nobody ever tried to get me to assassinate an innocent again. It was also well-known that I didn’t ever take on jobs that involved violence to women or children.

The people I’d been hired to kill were the worst of the worst. The ones that didn’t deserve to be walking on this earth. Funnily enough, I’d done more work for my government after I’d left the military than I’d thought I’d do. Not that they knew who I was because I never met with anyone face to face. All my jobs were done anonymously under my handle.

Taking on anonymous jobs had become much easier now that we had the internet and even easier once news of my death surfaced. If I’d known how much easier it would be to set up jobs once I’d supposedly died, I’d have done it earlier instead of being nearly blown to smithereens by accident. It all worked out in the end because it had allowed me three years to tie up loose ends. Now that I’d done that, I was home to stay. It had certainly been an interesting homecoming so far.

Hearing the shower come on, I groaned slightly as the image of my Sprite naked in the shower entered my head. My cock that had been at half-mast since she’d first put her hands on me rose to the occasion at the thought of all that water cascading down her naked body, across her breasts and down her legs.

“Fuck,” I muttered and restlessly moved my legs under the sheet. Pushing the sheet and blankets down, I slipped my hand into my boxers so that I could take a firm grip of my cock, holding it harder than I usually would to try and stop me coming before I was ready to. You’d think with the amount of pain I was in and the concussion he’d be out for the count …… but NO. Just the thought of my Sprite naked down the hall and he was ready to go.

From down the hallway there was a stifled moan, followed by a cry that stopped short as if she’d bit her lip to stop the noise from escaping.

“Ah, Jesus,” I muttered as pre-cum slid down my shaft, covering my hands. Having an idea what that cry meant had me gripping my cock tightly as I slowly pumped my hand up and down my shaft, knowing there was no way to stop this just as another whimper echoed its way down the passage to me, jerking my hand faster I could feel my orgasm fast approaching.

It had been a long time since I’d had the pleasure of being with a woman. As another cry went up from down the passage, there’s was no holding back the orgasm that streaked through me, my back bowed slightly as cum splattered across my stomach and up my chest. Pain raced through me as my body and head throbbed, not happy with the fast movements I’d made. Taking a deep breath, I inhaled and exhaled, blinking to get rid of the blackness that threatened my vision.

“Fuck me,” I whispered, then gave a rusty chuckle at my predicament. I’d have to figure out a way to clean up before she came back. Turning my head slightly, I caught sight of the T-shirt I’d been wearing under my leathers laying not far from me. With a strained groan, I rolled over and snagged it, sweat beaded my brow and nausea rose, but I beat it back. Wiping down my chest and across my stomach, cleaning myself up. The shower switched off just as I pulled the blankets back up to my chest. Relaxing back against the pillows, relishing the warmth from the fire, I was fucking exhausted. And after my massive orgasm, I was feeling sated and happy for the first time in a while. Allowing myself to relax further into the mattress, I fell into a deep sleep, but not before vowing that as soon as I was up to it, I would repay my Sprite with an orgasm that would knock the one she’d just given herself out of the park.