Chapter Fifteen

Seven

Sweeping into the room after Hunter, Seven shut the door with a thud.

To his surprise, instead of it being a bedroom, he found himself in a large living room area with a kitchen off to the right and a hallway leading ahead of them.

Hunter stopped in the middle of the cream-colored carpet and turned.

“Are you going to be honest with me?” Seven took the bull by the horns.

“I…”

“Look, don’t say anything if you’re going to lie or omit parts of the truth,” Seven growled and spun toward the door.

“Seven!” Hunter snapped, his voice tight with frustration.

It was enough frustration to have Seven reach the door, but not open it. They might as well hash this out. Seven needed to hear it all. If Hunter lied, then he’d leave. It would kill him, but he’d live with knowing that he’d done his best to make Hunter trust him. Throwing the deadbolt, he leaned his back against the thick wood and squinted across the distance between them.

“I won’t lie to you,” Hunter said.

Relief heated his chest and he gave a short nod.

“A little over ten years ago, I was approached by Dave to join a dark unit.”

“Dark as in assassins?”

“Yes,” Hunter nodded as he said the word.

“Does your brother know?”

“No,” Hunter choked out.

“I can imagine you not wanting him to know.”

“Yeah, it would devastate him. He’s a former police chief.”

“Yeah. Everyone seems to be a former something or other. Fuck. The former SecDef is in charge of a ton of shit.”

“You have no idea.”

Something in Hunter’s voice made him freeze.

“Just how many more groups are there?” Seven rasped.

“More than I even know about,” Hunter admitted and briefly closed his eyes.

“How old were you when Dave recruited you?”

“I was twenty-four.”

“A kid.” Seven pressed his lips flat. “You didn’t even have the skill set.”

“I didn’t, but I was trained by Malcolm and I worked for Erebus until I turned thirty. I got burned out and Dave suggested I work for another team. I declined and bounced around for a few years before ending up with Pegasus after they were newly formed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Hunter gave a sharp, bitter laugh. “When was the right time to say…Oh hey, did you know you’re dating an ex-hitman?”

Seven would bet money Hunter hadn’t even realized he’d used the word dating, but then Seven frowned.

“I don’t give a fuck about your past. Do you care about mine?”

“No!” Hunter snapped. “But with Erebus, there are secrets and a code that isn’t broken. It’s not dinner conversation.”

“Link knew about it.”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah, that was unfortunate.”

“How did Dave keep Link quiet?”

“Link was part of a Special Ops unit known as Fury, who reported directly to Dave and Colonel Liam Cobalt.”

“So not all Fury members knew of Erebus?”

“No, only Link. When Dave discovered how close Link was, he ordered the man to stand down. Link was pissed.”

“Is there no end to Dave’s reach?”

“Sure, there is. Link stayed with Fury, he wasn’t forced. He could have transferred out.” Hunter sent his fingers thrusting through his thick hair, making the ends sweep upward. “Any one of us can leave at any time and go work wherever we want.”

Seven relaxed more against the door, watching as Hunter licked at his bottom lip…it was a nervous tell.

“You can…work anywhere,” Hunter whispered.

Seven huffed. “And be bored out of my mind? No thank you.”

“So…wait? Did you join Pegasus?”

“No, not officially,” Seven admitted.

“Dave told us that you used to call him,” Hunter said. “What was that for?”

That surprised him. “When did he tell you that?”

“Right after you first appeared in that alley.”

“After I left the military, I found out that the former SecDef could resolve a few issues that went beyond law enforcement.” Seven shrugged. “It was a few calls.” In fact, only three, but he didn’t say that.

“Don’t you think it’s weird that we had never met before that?”

“Weird?”

“You know…with the circles we run in, we should have met each other.” Hunter waved his arms about.

Seven pursed his lips.

“What?” Hunter squinted at him.

“I may have been following you before the night we met,” Seven said and added, just to be clear, “but it had only been a few weeks prior.”

Hunter crossed his hands over his chest with a sexy smirk on his lips. “You mean you knew about me before you held me captive in that alley?”

“You weren’t trying very hard to get away that night.” Seven quirked one side of his mouth, avoiding the question directly. He’d been on the trail of the same sex offender as Pegasus, but he hadn’t known exactly who they were yet. He’d only known that the sight of Hunter had him craving glimpses of the man.

“I didn’t want Parker to shoot you.” Hunter’s chin tipped up.

Seven snorted at the thought, but it was probably true. If Parker had had a shot, Seven knew that the man would have taken it.

“I suspect that Creed knows about Erebus.” Seven brought the conversation back to the assassins.

Hunter’s eyes widened slightly.

“What? Dave called in Creed’s cousin. I did the math,” Seven said, releasing a heavy breath.

“Yeah, and you’re correct about the fact that Dave has a reach. Wasn’t it Dave’s idea for you to lead a small unit against Kevin Scott?” Hunter murmured, bringing up the name of the sex trafficking kingpin.

Seven was reminded that Hunter had killed said kingpin by crushing the man’s throat. He should have seen it then, but how could he? He hadn’t known about Hunter’s past.

“Yeah, so?” Seven shrugged, crossing his arms. “I wondered why Dave didn’t just call in another unit.”

“Has Dave ever offered you a job on one of his teams before?”

Seven rubbed his jaw. “Numerous times, but only over the past several months.”

“That’s because he sees something in you. He wants you to be a part of us…in whatever capacity that is.”

“Are you talking about Erebus?” Seven asked and frowned when Hunter gave him a sharp glance.

“You are good at hiding in the shadows and eliminating bad people.”

Seven couldn’t argue; he’d snuffed out plenty of sick bastards and had zero regrets.

A sudden thought occurred to him and he didn’t like it.

“So, Dave having me form that team was what…a way of vetting me?” Seven questioned, and couldn’t keep the incredulousness out of his tone. Well, no wonder Dave had continued offering him a job after they’d busted the sex trafficking ring. Seven had passed some fucking test of Dave’s he didn’t even know about.

“Well, Dave said you were one of the good guys, but really…nobody knew you. So yeah…kind of.” Hunter shrugged.

“He sure was quick to side with Adam when they thought I was in with that same sex offender,” he responded tightly.

“That’s true, they were duped.”

“But you weren’t.”

“No.” Hunter shook his head. “I knew it was a setup.”

“And us? Did you keep that up so I’d cave and become one of the team?” Seven snapped, still irritated.

“No! How can you think that?” Hunter gaped at him.

“What am I supposed to think?” he growled.

“You fuck.” Hunter stalked toward him and Seven widened his stance.

When Hunter reached him, Seven gripped the back of the man’s neck. He’d had no trouble controlling Hunter like that before. But that was then and this was now. Seven was yanked from in front of the door and shoved aside like he wasn’t two hundred and fifty-five pounds of pure muscle.

Hunter reached for the deadbolt, but Seven was on him. He yanked Hunter back with a fist to his shirt and shoved. Hunter went nowhere and sent an elbow into his stomach.

The air left Seven, but he swung his arms wide and caught Hunter around the waist. Hunter growled and kicked back but Seven had anticipated the hit and sidestepped. They went down to the carpet in a tangle of arms and legs. Seven was rolled, his back slammed to the floor, and the wind knock out of him. Hunter tried to shove upward, but Seven locked his legs around the man’s waist.

They were both gasping for air and Seven brought up his forearm to protect his face when Hunter tried to head-butt him. Snarling, Seven rolled and flipped them until Hunter was beneath him. He nudged his thigh between Hunter’s legs and tucked his face into the man’s neck before he placed his whole weight down on Hunter and waited. They may be the same size, but he outweighed Hunter by several pounds.

Seven felt the moment when the fog from Hunter’s anger cleared and the fight went out of his body. Seven lifted his head and Hunter’s fingers sank into his hair.

“You asshole,” Hunter growled.

“I am,” Seven agreed and took Hunter’s mouth in a hard kiss. It was brutal and their lips mashed together. Seven tasted blood. Hunter bit at him and the hands in his hair fisted. Seven was sure Hunter would come away with some of his hair.

But then the kiss turned and became easier…almost tender and oh so fucking hot and hungry. Seven moaned into Hunter’s mouth and laved at the man’s tongue.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it,” Seven whispered into the kiss.

“I know,” Hunter groaned back, yanking at his shirt.

Seven lifted up and pulled his shirt the rest of the way off, then untied his shoes and kicked them away before starting on his pants. Hunter stripped in record time, jumped to his feet, and with his naked ass flashing, raced to the bathroom. The man returned shortly and triumphantly with a bottle of lube.

Seven crooked a finger but Hunter shook his head. “I’m not getting carpet burn when there’s a comfy bed right here.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Right here.” Hunter proceeded to stretch out on the bed and lube up his cock.

Seven climbed to his feet and stalked up and onto the bed on his hands and knees. He straddled Hunter’s hips and smoothed his hands up the man’s chest—fingers lingering on the sexy dragon tattoo. Hunter reached between them and positioned his cock and Seven lifted up. When the head of Hunter’s cock was at his crack, Seven eased down.

“Nnnnh.” The sound left Seven’s throat when Hunter’s cock popped into his ass.

Hunter’s hands gripped his hips before they smoothed up his back and his cock slipped deeper inside. The air left Seven’s lungs and he rocked back until Hunter’s cock was all the way in. Reaching down, Seven gripped his own dick and stroked it, rocking in time with Hunter’s thrusts.

He was already so fucking close. He sat upright, jerking his cock, and let Hunter guide the pace. Snapping his hips, Hunter ran one hand up and across his chest, pinching at his nipples.

Seven lost it, and his orgasm rolled up and over him. Hot seed squirted from his dick and he jerked harder and faster, milking his dick completely. Hunter’s hips picked up speed and pistoned upward.

Seven curled forward with a harsh groan. Hunter answered his groan and emptied himself with several jerking thrusts. Collapsing, Seven sprawled over Hunter, matching the man’s gasping breaths with his own.

Dozing, he wasn’t sure how much longer it was before Hunter gently rolled him off.

“Don’t go.” Seven flung his arm over Hunter’s stomach.

“Going to stick around, are you?”

Seven blinked open one eye and found Hunter’s blue gaze gleaming with banked yet challenging laughter.

“I am.”

“Good. Then so will I,” Hunter said.

He blinked open his other eye to look directly at Hunter. “Promise?”

Hunter gave him an odd look and then smiled as if going along with him and whatever crazy scheme this was. And maybe he did sound crazy after dodging what they’d had together for months.

“You have my word.” Hunter snickered.

Damn it. He wanted Hunter to take this seriously!

Oh, how the tables have turned.Before it was him avoiding commitment, now all he wanted was to tie Hunter to him for the rest of his life.

He just had to figure out how to do that.