Chapter Twenty-Seven

Hunter

The hotel room was super quiet compared to the storm raging outside, but Hunter welcomed it.

Fuck, he was bone weary and sank down to sit on the edge of the bed.

“You okay?” Seven asked, closing the door and flipping the locks before slowly approaching him. The man’s fingers combed gently through the hair on his bent head.

“Yeah, thank God Stone made it through surgery on his leg. Doc says he’ll make a full recovery.”

“Mhmm. Good thing he had a vest on,” Seven agreed. “I thought Dave was going to lose his shit there for a while, though.”

“Yeah, there’s history there.”

“What kind?”

“I don’t actually know the details, but every time those two are in the same room, it’s like lightning.”

Seven nodded but seemed antsy.

“Is your brother okay?”

“Yeah, Ice is at my house with him. He went straight there right before I came back to you.”

“He’s a good friend.” Hunter smiled.

“He is,” Seven agreed and then rubbed at his chin before doing a complete topic change. “Don’t you think it’s kind of weird that Solomon disappeared?”

When the ambulance had arrived, the EMTs never found Solomon. However, they had been on hand to help Stone.

Hunter sighed. “Well, Erebus has their own doctors. So, if he was able, he’d go to them rather than explain away a bullet wound to a local hospital.”

“Stone had a bullet wound,” Seven pointed out.

“Yeah, he also had the former SecDef breathing brimstone and fire,” Hunter smirked. “Besides, I overheard Dave say that Stone was his bodyguard.”

When Seven stayed silent, Hunter patted the spot on the mattress beside him.

“What’s on your mind? I can see the wheels spinning.”

Seven slowly sank down next to him, and Hunter turned to cup the man’s unshaven jaw, gazing into tired ocean-blue eyes.

“I think I’m better suited to Erebus,” Seven said.

In truth, the statement didn’t surprise him. He figured Seven wouldn’t want to be with him and work with him at the same time, but he needed to find out why Seven chose Erebus over Pegasus or even Phoenix. Either way, Hunter was determined to make this work, so whatever Seven wanted to do, Hunter would back him up.

“Why do you think you’re better suited?”

“Because I killed Lark without blinking.”

So, this wasn’t about working together, he thought silently.

“Do you think that Pegasus and Phoenix always follow the letter of the law?” Hunter asked.

Seven nodded doggedly.

Hunter huffed and then gave a dry smile, and Seven glanced away.

“Not hardly. None of Dave’s specialty teams are black or white. We operate in the gray, hovering on the fringes of society. I remember—and this was while I was still with Erebus—a story came out about this young boy who was kept in captivity.”

Hunter paused until Seven had turned toward him.

“What happened?” Seven asked.

“During a raid, a US Marshal saved him. That boy grew up, joined one of Dave’s units, and then killed the men responsible for murdering his mother.”

“Yeah?” Hope bloomed in Seven’s eyes and Hunter nodded as he delivered the brief story of Noah and Mac.

“Mhmm, and not long ago, a man I admire and respect emptied his gun—until the barrel clicked over and over—into the body of a man who had kidnapped the man he loved.”

Seven huffed. “I know that one, Rossi and Stefano. Fisher told me.”

“Yeah…and let’s not forget that one man crushed another man’s throat to save the one he loves,” Hunter said, reminding Seven that it had been him who had ended the life of the sex and drug trafficker who had dared to lay a hand on Seven.

Seven’s gaze softened. “You know, you try to come across as some easygoing flirt who wouldn’t harm a fly, but I see you.”

“You do?” Hunter let the humor and love shine from his eyes.

“Mhmm, and I love what I see.”

Fuck. It was true. Wishes did come true. Who would have thought talking about murder and mayhem would go hand in hand with admissions of love?

“I have a confession to make.”

“What’s that?” Hunter racked his brain over what Seven had to come clean about, but came up with nothing.

“I tapped your phone and put a tracker on it.” Seven ducked his head and stared at his hands.

Hunter’s smile grew, but Seven refused to look at him.

“I knew my phone was being tracked and I knew you were recording my conversations the moment you did it.”

Seven’s head snapped up and he opened his mouth, but appeared at a loss for words.

“I was tempted to call a 1-800 do me line and have phone sex just for you.”

Oh, his warrior didn’t like that and deep lines furrowed Seven’s forehead. Hunter stifled his laughter, but Seven heard him and toppled him back on the bed.

Hunter’s laugh turned into muffled groans when Seven swooped in for a kiss. They fought each other, yanking off clothes until they were wearing nothing but briefs, and that was only because Seven got busy by trailing his mouth over Hunter’s neck and down his chest. When Seven sucked first one nub and then the other into his mouth and began toying with the sensitive nips with his teeth, Hunter groaned.

“Oh fuck.” Hunter arched, and his hands took full advantage of Seven’s distraction to wander over the man’s heated skin. His cock pulsed as the teasing sent ripples of need straight to his groin. Appearing satisfied with reddening his nipples, Seven rubbed his closely cropped beard down Hunter’s stomach.

Fingers caught and removed his briefs and then Seven was kicking out of his own until bare skin touched his.

Fisting Seven’s hair, he pulled the man’s head up, kissing his mouth. Seven slid one leg between his and pressed his thigh up against his balls.

Grinding, Seven rubbed his cock up and down against Hunter’s dick until his hips undulated and Hunter gasped into the open-mouthed kiss. Seven sucked at his tongue before nipping at his lips and then trailing his mouth over his jaw and down his throat. Hunter’s head fell back and he sucked in long, deep breaths—his fisted hands eased and he stroked softly through Seven’s hair.

Seven’s mouth moved down his chest, but Hunter had a better idea.

He rolled them over on the mattress.

Pushing up with his arms, he gazed down into Seven’s face, then pushed Seven’s arms up over his head. At the same time, he slipped his leg between Seven’s and parted his thighs.

Seven growled when Hunter’s knee pressed into his balls and he yanked his hands from over his head to run them down Hunter’s sides, back, and then up over his shoulders before snaking down between them to close around his cock.

When Seven’s rough grip closed around his cock, Hunter thought he’d blow. He pulled from Seven’s grip, smiling at the man’s frown.

Hunter didn’t care, it was his turn. He roamed his mouth down over Seven’s jaw, then licked at his neck before running his mouth over his shoulders, chest, and abdomen. Seven groaned beneath him and then gasped at the swipe of Hunter’s tongue at the head of his cock. Swirling his tongue along the slit, he popped the head into his mouth.

“Fuck,” Seven breathed.

Hunter took the man’s length to the root—it was hot, slick, and oh so fucking slow. Seven bowed his back a bit, grinding his hips before the man’s fingers tightly gripped his shoulders.

“Hunter,” Seven warned.

“Don’t come,” Hunter pulled off enough to whisper and then tongued at the slit of his dick. Before he slipped his lips back over Seven’s cock and took him all the way in, he moaned.

“Nhhh fuuuuck…”

Hunter knocked the head of Seven’s cock in the back of his throat, and the man made a sound somewhere between a groan and a growl. Fuck, he loved that sound. He squeezed at the base of Seven’s cock to stop any idea of releasing and pulled off with a pop.

“Get the lube,” Seven said, breathing hard.

Hunter smiled.