Absolution: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book Two) Read online

  Zayn watched her, and he wanted to find himself buried in her body. Pulling on the zip ties, they snapped.

  Yeah, they could hold most people, but he was pretty damn strong.

  She gasped when she opened her eyes, and he was over her body, waiting for that release.

  It gave her the chills.

  “I have to have you,” he said, trapping her with his arms beside her head.

  That was the only warning he gave her.

  Stella gasped as he drove that throbbing erection into the wet warmth of her body.

  Stella was his prisoner now, and she loved every damn second of it too.

  He rode her hard.

  Zayn had no choice.

  He was lost in the pleasure of her body, the need of her, and the joy of finally having someone he could love. That was precious to him.

  He couldn’t stop.

  No.

  He wouldn’t stop.

  “So close,” he muttered, as his balls tightened, and he felt the tingle rush up his spine. When his wife’s legs wrapped around his hips, refusing to let him go, he was on the edge.

  Then she tugged him down, making him think it was for a kiss. Only, it wasn’t. His sweet, spicy Stella bit him on the neck.

  Zayn came like a tidal wave.

  That lust poured out of him and into her.

  There was no holding back as his wife took the tumble with him. Together, they fell into the bliss of orgasm, her trapped beneath him.

  It was perfection.

  A few moments had passed, and Zayn regained his senses. He was on top of her, and he didn’t want to crush her.

  He rolled to his back, and Stella moved with him. Immediately, she tucked herself into his body, her leg going over his lower extremities.

  “That was hot,” he muttered. “I can’t believe you’re my wife. I’m damn lucky.”

  She giggled.

  “You should get drunk more often.”

  She sat up and stared into his eyes.

  “That wasn’t the tequila talking,” she said honestly. “It was fun, but I wasn’t drunk off the booze.”

  He lifted a brow.

  “What?”

  “I was drunk off love. My husband is the sexiest man in the world, and I can’t get enough of him,” she admitted. “I wanted the house to ourselves. You tend to worry they’ll hear us having sex, so I wanted to remove the barrier between us and fun.”

  He laughed.

  “You’re sneaky.”

  “I wanted to be alone with you, so we could be us. I love you, Zayn. I love you more than my own life.”

  “Oh, Stella,” he stated.

  She lowered her mouth to his and gave him a soft, gentle kiss.

  It warmed his body all over again.

  Then it stopped.

  “Want to do it again?” she asked, as she slid off of the bed and headed toward the shower.

  He grinned.

  “Seriously?” he asked, pointing at his already erect dick. “Need you ask?”

  She looked over her shoulder.

  “Just making sure. Get ready, Mr. Yazzie. You have a few women in your life, and they each want a turn.”

  He counted off all of their aliases on his fingers.

  “Yes, all of them.”

  It made him giggle like a teenage boy on his prom night. He loved his wife.

  She was amazing.

  “Oh, I think I’m up for it,” he said, throbbing at the mere idea that he was going again, and again, and yet, again.

  Indeed, he was ready for that mission.

  “That’s the other thing I like about you,” she said, running her fingers through the wetness between her legs, and then wiggling her finger to beckon him toward her.

  “You’re always up for the job.”

  He grinned.

  “Oh, I like lots about you too, Marigold. I definitely want to make you happy.”

  Stella grinned.

  “Oh, you will. You’re going to be well satiated before tonight’s job,” she admitted. “I want you focused when you go in and save that woman.”

  Oh, he would be—especially now. By the time his wife was done with him, he’d be drained dry.

  And he was fine with that.

  “Use me, Marigold. Use me until I can’t walk.”

  She slapped her own ass and headed into the bathroom with him racing after her.

  That said it all.

  Married women were hot.

  Sexy married women were wicked.

  And his wife?

  She was going to rock his world. Then, he was going to do the same back.

  On the dresser, he grabbed a handful of zip ties.

  “Oh, Marigold.”

  “Yes?” she called, as the water went on.

  “Mr. Yazzie has a confession.”

  “What?” she called, as he stroked his erection in prep for what was about to come.

  “He likes it rough.”

  That’s when he struck, pinning her to the wall, and her hands to the shower head with the zip ties.

  “How rough?” she asked, as he bit her on the neck.

  “You’re about to find out.”

  And she did.

  Mr. Yazzie was a wild man.

  Just.

  Her.

  Luck.

  Chapter Three

  Monday

  Noon

  W hen they returned to the location where the woman’s secret home was located, the hidden bar across the street wasn’t open anymore. It was clear that Julius wanted a little break—especially since he scared away all his customers.

  And them.

  Now that they were there, Dakota, Rogue, and Sarah were going to go over every inch of Charlotte’s real home, trying to find anything that might help them locate the man who killed her. If they found Chesky, that might lead them to Rogue’s father.

  All the while, there was one thing in the back of their minds.

  Hopefully, the police never got wind of any of this.

  While Julius had been nice enough to give them the key to Charlotte’s place, Dakota would have had them search it at some point. He’d been there before.

  Now, there might be something they could use in the location. This could be their big break. While they knew Chesky was the killer, they needed proof, and it needed to be handled on the DL—without the cops all over them.

  Why?

  New Orleans would fracture.

  Half the city was good, and half was evil. The evil half followed their own little cliques, and a chunk of them were likely in Chesky Jensen’s pocket.

  He was scum like that, and they couldn’t let the world know they were gunning for them. If they did, there was no doubt in any of their minds that the city would wrap around the man and help him go under.

  That was the last thing they needed.

  So, heading upstairs, silently they unlocked the door, and Rogue peeked inside.

  “Is this the place Zayn brought you that first day to ask for help?” Rogue asked.

  “Yeah, this is it. This is where Zayn brought me. He knew it was her place. I’m not sure how well-hidden it really was,” he offered.

  Yeah, that was true.

  “Is this the place where she tried to get into my man’s pants?” Sarah asked as they moved inside the apartment.

  He grinned.

  Only, Sarah didn’t.

  Before he could say anything, they heard something from in the kitchen across the place.

  They didn’t move so no one would know they were there.

  Then they heard it again.

  They weren’t alone.

  “Do you smell burning?” Sarah whispered as Rogue pulled the gun he had tucked beneath his fancy coat.

  Sarah and Dakota followed his gaze to where it emanated.

  “What’s the plan?” Rogue asked.

  He was a planning kind of guy, and this was no different. He wanted to be on the same page if they were going in there.

 
; “Find out who is there and stop them. I smell burning too,” Dakota offered.

  That worked for him.

  Sarah and Dakota both pulled guns and began moving toward the kitchen. As they looked around the corner, there was a man with a Bluetooth in one ear, and a wired earbud in the other. He was standing over the gas stove as he ripped pages out of a book and burned them.

  He was talking to someone.

  Yeah, they couldn’t let him destroy whatever was in there.

  Sarah pointed.

  Dakota shook his head to try and stop her. They had to do this right. They would only get one shot at it, and it needed to be handled the right way.

  Besides, there was no way in hell he was letting his fiancée head in there and…

  But it was too late.

  She headed into the kitchen, crept up behind him, and gave him a shot to the back of the head with the butt of her gun.

  He crumbled like a wall.

  Rogue touched his lips to signal they had to be quiet. The man he was talking to was still chattering away on the phone.

  Pulling the Bluetooth from his ear, he listened to him so he could try and figure out who it was and get as much information from him.

  “I want you to make sure the cunt left nothing behind. She’s been nothing but trouble for me the whole time. Have I made myself clear?”

  He made a sound like he was agreeing with him. It was somewhere between yes and non-committal.

  It seemed to work.

  “Good. Then I want you to meet us at the location tomorrow night for the pick-up. Do you need me to send you the location?” he asked.

  “Uh huh,” he said, muffling his voice behind some rustling of paper.

  Sarah and Dakota were holding their breath. This could go well, or it could go wrong.

  Rogue prayed it worked.

  “On it. Text me when the deed is done. Burn that place to the ground. I want nothing left there. Got it?”

  “Uh huh.”

  The line went dead, Rogue pulled the Bluetooth from his ear and relaxed.

  It was done.

  “Who was it?” Dakota asked.

  “No clue, but there’s a meet tomorrow night, and we are to burn the place down as soon as we do his bidding. That’s going to be…interesting.”

  Oh, that was a predicament.

  If they wanted to go to the meet, there was a good chance whoever was on the phone would be waiting to hear about the fire. If they didn’t torch the place, the dude might get suspicious and call it off.

  Well, shit!

  It looked like they didn’t have a choice in the matter. Charlotte’s old nest was about to be smoldering when they finished.

  “Arson anyone?” he asked.

  Sarah raised her hand.

  “That is so very wrong,” Dakota stated.

  The man on the floor groaned.

  “Let’s get him tied up,” Dakota said as he and Rogue pulled him toward a chair and found some things to bind him there. Strips of sheets would work perfectly.

  “How much did he burn?” Dakota called to Sarah, as she checked out his work.

  “Well, a good chunk of the pages are scorched. It looks like he tried to burn the whole book at first. I’m not some science geek, but I think someone with some lab skill could pull off some of the carbon.”

  “Know anyone?” Rogue asked, hoping they did. If not, they were screwed. Had they not brought Stella home, they might have gotten to the book before the bound man.

  “Well, we can call Elizabeth,” Dakota stated. “Since the FBI wants this handled, they could help us out.”

  “I don’t think we have a choice,” Rogue offered.

  Yeah, him either.

  Sarah headed their way with the book slipped into a nice clean storage bag. She was trying to preserve what was left of it so they had a chance of cleaning and reading it.

  “What else did he have?” Dakota asked.

  She held up a piece of paper with some numbers on it. She knew exactly what they were. She’d seen things like this growing up.

  “It looks like she was running something. Maybe she was connected to the sex ring?”

  Rogue shook his head.

  “She wouldn’t.”

  “Like she wouldn’t bed down with you for a full year to get into your little black book of sneaky business?” Sarah asked, trying to get him to think about that for a second. Rogue had been played like a fiddle more than once when it came to this woman.

  “You have a very valid point. I don’t trust women anymore, so ignore my previous statement.”

  “Hey! That still stings. I’ve never burned you. That should be a case by case thing.”

  He agreed.

  “Yes, except you, and since you’re going to dump Dakota and marry me one day, I should play this just right,” he teased, knowing it made him insane.

  His comment got him the icy stare.

  “I will hurt you.”

  He snorted.

  There was no doubt in his mind they were trying to cheer him up. His life had been turned upside down. Nothing was the same the past two weeks.

  Charlotte was murdered, and the truth came out.

  He had a kid.

  The woman he thought he’d bailed on had been using him to build her own nefarious career, and to top it all off, his father was possibly connected to this.

  It was a shit week—for sure.

  The man in the chair moaned even louder this time, and they knew they were about to get down to business. When he opened his eyes, Sarah was standing before him with a big smile on her face.

  “Hey, you’re wrecking someone’s home,” she said, sweetly, knowing it was going to get ugly.

  “Who are you?”

  “Bunny,” she said, punching him so hard, his nose broke and blood splattered across the room.

  Both men flinched at the sound of his nose never being the same again.

  It looked like it was time for the Bunny show—and not the liquor slinging one.

  “Uh, maybe question him before you break him?” Dakota asked, watching his girl work. Part of him knew he should be worried. Pissing her off was a bad idea.

  Still…

  It was hot.

  Sarah was badass, and it got his juices flowing. Whenever she did shit like this, he was horny all day long.

  “Oh, I know, but I like to soften them up before I ask them the big questions,” she stated. “Like for instance, who do you work for?”

  The man’s mouth closed down so fast, it was clear he wasn’t going to say jack shit to her, and that was going to be a problem.

  For him.

  “Aww, no talky?” she asked, whispering in his ear. She could see the artery in his temple thumping.

  He was scared.

  Well, it was time to really terrify him. If he was working for Chesky, he was going to be a dead man walking—after they got their intel.

  Selling women…it was a bad thing.

  Someone had to learn that lesson, even if he was only part of the operation and not the man behind it.

  He shook his head.

  Well, the decision was made.

  “Be right back.”

  She flounced away, looking for something to help her break his silence. It had to be convincing enough, and since he’d seen them, she knew he couldn’t walk away from any of this. If he was part of it, and the building had to go up, he was going up too.

  That was life.

  Lesson learned when siding with sexual deviants, who thought selling women was a good idea.

  It wasn’t.

  “I’d talk if I were you,” Dakota stated, trying to convince the man. “She’s going to hurt you.”

  He rolled his eyes.

  Rogue pulled out his wallet to prove a point, and he wanted to freak the man out as much as possible.

  “Fifty says she cuts him and he’s a bloody mess before we burn this place to the ground.”

  Dakota considered it.

 
“I say she uses the ‘lighter on the nipple’ trick again. I mean, how many ways could she possibly have to kill someone? Her repertoire has to be nearly empty.”

  The man in the chair began laughing. Clearly, they didn’t think the men were being serious.

  Well, the joke was on him.

  Sarah had become good at what she did in a very short time. In fact, she liked it, and that made it all the worse. She could act the part of some lunatic, and it didn’t have to be believable. She was willing to back it up with death.

  When she came in, she had a plastic garbage bag in her hand and a smile on her face.

  “Did he talk?”

  They both shook their heads.

  “Good. I like having fun.”

  As she faced down the man, she reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet to get a name to go with the asshole she was about to interrogate.

  “We have Elliot Baird. Oh, look, he’s twenty-five tomorrow. Well, that sucks. I hope no one planned a party. The guest of honor won’t be attending.”

  He spit blood on her pants.

  “Oh, I liked these. That you just spread your vile saliva on them pisses me off.”

  She threw the garbage bag over his head and cut off any air that could get in there.

  “What’s that smell?” Rogue asked. “Did he shit himself already?”

  “Used garbage bag. I dumped the rotting stuff into the can. Charlotte had them on her shopping list on the fridge. What?” she asked as Dakota stared at her.

  He laughed.

  “You scare me.”

  “Don’t cheat then or I’m killing you and marrying Rogue. I think I could rock out the Ravenscroft name.”

  He snorted.

  “Honey, you can rock out anything you want if you become my wife. I’ll buy you a unicorn.”

  “I do like…”

  She stopped.

  Again, Dakota pointed.

  “I got it. Focus.”

  They watched as the man struggled to get air. The bag was airtight on his face, and his mouth was open wide as he struggled to inhale.

  “Uh, if you kill him…”

  She was aware.

  He was no good to them dead—until they got some intel out of him. There was a fine line between torture and murder. She was at it.

  Quickly, Sarah pulled the nasty smelling bag off of his face and smiled. There was some mold stuck to his bleeding nose.

  Good thing he wouldn’t live long enough to worry about an infection.