Page 10 of Play Dirty

Az smiled in the dark. Most often, when one of them spent the night, they kept to their own side of the bed, making it far easier for one of them to slink off, leaving the other none the wiser. But not this time. This time, Madigan would not be slinking off in the dead of night, Az would make certain of it. “You would prefer big spoon? I am not one to get hung up on things such as this. Big spoon, little spoon, teaspoon, soup spoon. It’s all the same to me. I didn’t think you’d be so toxically masculine, but I suppose it does not surprise me coming from a man who nearly let me fuck him with a knife handle.”

Az flipped over to face the door, waiting expectantly for Madi to fulfill his role as big spoon. Madi flopped over onto his side, his hand awkwardly resting on Az’s waist, like they were slow dancing at some American prom. Az canted his hips back against Madi with a snicker. “Come on,motek, you can get closer. Pretend you’re simply guarding me so I don’t escape and you want to keep me very, very close.”

Madi let out a snort for the nonsensical suggestion and Az grinned into the darkness. Seeing the man this flummoxed from simply forcing him to snuggle might be better revenge than tying him down and licking his wounds, both literally and metaphorically. Who would have thought such a tough man could be brought to heel simply by making him a little spoon?

“If you don’t stop grinding your ass into my dick, it’s going to be me who ties you up and bleeds you while I fuck you.”

Az tilted his head as Madi’s fingers threaded his hair, tugging hard. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, Mr. Smith.” He sighed as Madi closed his hand around Az’s cock, working him in loose strokes. “I haven’t showered in three days.”

Madi yanked Az’s head back hard enough for him to growl, capturing his mouth in a dirty kiss before saying, “I like the way you smell.”

It shouldn’t have been a compliment, but Az’s pulse fluttered just the same. It was the heart of it, Az supposed. Even covered in dirt or blood, underneath it all, their scents called to each other. Pheromones, perhaps? Az didn’t care what it was called. Regardless of whether or not they despised each other, their bodies didn’t. There would always be that underlying need to crawl inside each other, fuck and fight and feed off each other. It wasn’t love. Love was for romance novels and teen girls in fairy tales. What they had was something baser. Something raw and dirty.

Az thought it was better.

“If I can’t fuck you and you’re too tired to fuck me, then tell me your deal. Or are you exacting your revenge by keeping me awake with imagined indecent proposals?”

“What I want is sleep and for you to be here when I wake in the morning,” Az admitted.

Madi was silent for a long moment. “You have my word, regardless of whether I accept your proposal. I’ll be here when you wake in the morning.”

Az didn’t doubt Madi’s word. In this business of crosses and double-crosses, a man’s word was his entire reputation. It wasn’t given lightly. “Very well. We’ve been playing this game with each other for years. I take a kill from you, you take one from me. This rivalry has already cost us our forty-eight hour advantage, and there are several high-value targets now on the darknet for any pleb to find. How long before one of them fucks up and word gets out that there’s a price on the targets’ heads? My guess would be hours.”

“I didn’t hear a proposal in all that,” Madi said, his fingertips tracing the ridges of Az’s hipbones in a strangely mesmerizing pattern. Was that what casual affection was like?

“My proposal is this. Two is better than one, and we are two of the best. I propose we team up, go for the elite targets and split the earnings. Let us use our unique skill sets to line our coffers before the list becomes obsolete.”

“You want us to kill…together?” Madi asked slowly, like he had to think about each word before he spoke it out loud.

“It is a proposal of murder,motek, not marriage. I’m simply asking us to put aside our rivalry temporarily, for the sake of riches. Is that not a better plan then this cat-and-mouse game we’ve been playing for years?” Az’s words hung in the night air, leaving him to focus on nothing but Madi’s maddening touch, soft, teasing, barely there. It was driving him mad. “Now, who is the tormentor? Yes, or no?”

It was a simple business arrangement, but, somehow, it sat between them like an explosive, like there was a time limit on the question and if one of them didn’t get the answer correct, it would blow apart this strangely fragile thing between them…whatever it was. It was in that moment, dancing on that knife’s edge, that Az realized this stupid, tenuous dalliance was really the only thing that still made him feel alive and now, he’d just risked it all, for what?

“Alright, I’m in.”

Az’s pulse skipped at Madi’s words, and he inwardly cursed himself for caring at all. “Excellent, now let me sleep. I have a punishment to dole out in the morning.”

“We’ll see who punishes who,” Madi said, a rare smile in his tone.

“Whom,” Az corrected, smiling himself.

4

Madigan

It was strange to wake up in bed with Az, and Madigan wasn’t sold on the foreign and slightly uncomfortable sense of awareness it produced inside him—of Azrael’s body heat, of the rise and fall of his back, of the soft sound of his breathing and the stark contrast of his jet hair spilling over the white pillowcase.

It was all just a little too fucking cozy.

Madigan lifted the covers, his gaze following the curvature of Az’s spine to his round ass. He slept with one leg hitched up, half on his stomach, half on his side. Madigan studied the shadowed furrow between Az’s cheeks.Tempting. He bit the inside of his lip, considering, then shook it off and slid from the bed instead. Caffeine would have to be a stand-in for fucking Az into the mattress.

He padded naked from the suite and into the living area to start the single-cup coffee maker before heading into the bathroom with his phone and scrolling through the Red Queen’s list of names, already regretting assenting to Azrael’s proposal. It wasn’t that he was opposed. His stint in the Army proved that, but he’d purposely avoided it as often as possible ever since. He liked working alone, and he didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else. Didn’t want to rely on anyone else, either. Jonah was as close as he’d gotten and, well, look how that had worked out. On the bright side, at least Jonah wasn’t dead. Just in love, which Madigan sometimes thought was equivalent.

He tossed his phone on the counter, turned on the shower, and got in, ducking under the water and standing under the pelting cascade until all he heard was a roar in his ears. He could leave before Az woke and he’d get the message. They’d continue with the status quo.

That was probably the best idea.

He’d blame being half asleep for having said yes in the first place last night. It was a fool’s errand. It was even possible Az was setting him up. Madigan pondered that while soaping himself. Az had plenty of opportunity to take him out last night, though. On the other hand, Madigan had always suspected Az of having a flair for the dramatic, given their first meeting, so he couldn’t rule out a display of theatrics before Azrael dealt the final blow.