Sicarii 3 Read online

  SICARII

  Part III

  Adrienne Wilder

  Contents

  Untitled

  Untitled

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Sicarii

  Book III

  Copyright 2020 Adrienne Wilder

  Cover art by Adrienne Wilder

  The following is a work of fiction and not based on anyone living or dead. All people, the town, the events are works from the writer’s imagination.

  Please don’t distribute all or in part, by any means, without written permission from the writer. Please do not upload or give away when purchased as an e-book.

  This is my livelihood and without it I can’t afford to write. I know some people don’t think this is a job because I do enjoy telling these stories, but it doesn’t change the fact I spend hundreds, sometimes thousands of hours putting these books together. In many cases they can take years to complete.

  Piracy isn’t harmless. Piracy is a crime. Piracy hurts writers.

  Created with Vellum

  Sicarii plural form of Sicarius: Latin for dagger-men

  For the sake of simplicity, and since this is fiction, Sicarii will

  be used as both singular and plural.

  1

  Sam hoisted his backpack off the floor.

  His sisters were long gone, all in a hurry to show off pictures of the dresses they’d wear to the Spring Dance. And Mom and Dad had left shortly after them.

  Sam made sure to lock the door as he left.

  He headed down his driveway and up the sidewalk. Karl and Stan stood under the trees, four houses down.

  Sam stopped.

  Apparently a piece of paper from a magistrate judge hadn’t been as intimidating as his mother thought.

  If Sam tried to cut across the back, they’d follow him, then there’d be no witnesses when they caught up and beat the shit out of him.

  Running back in the house would only delay the inevitable. Plus, he’d be late for school, and he couldn’t afford that with two exams this morning.

  He also couldn’t afford a broken arm.

  Legs.

  Maybe even a cracked skull.

  Sam sighed. This was not a good start to his week.

  A forest green muscle car pulled up to the curb. Marcel sat in the driver’s seat.

  Sam walked over. “What are you doing here?”

  The man smiled, wrinkling the scars on his cheek. “I am going to the store. For groceries. I am going to make spaghetti, and I am out of sauce. I thought maybe you would like to ride since you are running late.” He shrugged. “Plus, I like the company.”

  If Marcel saw the two boys hiding in the shade, he didn’t act like it.

  “Yeah, sure.” It didn’t exactly solve the issue, but Sam would make it in time for his tests. Getting home would be a different problem.

  Sam went around to the passenger seat.

  Karl and Stan scowled. It was tempting to wave, but Sam didn’t need to make the day any worse than it would already be.

  Marcel pulled away from the curb and crept down the street.

  “The speed limit is twenty-five.” Sam couldn’t see the speedometer from where he sat, but he was pretty sure he could walk faster than the car moved.

  “Ah, but slow is safer.”

  Sam leaned back in his seat.

  The car rolled past the two boys. They both had murder in their eyes.

  Sam’s murder.

  He sank lower.

  “You are still having problems with the other students at your school?”

  Maybe Marcel had seen the two boys.

  “Yeah.”

  “You have not told your mother.” Marcel made it a statement.

  “She already took out a good behavior bond on them.”

  “But their behavior is not very good.”

  “As long as they aren’t actually putting their hands on me, they aren’t breaking it.”

  “Ah. But they stalk you. Surely that is breaking Rules.”

  Maybe, probably. “If I tell her they’re following me she’ll try and have them arrested again.” Although that was starting to look like a pretty good idea.

  “She could not have them arrested before?”

  “The judge didn’t want them arrested for something that almost happened. He thinks the good behavior bond will be enough.”

  Marcel made a thinking sound. “But it is not.” Again a statement.

  “I guess not.”

  “Sometimes parents cannot fix things no matter how hard they want to.”

  Wasn’t that the truth.

  Sam sat up a little. “I don’t suppose you know about any boxes I could move around to keep from getting my teeth knocked out?”

  Marcel laughed. An oddly fitting, deep, robust sound. “No. I am sorry. No boxes.”

  “I’d ask you about some karate moves, but…”

  They exited the subdivision.

  Sam pushed back his bangs. “You really killed people?” It should have felt scary asking the question, but it didn’t even feel strange.

  “Yes.”

  “Because they didn’t follow the rules.”

  “Yes. Because they did not follow the Rules.” Again an emphasis on the world that made it sound far more menacing than it should have.

  “What Rules?”

  Marcel inhaled deep. “There is a balance to the world. Sometimes that balance is displaced. Then the ones upsetting it must be removed.”

  “Destructive people?” Hadn’t that been what Marcel called them?

  Marcel tipped his chin. “Yes.”

  “Didn’t it make you feel guilty?” Sam was pretty sure he knew the answer.

  “If it did, I did not feel it.”

  Sam squinted at the man. “You didn’t feel it?”

  “No.”

  “How can you not feel guilt?”

  Marcel shrugged. “I do not.” There was something else, but when Marcel didn’t elaborate, Sam watched the scenery outside the passenger window. Houses, trees, an intersection. A school bus rounded the corner.

  “How did you decide who to kill?” Sam turned back around.

  “That was not my decision to make.”

  “Whose was it?”

  “The Justices of my House.”

  “I don’t suppose they take requests?” Sam couldn’t believe he said it. But like Marcel had already said, fear did strange things to a person. And yeah, Sam was pretty scared of Karl and his buddies. “I’m so screwed.”

  “You cannot run when you face wolves. They are always faster. And they can track you.”

  “Karl and the others aren’t wolves.” Wolves were probably smarter. Nicer too.

  “Animals are animals, Sam Waters. Whether they walk upright or on all fours, it makes no difference.”

  “Yeah, well, if I had a wolf problem, I’d call animal control. Then they could tranq them and carry them off somewhere else.”

  Too bad there wasn’t a relocation program for assholes.

  Marcel pulled onto the road heading to the high school. Buses and cars oozed through the gates.

  Sam exhaled a frustrated breath. “Well?”

  “Well, what?”

  “Aren’t you going to tell me some story about how you beat up wolves or something on your way to school in the snow?”

  “No.”

  Sam opened his mouth, then closed it. He glared at the man beside him. And why? It wasn’t his fault K
arl had Sam marked for death.

  “Great, I always wanted to be put in traction.” His eyes burned, but he willed himself not to cry.

  “Then do not give them opportunity.”

  Sam laughed. “Gee, thanks. I would have never thought of that.”

  Marcel looked at Sam. The man’s expression hadn’t changed, but the weight of his gaze had Sam sliding back down in his seat.

  “Sorry, that was rude of me.”

  Marcel returned his attention to the road. “It was bold. It was what you felt had to be said.” He flicked on the blinker and merged into the right turn lane. “You are not weak. You are not helpless.”

  “When it’s three on one, I’m pretty helpless.”

  Marcel turned into the school parking lot. “Then do not wait for it to be three against one.”

  Students stopped in their conversation to watch the car pass by.

  Marcel pulled up to the curb.

  Sam popped the latch on the door.

  “When you face them, do not show mercy.” Marcel watched the students as they walked by.

  “I’m pretty sure that won’t be an issue.” It would be hard to not show mercy unconscious and bleeding all over the ground.

  Sam got out.

  Roshan stood under the overhang by the main doors of the building. Well, at least there was one good thing to look forward to.

  Sam started to close the door. “Oh, thanks for the ride and all.”

  “You are welcome.”

  Sam pushed the door shut on the GTO and headed up the sidewalk to where Roshan waited.

  “Hi.” Roshan’s entire face lit up with a smile.

  “Hi, yourself.” Okay, it was a lame reply, but Sam still grinned like an idiot.

  “Who’s that?” Roshan nodded at the GTO.

  “Oh, that’s my neighbor. He gave me a ride since I was running late.” Sam slipped his other arm through his backpack. “You ready?”

  “Sure.”

  Sam glanced back.

  Even though Sam couldn’t see Marcel, he knew the man watched him.

  Jacob sat at the edge of his bed, staring at his reflection on the TV screen.

  Dust motes slid through the beams of sunlight escaping through the gaps in the curtains to vanish back into the dark.

  Footsteps thumped across the ceiling. The high-pitched screams of defiant children came from the parking lot.

  Sleep called to Jacob, but his mind refused to quit replaying last night. Not the sex, not choking on Ben’s cock, not coming with the man’s hand on him, but the ache left behind when it had ended.

  The loss of Ben’s touch, his gaze, the very weight of his presence.

  Nothing like the crushing power of Marcel. Strength that cocooned Jacob, walling him off from the world.

  What Jacob felt in front of Ben pleaded with him to step from Marcel’s shadow. Begged him to reach out.

  And Jacob wanted to do both.

  Marcel had told Jacob many times he could not love him. Something Jacob didn’t care about because he’d been so sure he loved the man enough for both of them.

  But after basking in the warmth of Ben’s presence, Jacob was forced to realize the hollowness in his chest. How he didn’t just want more, he needed more. He ached for it.

  Because he’d never had it.

  Now Jacob had seen a glimmer of what life could be if he’d just look for it.

  A thought that terrified him.

  Jacob rested his elbows on his knees and scrubbed his face. The clock on the nightstand read 1:30. His stomach growled, and his tongue tried to stick to the roof of his mouth.

  He went to the fridge and grabbed a water. Jacob drank while he pushed around containers looking for something appealing. A knock at the door startled him. He closed the fridge and left his half-empty bottle of water on the dresser.

  Jacob peered through the gap in the curtain. Ben stood outside with his head down. His hair on end, and he wore the same clothes he’d had on last night. Wrinkles creased the fabric like he might have slept in them. But the dark circles under his eyes suggested he’d tossed and turned instead.

  Jacob opened the door.

  Ben met his gaze. Questions burned behind his eyes, and he swallowed several times.

  Jacob moved out of the way, and Ben hesitated only a second before walking inside. The door thumped shut, and they both stood there.

  Footsteps pounded the sidewalk, mixing with the perpetual nonexistent silence of the motel.

  Ben raised his gaze again and licked his lips.

  Heat filled Jacob’s cheeks.

  Ben shuffled his feet before stepping closer. Jacob didn’t move.

  “I…” Ben reached up but left his touch hovering a hair’s breadth from Jacob’s cheek.

  Jacob didn’t try and fight the urge to lean into the contact. Warmth spread through his skin, his chest tightened, his heart jumped, yet the absence of guilt played the loudest in his mind.

  At least until Ben pressed his lips to Jacob’s, then there was nothing but velvet and the wet silk of his tongue. Jacob tangled his hands in Ben’s hair and drank down his moan.

  Jacob went forward, trapping Ben against the door. He grunted from the impact, and the sound shot through Jacob. He attacked Ben’s neck, raking his teeth over his Adam’s apple, stopping to suck at the edge of his collarbone and soothe the mark he left with a swipe of his tongue.

  “Fuck.” Ben gripped Jacob by the back of his head, and Jacob made his way to Ben’s ear. He growled, and Jacob bit down on the shell.

  Ben’s hard cock pushed at Jacob’s from behind his jeans. He reached for the zipper but stopped.

  Ben panted against Jacob’s cheek. This close, his eyes were nothing but black pools ringed by green.

  “Yes.”

  Jacob wasn’t sure he heard right until Ben nodded. Jacob seized Ben’s mouth and worked open the front of Ben’s pants, freeing him. Precum smeared over Jacob’s palm.

  Ben arched, offering his neck, and Jacob took the invitation to mark him again. Subtle sweat mixed with the faint flavor of soap.

  “I want you.” And the tremor in Ben’s voice told Jacob how much that scared him.

  Jacob was pretty sure he was equally afraid. Not being wanted, but being in the position of power, being the one who made the decisions instead of having it taken from him.

  “I can’t stop thinking about you.” Ben’s voice cracked, his inhale stuttered. “How you looked, how you felt, how—”

  “Tell me what you want.” Jacob spoke against Ben’s mouth.

  Ben shivered. “I don’t know. Everything? Anything?” He almost smiled.

  Jacob pushed his hands under Ben’s shirt, bunching the fabric up around his ribs. Ben gripped the hem and pulled it over his head.

  Jacob ran his thumb down the thin trail of chest hair. “I still need to help you finish shaving.”

  Ben nodded.

  Jacob returned to Ben’s jeans, inching them lower with his underwear until they slid to his knees, stopping only because Ben stood with his feet slightly apart.

  The weight of his cock pressed against Jacob’s palm, lower, his balls heavy in Jacob’s hand. He followed the curve of the man’s hips to the globes of his ass. The slope drawing his touch to the top of Ben’s thigh and over to his crease.

  Ben gasped, and Jacob flicked a look up.

  Lips parted, face flushed, a sheen of sweat on his skin, Ben looked like a man on the edge of coming.

  And Jacob was responsible.

  He made some space and pulled off his shirt. Ben tracked his movements with his eyes. Jacob undid his jeans. He didn’t have on shoes or underwear, and they fell to his ankles. His cock jutted out, swollen, leaking. He danced his fingers over the length to the tip and swirled a finger over the head.

  Ben caught Jacob’s hand and lifted it up as he leaned forward. He held Jacob’s stare while wrapping his lips around the digit and sucking.

  Jacob pushed his finger deeper, swiping it over Ben�
��s tongue before pulling back until only the tip rested on Ben’s bottom lip.

  “Go lay on the bed.” Jacob moved away. He brought his wet finger to his mouth and sucked it clean.

  Ben started to follow, but his jeans hobbled him enough to make him stumble. Jacob caught him.

  “The bed. Get undressed and get on the bed.” Jacob didn’t wait to see if Ben obeyed. He walked over to the vanity where he kept supplies. He picked up a bottle and a couple of condoms.

  “I got tested.” Ben sat on the edge of the bed. His shoes, underwear, and jeans lay in a pile by the door. He met Jacob’s gaze in the mirror and looked away. “I mean, if it makes a difference.”

  Jacob needed to use the condoms. It didn’t matter if Ben got tested, nothing between them would make it too real. It was bad enough he even wanted the man.

  Worse how much he wanted him.

  But for some reason, Jacob left the condoms on the counter and walked over. He set the bottle on the nightstand. Ben put a hand on Jacob’s thigh. The other he ran over his hip, to the juncture of his legs, where he followed the slow curve of Jacob’s cock to the tip.

  Ben parted his lips, leaned closer.

  Jacob stopped him. “We don’t have to do this.”

  Ben laughed a little. “I do.”

  “Why?”

  Ben shook his head. “I’ve just never felt like this. I never knew anyone could feel like this.”

  “You’ve been through a lot.” That alone should have made Jacob push Ben away.

  “That’s not it. I thought it might, but…” Ben’s expression twisted with confusion. “It’s not.” Ben’s exhale ghosted the head of Jacob’s cock.

  A shiver ran down Jacob’s spine.

  “I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t think I care.” Ben swiped his tongue over the head of Jacob’s dick.

  He threaded a hand through Ben’s hair. Heated silk covered the fat head, and Jacob exhaled a moan.