Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Dave had no idea how he’d survived more than an hour in the truck, sitting so close to
Chelsea. Her leg had rested against his the entire journey, causing him to feel distracted, calmed,
and… aroused beyond reason. It took him back to another evening drive they’d done together after a
night in the pub in London. The one that had finished with them both nude and intertwined on a blanket
beneath a midnight grey sky streaked with shooting stars.
“Dave, hurry up! Isn’t it incredible?”
She grabbed a bottle of the newest and most expensive wine from the wooden cases in the back of the
yellow Subaru and started running up the side of the nearby hill. Half drunk. He watched her go, her
long legs bare and her curvy backside clad in grape-stained, faded denim shorts. He was always in a
state of arousal around her, but seeing her dance away from him under the thin moon glow turned his
cock to granite.
“Chelsea, you’d better come back. I don’t think this is a good idea.” Nevertheless, he pulled an old wool
blanket from behind the seat and jogged after her.
She helped him spread it out on the cool grass, and then pulled him down next to her. “Here, open
this.” She handed him the bottle and a corkscrew.
“We are already drunk. One of us needed to drive back.” he reminded her as he pulled the cork out
with a soft pop. None of his kind did, but she knew that well enough. “Do you ever wish you could taste
this? This is one of the most expensive drinks ever. Want a taste?”
“No.”
“Come on, this is Glenfiddich, 40-year-old rare single malt.” He had never had that sort of drink ever,
but then he watched her tip the bottle to her lips to take a sip, and he knew a thirst unlike any he’d ever
known. Her throat worked as she swallowed. Her head tipped back, drawing his eyes to the creamy
column of her neck.
He cleared his throat, searching for his voice. Was he willing to betray her sister’s trust?
He and Chelsea naked underneath the moon? Those visions started to glow with amber. “Jane and the
yoga girls are waiting for us to return to your flat.”
“Don’t be silly, Jane is busy with her boring husband,” she said as she slowly removed the bottle from
her mouth and placed it on the grass. Her lips were slick and as dark as the wine soaked cherries. Her
serious pools of eyes were rimmed by long black lashes. “Would you like to go, Dave?”
He saw it for what it was: his sole chance to put an end to his desire for Chelsea before it became too
strong. For weeks, they had been anticipating this moment. Hell, from the first time he entered into her
life.
A few fleeting looks. Just a few words. We laughed together. Then, after he’d resisted his
attraction for as long as he could, there was a kiss and a few stolen embraces. Then came the
passionate caresses that had both of them on fire.
But she wasn’t a fool, she was a master of the game she desired to play. He shouldn’t be sitting
alongside her in the moonlight, staring at her throat and wishing he was a better man. One with enough
honour to lie and claim he wasn’t insanely in love with her. “What exactly do you want, Dave?”
“You.”
He tucked her beneath him on the blanket and unwrapped her with the reverence of a cherished gift.
From her quiet moans, as he kissed, licked, and sucked every tantalising inch of her… to her quivering
cries as he penetrated her virgin body and introduced her to an even deeper pleasure as a sea of
shooting stars slid overhead, every breathless moment was burnt into his senses.
Dave sighed at the unexpected recall and the desire it sparked in him even now.
Tyler’s body was replete with desire by the time they arrived in Tyler’s brother’s town, his shaft so hard
it was a marvel he’d been able to drive. His palm was still red from the beautiful kiss she’d given him.
His veins throbbed with a longing for her that was far more profound than mere desire. If he’d thought
their months apart would chill his affections for her, that delicate kiss to the centre of his hand had
shattered all hope.
He was in big trouble here, fuck! He should have been thinking about his duties – and the mission’s
dubious status – but his mind was wrapped around Chelsea and her stunning naked body.
His heart was as well. To be fair, she had held that part of him for far longer than his life had been
devoted to the treasure-seeking business. How many times had he pondered defying his conscience
and going back to ask her forgiveness and carry her away with him forever? All he had now were
regrets.
He only hoped that he would be allowed to set things right. But first, he wanted to ensure her safety.
“This way,” he said to the women after parking the rusty truck in a church parking lot, as Tyler had
ordered.
Dave placed his hand on the small of Chelsea’s back and led them up a flight of well-worn stone steps
on the other side of the property, so Christie could focus on her kid. The stairs descended from the Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
quaint hotels and restaurants near Matera’s city centre into the densely packed community of limestone
dwellings that looked to grow out of the huge ravine’s walls.
The uneven track Tyler had given them to follow was lighted by waning blue moonlight and the golden
glow of scattered lanterns and city lamps. There were no tourists in the area’s convoluted network of
stone walkways and winding staircases at daybreak. The only sounds in the ravine were their footsteps
on the dusty old cobbles and the odd jangle of a sheep’s bell from the herd awakening on a grassy flat
across the way.
As instructed, Dave took the trail to the left, which led them to what appeared to be the low rent area of
the Paleolithic-era neighbourhood.
The white limestone homes with the occasional flower box in the window or palm tree outside the door
gave way to a darkened stretch of cobbles flanked by rustic homes in varying degrees of neglect, the
majority with weeds and cacti shooting out of their cracked and disintegrating walls. “Stay close,” Dave
said as he led the women deeper into the community. “We should be almost there by now.” Tyler’s
brother was waiting up ahead on the sidewalk a few minutes later, exactly as Tyler had stated. Dave
hoped the massive, black-haired man was Sebastian, Tyler’s twin.
The other male lifted his head and flashed a glance in their direction as they approached, Dave striding
securely in front of Chelsea and Christie. His long onyx hair hung three inches past his shoulders, and
his gravely set jaw was framed by a well-groomed black beard. The male’s jet-black eyes narrowed on
Dave across the distance. Yep. Tyler’s twin, for sure. Dave greeted him with a nod. Sebastian’s face
was expressionless under his dark hair curtain. The male appeared to be a cold blooded killer, dressed
in a black suede trench coat that concealed more black gear beneath it. That said a lot came from
Dave, a fighter whose speciality was dealing with death.
Dave heard Chelsea suck in a faint gasp behind him. “It’s all right,” he reassured her, patting her arm.
“This is the person we were supposed to meet.”
Without introduction, Sebastian turned and started walking away. Apparently, he was as people-friendly
as his brother. So long as the male was trustworthy and his safe house was secure, Dave would give
the lack of social skills a pass. “Let’s go,” he replied, hesitating to kiss Chelsea on the cheek. “I swear
we’ll be comfortable here.”
They followed Sebastian to one of the last underground houses on the path, a squat house with no
windows and entry via an iron grating reinforced door. Dave wasn’t expecting much when the other
man opened the door and allowed them in, but the place turned out to be imposing and neglected from
the outside. They entered a pleasant, albeit minimalist, home with hand-hewn furniture, arched stone
walls, and warm, grasscloth floors. Once inside, Sebastian indicated for them to follow him deeper into
the building. More rooms were carved out of the ravine’s rock, linked by winding passages large
enough for both men to walk through at full height. “I don’t usually have guests,” Sebastian stated,
sounding dissatisfied. As he rushed ahead of them, his accent was low and dark, almost a sneer, his
words reverberating off the walls.” There is a little bed to your right in the room and a larger one at the
end of this passage. Use them how you see fit.” Dave cast a glance at Chelsea. “You and Christie are
in charge of the beds. “I don’t have to sleep. I need internet and a phone call.”
That was correct. He needed to phone someone and find out where Hermano was; he didn’t need
much sleep, but he doubted his thoughts would bring him much serenity. To say nothing of his body,
which was still aching for Chelsea.
She appeared to be protesting his sacrifice, but her sister-in-law was shaky on her feet, and Peter
hadn’t lifted his head since they got out of the truck. “I’ll go help them get settled.”
As the women left for the room, Dave waited in the doorway. When he looked over at Sebastian, he
noticed the man with narrowed eyes staring at Christie. His brow furrowed in a gloomy scowl. “Tyler
made no mention of a child being at risk” “Didn’t he?” Dave smirked. “I’m sure I brought the boy to him
when we chatted.” Sebastian muttered. “Yeah. I’m sure you did as well.”
The mysterious response piqued his interest. “Does it pose a problem?” Sebastian’s lack of response
conveyed to Dave far more than any sentence could. “Please let me know if you or the girls require
anything.” Okay, obviously the talk was over. Dave extended his hand to the other man. “Thank you so
much. I owe you this, and I will never forget it.” Sebastian locked his gaze on his extended hand for a
long period. At first, Dave didn’t understand why. Then he noticed it: an amputated stump at the end of
the other man’s right wrist, where a hand had formerly been.
And there was something else peculiar about Sebastian that he hadn’t noticed until now.
A circle of deformed, vicious-looking scars circled his tattoo-covered neck. From their harshness, Dave
deduced that the man had nearly lost his head at some point in his life as well. “Marines?” Dave asked.
“Army,” The man nodded. Sebastian shrugged. “We’d been raised to think we were invincible. It makes
many of us reckless. Not many survived after we got our first taste of freedom.” “Freedom from what?”
“From our oath.”
The newsflash took Dave completely by surprise. He gaped at the lethal, clearly antisocial ex army.
“So, you are out of duty?” “Obviously.”
Looking at him now, it makes sense. As far as assassins and stealth operatives went, they didn’t come
any deadlier than the killers Dave was looking at one of them. He met Sebastian’s shark-black stare
with a question. “Tyler said you were his brother.”
“He is. As are the others.”
“Others?”
Sebastian acknowledged with a curt nod. “The other lost boys. The dozens of young ex-army who
escaped their collars from Afghanistan.”
“Interesting… want a job?”
“Let’s talk about that tomorrow.” Sebastian smiled, knowing full well what Dave was talking
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