His Kiss and His Bargain

CHAPTER 3

The chilly wind that slapped Chloe’s face felt like mother nature trying to knock some senses into her head. The thing was, it wasn’t that Chloe didn’t have sense. She knew without a doubt that what she was attempting to do was stupid and dangerous, but she had promised a tearful and still highly intoxicated Brooke that she would climb into her ex-boyfriend’s apartment through a window and delete the incriminating pictures while he was out with friends.

Chloe looked up at the window she was supposed to climb through like Catwoman and felt bile crawl up her throat.

Damn. Chloe closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. The cold air entering her body made her shudder, but had none of the calming effects she was chasing. 

She had waited until the sun had set and darkness had embraced the streets before she made her way to the off-campus apartment building. The cover of the night was supposed to help her not get caught. But now that meant she also had very little visibility. 

The building Brooke’s ex lived in was where the students with generous parents lived. Instead of the tin can Chloe shared with her roommate, the accommodations in the off-campus building were larger. They were actually mini apartments. Each student had a bedroom, an open space kitchen-living room, and a bathroom they didn’t have to share with fifty other strangers.

Voices coming her way quickly snapped Chloe out of her contemplative pause and she stepped behind a tree to hide. Her heart was beating in her throat as she waited for the group to walk by. Chloe didn’t want to be seen here. She had never met Brooke’s ex, but if the guy noticed someone had broken into his apartment; she didn’t want to be linked to it.

Another breeze blew her way, chilling her cheeks. Chloe clenched her teeth instinctively, fearing they would chatter and alert the passing group of her presence. And there was just no way to spin the fact that she was hiding behind a tree into a believable, innocent excuse.

Almost a minute later, the group was finally gone, and she was alone again. She didn’t waste time trying to steady her breathing and nerves, but instead turned her thoughts back on what she had to do. Thankfully, the apartment was only on the second floor of the building. She didn’t want to imagine what she would have done if it had been on the tenth.

Chloe looked up again and reminded herself she was doing this for Brooke. She didn’t want her friend to end up an involuntary p**n star because of one stupid mistake.

With a final sigh, Chloe used the very tree she had used to hide to get her to the second floor, and the window Brooke had assured her would be open. Brooke’s instructions had been so specific that Chloe was actually wondering why her friend would know that the tree on the right side of the building led directly to the window of her ex-boyfriend’s apartment. She made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Brooke. This reeked of obsession bordered on stalker signs. The guy might have actually had a good reason to end things, she thought.

The tree trunk under her smooth fingers felt really rough. Chloe frowned as she carefully eased her hand to the higher branch. She hoped she wouldn’t get a cut or splinter while doing this.

Her progress was slow. She was no monkey and didn’t particularly enjoy climbing trees. While kids had been learning how to climb trees and enjoying it; she had been helping her grandmother in the house. So it wasn’t something she excelled at. 

But thankfully, not much experience was required. The tree had enough branches to aid her climb, and they were thick and firm enough to hold her weight. In no time, Chloe was staring at the window and, sure enough, it was not fully closed. 

~~~

The silence in the apartment was almost sinister. Jaxson clenched his jaw and tried not to entertain such thoughts. He was turning into a paranoid bastard.

A dry, brief chuckle escaped his lips. Jaxson rubbed at his eyes with his thumb and forefinger before pinching the bridge of his nose. He knew he should have gone home and slept instead of calling on his younger brother.

He sighed and leaned his head back, closing his eyes for a moment. It had been a long day, and he had just wanted to spend some time with Hunter before he went back to his empty house and slept like a log for a few hours. He was not just exhausted; he was drained. It felt like every cell in his body was just running at less than half capacity, just enough to keep him alive.

A moment with his brother was all he wanted. But Hunter was not in his apartment. It wasn’t a surprise, really. Hunter was only ever in his apartment if he was in bed or taking a bath and changing his clothes. Jaxson shook his head. He still didn’t understand what had happened. One moment Hunter was calm and focused, the next, his younger brother had transformed into a horny teenager who chased anything that was warm and had a pulse. 

Jaxson cringed at his own crude description of his brother’s actions. But the sad part was it was accurate. He had learned really fast to call his younger brother before showing up at the apartment. It was either he walked in and saw just how much stamina his brother had, something no brother should ever have to witness, or he found an empty, dark apartment like tonight.

He still had the option of calling Hunter, instead of sitting in the dark and waiting for only God knew how long. He rubbed his finger on his phone but didn’t unlock it to make the call. His thoughts wandered for a second. He could call, or he could just sit in the dark and enjoy the silence as he waited, Jaxson thought. He liked the second option more.

The couch creaked as he lowered himself further and got comfortable. He had a feeling he would be there for some time. It was a good thing he had insisted Hunter pick a large couch, Jaxson thought. Otherwise, he would have had to fold his six-foot-two body like a contortionist to fit. 

Using Hunter’s bed was not an idea he even wanted to entertain. In fact, if he thought about it, the couch he was on probably saw a lot of action as well. But it was still a safer option.

Before Jaxson could start enjoying the comfort of the couch, however, there was movement and a strange sound in the room that immediately made the hairs all over his body tingle in apprehension. 

His eyes widened in shock. Jaxson had left college at least two years ago, but he was certain the norm hadn’t changed that much in such a short space of time. He was sure people still used a door to enter an apartment or hostel and not the window. 

Jaxson remained as still as possible as he watched the person quietly complete their entrance through the window. The couch Jaxson was relaxing on was directly in front of the flat-screen TV mounted to the wall. The window was on the wall to the right of the TV, which meant he had a good line of sight. Except good positioning wasn’t doing him much good, considering the room was dark and it was a moonless, cloudy night outside. It was too dark to identify who was entering his brother’s apartment like a thief or an assassin.

His hand instinctively moved to the Glock under his jacket, which he had started carrying six months ago. With disturbing ease and silence, he retrieved his weapon and pointed it at the figure that now stood in the room with him.

The darkness in the room was intense where Jaxson remained lying on the couch, perfectly still. So he knew the intruder did not know he was there and that a gun was pointed at them.

A heavy silence hung in the air. Jaxson didn’t even dare to breathe in deeply.  

His first thought was to eliminate the threat while he still had the advantage. He hadn’t wanted to get Hunter involved in the mess, but if Niko was sending assassins after his brother, then the rules of the game had changed. Jaxson wasn’t going to allow anything to happen to his brother. But he knew there would be no way to keep Hunter out of it the second he put a bullet in the intruder.

Jaxson clenched his jaw, hard. He had never imagined his life would take such a turn. But he wasn’t about to sit around and have a pity party over things he couldn’t change. 

Jaxson slowly lifted his hand and adjusted his aim. Even with the darkness, he knew where the person stood and he knew his bullet wouldn’t miss.