Chapter 13

Noah

I didn’t sign up for this shit. I’m a mercenary, not a murderer. If only the legionnaires had accepted me. A sour taste filled his mouth as the back of his throat ached. He leaned over and spit on the deck.

James was a fool. He saw in his eyes that he’d fallen hard for the girl. Only complete idiots fall like that.

Noah trusted nobody who was in love. If it came down to it, James would likely throw him under the bus to save her. But the bottom line was that murdering these people wasn’t part of the deal and Carl was insanely jealous.

He saw the jealousy fuming in Carl’s eyes as he watched him down in the lava tubes.

He had felt the fire in his own heart five years earlier when he came home from the war and found his wife sucking another man’s dick. Only a woman could produce that kind of rage, an intense fury that made you want to throw yourself off an 80-floor burning building.

James was a likely victim. This Lexi girl was strong, smart, and elegant all at the same time. He saw why James had been a sucker for her. He had one like that once too.

Loverboy here was in for a shit-load of trouble. It was a damn love triangle. Carl had dragged them down there partly for the gold. The other part was for the girl.

He didn’t blame her for Carl’s unethical actions, though. Carl already had criminal in him. He was a felon at heart, Lexi or no Lexi.

Noah had been itching to escape the first time Carl had sent Andrew out to kill somebody for not paying a measly $500-dollar debt. Noah was shocked, but he had to play it off like it was no big deal.

He shamed himself for being involved with any of these low-lives. He had all the qualifications to join the legionnaires. But when he slipped and told the recruiters about his nightmares and depression, they’d rejected him. And that had led to his whiskey habit. The drinking was only to numb the pain--to ease up on the memories of the horrific events that transpired on his last days in Iraq.

Truth be told, three quarters of the pain came after he got home from the war, when his wife notified him she was in love with someone else.

Love was the real battlefield and he wouldn’t wish it upon his worst enemy.

His mind accelerated for a solution. He wasn’t really motivated to help these people. He didn’t mind a good gunfight, but he had to be honest with himself. He would be out of a future job.

Working for Carl was pretty good until this trigger-happy cartoon character came. Andrew was bad news, and he brought the ugly side of Carl out. If he killed Andrew, would Carl return to the man he used to be? Probably not. Once a man killed, he wasn’t likely to stop.

But Loverboy was right. Could he live with himself after yet another failure of not protecting the innocent? No. Killing had become a bad habit--one he preferred to use on terrible people.

“My man. Good work, Noah. You know, I am so happy with our partnership.” Carl’s eyes darkened, as he slowly turned the wheel of the boat. His jaw tightened as his glare deadened. “Finish them.”

James turned ashen, his face white and pallid.

Lexi’s eyes widened, as she trembled and quavered.

James gripped her hand and whispered something to her.

She shifted her focus from Noah to James and looked into his eyes as she faced certain death.

I can’t.

Fuck it.

He stepped back toward Carl and released a sharp chop with the edge of his hand to the back of his neck.

Carl’s legs automatically buckled, and he fell to the floor, his body limp and without life.

The blow to the spinal cord was deadly. He hated doing it, but Carl had left him with no choice.

The boat drifted to the side toward a large mass of rocky coral.

“Shit.” Noah gripped the wheel and turned it to the right as far as he could. The boat crept by the coral and remained safe in the water, undamaged. He wasn’t a boat expert by any stretch of the imagination, but he knew that any dangerous gashes to the boat could tear the bottom, resulting in water entry. Heat rose to his chest as he stared at the mass of boat controls.

Heavy thuds approached quickly from behind. He swiveled around to catch a glimpse of Andrew’s fierce fist coming down on his skull. The blow would’ve been worse had Noah not shifted out of the way, lightening the impact of the other man’s punch. He knew it was coming, but losing the boat’s control wasn’t an option he was prepared to take.

He jabbed Andrew’s nose, then checked the water path through the window. A huge rock approached. He gripped the twined steering wheel and swung it to the left. The boat barely turned, his efforts nearly useless.

Andrew grabbed him from behind and circled his bulky arms around his neck. He was a short guy, but he was as dangerous as an infected monkey.

Noah wasn’t as scared as he was annoyed. He nudged him hard in the rib cage with his elbow, then sunk his body under the grasp, so that Andrew held hot air instead. Noah socked him twice, then paused long enough to notice James and Lexi standing stiff in the bow of the boat. Irritating. Wake the fuck up. “Hey, you want to help me out here?” He yelled between breaths. “Drive the fucking boat!”

James snapped out of his daze and ran to the bridge deck.

The pause had allowed Andrew just enough time to wrap his hands around Noah’s neck. He pressed into his throat hard with his thumbs. Noah tried to choke another sentence out, but his air supply was blocked. He jabbed Andrew in the solar plexus.

Andrew lost his grip. He scowled and grabbed his upper stomach.

Noah grabbed him and pushed him far out of the command room.

Andrew tripped and fell ass-first on to a rusted metal hatch. He yelled and arched his spine over the large iron lever.

Noah charged him and drove his knuckles into his cheek. He retracted it for a second round.

Andrew grabbed the fist and dragged Noah to deck.

Each took vicious jabs.

Andrew pinned him to the floorboards and let loose a series of wild punches.

Noah reached up and crushed a nerve in Andrew’s jaw just below his ear.

Andrew let out a wail and jumped up at the edge of the boat, fury steaming from his eyes. His knees were bent, his body turned diagonally. “You want more, bitch?” He bounced on his feet, with two fists in front of him.

Noah stumbled around into a stance, his head dizzy. A searing pain shot through his chest and upward to his neck. He spat out blood and squeezed air through his lungs.

Andrew let out a fatigued laugh through bloodied teeth and squared his stocky shoulders. “Jarhead’s tired,” he nagged.

Rage heated Noah’s body. He wanted to slap the shit out of him, but he could barely even stand up straight. He raised his leg for a kick to the torso. Andrew caught the leg and pushed him back to the ground.

Andrew bellowed a haggard hoot. “You know what? It’s over,” Andrew snarled, as he reached behind his back. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at him.

Noah’s adrenaline spiked through his chest. He raised his gun holster up from his hip and pulled the trigger. Loud gunshots earthquaked across the sea. “Too late,” he grunted.

Andrew stumbled back, his mouth gaping. His arm and face fell limp. He stepped back again, then slipped off the ledge of the stern into the water.

A sharp pain seared Noah’s abdomen. A sudden warmth surrounded him. He laid back on to wooden planks.

Carl and Andrew were gone. The innocent had triumphed today.

I won. I got the bad guys. Nothing else matters. His vision blurred into a pattern of unrecognizable shapes and figures. He let his head roll back onto the deck and escaped into impending darkness.

LEXI

She placed a hand over her dry, quivering mouth to control the shaking.

Noah lay still on the deck. A few feet from him, Carl lay sprawled out on the side deck. It was a massacre.

She took in a gulp of air through a trembling mouth. It’s over. They’re dead. We’re alive. Her eyes watered. That’s all that counts. We made it.

James wrapped and coveted her in his arms while steering the boat. His glossy eyes examined her. “You okay?”

She nodded, but couldn’t manage any words. She placed her arms over his broad shoulders. Carl’s body laid sprawled out on the deck, oozed blood from his head blending in with the orange-brown floor. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I had no idea he was going to come down here.” She laid her head on his chest and sobbed.

“It’s okay, baby,” he cooed, resting his soft blue eyes on her. “Of course you didn’t know. The important thing is that you’re safe.”

She wanted to feel victorious, but there had been so much suffering, so much blood. All for the gold. People had died for gold. Her muscles grew weak as her throat constricted. An enormous guilt flooded her shoulders.

Noah lay slumped over a bundle of rope. “We lost Noah.” Hot tears of sorrow rolled down her cheeks. He died so we could be free. He had only known them for half a day, yet he was willing to lay his life on the line to do what was right. He was a good man.

James inhaled a deep breath, licked his lips and flipped one of the boat switches. He turned the wheel and called over his shoulder. “Something tells me this is what he wanted. He died a good fight.”

It was true. Noah had looked as though he lived a life of pain and regret. The grief that his eyes rendered probably come from not being able to stand and defend the innocent.

This was his chance. And in a way, he won.

“I’m just so glad you’re okay. I never thought…I…I was so scared. I didn’t want to lose you,” she stammered, her voice on edge of breaking.

James broke a hand free from the huge steering wheel and laid an affectionate hand on her warm cheek. “Me? I was more worried about you,” he crooned. “I could kick myself for not keeping you safer. I felt something bad was going on, but I didn’t trust my intuition.” He jerked forward and squinted through the window at an approaching massive rock. His eyes widened. “Where’d that come from?” He swung the wheel to the far left and pulled back on the throttle. “Shit!”

The boat reacted like a giant sluggish whale, easing itself straight toward the huge porous rock.

“Oh my god!” A rolling pain ripped through her stomach. Her heartbeat pounded as she clung to a chair and waited for impact.

A wet hand gripped tight around her ankle.

She froze.

Carl gritted his teeth and yanked Lexi’s leg toward him. “It’s not over, bitch.” He pulled her down onto the floor of the bridge deck. She banged her chin and scraped her face against the splintered boards. She shut her eyes, dizzy from the sudden impact.

He dragged her along the side deck, until she was far away from James.

Her hands swiped at the wet floor, clawing at an edge in the uneven floorboards. When she finally got a grip, she dug the balls of her feet into the floor and propelled herself forward.

His rough hands clung to her waist and yanked her back toward him. She held back a scream. Her heartbeat exploded into her ears. She froze, her legs trembling underneath his tight grasp.

Wasn’t he dead a moment ago? Her mouth fell loose as her breathing restricted. She inhaled several quick breaths and did a double take.

The bastard was still alive.

She scraped the heel of her boot along his shin.

He cried out in agony and loosened his grip.

He’s not getting away with this shit. She pushed herself up, then flipped around and faced him.

Carl came up as fast as she did, his face screwed into an ugly snarl.

“Grab the wheel!” James yelled in the background.

She straightened her back, lifted her chin and called over her shoulder. “I’m a little busy, James!”

Face your fears. Now is the time. Get it done. She loosened her clenched fists and stretched her neck to the right and then the left. Hit him across the bridge of his nose. She studied the shape of his nose and imagined her hand fitting into the curve. Do it Lexi. Do it hard and fuck him up.

She wasn’t sure when it happened, but the boat had quieted. Had James turned the engine off? Her boots gripped the boards as they drifted in the still water. She fought the urge to break her steady gaze from Carl and look for James.

It didn’t matter what her counterpart was up to. It was just her and Carl now. Her heartbeat pierced her ears as she dropped her shoulders. I don’t want to hurt him. What if I break his nose? She circled him on the deck, with her fists braced in front of her, ready for the slightest movement. What the hell is wrong with him? “Why are you doing this Carl? It doesn’t have to be like this. We can split the money.”

He sneered. “Bitch, I’ll split you.”

She flattened her fist and curled the tops of her fingers tight. She held her breath and stepped in to heal him across the bridge of his nose with one fast jab.

He stumbled back and howled. He gripped his bloodied nose and leapt at her, delivering a fierce backhand to the face. Her body flew on to a rubbery garden hose. She slipped as she tried to foot herself out of the entanglement. Pain seared her cheekbone. She felt the wetness that came from her jaw. It was blood.

With one swift motion, he grabbed the hose with two hands and circled it around her neck.

She raised a bent knee upward and crushed his groin.

He cried out, his face bearing a pained grimace.

She jumped onto her feet and bent her knees into a fight stance. Her chest tingled. I got this.

Carl lunged at her. She grabbed his collar and diverted him to the right using his own strength. The weight of his body knocked over several white five-gallon plastic buckets. He wallowed in the hollow buckets then lifted himself. He slouched, his limbs limp, his eyes full of spite.

She stepped through the buckets and met his eyes. “If this is just business, then consider this the final transaction.” She drove a fast fist into his abdomen and up toward his lungs.

He keeled over and hacked out blood from his throat. He groaned as he knocked over a stepladder and fell back on a bed of ashy wooden chips. His eyes looked blank, withdrawn. He inched his arm to his calf and pulled up the pant from his ankle. He unraveled a gun from a leg holster and pointed it at her. “I should’ve killed you back on the island.”

Lexi broke into a cold sweat, her mind racing. She gulped in a breath as her stomach hardened. Now what? She prepared herself to deliver a swift kick to the hand holding the gun. Would it blast as she kicked it? Her heart pounded.

“I’d say you seriously underestimated your ex-girlfriend,” James commented, arching an eyebrow while tilting his head to the side. He was no longer driving the boat, but standing on the far deck, ten feet away from she and Carl.

Carl swiveled to him. His mouth slackened, his eyes stretched wide.

Gunshots thundered.

Carl flew back into the side railing.

James rampaged the trigger of a gun over and over again. His eyes hammered an intense rage. “Bet you didn’t see that coming,” he said, talking to a man that was already dead.

Carl’s bloodied body lay stiff on the floor.

Lexi watched the man who had caused so much damage to her life. He would never manipulate her or mentally abuse her again. She hated that it came down to this, but better him than her. His arms lay lifeless, his face forever stretched into a pinched sneer. What in the world could have processed him to hold her at gunpoint and carry it this far? It was as though he let his love of money over take all sense of humanity.

She felt the sudden source of relief as she pressed her palm to her heart. She stumbled unsteadily to James, her eyes glazed in shock.

He greeted her with open arms. His face had softened from the hard look she had seen earlier, his face forming a slow smile. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she breathed. She had never been so eager to embrace anybody. The day’s events had been too unreal. Had her life really just been saved twice? She had Carl by the balls, but he had somehow broken away. She relished in the fact that James had been right there to back her up. Had it not been for him, she would have met the fateful event with Carl’s unforgiving bullet. Her knees buckled as she stumbled back a step. Her mind raced to make sense of it all. “Who’s driving the boat?”

He gripped her tighter, drawing her into him as his fingers speared through her hair. His other hand caressed her back and shoulder. His breathing quickened, his heavy breaths blowing wind into her hair. “No one. Turned it off.” He glided his masculine fingers down her back and cupped his hand firmly on to her ass.

The hairs on the back of her neck tingled, as she inhaled his earthy, sandalwood scent. Pinpricks trailed down her neck as heat rose through her shoulders. She sobbed on to his athletic, brawny chest, the tears flowing from a mixture of relief and joy. She marveled at the warmth of his rock-hard chest. Her stomach felt heavy as she pushed him away. “What took you so long to pull the trigger?”

“I got aroused watching you pummel his ass.” He pressed her head in to meet him and devoured her mouth greedily, biting on the lower lip. Hormones shot through her body as she hungered for the erection that bulged against her thigh.

The need to have his cock inside her became overbearing. She had never wanted any man this badly, and it scared her. Her desire overtook her fear as she pressed her tongue on to his marble-like shoulders. Her trembling fingers skimmed the surface of his perfectly robust skin. She pulled away, wrestling her need to have him inside her.

He kissed her fervently, his warm tongue spearing hers. Her hot mouth protested, sending a string of arousing vibrations stirring through her abdomen. She yearned for him and she needed him, even if it was only for one more day. She plunged her lips into his sculpted, divine neck and swept her mouth across his solid, stubble-marked jawline.

His starved, cobalt-blue eyes pierced into hers, his hands brushing by the small of her back. He pressed her in to his erection, imprinting his blunt masculine fingers on her ass. “I’ve hungered for you so long, Lexi. Tell me I can have you. I need to hear you say the words. Tell me, baby,” he swooned through breathless words.

She loved listening to him call her ‘baby.’ His lips were so damn sexy and the way he said it sent a rush of warmth to her inner thighs. “I want you. Take me. Please James.” Her core burned as she pressed her breasts on to him. He circled a nipple through the material of her shirt and bra, until he became impatient and reached under shirt, groping the soft fleshy pillow. He caressed her pulsating curves and reshaped them under his palm. He unbuttoned the tiny clear buttons of her blouse and tore it off, then pulled the tank top over her head. He stared at her robust cleavage and licked his lips before plunging into her bounty. His fingers unfastened her bra, grunting as her nipples grazed his chest. “You’re so fucking beautiful.” His eyes closed halfway as he captured her nipple between his lips. He let out a deep growl and chafed his thumb over the pebbled peak and pinched. He drew it into his mouth, flicking the bud with his tongue and nibbling.

Her bare belly burned with emotion. No man had ever touched her this way or had explored her body with such fervent desire. It was as though he knew exactly what her body craved and worked without tire to supply her with it. He didn’t even seem to mind her battle scars. And that was so freeing.

She ran her fingers over his sculpted back and tugged at the bottom of his shirt. He broadened his shoulders to allow her to lift it up. Her abdomen contracted as a rush of heat cascaded through her inner thighs. Sweet baby Jesus. He was beautiful. Slender, supple, and wide with the rippling muscles contouring every area of his upper body.

“I need to have you inside me,” she whispered through thick emotion.

He flipped her around and placed a flat palm against the hairs of her mound. His fingers anchored the button of her shorts and released it. He tugged at her zipper and yanked her shorts down her dark thighs. They clenched, as his fingers gripped and pushed them apart. She heard his zipper being lowered behind her ass. She placed one leg up on the surface mount of the steering wheel.

He teased her opening with the head of his member, causing it to clench and gush. He smoothed her sopping wet fluid all over his cock, greedily. His breathing increased as he drew the throbbing rod closer to her ready opening. Then he shoved the cock deep into her, the walls of her channel stretching wider and wider to let him in. He paused and breathed in shallow air. “You are so fucking tight. I’m so sorry. Am I hurting you?” His voice sounded genuinely concerned, though it was the first time he’d asked.

James was a bigger man, and she was still partially sore from his pounding the night before, but the pleasure of feeling him move throughout her core outweighed the small amount of pain. “No. I need you to fuck me hard. Please James. Don’t stop.”

He growled as he pounded the engorged shaft into her. Her channels surrounded him and clamped on to the mammoth member. His hands ravaged her body, then centered on her ass, as he gripped her hipbone and pulled it to him. “Come for me, Lexi. I want to hear your beautiful voice moan.” He laid a flat hand over the cheek of her butt and smacked it.

The jolt sent a heated arousal through her body. She moaned as he jabbed his tortured flesh into her wet passage. She quickly lost control as nerve endings fired a thunderous blast throughout her body.

He gripped her hipbone hard and embedded the enormous organ into the folds of her flesh. “I’m coming too, baby.”

The pulsating thickness pumped seed into her body, sending waves of pleasure through her abdomen.

His breath came in shallow pants. He brushed his lips over her back and applied light kisses to her shoulders. “I lose all control with you,” he whispered in her ear. He moved an arm over her belly, lifted her up, and withdrew himself.

She shivered. She had never felt like that before. A smile rose to her untamed lips. The warmth surrounded her chest as she watched the man clothe himself again. They had been through so much together. She didn’t know if they had a future together, but the coveted protection he had provided her with over the last few days gave her startling fulfillment. She… felt safe.

An enormous amount of gratitude washed over her. Whatever pain she’d had in the past was dissolving. It was replaced with exasperating ecstasy. Goosebumps shimmied down her arms as he drew her in close. She rested her head on his hard chest and wished they could stay like that forever.

He ran his fingers across her tendrils of hair and tucked them behind her ear. He kissed her forehead. “I was so afraid back there. I don’t know what’s worse, the feeling of almost losing you or the feeling of losing myself over you. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.” He drew her mouth onto his and planted along kiss on her mouth.

“I know how you feel, James. I never thought I would say this, but I’m really liking this partnership.”

He raised an eyebrow. He looked hurt. “Partnership? Like it’s another business deal?”

He asked like he thought of them as more. If only she could be so brave. Taking on James for more than just business meant exposing her heart. What if he clawed it out and crushed it? She drew in a deep breath and shook her head. “I’m not sure about all this James. Aren’t we moving too fast?” She gazed into his injured blue eyes. She wrapped her arms up around his broad shoulders and rested her head against his chest. He encircled his arms around her and pulled her in tighter.

“We’ve known each other ten years. We just proved that we’re meant for each other. What more is there to figure out?” He offered a curt smile and rubbed his eyes. He let out a sigh of unease. “I think we better take care of these bodies and make a plan before the sharks began to circle the boat.”

He was right. It was not time to talk about partnerships. They had a long trip ahead of them and had done very little planning. How were they going to conceal the gold? She had been procrastinating having to do the dirty clean up. Having to pick up Carl’s dead, limp body was no joyous act.

A sudden wash of guilt cascaded over her shoulders as she thought again of Noah. He had looked about the same age as she and James. Yet he was willing to give his life for people he didn’t even know. If only they could give him a proper burial. Did they even know his last name? Lexi closed her eyes and recited a silent prayer for him.

His body lay sprawled over thick corded rope, his head resting back, peacefully. “Maybe we should check for ID on Noah and see if we can contact his family. I’d like to send them his share of the earnings.”

James nodded as he stared at the dead body. “Good idea. Such a sweetheart.”

Not really. A sweetheart would not have brought all this mess into people’s lives. If only she could’ve uncovered the gold alone, originally as planned. All of these senseless killings wouldn’t have occurred.

They struggled to lift Carl’s body and balanced him on the metal railing before allowing the weight of his body to take over. “Bye Carl,” she murmured as they let go of his body. He toppled into the water and floated away with the gentle ripples of the waves.

They picked up Noah and balanced him before hoisting his heavy body up.

“Hold on guys.” A recognizable voice spoke from under their grip.

It was Noah. He was alive.

“Oh my God!” Lexi felt the sheer feeling of joy rising to her chest.

“There still might be something left of me here.” Noah produced a half-grin and squinted an eye at them.