An Assassin’s Holiday (7 page)

There’s no response. Just as I suspected, but I’m reminded I really need to find a way to rig a feed from the building video system into my apartment.

I release the button, wondering what I want to do with my time. I think about going out to find some club where I can meet a guy and try to forget for an hour or so, but I’m not really interested. It worked in the past, but things have changed. What I want is different now, and there isn’t going to be a substitute.

A knock at my door startles me. I tense as I get up, retrieve my weapon, and position myself next to the door, ready for anything.

“Brick.”

I know that voice. The tension in my body springs loose like a broken rubber band, and I breathe a sigh of relief before unlocking and opening the door. “What are you doing here?” I ask, holding my gun behind my back. “You should never come here again. I got you out of the trouble you were in, and it’s safest for you if you stay away.”

Robin bites his lower lip, eyes filled with doubt. It’s then that I notice the two wrapped boxes he’s carrying. He extends his arms, and I half expect him to either toss the packages at me, or turn and run. Instead, his gaze hardens, and he muscles his way around me and charges inside. “I came all this way because I wanted to see you, and I’m not leaving until you hear what I have to say.”

He sets the packages on the floor under the makeshift Christmas tree.

“Why? To steal one of your favorite questions.”

“Because you saved me. I’m a complete stranger, and you did all that for me. Matthew quit and then left the office later that day. It seems no one was particularly happy, and they were all ready to see him go. No one has been following me around, as far as I know, and all the money is back where it belongs. You did all that, and then
poof
, you disappeared. I kept thinking you might come to see me or at least call. But no. Nothing.” He stalks over, eyes filling with fire. “People just don’t do that.”

“Did you ever think that might be what’s best for you?” I ask, trying to suppress a smile. He’s both cute and hot when he’s angry. His lower lip curls just so and his upper lip sticks out. I want to kiss and suck on it.

“Or was it what was best for you?” he challenges. “If you left, then you didn’t have to deal with how you were feeling.” He places his hands on his hips. “And you don’t have to have master assassin powers to know when someone is hiding behind a wall of emotional bullshit.”

“My life isn’t for you,” I say weakly, feeling stripped bare.

Robin smirks. “I don’t think your life is for you either. Not anymore. It’s Christmas Eve,” he says, looking around. “And you’re here, moping around, probably wondering what movie you’re going to watch on television until it’s time to go to bed so you can sleep through as much of the holiday as possible.”

“Actually, I was thinking that I should go out and get laid,” I correct harshly, cringing when my words come out too fast.

Of course, he picks up on that. “Yeah, right.” He rolls his eyes. “I bet you haven’t been out with anyone since me.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

“I’m not. I’m being truthful. I can follow your line of sight, and I know right where it’s been since I walked into this room.” He shifts his gaze and it stops on the shelf. I cringe when he’s not looking but say nothing. “Where did you get that?” He walks to the one new item in the room. If I’d known he was coming, I’d have hidden it.

“I lifted it from the security video when you came in with me.” That was before I altered the tape so it showed the empty lobby during that timeframe.

He picks it up, examines the picture, then sets it back down. “There hasn’t been anyone, has there?”

“It’s been a whole week. I can restrain myself.”

His gaze heats. “I’m sure you can. But the thing is, you didn’t have to. You could have screwed half of Manhattan, and they would have been throwing themselves at you, asses waving in the air like signal flags. You didn’t. So what do you think that means, oh wise one?”

“Why don’t you tell me,” I counter. It’s a little childish, but what the hell. Being with me is a terrible idea, and he needs to realize that.

“I think it means that I’ve been on your mind. Just like you’ve been on mine.”

I swallow and my heart does a little pitter-pattery jump. “You should go back to your life. That’s why I did what I did. So you could have your life back.”

“That’s the cool thing. See, I get to decide the kind of life I want and who I get to share it with. It’s my life.” He steps closer to me, and I resist the urge to step back. “And I get to share it with the people I really want to.”

“I’m not worth caring about,” I say, instantly wishing I’d kept that part of myself private.

“Whoever told you that? The nuns at the home? Maybe the other kids? I know what the places we grew up in were like, remember? I know what it feels like to be alone and have the world seem so big and scary that you want to hide from everything and everyone.” He waits, and I nod slowly. “But you had a friend once. Someone you cared about.”

Why in the hell can’t I lie to him the way I can so easily with everyone else? I swallow hard and nod once more.

To my surprise, Robin takes my hand, holding it gently in his. “Maybe it’s time you let it go.” He pulls me toward the sofa, and I feel the fight wash out of me. I’ve been holding all this in for so long, but ever since I saw Robin with those children, the story has been on my mind. Maybe it’s time to tell it.

“His name was Greggy. I was just a kid, maybe eight, I think, when I ended up at the home. My mom was dead. Never knew my dad. Greggy had already been there a year, and he was the same age as me. The first day I arrived, he sat next to me when we were in prayers and held my hand on the way out. He was in the same room as me, and we used to do everything together. I had a friend, a best friend, so everything else wasn’t so bad.”

“Did he get adopted away?” Robin asks.

I shake my head. “Neither of us was ever adopted. We had been roomies and best friends for three years when Greggy got sick. The nuns took him to the doctor and told us that if we prayed really hard and were good and asked God to help Greggy, he would help make him better.” I take a deep breath. “The bitches lied. Greggy had cancer, and he got thinner and thinner. They took him for treatments and stuff, and his hair all fell out, but he got sicker and sicker. I used to go in the chapel and ask the baby Jesus to help him, but he never got better. I was twelve when Greggy died. The last person to love me was gone.”

“I think I know what happened after that. I saw plenty of it. Your hope was gone, so you didn’t really care. The nuns thought you were trouble, and you acted the way they expected.”

I shrug. That’s as good an explanation as any. “It took the Army to straighten me out, but they only did enough to turn me into what they wanted.”

Robin nods. “Isn’t it time for you to decide what you want?” He turns and points toward the windows behind him, where the city’s holiday cheer is all lit up. “It’s Christmas Eve, the most magical and special night of the year. And I believe that if you ask for something tonight with all your heart, it can come true.” Robin turns back toward me, the lights twinkling in his eyes. “So if you could have anything for Christmas, any single present at all, nothing held back, what would you ask for?”

I blink a few times and think. I could say that I want Greggy not to have died, but the past is gone and unchangeable. I think about asking for a different job or even friends, but then it hits me. The one thing I can ask for that will give me all of those things, everything wrapped up together in one neat package.

So I lean forward, draw Robin to me, and kiss him.

31 stories of holiday love!

www.dreamspinnerpress.com

D
IRK
G
REYSON
is very much an outside kind of man. He loves travel and seeing new things. Dirk worked in corporate America for way too long and now spends his days writing, gardening, and taking care of the home he shares with his partner of more than two decades. He has a master’s degree and all the other accessories that go with a corporate job. But he is most proud of the stories he tells and the life he’s built. Dirk lives in Pennsylvania in a century-old home and is blessed with an amazing circle of friends.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dirkgreyson

E-mail: [email protected]

An Assassin’s Holiday

Challenge the Darkness

D
AY
AND
K
NIGHT

Day and Knight

Sun and Shadow

Published By
D
REAMSPINNER
P
RESS

www.dreamspinnerpress.com

Challenge the Darkness

By Dirk Greyson

When alpha shifter Mikael Volokov is called to witness a challenge, he learns the evil and power-hungry Anton Gregor will stop at nothing to attain victory. Knowing he will need alliances to keep his pack together, Mikael requests a congress with the nearby Evergreen pack and meets Denton Arguson, Evergreen alpha, to ask for his help. Fate has a strange twist for both of them, though, and Mikael and Denton soon realize they’re destined mates.

Denton resists the pull between them—he has his own pack and his own responsibilities. But Mikael isn't willing to give up. The Mother has promised Mikael his mate, told him he must fight for him, and that only together can they defeat the coming darkness. When Anton casts his sights on Denton's pack, attacks and sabotage follow, pulling Denton and Mikael together to defeat a common enemy. But Anton’s threats sow seeds of destruction enough to break any bond, and the mates’ determination to challenge the darkness may be their only saving grace.

www.dreamspinnerpress.com

Day and Knight

Day and Knight: Book One

By Dirk Greyson

As former NSA, Dayton (Day) Ingram has national security chops and now works as a technical analyst for Scorpion. He longs for fieldwork, and scuttling an attack gives him his chance. He’s smart, multilingual, and a technological wizard. But his opportunity comes with a hitch—a partner, Knighton (Knight), who is a real mystery. Despite countless hours of research, Day can find nothing on the agent, including his first name!

Former Marine Knight crawled into a bottle after losing his family. After drying out, he’s offered one last chance: along with Day, stop a terrorist threat from the Yucatan. To get there without drawing suspicion, Day and Knight board a gay cruise, where the deeply closeted Day and equally closeted Knight must pose as a couple. Tensions run high as Knight communicates very little and Day bristles at Knight’s heavy-handed need for control.