I Beleive Now (16 page)

What the hell was that thing and why should he care?

But it did look familiar. Like a remote control of some kind. Yeah, that's what it was. A remote control. Just like that one Corrington had that time. The remote that controlled the trigger of the explosives in the flash drive he had planted on Madden a year ago and then had sent him right on up to Tyler's office. Jackson would have smiled at the memory of how easy it had been except Tyler figured it out and totally fucked it up. Jackson hadn't been there but supposedly the bastard Tyler grabbed Madden and they both dove under his desk. The fucking desk had saved them.

Yep. That's exactly what that thing looked like.

But…but this time…

Shit!
This time Jackson was holding the flash. But…it worked. The flash worked! There were no explosives in it; if there had been, it wouldn't have worked.

Wait!

The damn thing came in a fucking
box.
A fucking cute little
box.
He quickly reached inside his pocket for it. He needed to get it away from…

* * * *

There had been a contingency plan. If Jackson had, for some reason, only taken the flash and not the box, Max's man on the roof of the hangar—the one who had found and taken out the original sniper—would have made short work of Jackson long before he was ever able to use his fancy gun. But the stupid man had taken the flash
and
the box, just as Max had predicted. Now Max could finally do to Jackson what Jackson had first planned to do not only to him, but to his precious Asher as well. Just the thought of that fateful day, along with the fact Asher now lay at his feet—in what condition, he didn't know—only strengthened his resolve. He had thought Asher was breathing when he was lying on top of him, protecting him from any more stray bullets. All of that made it almost a pleasure to push the button on the remote. The other thing making it quite satisfying was that, as Max pushed the button, he saw in Jackson's eyes the realization of just how betrayed he had been.

The air lit up as the bomb went off. The blast would have knocked Max off his feet but just as it detonated, he ducked down beside the crouching Kyo, who used his body to shield the unmoving Asher. The sound carried in very physical thundering waves and Max waited for them to die down. There wasn't going to be much left of Jackson, but Max's one last duty was to simply make sure. When the dust settled enough for Max to see, he had no doubt. There'd be some mess to clean up. His people needed to go to work on it immediately. They wouldn't have much time before the emergency personnel began arriving, but his people were good at their jobs. Whatever had to be done to distance Max from this incident would be.

Max quickly looked to Asher and Atushi, who had turned Asher on to his back. "How bad is it?" he asked Atushi in a barely audible voice as he reached and grabbed the edges of Asher's shirt. He needed to know, but was—for the first time in his life—afraid to hear the answer.

"Oh, Asher? He's fine."

Max had already ripped away Asher's shirt looking for the wounds, even as he heard those wonderful words and saw what was underneath that shirt.

A bulletproof vest.

"What…how…?"

Atushi smiled at Max. "I called Jackson back after you left and told him I wanted Asher alive. Knowing he was still not totally confident the flash was even going to be here, much less really have the information he needed, he was relying on me to give all of it to him. Actually, I don't think he intended for you to live long enough to be able to give it to him anyway, so I figured I had some clout. I told him Asher needed this"—he finger-flicked the vest on the now-stirring Asher—"or the deal was off. Thankfully, he complied."

Max looked back down at Asher just as he was finally coming to and wiped the small amount of blood from Asher's head with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket. Asher looked up at him as Atushi loosened and removed the bindings on his hands and Max removed the gag. The second they were off, Asher threw his arms around Max's neck, nearly pulling him off balance. Max heard the tortured moan, obviously one of pain, coming from the young man now that he was, finally, able to move his arms. He was trying to say Max's name over and over but the days of being unable to talk had taken their toll. Max wrapped his own arms gently around Asher, thanking God who had answered his fevered prayers tonight, and whispered into Asher's ear to not talk. There would be plenty of time for that later. He sighed. "Thank you, Atushi. I owe you."

"Now that's music to my ears, both hearing my real name again and the fact you owe me. But I have to tell you, you scared the hell out of me with your little death act."

"I saw Jackson's driver go down and knew my man had taken out the first shooter and decided to go with plan C, letting Jackson think I was dead. That way there'd be no more shooting, if there indeed were any more shooters, which there were not." He looked over to the limo where Cadum had finally emerged, a stern look on his usually stoic face. He understood how much it must have upset him to not have been a direct part of the action. But Max had been confident he'd follow his commands. "I also knew Jackson would still come take the flash. I just wanted to make sure Asher was safe."

Atushi stood up and looked at the beginning cleanup work being done by Max's people. "Messy. But it must have felt good?" Atushi said, the smile disappearing.

Max helped Asher to his feet. "No, it didn't. Killing people might be a necessity in my business, but it never feels good." He looked over to see Kira, who had just come down from the roof, the guard's face filled with fear at having witnessed Asher being shot. Max gave the man a thumbs-up. Relief flooded Kira's face as he saw a very alive Asher standing next to Max, and it made Max smile. He'd been impressed earlier when Kira had found the stray, recently fired bullet in the pavement. Evidently one of Jackson's snipers had decided he needed a practice round. He was even more impressed when Kira figured out from the angle of impact exactly where the bullet had come from. It was no guarantee the sniper liked that location or would return to it, but Max knew the work Kira did with that single bullet earned him the right to check the exact site out when the time came. It appeared he had been right. Kira was still going to have to pay for his stupidity in allowing Asher to be kidnapped in the first place but what he accomplished here tonight went a long way toward making sure he did not end up at the bottom of Chicago Harbor.

"Let's go," he told Atushi. "I have a brat in need of discipline." Asher stiffened at those words and started to protest but Max quieted him instantly with a fierce kiss. When he broke off, he tapped Asher's bottom playfully and pushed him toward the limo and a waiting Cadum.

* * * *

The authorities took longer than normal to arrive at the airfield that night. It was up to speculation why. Some said it was Max's influence. Others said it was just a very busy night. There was little-to-nothing in the way of actual usable evidence pointing at Max, no matter how intelligent or talented the forensics people were. They'd be able to figure out a bomb went off; even Max's men couldn't cover that up—not that they wanted or needed to. They may even be able to discern Jackson's DNA from the obvious blood stains—again, something Max's men couldn't quite totally erase, although they were able to rid the area of all the body parts. But to the press, it didn't necessarily mean the man was dead. Where Jackson was concerned, the press had been burned a couple of times already. They would be the last ones to spin any story that had the politician's name in the same sentence as murder. But Max's men intended to watch and make sure nothing too sensitive made it to the public's eye.

It was just business as usual.

Max did not take Asher across the city to the safe house like he had originally planned. Max insisted on having Asher's wounds treated before they did anything else. After a somewhat lengthy visit to Max's personal physician, he did not want to go all the way back to the penthouse either, so Max simply took them to a hotel. He had earlier taken over the top two floors, the top being a very posh suite with an amazing view of downtown and Chicago Harbor. Of course Max had no intention of having the drapes even open at any given moment, much less be looking out of the windows. He had other plans.

This young man was truly amazing. He had saved his life again.

Even though his original intention had been to punish Asher, make him understand the actual risk he had taken, that having a bulletproof vest on did not make you invincible, as evidenced by the thankfully superficial impact wounds he did suffer from the bullets. He needed to make Asher finally and completely understand that life for Max could not go on without this young man in it. But when they were finally able to be alone, all of those thoughts fled as if they never existed. The look on Asher's face was so alluring, so mesmerizing. It was obvious what was on his mind as well. He once again threw himself at the older man and without a word, conveyed all of his fears and anguish he had suffered over the last number of days.

Max held him close and just simply listened to him breathing. He, too, had suffered fear and anguish. For the first time in his life there was a flood of emotions flowing through him—some of which he felt he could welcome but most of it was something new and uncomfortable. To just hold his man and breathe was all even he could do at the moment. Finally he motioned for Cadum, who had been standing just out of sight, to leave the room. Cadum inclined his head for a moment and Max could have sworn he saw, although it would never ever be spoken out loud, a shiny tear at the edge of one of his stoic eyes. Since Max had never seen the man yawn, the tear was a product of only one other thing. But of course that was something Max found even harder to believe. He smiled as Cadum closed the door.

Max leaned over then and kissed Asher, not long or hard, not even deeply, just a kiss. But a real kiss. He closed his eyes, pressed his lips against Asher's, and flicked them with his tongue. It meant nothing in particular. It meant
stay with me forever
. It meant
we suddenly have all the time in the world to do whatever we want
. It meant everything. When he pulled away, just like Cadum, he felt hot tears stinging his eyes but Asher never saw them. He never would.

Probably.

"Let's go to the bedroom," Max whispered. He gently took Asher's hand in his large one, marveling he could once again touch him, hold him. Max just smiled. They entered the large bedroom and Max pushed a very compliant Asher onto the bed. He started to remove the boy's clothes, even as he was removing his own. Then finally he took Asher into his arms, feeling skin on skin, closed his eyes, and said a prayer of thanksgiving. His man had come back to him alive and well. He opened his eyes then and looked at the perfection his Asher was, marred tonight only by the angry red marks the impact of the bullets on the bulletproof vest had made on his chest and the bandages covering the marks made by the ropes on his wrists. He knew this man, inside and out. He knew every inch of him. He knew every scar, every mole, and every muscle. He knew what every inch of him looked like, tasted like, and reacted like.

Every.

Single.

Inch.

Tonight he would show Asher his knowledge, his obsession, the core of his very being. He was going to show Asher a side of himself he hadn't known existed before. He planned to worship the body that writhed beneath him now, a body that had already totally surrendered to Max's gentle touch, his soft caress, his tender kisses and licks. He wasn't giving Asher the intense orgasms he was used to, ones that were pleasure mixed with pain, that were fast and furious with Asher being nearly forced into submission, his voice ripped from his lithe body. Max knew his man liked them, wanted them, needed them…but not tonight. Tonight their lovemaking would be different.

Tonight he intended to coax every emotion he could out of his young man—very slowly. He didn't even care if there was an orgasm for either one of them because tonight orgasms weren't the focus or the goal. Tonight he wanted to make Asher know what he felt. He wanted to give Asher his very heart. He wanted to take them both to a place neither one of them had ever been to, but Max now knew the way; somehow. Tonight, it was extremely clear what needed to be done and as he gazed into those green eyes so willing to be with him, he understood Asher knew the way too. Tonight Max did not have to lead, Asher did not have to follow. Tonight, they were going together, hand-in-hand, side-by-side, locked in that ancient dance.

They made love.

No mountains moved, the skies did not open up. They simply made love.

* * * *

Much later, they lay on the bed together after having both taken showers, Asher holding Max close, simply wanting, almost desperately, just to feel his warmth, simply living in the moment. The night was deep and quiet.

Asher found himself remembering that seemingly long ago night, when he had planned to take the initiative. He lay imagining how that night should have gone, how he had planned to see if it was even possible Max would allow Asher to be in control from beginning to end. He thought not. The only way the man to be "three sheets to the wind" and bound to the bed as well. It hardly mattered though. He wasn't all that keen any longer on being in charge. He liked things…no,
loved
things, just the way they were. But…oh! What he would do…mmmm. That…oh, and…that. He smiled in the semi-darkness of the room, laughing just a little at his own thoughts.

"What?" was the lazy whisper he heard from Max.

Asher very rarely had an opportunity to take control. It was rare the man lying beside him now, his arms protectively wrapped around him, was relaxed like this, almost lethargic. Maybe getting the old man drunk and tied up wasn't the only way to insure Max's cooperation in what Asher was thinking to do right now. Taking the enemy by surprise was always the first order of attack. The element of surprise here would be Asher making the first move at all. Asher smiled. Then of course, there was the fact Max was probably very was exhausted. Knowing the control freak, he probably never slept during the whole time he formed and worked his brilliant plans. Asher decided it was time to try again. He pulled himself out of Max's embrace and climbed on top of him.