Bitter Arrangement: Chapter 22

The home base for AST looks like any suburban office park at night. The building is squat and beige with an ugly brown roof. A few sedans line the spots out front, though the place is mostly empty after hours. Streetlights nearby flicker, and at least one is completely out.

“Those papers weren’t kidding about the fence,” Riley murmurs, staring through a pair of binoculars. I’m too busy watching her to notice anything else. The curve of her jaw. Her determined stare.

She’s beautiful.

“See? Too dangerous,” I tell her. “Let’s get going.”

She puts a hand on my leg and pats gently. “Easy, boy.”

I sit back, annoyed that I’m going through this show. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let her break in there, but I can tell she’ll never drop it without at least a little good faith sign that I believe she could.

And honestly, from what I’ve seen, she really might be able to pull it off.

Taking down the security system wouldn’t be difficult. I’ve been teasing at the edges of the AST network since Mantis hired me, and I found at least a dozen ways inside. Iron Head is good, but I’ve always been better. There’s no doubt in my mind that if she can pull off the physical bits, I can make sure the digital side is taken care of.

Without cameras, it would be a matter of avoiding the guards. Daron gave us a rough idea of their rotation schedule, and with a little more surveillance, we could get that nailed down. She’d cut a gap in the fence or scrape over the top, pick a lock, creep to Fong’s office, find the key⁠—

But no, fucking no. This isn’t happening.

I can’t even indulge the possibility.

“Look, over there.” She hands me the binoculars and points toward the western corner. “The fence is growing up against those trees. See that? I bet I could climb that branch, put a blanket over the barbed wire, and get over pretty easily that way.”

I grunt softly. She’s actually right about that. There’s more than one decent-sized branch protruding close to the fence’s top.

“You’d be exposed, and who knows if that branch can hold your weight.”

“It definitely can.” She grabs the binoculars back. “It wouldn’t even be that hard.”

“Riley—”

“I read the file. It says the guards change over at 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. every day. We’d sneak through in the middle of the night, say sometime around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., when they’re at their most tired.”

“It’s just not possible.”

“The doors all have pretty standard locks. I can see them from here. I can pick something like that in ten seconds pretty easily. Once I’m inside⁠—”

“You’re not going inside.”

“—I’d just have to get to the office, which isn’t far from the eastern side entrance. Then I’d just have to find the key. I think that’s the hardest part.”

I frown slightly to myself. “It’d be on his computer. All you’d have to do is find a laptop or a desktop that isn’t connected to the internet and plug in a little USB drive. I’d write a program—” But I stop myself when I realize she’s grinning at me.

“You totally think we can do this,” she says, teasing.

“Absolutely not.” I glare at her, annoyed with myself. I shouldn’t even be pretending to take this seriously.

But I can’t help myself. The longer we sit here staking the place out, the more my brain starts doing the calculations.

It’s what I’ve always done. Plan, plan, and plan, over and over again. That’s what makes me so good at my job. Where most hackers go in with vague ideas, I come up with contingencies and multiple different fallbacks in case anything goes wrong. And everything always does.

“It won’t even be that hard.” She sounds excited now, which wasn’t what I expected. “The guards might be a problem, but I’m fast. If they get anywhere near me, I’ll come running.”

“Running where? You’ll be trapped.”

“I’m flexible. I’ll find a little gap to squeeze through.” She brushes me off and talks fast. “You can monitor everything the whole time from a nearby van. I’ll wear a microphone, and you can talk me through the layout. If anything goes wrong, we’ll bail.”

“Riley.” I say it firmly this time. She’s getting on a roll, and if I don’t stop her, I’m afraid she’ll end up rushing the place right now. “We’re not doing this.”

Her expression falters. “Come on. You can’t seriously still think it’s a bad idea?”

“That’s a Mantis facility.” I pause for a moment to let that sink in. If she gets it, she doesn’t show anything but mild annoyance. “Even if we can pull it off, breaking in there is basically begging for death. One mistake, one clue that we were involved, and they’ll come down on us both like hellfire missiles.”

She shakes her head and tosses the binoculars onto the dash. “That’s a suburban cybersecurity company. I get it, they have ties with Black Mantis, but this isn’t some secure black site out in the Gobi Desert. These people are obviously complacent, but we aren’t. You’re good at your job, and I am too. We can pull this off.”

“Even if you’re right, we still can’t. I won’t take that risk.”

“Then I’ll do it without you.”

I wait for her to laugh, but she’s not kidding. “Be serious.”

“You think you can keep me locked up all day long?”

“The thought is very tempting.”

“I can get out of handcuffs.” She leans in and smiles a little. “Like I said, I’m very flexible. You can lock the doors and tie me up, but I’ll get away. There’s no cage in the world that can hold me.”

The scary thing is I completely believe her.

And I’m distracted by the thought of her tied to my bed, squirming and grunting as she tries to get free.

“Why do you have a death wish?” I ask and snatch up the binoculars. It’s 8 p.m., just in time for a guard change. She doesn’t answer as a car pulls up to the gate and a man enters a code on the pad. I try to make it out, but I can’t see from this angle. It pulls inside, parks, and a nondescript white gentleman with buzzed hair and the build of former military strides toward the building. A few minutes later, a similar-looking guard comes out, gets in another car, and leaves.

The process repeats three more times over the next ten minutes.

“I can do this,” Riley says, sounding surer of herself than ever. I have a sad, sinking feeling in my gut.

“Not without me, you can’t.”

“I’ll take my chances. I’m the one that got us into this mess.”

“Exactly, by acting impulsively. Are you really going to make it worse by doing the same thing?”

She struggles with that for a moment but ends up shaking her head. “Doesn’t matter. Either we get this key or we’re screwed anyway. I’m doing this, and I’ll probably pull it off if you help, but I’m trying either way.”

I lean back in my seat. Fuck, I admire her. I wish I didn’t. It would be easier just to drug her, put her on a plane, and fly her off to some random island where she can’t get herself into trouble. But she’s my wife now, and I genuinely like that she’s got so much spirit and strength.

“I’m going to regret this,” I say, feeling deeply, deeply unhappy.

“No, you’re not,” she says, beaming like a maniac, and throws herself across the car. I grunt in surprise as she straddles me, reaches down, and yanks on the seat adjustment knob. It slowly slides back, giving her more room.

“What are you doing?” I ask, my hands already gripping her ass.

“Being impulsive.” She leans down and kisses me.

God damn it.

I kiss her back. I can’t help myself. My hands squeeze tighter, and I’m already hard as she grinds into me. Her little whimpers and moans fuck me up beyond belief, and I really should stop this before I do something stupid.

Too late for that, I guess.

“Are you trying to bribe me with sex right now?” I murmur, kissing her neck.

“No!” Her pale, freckled cheeks turn pink. “I didn’t really think about what I was doing, honestly. I just… wanted to get in your lap. Being impulsive usually means there’s no endgame.”

“I know where this ends.” I bite her throat softly, nibbling up to her lips. She gasps when I kiss her, my tongue invading past her teeth.

“Where?” she asks, breathing hard as I reach one hand up the front of her light sweater. I roll my thumb around her erect, pierced nipple, making her purr.

“It ends with me buried between your legs. It ends with you gasping for air, flushed, smiling, cum filling you, orgasm making your head sing. It ends with you whimpering and whining and pleading for more. It ends with you licking my dick clean and telling me how much you love being my little slut. But most of all, it ends with you far away from this place.”

“You were so close,” she says, grinning as she kisses me.

“There’s no way you’ll last more than ten seconds over that fence without my help, and we both know it.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

“You think with this.” I move my hand from her breast and press it over her heart. It’s racing. “But you need to think with this.” I reach with my other hand to grip her hair. I tug it lightly, and she gasps.

“Real fucking smart,” she says, grinding into me. “But I think you’re too much this—” She pulls my hair sharply. I grunt, grinning at the pain. “And not enough with this.” She grinds down harder against my hard cock.

“If I thought with my dick all the time, I’d probably be dead or in jail by now.”

“Good thing I’m here to help.” She buries her mouth on mine. I roughly pull her sweater up, teasing her pierced nipple before shoving her back. I lick the piercing, rolling my tongue around it as she moans and struggles to get her jeans off. She tugs them off awkwardly with my help, breathing hard the whole time. As she lifts herself, I shimmy out of my pants, kicking them down by the gas pedal.

She’s so fucking warm and soft. Only her thin cotton panties and my boxer briefs separate us now. I’m pulsing with need. I want to fill her so fucking badly it kills me. I kiss her again, biting her lip, and pull her hair. She’s so damn sexy when she moans and moves her hips.

“This doesn’t mean you’re getting what you want.” I shove her panties aside and tease her pussy. She’s so wet it sticks to my fingertips. I slide them inside, and she arches her back, her mouth hanging open in that heavenly fuck-me stare.

“You sure about that? What I want changes from second to second.”

“I’m sure.” I roll my fingers around before sliding them out. I grab her hair and shove my soaked thumb into her mouth. “Unless you want to be my slut right now.”

“Mmmm,” she says, eyes wide as she licks her own pussy from my thumb.

“Say you want it.”

She shakes her head. “Mmm-mmm.”

“Say it, baby.”

“Mmmm!”

I pull my thumb out. She whimpers like she wants it back. “Say it.”

“I want to be your slut,” she whispers.

I lift her ass up, slip my cock from my boxer briefs, and bring her back down on my tip. Her body shivers as it easily glides inside her, and slowly, I fill her to the brim.

“Oh my god,” she whispers in my ear.

I kiss her, holding onto her hair, before she starts to move.

“That’s right, baby, grind on my dick.” I spank her ass lightly and squeeze it before sucking on her pierced nipple. She’s moaning loudly now, mindless with how much she wants this. “Look at you in my lap, my cock buried in your pussy, and you don’t even care that we might get caught.”

“I care,” she says, her breath fogging the windows. “I just can’t stop.”

“I know you can’t, baby. That’s because you’re my filthy fucking slut. You live to take my big fucking cock. You need to ride me over and over, take all my cum, get nice and messy, and only then will you be a good girl again. God, you’re so fucking beautiful, baby.”

“More,” she moans, grinding down on me faster. The car’s shaking with the intensity of our fucking, and if anyone happens to come by, they’ll know what we’re doing.

“You dirty girl. Look at you, lusting after my cock. You want your husband’s dick buried inside of you, baby? You want to be a needy slut? A messy girl? You’re dripping down my shaft; you’re so fucking wet.”

“Oh, god, yes.” She moves faster, grinding harder. “I’m so fucking close.”

“You want to come for me, baby?” I grab her hair and pull. She screams a moan. “Say fucking please.”

“Please!” Her mouth hangs open. I brush my fingers along her clit, getting them wet, and shove them between her lips.

“Suck while you come.”

That does it. The orgasm rips her into pieces as she shatters in my lap. Her moans are muffled by my fingers as she greedily keeps sucking like a good girl. It’s the most glorious thing I’ve seen in my life. Her breasts shake, her pierced nipple stiff, and I finally can’t help myself. I come moments later, filling her with my warmth.

We come to a reluctant stop. She remains in my lap, breathing hard. I hold her against me, smelling her, kissing her softly, whispering how she’s such a good girl, how she did such a good job, how she’s beautiful. I praise her over and over again because she deserves it.

Riley’s impulsive and stubborn, but my god.

She’s also incredible.

“When do we start planning?” she murmurs against my neck.

I groan and close my eyes. I’m a weak man.

But she’s also right.

This is the only way.

And if I’m involved, at least I can make sure she has the best chance possible at pulling it off.

“Tomorrow morning.”