Ice Monkeys Read online

  Victor managed to get one more out of her before he got too close to the edge. In her mouth, Uni’s cock was feeling hotter, harder.

  “Can’t hold it,” Victor said. “Gonna bust.”

  “Go ahead,” Uni said. He really took over, now fucking her mouth, hard and fast as Victor grabbed her hips and started pounding his cock into her.

  Oooh…fuck!

  One more for her, making the men both laugh at her moans until they groaned as they came nearly at the same time.

  Then they collapsed onto the bed, Victor crawling up to spoon behind Donna.

  Uni laced fingers with her. “Better?”

  “Mmhmm.”

  “Nice way to wake up?”

  “Yeah. Great way to wake up.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Donna was walking a little funny and still working out the pleasant kinks and aches from her body when she entered the coffee shop at her usual time a couple of minutes after noon on Tuesday, but from a different direction than she normally approached. Fortunately, she rarely ever saw any of her coworkers in the coffee shop during her lunch breaks. The morning had dawned even chillier than the day before, a cold front taking hold of the region as it marched even farther south.

  Most of her coworkers couldn’t afford to go to the coffee shop every day the way she did. Most everyone brought their lunch, or they went to the cheaper sandwich shop in the lobby of the bank's building, which gave them a fifteen percent employee discount and free refills on regular coffee, if they brought their own mugs.

  If they stopped by this coffee shop, usually it was in the morning for a jolt of good coffee instead of the watered-down crap the bank provided in the employee break room.

  Lima was already settled into a corner chair, his tablet out, a cup of coffee on the table in front of him. With him sat Chief, also on a tablet, the two pretending to be together.

  Omega, Victor, and Uni would take turns on watch outside and cycling through the coffee shop.

  She was glad it was Chief and Lima in the coffee shop with her. Because if it was Victor and Uni, she’d spend the time trying not to clamp her thighs together and squirm in her seat over how she felt today while reliving the previous night and morning’s…activities.

  After round one that morning, they’d rested and talked a little before she’d been the one to initiate round two and they were off to the races again.

  Hell, she’d had more cardio in the past twenty-four hours than she’d had in the past six months, even with all the walking she usually did.

  Not that she was complaining in the slightest, mind you.

  As she’d promised, Lisa had texted Donna several times. Donna always replied, glad that her friend was so concerned about her and feeling even worse that she’d lied to her about what was going on.

  Unfortunately, in this case, she knew the lie had to be told, and now actually being involved with the men alleviated a little of her guilt.

  After getting her usual order, she settled into one of two chairs she normally picked.

  She flinched a little when the tiny two-way radio behind her left ear, hidden by her hair, went off.

  Uni. “How you doing?”

  She set up her laptop as she usually did. “Just getting started,” she softly said. At least the surgical mask hid her mouth.

  “Do what you normally do.”

  “I normally don’t sit here talking to myself.”

  He chuckled. “Good point. I’ll leave you alone.”

  Across the room, Chief and Lima looked like they were trying not to laugh. Hard to tell with their masks on, but they were also wearing the two-way radios and could hear everything.

  As her computer booted, Donna slid her mask down around her chin and started eating. Usually, she ate quickly and then pulled her mask back into place, using a straw up under the bottom of her mask to sip her coffee once it cooled off enough.

  As the team had carefully prepped her, she was to do everything she normally did, the way she normally did it. Especially since she didn’t know who their target was, but he—or she—obviously knew who Donna was.

  Or, at least they knew Donna’s computer.

  She couldn’t help glancing around the coffee shop. It was starting to fill with the lunch crowd, but she was more worried right now about someone from work happening in and seeing her there than she was about anything else. Once she finished eating and got her mask back up, she’d feel less concerned about it.

  It didn’t help her nerves not knowing who the person was. Or if they’d even show up that day.

  Possibly the chance that she actually knew them in real life. To be honest, once she was in her lunchtime “happy bubble,” unless the building was on fire she couldn’t have identified anyone who came or went in the coffee shop to save her life. Maybe people she worked with did cycle through it more often than not.

  It was a possibility the men had proposed.

  Regardless of who the person was, Lima had installed a trapdoor program on Donna’s computer to silently alert him and Bubba when someone piggybacked through her computer, which still had the same weak password. On the tablet he was working on, Lima would immediately get an alert, allowing him to start scanning computers and figuring out who it was.

  It would have to be someone inside the coffee shop, because their Wi-Fi signal wasn’t strong enough to work outside the building’s walls.

  Donna did her best not to let her nerves wear on her as the afternoon dragged on. Normally, her lunch breaks seemed to fly by, three hours disappearing in a heartbeat. Today, every minute felt like ten.

  By the time she would normally pack up to leave to return to work, no one had accessed her computer.

  “Wrap it up,” Lima said through the radio as across the room he stood. “We’ll try again tomorrow.”

  Donna shut her computer down. “What if they spotted you and Chief?”

  “Doubtful. We were watching everyone who came in here. No one acted the slightest bit suspicious.”

  Donna used the restroom and left via the way she came. Uni pulled one of the SUVs up to the corner as she approached and she slid into the back seat, Lima and Chief close behind. Chief got into the back seat with her while Lima took shotgun. Omega and Victor were in the other one, and together they sped away from downtown.

  Donna pulled her mask down. “Well, that was a waste of time.”

  “No,” Lima said. “It actually helped prove what I suspected, that maybe he misses a day here or there. It wouldn’t be smart to use the same location every day. It probably helps that he knows you’re there four days a week. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

  “What now?” Donna asked.

  “We’re going to work on some logistics this afternoon,” Lima said. “Me, Victor, and Chief are going to take an aerial tour of downtown in the chopper. Bubba gave me a list of potential helipads I want to check out. I don’t like having only street-level egress. If something goes wrong and we need to go up, I want that nailed down.”

  Her stomach dropped. “Up?”

  “Yeah,” Chief said. “Victor’s a helo pilot. We have one at our disposal at a private airfield not too far from the house.”

  “Oh.”

  Chief looked over at her. “Let me guess. You’ve never flown?”

  Donna shook her head. “No.”

  “It’s easy,” Uni assured her, catching her gaze in the rearview mirror. “You’ll do fine. Getting the guy out of the city via air might be our best option, depending on who he is.”

  “Or she,” Chief jokingly corrected.

  “Right,” Uni said. “Or she.”

  When they returned to the safe house, Lima, Victor, and Chief almost immediately turned around and headed out again.

  Victor gave Donna a quick kiss. “We won’t be gone too long.”

  “Be careful.”

  “This is easy. This is just recon.” He glanced at Uni. “So how are you supposed to explain me tonight to her roommates?”

>   He grinned. “You’re my gay roommate. I felt sorry for you and picked you up so you could eat dinner with us.”

  Victor rolled his eyes. “Asshole.” But he smiled as he slapped his partner on the shoulder and followed Lima and Chief out the front door.

  Once they’d left, Donna wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with herself. Omega, and Uni were involved in a confab with Bubba about a safe house location.

  She changed out of her work clothes and into jeans and a T-shirt, pulling on a sweater over that.

  Glad I brought more than just work clothes.

  The plan tonight for dinner with Lisa and Ginny was to let her roommates grill the hell out of Uni. He’d already told Donna that. He would do all the lying so she wouldn’t have to.

  Technically, she had met Uni in the coffee shop. Well, at the coffee shop, if you counted an abduction just outside of it a “meeting.”

  Donna grabbed her Kindle and headed out onto the lanai. In the sunlight, it felt comfortably cool. She dragged a lounger over and decided to read, but she realized a few minutes in that she had a problem.

  Lisa texted her again.

  Still on for tonight, right?

  Donna sighed before typing out her reply. Absolutely. Looking forward to you meeting him.

  Lisa quickly replied. He better be worth it for you to hide him this long.

  He is.

  What Donna felt for Victor and Uni scared her. Not really in a bad way, but here were two men quickly taking over her heart despite the circumstances. It wasn’t responsible. It ran counter to how she’d lived her life up ‘til this point.

  It was risky and yes, while she had no choice about being yanked into the overall situation, she didn’t have to jump into bed with the guys.

  Well, jump into the pool and hot tub and then bed, but same thing.

  The heroes in her books now paled in comparison to Uni and Victor.

  And how long until they were forced to say good-bye, and if she’d ever see them again? They could promise all they wanted, but it didn’t change the fact that their jobs were inherently dangerous. There were no guarantees that they’d be able to keep their promises to her.

  There were no guarantees they’d survive their mission.

  Or that they’d even manage to stop Kite.

  Or that she’d be alive when they were finished.

  That’s fucking depressing.

  She shut her Kindle off and tipped her head back, staring out through the screen at the small backyard. Surrounded by an eight-foot stockade privacy fence, thick bushes screened the pool itself.

  It was an idyllic little slice of heaven. For the rest of her life—however long that was—she would never forget the night she’d had with the two men.

  It also meant she’d never be satisfied with her life, or her happy bubble of denial, ever again.

  Until she could be with the men again and they could try to figure out if this really was a foundation for a relationship, her life would feel unsettled, on hold.

  She hated that.

  Growing up, school had been her oasis. Every day exactly the same, planned out. No drastic changes upending things. Leaving the chaos of “home” was something she looked forward to. It was the reason she’d worked her ass off all through school to keep her grades high enough to earn a scholarship to college.

  When she got home from school, no telling if she’d even have a bed, or be out in the living room on the couch or a bedroll because another relative had moved in. Whether or not her parents had weeded out clothes and toys during the day to give to others or even sell for extra cash.

  No control over anything except Scooter and her own pillow.

  The day she’d received word about landing a full scholarship to college, she’d gone out into the tiny backyard—where four more relatives slept in good weather in tents—and sobbed with gratitude that she’d done it.

  Even though her parents had asked her to come home on weekends and work part-time jobs to “chip in,” she refused, citing her studies and having to keep up her grades.

  Which wasn’t a lie.

  It just wasn’t the whole truth.

  Growing up, it was impossible to lie because there were usually at least one or two other people always around to refute the facts. She never learned how to lie well. She didn’t like lying. It wasn’t worth the stress.

  Her family learned when Donna was a teenager that they never asked her opinion of something if they really didn’t want to hear it, because while she wouldn’t be mean, she wouldn’t say a white lie just to spare someone’s feelings.

  No, I think you weren’t very responsible to quit that job.

  No, I don’t think you should have taken a day off and loafed.

  No, I don’t agree with you cutting back your hours when you can barely afford to pay your own way now.

  No, I won’t lend you money for food, because you shouldn’t have gone out to eat at twice the price two days ago.

  It was one way she’d learned to earn herself a little space, metaphorically if not literally. The decrier of bullshit.

  At work she wasn’t that blunt, obviously. But her family didn’t understand anything other than being blunt. If she ever hemmed or hawed, they pressed and tried to walk all over her. All the cousins and aunts and uncles used to just plowing through life and getting their own way regardless of how they managed it.

  Hence the little lies over the phone to her mother. Lying on the phone still didn’t suit her, but it was easier than in person.

  In-person lies were damned near impossible for her.

  Another reason why for the past fifteen months she’d opted out of reality as much as possible. Restricting herself to only good news.

  That was a thing of the past, obviously.

  Once the men left, she’d be desperate for any hint of information about them she could glean from the Internet.

  Praying they stayed safe.

  She could already envision herself obsessively trying to track the progress of Kite and of the scientists looking for a vaccine.

  For right now, she would try to live in the moment and enjoy whatever this was that they had. This wacky, crazy, wild romance-ish hook-up that sure as hell felt like something solid.

  The men were direct, intense, not interested in playing bullshit mind games.

  They didn’t have the time for them.

  Please, let this be real and let this survive. Let us all survive.

  * * * *

  Donna returned to the house just in time to hear the men, who were sitting at the dining room table, let out cheers.

  She walked in. “What’s up?”

  Uni wore a handsome, beaming grin. “Panda’s in Key West and waiting for Waldo. Their meeting’s at sunset.”

  “Who’s Waldo, again?”

  “One of the scientists. Even better, once we convince him he’s safe, he’ll talk another of the scientists in.”

  “That’s good, right?”

  “Damned good,” Omega said. He stood and stretched. “Well, let’s get moving.”

  “Huh?”

  Uni stood. “We need to go on a scouting run. Need you to come with us.”

  “I won’t run away. I told you, I’m okay.” She was surprised they’d even let her have her phone back. She’d had to promise not to make or take any calls without their permission, but she was free to text with Lisa and Ginny.

  Uni walked over to her and took her hands in his. “First, not worried about that. I trust you. Second, we don’t want to leave you alone and unprotected. This is about your safety. Third…” He leaned in and kissed her. “Honestly? I don’t want to be away from you if I can help it.”

  Her heart raced as she stared up into his blue eyes.

  “I don’t understand why I’ve fallen so hard for you two so fast,” she blurted out before even realizing she was going to say it.

  In reply he kissed her again, slowly, sweetly. “Neither do I,” he said, “but I’m not going to q
uestion it. And I keep my promises.” He squeezed her hands.

  “You might not be able to keep your promise if the apocalypse says otherwise.”

  “Don’t be too sure,” he said, a handsome smirk curling his lips. “We’re pretty resourceful guys. Especially when there’s the future at stake.”

  * * * *

  No, Uni didn’t want to leave her alone. He’d rather have her there with him and Omega, even though all they were going to do was go tour locations to make the final decision for their safe house. Bubba had narrowed it down to four choices, and two of them were easily close enough they could get to them with plenty of time to spare. They might have to wait to look at the third and fourth ones tomorrow or the next day, but Bubba was ready to put plans into place.

  Uni already knew he’d want to make sure there’d be room for Donna and her friends. In his mind, he’d already hatched a rough draft of a plan should things go south quickly. He and Victor could easily fly to their apartment complex and get them and be back within an hour if things got bad.

  Yes, the mission always came first.

  But somehow, he’d make it work.

  He wouldn’t leave them vulnerable.

  Uni wouldn’t tell Donna this yet, but he and Victor had already talked with Papa and gotten his approval before they contacted Bubba. Bubba had a dossier worked up on all three woman and they checked out okay. No red flags at all. If shit went south too quickly for them to get to the women, Bubba was already putting contingency plans into place so he could activate someone who could get to them and move them to safety.

  It meant Uni and Victor wouldn’t see Donna again until everything was safe and the disaster handled, but at least she’d be safe.

  It’d have to be good enough.

  Omega was driving while Uni navigated. At the first location, a large commercial complex that had previously housed a printing operation, there were too many neighbors close by that would make the location insecure. They didn’t even have to go inside and take a look around.

  The second location was a little farther out, on a rural road. A large single building that had previously housed an archery manufacturing operation.