"Hey boss." Sam calls out from the kitchen.
"Good morning, Sam. How'd you sleep?" I ask, walking over to the refrigerator.
"Good at first. Something woke me up though."
"Yeah? What's that?" I ask, struggling to get a bottled water from the top shelf.
"Your moans." He says plainly, handing me the water bottle. "Milo is a lucky man. I mean the things I would do to make you scream my name like that..."
I look up at him in shock. "Do you have a death wish?"
"Not particularly but if that's how I go out, then at least I'd get a taste of heaven before going to hell." He says, smiling at me and I laugh. He's going to get himself killed.
"I'm not sure it'd be worth the agonizing pain my boys would put you through. They could make hell look like salvation." I say, walking past him.
Sam chuckles and jogs a little to catch up to me. "Oh, I'm sure they could. Speaking of the angels of death, what's the point of this meeting?"
"The interviews. First, the boys would like to have a formal interview with you and then once that's done, we'll have you join us in interviewing the others." I say, opening the door to my in-home office.
"Seriously? You want me to help you interview people? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that you trust me but I'm kind of concerned about how trusting you are towards people you don't know that well." Sam says, coming in behind me.
"Our concern exactly. She's much smarter than this. I still don't understand what's going on with her lately." Cassius says, throwing his feet up on my desk and leaning back into my chair.
I sigh and turn around to face Sam. "Are you trying to get kicked out? Because they will kick you out if you keep giving them reasons to."
"Absolutely not. I love it here. Please just don't be so trusting. It could get you killed."
I smile up at him. "Don't worry about me. I've spent a lot of time around a lot of evil people. I can tell when someone has a pure heart. Your life has been unfortunate Sam, but you do deserve to be trusted."
Sam blinks as if he's taken aback by my words and I don't doubt that it's been a really long time since someone has been kind to him. "I- thank you Amaris." He nods and gives me a huge smile.
"Oh. My. God. You have gone soft." Milo says, staring at me in disbelief from the couch next to my desk.
My head snaps to his direction and I glare at him. "I have not. Take that back."
"You have princess. You've found a puppy to train, and you've gone soft." Aiden says, leaning against the wall behind Cassius.
I scoff. "You two are ridiculous. First, I have not gone soft. I could kill all of you in the blink of an eye. Second, Sam is not a puppy, He's a person."
Sam clears his throat and raises his hand. "I don't mind being your puppy."
"Sam be quiet. You're not helping." I snap, glaring at him.
"Yes boss." Sam says, quickly putting his hand down.
"See, you've already trained him." Milo says, getting up and walking over to me.
I sigh and roll my eyes at him. "You are so irritating."
Milo pulls me in by my waist and grazes my lips with his. "Want me to make it up to you?" he whispers in my ear, inhaling my scent.
I let out a soft moan and lean into his touch. "What I want..." I whisper, trailing my fingers up his arm "...is for you to take back what you said." Milo pulls his head back to look at me and I slip out of his arms. I spin around so that my back is toward his and kick in the back of his knee. I reach behind me and grab his throat while my eyes land on Aiden. "Apologize."
Aiden smiles and pushes off the wall. He walks over with his hands in his pockets and stops in front of me. He stares at me for a second and I can almost see the hungriness in his eyes. He cups my face and devores my lips with his before pulling away. "You're perfect and I take back what I said, princess."
I squeeze Milo's throat tighter, keeping eye contact with Aiden. "Apologize Milo."
Milo taps my hand and I slightly release, allowing him to speak. "I'm sorry, love. I take it back."
I pull away and tap the top of his head. "Good boy." I say, walking away with a smile on my face.
"You two are pathetic. You spoil her too much." Cassius says in a bored tone. "Come here bug."
I walk over to him. "Hi big guy."
"Hi beautiful. Want me to get up or do you want to sit on my lap?" He asks, smiling up at me.
"I want to sit on you." I say, sitting on top of him and straddling his lap.
"How are you feeling? Have you eaten breakfast? Do you want me to make you something?" Cassius asks, burying his face in my neck.
"No, I'm okay. Thank you though." I say before kissing his ear.
He squeezes me tighter. "I missed you last night and this morning. Did Milo make you feel good?" he asks, lifting his head and pulling back to look at me.
I place my hands on the back of his head and run my fingers through his hair. "Yes, he did. How does that make you feel?"
He sighs and brings his hand up to caress my face. "Jealous. I don't want to share you." He whispers. I close my eyes and lean into his touch. "But then again, they're the only ones I trust enough to share you with. They love you just as much as I do."
I open my eyes to look at him. "I feel selfish."
"You deserve to be, bug. You deserve the universe. Both the known and the unknown. Don't feel bad for feeling good." He says before kissing my nose and the ice around my heart melts just a little more.
I giggle and bite the palm of his hand. "Careful now. Your soft side is starting to show."
Cassius moves his hand from my cheek to squeeze my jaw before leaning forward to whisper in my ear. "Are you sure you want to tease me after what happened last time? Next time I'll have you on your knees begging for air."
I bite my lip and close my eyes imagining what it would be like to have him in my mouth. Cassius is the only one I haven't tasted and the thought of it is making me drip.
Cassius kisses my neck and lifts me off him, pulling me out of my dirty thoughts. "We have a meeting darling." He says with a smirk on his face. He stands and adjusts the chair to the height I like. "Sit."
*****
"Satisfied?" I ask with a bored expression.
For an extra level of security, interviews are done with polygraphs. Although Sam is already technically apart of the team, the boys still wanted to make sure that he's fully committed and so far, he's been doing really good. I'm actually kind of proud and in situations such as these, I only have myself to thank. I have excellent taste.
"One more question." Aiden says, walking up to Sam who is strapped up and sitting at the table in the middle of my office. "Are you in love with Amaris?"
I sigh. "Aiden."
Aiden turns around and gives me a small smile. "Relax princess. I won't kill him. I just need to know."
Sam's face turns serious, and he shifts in his chair.
"Sam, you don't have to answer that." I offer.
Sam nods and turns to Aiden. "No. I don't think so. I've never been in love before so I'm not sure, but I don't think I'm in love with Amaris because my feelings for her aren't entirely romantic. Sure, I have a crush on her but I'm mostly grateful to her. When I'm with her I feel like I exist. No one has ever made me feel that way before. She saved me and for that I'll always be grateful to her."
"He's telling the truth." Milo says, looking at the machine.
"Fair enough." Aiden says. "Welcome to the team Simon." Who knew Aiden could be this childish?
Sam unhooks himself from the machine and walks over to me. "Hi." He says, smiling nervously and rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sorry if what I said freaked you out. I know you're not really good with feelings but you're the first person to give a shit about me so I can't really help how I feel."
"Yeah well, I'll get over it. I'm just glad you're officially a member of the team now." I say, punching him in the shoulder.
"Now that you're in the inner circle, there's some things you should know about the three boys." I say, walking over to Milo who's still sitting at the table. "You know everything about the way I kill but now that we'll all be working together, you should know their preferences as well."
I bring my hands up to Milo's shoulder and lightly massage. "Milo here might seem like a cute little kitten but he's ruthless and brilliant. His preferred method of disposal is poison. By the time his victims realize what's been done to them, their fates have already been sealed. He's often referred to as black mamba."
"Oh shit! That's you?! The yakuza has been trying to track you down for years. You're good at not leaving a trace" Sam says, leaning back against my desk.
"Are you surprised?" Milo asks, reaching up and pulling my hands down to his chest.
"Honestly? No. We wouldn't have found Amaris either if it wasn't for her dad. You guys are very good at what you do."
I sigh at the mention of my father. "Yes, well he'll die for his sins soon enough." I breathe out, walking over to Aiden who is standing against the wall. He pulls me towards him and hugs me from the back.
"Now Aiden doesn't like to kill very much. He's the more organized and responsible one. He's usually the one who receives our orders and collects our assignments. Kind of like our Boss. However, when he does kill, it's brutal. Almost beautiful. I've never seen anything like it.
Similarly to when he kills with Cassius, watching them kill in sync is truly breathtaking. They are often referred to as the mayhem twins. His preferred weapons are knives." I say, trailing my fingers along his waistline to pull out one of his blades.
"I should have known you'd only be surrounded by world class killers. You guys are like the celebrities of the underground world." Sam says, sitting on the desk completely.
"Last but not least we have Cassius." I say walking over to Cas who is sitting down on the couch. Before I can sit next to him, he pulls me Infront of him, lifts my t-shirt and buries his face in my chest. "Really Cassius? I'm about to tell him you're a big bad killer and this is how you choose to acknowledge?"
He inhales and exhales before kissing my breasts. "I get shy when you talk about me, bug." Shy my ass. Cassius is many things but shy is not one of them.
I sigh and pull my big t-shirt down over him, securing him inside. "Okay fine. Lastly, we have Cas. He's as scary as he looks. He has an obsession with fire and although it's his preferred method of killing, he can work with almost anything. He likes destruction and when it comes to men who hurt women and children, he likes to test the maximum amount of pain one can manage before dying." I say, rubbing his back.
I turn my head to look at Sam and give him a smile. "Your turn Sammy."