The Mercenary and the Mortician (The Silent Hollow, #1)

by Alexandra St. Pierre

“I don’t want to wait anymore, Ryan. Will you let me have you? Please, baby?” I nodded again, completely unable to deny him anything at this moment. “I’m already yours, Callum,” I whispered, and he gave me a slow, gorgeous smile before sealing his lips to mine.

“You’re not going to come until I say. Right, sweet boy?”

“You better stop me before you come, Ryan, or I won’t be happy with you. I want tonight to be about making you feel good. I don’t want to have to punish you, but I will if you make me. Do you understand?” I nodded frantically, nearly choking in my rush to reply. “Yes. Yes. I promise. I won’t come until you say. Just please don’t stop.” He smiled at me, blowing gently on my swollen and sensitive balls before setting his sights on my asshole again. “I love it when you beg, baby.”

He trusted me with this. No one else had ever been inside Ryan like this. Just me. A burning sensation welled behind my eyes at the realization that while sex for me had always been treated like a basic need, this was something extremely special for Ryan, and I was so fucking honored that he had chosen me to experience it with him for the first time. That coupled with the fact that this was special for me, too. This was also my first time, in a way. It was my first time having sex with someone I was in love with, and the moment I realized that, I began to shake.

“Callum. Of course I love you. How could I not?” His words crashed into me, and suddenly, my eyes were filled with tears, and I choked on a painful lump that had gathered in my throat. “No one ever has before,” I whispered, and for a moment, he looked furious. “Then they’re idiots,” he snapped, kissing me fiercely on the lips. “I love you so much, Callum Walker. I can’t believe I spent twenty-eight years of my life without you in it. But now that you’re here, I don’t want to ever spend another day without seeing your gorgeous face.”

“I love you, Callum. Now fuck me, please. Fuck me like you love me back.”

“I know what it is to make tough choices and live through difficult times. I know what hard is… Loving you isn’t hard, Callum,” he whispered, leaning forward and brushing his lips against mine. “Loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

“I love you, too,” I whispered. “I know you do, angel.”

“What if I accidentally hurt you too much, and you hate me?” He frowned. “I could never hate you, Cal. That’s impossible.” “You don’t know that, Ryan. I’m… broken. I have darkness in me.” He ran his fingers through my hair and kissed me again. My heart fluttered, and I closed my eyes, unable to keep myself from melting into him. “If you ever get lost in the dark, I’ll make sure you find your way back, angel,” he whispered, gently sucking on my lip ring in that sweet way he now seemed to have a habit of doing. “You will?” I asked, my voice gruff and my throat tight with emotion. He nodded, kissing my lips again and again. “I’ll always bring you back.”

“You say that like it’s a joke, but I do love you, Callum. This means… This means the world to me.” He gave me a gentle smile, his warm eyes shining with a tenderness I never thought I would have directed at me. “You mean the world to me, baby,” he said softly, and for the third time that day, I had to force myself not to cry.

“Well, when I was stalking you and watching you on the cameras, you used to always have these shadows following you around. I always see you talking to no one during services… Also, when you’re in the embalming room, you’re always having full-blown, one-sided conversations with people I can’t see.” Ryan was staring at me, panicked, which made me frown even more. “Why are you looking at me like I’m the ghost?” I asked, braking for a red light. “You’re much more observant than people give you credit for,” he muttered, and I laughed. “Hey, I’m an ex-mercenary. It comes with the territory.” I smirked. He bit his lip, still looking uncomfortable. “I don’t know why you felt like you needed to hide this from me. I don’t care if you see dead people. Well… I care in the sense that if it’s adding stress to your life, I want to be able to help. But you don’t seem to be afraid of them.” “I just… I can’t believe you’re not only cool with it but you… believe it, I guess. I’ve never told anyone before. Not even my family.” I raised an eyebrow, shocked. “Surely Iris knows! She’s super witchy, I bet that’s why she gave me the weird pouch you always make me carry around.” His lips twitched, and he nodded. “Yeah. You have some… unsavory hitchhikers.” What the fuck? “What does that mean?” I asked. This was the most interesting conversation I’d ever had in my life. How fucking rad was this? My boyfriend could see dead people! “You uhm… well, you’re haunted, Cal. By the people you’ve killed. Al...

“Not just her. You have a whole gaggle of ghouls that follow you around. If I ever lost you in a crowd, all you would need to do is drop your talisman, and I would be able to find you just from their yowling screams.” “That’s… metal as fuck.” I breathed, and Ryan burst out laughing. He curled his hand around mine. “I love the way you react to things. It’s… refreshing.”

“Fuck being normal, Ryan. Normal is boring. I love that you see dead people. I think it’s bad fucking ass that you live in a funeral home. On top of that, I think it’s hot that you’re a freckly red-headed man who likes gardening. Everything about you is attractive to me. You’re my lil’ spooky ginger boy, and I love the shit out of you.”

“Thanks, angel,” he said softly, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. I beamed at him. “Anytime, ginger snap. Let me know next time you need a boost. I never get tired of telling you all the things I love about you.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, somewhat out of breath. Cal glanced over his shoulder, his eyes still unnervingly dark. “I need to fuck you,” he rumbled, and I nearly fainted. “Here!?” I rasped as he shoved me down an aisle in the very back of the store. “We can’t! This is a self-serve warehouse, Cal! This is where people come to get their furniture. Someone could see!” “Then you better come quick,” he snarled, tossing me down the industrial aisle. I stumbled over my words as his eyes darted around the shelves, and he pulled a box down, ripping it open and sliding out a large mirror. “What are you doing!?” I asked as he leaned it against one of the steel racks so we were looking back at ourselves in its reflection. He cuffed my throat and forced my head back so I was looking at him. He searched my eyes as if looking for something. “Did he hurt you?” “No, I told you he didn’t touch me⁠—” “He doesn’t have to touch you to hurt you, Ryan,” Cal growled. He tapped his finger gently on my temple. “Did he hurt you up here? I saw the look on your face. He made you feel ashamed of yourself.”

He was angry that he couldn’t kill the man that had hurt me. “I promised you I wouldn’t murder any more people, and you promised me you would be what I needed when the urges came.” I couldn’t even speak; I just nodded, swallowing loudly. “I need you to see yourself the way I see you.” He jerked his head toward the mirror he had set up, and I glanced at it in confusion. “Put your hands on either side of the mirror and bend over. Look at yourself,” he ordered. “Cal, I can’t. This is too much; someone could walk back here at any moment⁠—”

“Don’t act like you don’t fucking love it. You love that someone might see. You get off on the fear, Ryan. Now, let’s skip the part where you pretend you don’t want this before I hunt that cunt down and rip his goddamn intestines out in the parking lot.”

“Eyes open, Ryan. I want you to look at yourself while we do this.” I hadn’t even realized I’d shut my eyes, but they flew open at his words. Staring at myself this close to the mirror was incredibly awkward for some reason. I watched my own cheeks flush red as I made eye contact with myself. I hated that I blushed so much. I hated that I was ginger. It had just been one more thing for people to make fun of me for… He cracked a hand over my ass so hard I hissed in pain. “Whatever you’re thinking is going to get you punished, ginger snap.”

“I will if you look in the mirror and tell me how sexy you think you are.”

“You are, baby. You’re so fucking smart. And strong and brave. You take so much on without ever complaining, and I’m so fucking proud of you.”

“Tell me you’re like no one else I’ve ever met. Tell me how irreplaceable you are. How you make my whole fucking life worth living.”

“Give me one more, sweet thing. Tell me you think you’re beautiful. Look at yourself while you say it.”

“I’m beautiful! I think that I’m beautiful!” I gasped, and he let out a low moan of approval just as my cock started spurting in his hand. “Fuck yes, you are, Ryan. You’re so fucking beautiful.” He groaned as he continued to jack me while I came.

“You’re everything, Ryan. You make me want to be a better man,”

he pulled me into him, burying his face into the crook of my neck while he held me, whispering words of praise. You’re beautiful. You’re amazing. You’re so strong and passionate. You’re everything I strive to be.

“How are you feeling?” he asked me after a long moment, pulling back to look me in the eyes. “I don’t know. Definitely feeling good, though.” I smiled up at him. “How about you?” He smirked at me, giving me a lazy shrug. “Much less murderous, though I hope we don’t cross paths with that douche canoe in the parking lot. I’m only human.” I snorted and brushed a soft kiss across his lips. “I’m proud of you for restraining yourself, angel,” I murmured, and he smiled against me, kissing me back. “Thanks, baby. It was hard, but making you watch yourself come was better than killing that fuck would ever be.” I winced, glancing at the mirror we had just painted with my cum. “I guess we should probably buy this…” I mumbled, and Cal laughed, grabbing the mirror and sliding it back into its box. “Probably a good idea. We can use it every time you forget how fucking perfect you are.”

“Let’s not make a habit of that,” I muttered, and he slipped his hand into mine, tucking the mirror under his arm as we made our way out of the store. “Baby, until you believe those words, I’m going to make you tell me you’re beautiful every day.” He kissed the side of my head. “This world is shit enough without you thinking you’re anything less than perfect, just the way you are.”

“You’re not afraid of me, Callum?” he whispered, and I met his gaze head-on, feeling the darkness I’d worked so hard to suppress take me over. “No, Damian. I’m not afraid of you. You’re nothing I haven’t seen before. You’re just another monster.” He narrowed his eyes at me and licked his scarred lips. “Shouldn’t you be afraid of monsters, Mr. Walker?” His voice was soft, dangerous. Did he not realize that he was the one who had taught me how to hunt people like him? I was the thing the monsters were afraid of. I let out a dark laugh, holding his gaze. “Have you forgotten, Damian?” I gave him a slow, murderous smile. “I’m a monster too.” I looked him up and down, clocking all the ways I could kill him. Most of them didn’t even require a weapon. “And I’m a much scarier monster than you.”

“Because your father is no longer with us, I couldn’t ask him for his blessing,” Cal said, opening the box to show me a simple gold band. “So I figured this was the closest we could get to having him here with us while I asked you this.”

“Ryan, there are a lot of things I regret doing in my life… Before I met you, I was lost.”

“There’s one thing I’ll never regret, though, and that’s forcing my way into your life. Ryan, you make me a better man. You’ve shown me that there’s good in this world and that I have a place here that doesn’t revolve around violence. “I spent most of my life believing that I was a devil. Some sort of evil demon cursed to bring nothing but pain to this world… And maybe I am, in some ways.” He chuckled at the frantic way I began shaking my head at his words. Making a gentle ‘shhh’ sound, he stopped me from interrupting him. “But you taught me that even the devil is just an angel that fell to the ground.” Tears were streaming down both his cheeks as he fought to get his words out. “You picked me back up and reminded me how to fly, baby.” He was staring up at me with his heart on his sleeve and stars in his eyes, and I could barely see him through all the tears in mine. “I escaped that basement when I was ten years old, but I never knew the sun could shine so bright until I met you,” he whispered.

“I regret a lot of things, Ryan, but the thing I regret the most is how long it took me to get to you.” He took my hand and squeezed. “You’ve been waiting for your dark angel, and now that I’m finally here, I never want to leave your side again. I can’t imagine living another day of my life without you, baby. So Ryan Fairview… will you marry me?’

“Together forever,” I whispered. He swallowed and cleared his throat as he watched me slide his ring onto his finger. “Together forever,” he repeated. He dropped his hands to my hips and tugged me in close. “I love you, Ryan Fairview,”