Lunatic - Necessary Evils #6 - Ch. 5 - Archer (Patreon)

Archer pulled up Calliope’s name three times before dropping the phone back to the small table. Mac seemed determined to refuse his help, even if it would make both their lives fucking easier. But that was Mac. Stubborn. Single-minded. Aloof. A giant pain in the ass. Always taking liberties. But that was Archer’s fault. He’d set up this game. He’d made the rules.But he had to make the rules. Their first night together was supposed to be their only night together. No strings attached. That was how Mac had gotten Archer to admit he only dated men who were easy to forget, easy to manipulate and control for a night, because his life was complicated enough. Because being a contract killer—a psychopath—made it hard to give up control, even if that was what he really liked. Being manhandled, coerced, pushed around a little bit.And that night Mac had done just that. He’d said all the right things and done all the right things, he’d teased and toyed and played with him until he didn’t know which side was up or down, and that was supposed to be the end of it. Mac had refused his mother’s job offer. But then he’d changed his mind and that one night had turned into another and another. Because he’d told Mac exactly how to turn him on and Mac refused to stop using that knowledge against him.But they wouldn’t work together as a couple. They couldn’t. It was hard enough keeping the lies he told his family and the rest of the world straight, but bringing another person into it who also had to keep up the lies? It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t safe for the family. At least that was what Archer kept telling himself.His phone—his ‘work’ phone—vibrated over the wooden surface. Archer stabbed at the answer button then put it on speakerphone. “I don’t have a lot of time,” Archer said by way of greeting.“I know none of you have feelings, but could you at least pretend to follow social norms when talking to me?” Noah grumbled.Archer frowned at the phone. “What?”Noah huffed. “It wouldn’t kill you to say hello.”“We don’t know that,” Archer mused. “But hello. Where’s Dad?”Archer reclined in his chair, dropping a booted foot onto the desk, slipping into character, very much wanting to put Mac out of his mind. He pulled the knife from his boot before grabbing a pencil from the cup and beginning to carve tiny chunks from it.“Where are you?” Noah asked as the A/C kicked on, the hum filling the small room.“Hotel,” Archer said, offering no further embellishment.It wasn’t exactly a lie. It was kind of like a hotel. Or maybe a dorm room. Built for functionality, not for comfort. Still, he had his own bathroom and a queen-size bed. He imagined the students wouldn’t get the same. So, while it wasn’t luxurious, it was far better than some of the other shitholes he’d woken in over the course of his life. Which was good seeing as how he was going to be there for the foreseeable future, especially now that somebody wanted to kill Mac.The thought had teeth, making his chest tight, though he couldn’t place why. Mac wasn’t Archer’s problem. He’d said it in a dozen different ways.“Hello?” Noah sang into the phone.Archer snapped back to attention. “Sorry, I…dozed off. The game went late.”“Are you drunk?” Noah asked, tone accusatory.“No, and I don’t like your tone,” Archer slurred. “I’m hungover.”There was a long pause. “I thought you were on the job?”Shit. “I’m multitasking.”“You can barely single-task,” Noah said.Noah was on a tear today. “Rude. I do all the tasks just fine.”Noah made a sound of disbelief. “Two game nights ago, you got lost in Dad’s house and they found you sleeping under the pool table.”He hadn’t been drunk or lost, he’d been exhausted, and playing Secret Hitler with a bunch of psychopaths could take years to get through. “You’re being dramatic,” he said, waving his hand with the knife in it as if Noah could see the gesture.Noah snorted. “Like, no offense, but I don’t know how you’re as good at killing as you are.”“Full offense,” Archer countered without heat, contemplating staying in this character permanently. Being the drunken reprobate was just…easy. Like Mac. Archer shook his head. No. That wasn’t true at all. Mac wasn’t easy. He was a giant pain in the ass, and he argued over everything and acted like he was in control. No, he was in control. Because Archer had given him that control.“So, what did Dad want? I took out the target as requested. There were no issues. Is there something else?”“No. It’s just the normal debriefing. You’ve done this a million times. You good? You seem even more…scattered than usual.”Scattered. That was a perfect word for it. All the different pieces of Archer’s life had just scattered like a puzzle and it was all Mac’s fault.“How did you know Adam was the one for you?” he heard himself blurt.“He slaughtered a group of pedophiles for me,” Noah recalled.“That was it? He murdered a bunch of people?” Archer could do that.What? Why was he even thinking about Mac that way? He’d literally just told him he was a giant pain in the ass. And Mac had turned it into an excuse to try to fuck him again. He’d almost let him, would have let him if he hadn’t had to do this debriefing thing with Noah. Something about Mac just sucked him in every time.“No.” Noah sighed. “I don’t know how to put into words why Adam was the one for me except that he, like, supports me with extreme prejudice.”“Extreme prejudice?”“Yeah. If I told someone the sun was made out of cheese and that person disagreed with me, Adam would kill them if I asked him to. No questions asked. No explanations necessary. He doesn’t care about right or wrong. He doesn’t care if I’m crazy or if I’m unreasonable. He’s always on my side, no matter what.”“Oh.”“Also, our crazy totally aligns.”“Your crazy?” he echoed.“Your brother is obsessive by nature. He can’t help it. It’s who he is. And I am needy—compulsively so. I had a fucked up childhood. So, I need someone who is violently possessive of me. It's not healthy, but it works. We work. It’s no different from the others. Everybody in this family is nuts. It’s just finding someone whose crazy matches your own. Why?”“No reason,” Archer muttered. He’d already said way too much.“Did you meet someone?” Noah asked, practically salivating through the phone.“No.”“Oh, my God. You did. You totally did. Who is he? Do I know him? Does Dad know? This is amazing. Wait—” Why Archer had to wait, he didn’t know. Noah was having the conversation with himself. “Does this guy know about your little problem?”Archer’s brows knitted together. “That I kill people? He knows.”Noah snorted. “That you once drank an entire battalion under the table during fleet week, then ended up with alcohol poisoning and were hospitalized for a week?”Oh, yeah. That. None of that had happened. He’d been in DC at a ridiculously boring private meeting regarding Project Watchtower. But he couldn’t tell his brothers that so he’d…embellished. “Not a problem.”“He’s not an alcoholic, too, is he? Because that can’t possibly be healthy. Like, I think you have to have, like, two separate but equally fucked up bad habits. Like, maybe he has a weird vomit fetish. That would be helpful in your case.”“I’m sorry I even brought this up,” Archer muttered.“No, wait. I’m sorry. Okay, so if he doesn’t have a problem with the drinking and he likes you and he knows that you like killing people, what’s the problem?”“He’s just so…infuriating.”“Ohhh…tell me more,” Noah said, like he was settling in with popcorn.There was no way he was spilling any of his inner thoughts to Noah. He was a blabbermouth and the rest of the family would know immediately. “He just comes in and takes charge and thinks he knows everything and is entitled to everything, and he just struts around looking like sex on a fucking stick for literally no reason at all.”“Wow. Yeah, you’re fucked. You really like him.”“I said he’s entitled and infuriating.”“Listen, if Lucas or Jericho had said that, whatever. But for you, this is practically a love letter. When has any person ever had any kind of profound effect on you? Ever? Name one. I’ll wait.”Archer opened his mouth and shut it again, then blew out a breath through his nose like a bull. It was so similar to what Mac had said to him that night in the bar.“None of these boys will hold your interest. You only play with them because they’re forgettable.”Archer had given him a once-over and a dismissive smile. “Make no mistake, darling. I’ll forget you, too.”Mac had pressed against him, lips against his ear. “Come to my room and let me prove you wrong.”And he had. All night. It was the first time Archer had ever bottomed, ever let go of control. Ever just let someone use him. And he’d fucking loved every minute of it—had made no fucking secret of it. And now, Mac knew. Mac knew just how easy it was to make him yield. And it wasn’t that Archer didn’t want to give in. He did. Every fucking time. So badly it ached.But giving up that control in the bedroom made it hard to keep the mask in place. Mac already knew way too fucking much about him and that was dangerous. Not because of his heart. He didn’t understand love or empathy or any of that shit, but knowledge was power and Mac had all the power between them.“It’s already gone too far. I need to break it off. He knows too much about me. About us. It’s dangerous.”“What do you know about him?”Archer stopped in his tracks once more. He knew he was a vet. That he was a photographer—one who loved taking pictures of Archer in compromising positions. Which should have bothered him more than it did. He had an identical twin brother who was a sociopath. But other than that…Archer didn’t know anything at all.“Hello?”“This is ridiculous,” Archer muttered.“You could just, you know, get to know him? Like, go on a date? Ask him about himself?”“That’s not something I’m capable of. A relationship between us would be impossible.”“Why? Is he a cop? That didn’t stop August. Hell, if anything, it was a challenge.”“Are you telling me I should take life lessons from August?” Archer asked.“Well, you could. He might be the most bloodthirsty of all of you. But he’s also the most stable. August has his proverbial shit together. And, honestly, you should, too. Like, drinking yourself into a coma every night at your age is kind of sad.”“I’m not that much older than Adam, you little shit,” Archer snapped before remembering that family Archer didn’t give a shit about any of this.“Listen,” Noah  said, using that voice he saved for psychopathic temper tantrums. “I’m just saying, it wouldn’t kill you to give the guy a chance.” There was a pause, then he said, “Unless this guy would, like, potentially kill you or something, which, honestly, in this family isn’t exactly a deal breaker.”Archer sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Thank you. This has not been at all helpful.”“Just remember, you need someone whose crazy is the opposite of yours. I’ll tell Dad that you’re officially debriefed.”“Yeah, okay,” Archer managed, disconnecting before Noah could say goodbye.Did Mac counterbalance him? Not on the surface. On the surface, Archer projected this devil-may-care attitude. He was a drunk, a gambler who played fast and loose with Daddy’s money. But that had never been who Archer was.In reality, he was his father’s most trusted advisor. The one who knew all his father’s government dealings. He spent most of his life looking for literally anything that might thrill him. Or interest him even a little. He wasn’t crazy at all. Just bored. So fucking bored. The only true thrill he got was from killing.And from Mac.Christ.Before he could stop himself, he was heading back down the hall to Mac’s room. When he was at his door, Archer took a deep breath and let it out, steeling himself for the mission at hand. He raised his fist and knocked…hard. Too hard. Aggressively hard. Mac snatched the door open, gun in hand, blinking in surprise when he saw Archer standing at his door.Again.Mac lowered his gun. “I thought you had a thing?” he said, his confusion obvious.“I did. I did the thing,” Archer said, pushing his way into Mac’s room.Mac watched him walk past then shut the door, observing him with the same trepidation one might give a wild animal that just appeared out of nowhere. “Oh, okay, then.”Archer sat down on the corner of Mac’s bed, trying to ignore the weird pit in his stomach. “You need to let me help you figure out who’s after you.”Mac rolled his eyes. “You’re so goddamn stubborn. Just tell your dad that I’ve accepted your help. It’s not that hard. You lie all the time.”“I can’t do that.”“What? Why?”“Because I…like you?”Mac’s brows ran for his hairline, his golden eyes wide. “You do?”Archer gave a heavy sigh. He had no idea if this was what Noah had in mind or if Mac’s crazy matched his or if he just really liked the way Mac fucked him, but he knew that Mac was the only thing in his entire life that had ever mattered. He actually cared if Mac died and he couldn’t say the same about anybody else who didn’t share his last name.Still, he wanted to be honest. “Yeah. But I really don’t like that I like you.”It felt good knowing he didn’t have to lie to Mac. He knew all his darkest secrets.“Okay. I feel like there’s a lot to unpack here, Katniss. What’s going on?”“See. That. I don’t like that you know how to get under my skin. You call me Katniss because you know it bothers me. But now, it doesn’t bother me. Now, I like it. And that bothers me.”Mac opened his mouth and then closed it again. “I—So, you don’t want me to call you Katniss or you do?”Archer gave him a look like he was stupid. “I do. Keep up.”“I’m really trying,” Mac assured him.Archer couldn’t seem to stop himself from word-vomiting all over Mac. “I also don’t like that you take pictures of me without my permission.”“I’m…sorry?” Mac said, a hint of embarrassment creeping into his tone, his cheeks turning cherry red. “I’ll delete them.”Archer gave a single nod. “I do like the sex.”The grin that spread across his face was near feral. “Oh, I know, Katniss.”A shiver rolled along Archer’s spine, turning to goosebumps as Mac kneeled between his knees. Archer’s hand reached out for him without thought, pushing through the shock of red hair. “You can’t just…use your superpowers to bully me into things when we’re in public, though.”“My what?” Mac asked, amused.Archer’s insides twisted. He shook his head, trying to find the right words. “You do this thing where you look at me and I just…give you whatever you want. You can’t do that when we’re in public.”“But I can in private?” Mac asked, hands settling on Archer’s thighs.“Yeah, obviously,” Archer muttered.Mac sighed, meeting Archer’s gaze. “Where is all of this coming from? Is this a very twisted, roundabout way of getting me to let you help figure out my hired killer problem?”“It’s coming from my stupid brother-in-law, who says I need to find someone whose crazy matches mine. Except, I’m not crazy. I’m just a psychopath with a secret life.”“Well, I’m not crazy either. And I know all about handling psychopaths. It’s why they hired me. It’s why they hired you, too,” Mac reminded him.“No, they hired me because someone needs to be calculating in how we choose our targets and you have a bleeding heart the size of your dick. But that’s why we need some ground rules. Because when you want something…I want to be the one to give it to you.”Mac’s mouth opened and closed again. “Yeah, you’re definitely a psychopath.”“Was that in question?” Archer asked, frowning at Mac.“No, but I forget sometimes because you’re so fucking…responsive. Like, when I want something, you just give in so easily. It’s addictive, but I forget that it doesn’t come from a place of emotion, just…pleasure.”Archer frowned. “I have emotions. Maybe not all of them but some. And I know that you make me feel…something. Even without the sex.”“You’re giving me whiplash today, Katniss.”Archer got where Mac was coming from. None of this made any sense. And any other person would have gone running for the hills. But Mac truly was the psychopath whisperer second only to possibly Noah. Maybe this would send Mac running. It might save them both some trouble.Archer leaned back on his hands. “We’re going to be working together. Every day for the foreseeable future.” When he wasn’t running home to keep his cover. “I would just rather we both be on the same page.”“I’m not even sure we’re reading the same book here, Katniss. Just…tell me what you want.”“You. I just…want you.”“I wish you could say that without looking like you swallowed barbed wire,” Mac confessed.Archer shook his head, searching for the words to make sense of what he was feeling. “Have you ever seen videos where blind people see for the first time after a corneal transplant, or a deaf person gets a cochlear implant?”Creases formed in Mac’s forehead. “Yes?”Archer took Mac’s hand, playing with his fingers, refusing to look at him. “When they remove the bandages or turn on the implant for the first time, there’s this shock, this pain response to the stimuli. They flinch away from the light or the sound because it’s overwhelming to them, because it’s new and unfamiliar and it hurts. That’s what this feels like. You make me…flinch. Because having feelings—any feelings—for another human being is completely new.”Mac gripped Archer’s chin, forcing his gaze to his. “What do you need from me, Katniss?”“A date.”Once more, Mac blinked at him. “What?”Archer steeled himself. “I need you to go on a date with me.”“You just gave me a third-act speech about feelings so that you could ask me on a date?”Archer could feel his insides withering as he realized Mac was right. Christ. If this was what having feelings for someone was like, he was canceling his subscription. Still, he couldn’t deny it now. “Yeah, I suppose I did.”Mac leaned into his space, giving him a chaste kiss that lingered. “Yes, I will go on a date with you. But I’m paying. And picking the place.”Archer rolled his eyes. “You’re a control freak.”Mac gave him another kiss. “I blame my unresolved childhood trauma.”