Chapter 2
Craving's POV

I coughed out blood.

30 days.

I had 30 days to live.

“You OK buddy?” the driver said, “I know Ebola is going around...”

I laughed it off. If I had 30 days to live I'd make the most out of it. He was a black guy in his mid 20s. He seemed like he didn't have a lot of edge to him. He was one of those cool looking dudes. The airport in this small ass town was ridiculous. I had never seen anything so small. I was surprised that he lived in a town like this.

“Oh come on,” I laughed, “Only like a handful of people have that stupid thing. You want to hear a joke about Ebola?”

“What?”

“You probably won't get it.”

“Huh?'

I laughed, “Never mind. I don't got Ebola sir. I promise.”

“I picked you up from the airport and you're coughing,” he stated.

I laughed, “This racial profiling?”

“You're white...”

“I got a little black in me,” I stated and then squinted over at him, “Would you like a little bit of white in you?”

I winked at him. His eyes glared back at me. I smiled.

He seemed confused, “How you know I was gay?”

“When I walked into the cab you stared at my crotch,” I told him, “At 1:22, 1:30 and 1:35 you stared back at me again. That was when I noticed your jeans were a little too tight. They were girl jeans. I could tell from the smaller pockets. You couldn't fit your phone in them so you put it on the dashboard. Now it is entirely possible you just liked the fit of girl jeans. That would be totally normal in a big city but we aren't in a big city. Are we? Wrong New York. We are in upstate New York. I noticed your breathing getting heavy when I grabbed my crotch at 1:40. Either you were attracted or you were scared. Being that I'm a 25 year old, boy next door kind of guy I doubt you were scared. Studies prove blonde hair is the least offensive and I'm not naturally blonde but I think I had you fooled. So that leaves the fact that you were attracted to me. Plus the gay app jack'd is reflecting from your phone onto the windshield...so yeah...”

He looked down on his phone.

5 new messages already. He was popular.

“Holy shit. What are you some sort of private investigator or something?”

“Something just a little worse...”

“Damn...well, this is your house sexy...”

25 Richmond Road. I looked at the place. It was...quaint.

“Thanks.”

“That will be 40 dollars.”

I dug in my suitcase. I moved over my machine gun out of the way to pull out my wallet. I counted 40 dollars and handed it over to him.

“Keep the change.”

“Can't I get your name?”

“You don't want my name,” I told him smiling, “You want my dick.”

He was glaring at me from the front seat. I always found it amusing but flirting came natural to me. I never took it seriously.

“Can't I have both?”

“Listen, when you want the dick pull up to the house. Just knock on the door. And say that you have a Craving.”

I got out of the car.

Craving. That was my name. That was my code name actually.

I wasn't a private investigator. I was far from it. I was a trained assassin.

I walked over to the house. I pulled out the manila envelope. This was my new mission. All I had was the address on the outside of the envelope and then a key. The house was the ideal suburban house. It had a white picket fence. It had a huge yard. It had a goddamn gnome in the front yard. I had just come back from a crazy mission where I took down the a gang lord by myself. What the fuck was I doing here?

I started to put the key out into the key hole when I felt it immediately forced out of my hand. The key was on the floor now a few feet away. Someone had shot at me. Someone precise.

I immediately went into my bag and took out my machine gun.

“COME out!”

The shot had come from behind the bushes. The person wasn't coming out. Just at that moment two kids were riding their bikes. Their mouths were opened so wide when they saw me standing there with my big gun that they seemed to shit on themselves.

“You plan on blowing our cover already?” the voice came out from behind the bushes.

It was a familiar voice...a deep Russian accent.

I saw her walk out of the bushes. She was a slim girl wearing all black. Her hair was cut into a bob. It was a strange midnight blue color. The hair was different and the body was slightly toned down then I remember but I knew exactly who she was.

“Allure.”

She was a girl that I had trained with. I hadn't seen her in about 5 months. We were sent on a few missions together. I should have known it was her who shot the key out of my hand. Allure was sharp shooter. She had her signature rifle in her hands when she came out of the bushes. It had a scope on it.

“How the hell did you get that thing past customs?” she asked.

“Oh just this is just a M1919 Browning machine gun. If you can't travel with this overseas then you shouldn't be able to call yourself an assassin,” I told her.

“Well you just scared the neighborhood kids half to death.”

“They'll grow some hair on their balls,” I stated, “I grew a couple more on my balls too. You want to see?”

“I'll pass.”

She rolled her eyes. I tried to flirt with her every now and again but she always turned me down. I wasn't seriously attracted to her but given the chance I would definitely fuck her.

I watched as she walked over to me with a key.

“You on this mission too.”

“Yeah. And you're a day late...”

“I was called back to base.”

“For what?”

“None of your beeswax,” I stated shaking my head, “Well I guess it's just me and you. Do we know who our target is.”

“It's not just me and you?”

“More than us? Why the hell would they need more than two of us on a mission in the suburbs?”

“You'll see in a second.”

We walked into the house. Just as I walked in all I saw was ass. I recognized the ass a mile away. The person was bent over and doing some stretches. He was doing Pilates in these short, shorts and all his little ass cheeks were hanging out of the back of his shorts. I licked my lips.

“It's my lucky day,” I stated.

Love.

Well not that I was in love. His name was Love. See all of our names were code names of character traits and in many cases character flaws. Love was more senior than anyone else on the team. He had been an assassin a lot longer. He was extremely flexible. He stretched now by putting his head all the way in between his legs.

“Craving!”

He was excited. He was always this excited kind of guy. It wore me down sometimes. Love ran over to me and gave me a hug. I couldn't help but to squeeze his ass one good time. If he ever gave me the chance I would give him way too much dick. I just wanted to see what positions I'd be able to put Love in. He was a human pretzel. Anyone would want to have sex with a human pretzel.

“How's it going sexy?” I asked him.

He smiled sighing heavily, “I just came from Iran...got shot in the ass. So, you know, not so bad really. Another day in the life...”

“Well this house is not another day in the life. What is this...mission central?”

“Yes, for this mission. Isn't it nice?” Love asked, “Makes us feel all, I don't know, normal and stuff...”

“We aren't normal,” Allure stated, “Craving your room while we are in this god forsaken suburb is upstairs to the right. Go unpack. We'll debrief in a twenty minutes.”

Allure liked to think she was in charge. She really wasn't though. She was just one of those know-it-all girls who never knew when to shut her trap. I had known her for years though. To be honest we were all kind of like a family. At least that is what I thought family was. It had been so long since I actually had a real family.

I walked upstairs and looked at the room. This house was a normal house in a normal neighborhood. The room I was supposed to be sleeping in was painted in blue walls. There was a full size bed in it. It reminded me of my own home that I had in another lifetime. I was another person back then. I was completely different.

My name back then was Chris Thomas. That was who I was before I disappeared. I had been kidnapped and Chris Thomas was never heard from again.

The agency that kidnapped me was led by a man named Tom. I always thought it was some crazy coincidence that my last name was the same as the man I hated most in the world. This Tom guy was the devil. He really was. Who kidnapped kids and turned them into killers? Tom did. Who installed trackers into humans like they were cattle...Tom. Tom was no one sweet.

I had unpacked and went into the hallway.

I walked towards the bathroom.

I opened the door.

“Craving.”

I noticed the person standing there. I recognized him. He had deep blue eyes. He had just gotten out of the shower. He was shorter then me and wasn't as bulky as I was. He was shaped more like a model or something. Honestly he did look like like some goddamn model. It really annoyed the fuck out of me really. He was dripping wet. I hated the fact that his abs were so perfect.

His name was Urge. He was a member of our training team. That wasn't it though.

He was also Tom's son.

“Great. You too?” I asked.

I was not a huge fan of Urge. I never had been. Maybe it was the fact that he was so handsome and got the attention when he was in the room. He made me look like some normal ass guy. Maybe his body was the reason I didn't like him. His waist was so small. Then when you got to his dick, he had a huge dick. It was annoying. I had always felt blessed being a white guy with big dick but Urge just walked around with his huge dick as if it was nothing. I hated how he just seemed to be so unaware of how desirable he was to people. I always assumed it was big but standing here looking at it just annoyed me all over again. I hated this guy.

“You mind?” he asked, “I just need a minute...and the bathroom is all yours.”

I had no idea he was on this mission as well.

“Pft...don't even need it anymore.”

I walked downstairs.

“Can someone please explain to me why Urge is here?” I asked them.

“Isn't he sexy?” Love asked.

That was another thing. People found Urge attractive. They always found Urge attractive. When Urge wasn't around I was the dominant male. Love and the others just wanted me to save them all the time when Urge wasn't around. But when he did come around...all eyes were on the mysterious quiet guy who acted too cool to say anything.

He was downstairs now. I knew without looking because of how excited Love looked. It kind of annoyed me because as long as Love was obsessed with Urge he wouldn't let me fuck him. And I REALLY wanted to fuck Love.

Urge was silent. His hair was wet. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. That was his signature pose. I guess he liked to fade into the background. I wished he really did. Love unfortunately was staring at him like some cat in heat.

“What now?” I asked, “We need to get this mission started and over with. It's a little too crowded in here for my liking.”
“She's out back,” Allure stated.

“She?”

“Our team leader of course.”

Lust was here. I was shocked. We walked out to the back. The backyard was a nice set up. It looked like some sort of garden or something out back. I wondered whose house this was. Maybe it was one of the many properties that Tom owned. Maybe some assassin had killed the owner of this home and we were just occupying it illegally. The house seemed to be kept up really well though. When I got to the back I saw Lust. She had on these designer shades and this over sized sun hat. She had on a tight white dress that hugged her curves.

Every time I saw her it was like she was doing some fashion shoot.

Her voice had this alluring sass to it. That's how Lust was. She was this sexy 30 something year old woman with a Kim Kardashian frame and a Breakfast at Tiffany's sense of style.

“Sit, everyone...we'll have some tea.”

I just found this hilarious. It was really hilarious. We were lethal assassins who had all killed countless people around the world and we were sitting around the garden benches underneath an umbrella in the backyard of some suburb town in upper New York having tea. The tea was green tea. Urge was the only one who didn't drink. He just crossed his arms and tried to act like he didn't notice the constant stares that Love gave him every chance he got. He was way too cool for this maybe. I didn't mind it. When we did things like this it kind of made me feel normal.

It was Love who broke the silence, he had burnt his tongue on his cup of tea, “Ouch. Ah. Well this is nice though isn't it? All of us reunited again like this.”

“Yeah it is nice...but, would you guys kind of like to cut to the chase and let me know what it is I'm doing here?” I asked.

Everyone was acting so weird. Urge normally didn't make eye contact but he seemed especially moved today. Love seemed to stare at Urge more than usual. I didn't understand why. Allure seemed just as confused as I was and Allure was never lost. She was the first one to know what was going on usually.

Lust crossed her legs in the most elegant way, “I'm sorry. I didn't tell everyone beforehand. As you guys know our missions have been getting sabotaged so I had to be careful.”

“Have we found out who is saboteur is?” Allure asked.

I turned to Lust. Had they figured something out?

“No...” Lust stated, “It has to be someone who has a bone to pick with us. It has to be someone who wants to hurt us.”

“They seem afraid to face us head on. I got shot in the ass because of all the sabotaging going on. I'm going to want payback, goddamn it.”

“Do we think the this mission is going to be sabotaged?” Allure asked.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not.”

“What is the mission?”

Lust didn't say. She was instead staring at Urge. That was random because usually Urge was too socially awkward or maybe thought he was too cool to say anything at missions. He just sat there and tried to put on his sex appeal.

Lust was coercing him to speak, “Urge you have something to share with everyone.”

Urge seemed hesitant. We all looked at him. It had to be a big deal. All of us were gathered here for a reason. This never happened. Whatever it was seemed to be weighing on Urge. He never looked worried. He always looked nonchalant like nothing really moved him. Whatever it was definitely seemed to be worrying him now. He was breathing so heavy.

“Desire...”

I hadn't heard the name in such a long time. Desire was my best friend a long time ago. He had died however. He had died when we tried to escape from the Assembly. The thing about it all however was that Urge had somehow come back and we never found Desire's body. Urge said that he had fallen in the river and was washed away. I mourned Desire for a year and the only thing that made it feel better was not to think about him at all.

“What about Desire?”

“Desire is alive.”

Allure's eyes got wide.

My eyes got wide as well.

This was impossible.

“Urge, you said he died that day. That day we tried to escape.”

“He didn't...” Urge stated.

Urge wasn't trying to say anything. I could tell he wasn't because of how he kept keeping his answers short and sweet. He was trying to just avoid the fact that my best friend was alive this entire time.

Lust explained it in fuller detail, “It seems like the day that you all tried to escape one if you did manage to escape. Desire. He is the only assassin to ever have escaped the Assembly. It was honestly quite a feat.”

I shook my head completely shocked.

“You knew...didn't you Urge,” I stated, “Say you knew?”

Urge didn't respond. He was acting like he didn't hear me. The more he just stood there the angrier I got. My best friend was alive this entire time and Urge knew. Urge had told us that he had died and I believed him. I believed him because Urge was crying when he said it. Urge never cried. That was all a lie. That was all a fucking lie!

“Craving relax...”

No...

I got up off the table. All of a sudden though I started to cough. The cough was hard. It went straight to my chest. I grabbed a napkin off the table and turned away from everyone. When I moved too quickly the coughing usually started.

“Are you OK...” Allure asked

“Yes.”

“Is that blood?”

I raised my voice to her a little bit, “I'm fine. I'm fine. Desire. What were you saying about Desire?”

“He is in this city. Our mission from Tom is to bring him back to base.”

Fuck.

The only thing worse than knowing that my best friend had been alive this whole time without me knowing is the fact that now I did know but so did everyone else.

Everyone got quiet. I couldn't imagine it.

“How did they find him?” Allure asked.

“His boyfriend.”

Urge raised his head at that moment. Urge clearly must not have known that Desire had a boyfriend now. The look on his face seemed to be all the payback I needed. He looked crushed. I would have probably felt bad for him if I hadn't known he'd been hiding Desire being alive from us this entire time. I think everyone knew it as well. Urge never showed his emotions except when it came to Desire.

“He has a boyfriend?” Urge asked.

Lust nodded, “His boyfriend posted a picture of Desire on Instagram. I believe Desire must have found it because the picture came down shortly after. Unfortunately it was after the moderators saw the picture.”

What were the fucking chances? The moderators were Tom's cronies. They were soulless women who did his work for him. What were the chances they found him though.

I noticed that Lust used the word unfortunately. Lust was our leader. She was loyal to the Assembly but I think she had a soft spot for Desire. I think all of us had a soft spot for Desire. Desire had a way of breaking down walls. He had a way of bringing people together. He had a way of making you want to fight for him. I remembered the day that he disappeared, I had sacrificed myself fighting others off so him and Urge would escape. I would have done it again. Not for Urge. I would have done it again for Desire.

I had decided.

“I can't let them have him.”

Lust shook her head at the moment, “The order is coming from Tom. Do I like the fact that Desire was located? No. Do we have to bring him back? Yes.”

“What if we don't? What if we just go warn him? What if we make him run away?” I asked.

“They know he's alive now. They won't stop,” Allure replied.

“He may have a chance.”

Lust shook her head, “No.”

“I can't believe you guys. This is our friend here. He has what we all want. He has a life! We can't just come into town and bring him back. We can't do that to him. How do you all not see this? Urge...Urge you love him. You got to back me up here.”

Urge was just sitting there shaking his head.

I couldn't believe him.

Urge shook his head, “It's no chance. My father is probably embarrassed that someone escaped him and fooled him all these years. Why do you think he sent us? I barely got him to keep you all alive after we tried to escape. Tom wants us to correct our mistake. If we don't...he'll send a kill squad. Not just for Desire but for all of us.”

I couldn't believe them. I felt myself getting pissed off. I got up off the table and I flipped the entire table. The table went flying into the air.

When I was angry sometimes I got incredible strength. When I used to play football they used to call me the hulk. I barely got mad but when I got angry...oh, brother. Right now I was angry. Right now I was beyond angry.

“Fuck all of you.”

I walked away. I knew the others were afraid but I knew Urge wasn't afraid. I didn't understand it. What was his motivation? I knew he wasn't afraid of Tom. He wasn't afraid in the way that the others were. I knew that he had a reason.

I just didn't know what it was.

One thing I did know for sure though. Seemed like Desire had done the impossible. He had escaped the Assembly. Unfortunately no one escaped the assembly for too long.

It was the middle of the night when a knock came on the door. I had spent the whole night in my room. I just wanted to avoid seeing Urge. I would have wanted to kill him if I was around him. I walked over to the door to answer it. When I did answer it I noticed it was Love standing there. I was actually shocked to see him standing there. The Spanish boy looked all sexy with his tight little t-shirt on and his slim tone. He was one of those guys you just picked up and dropped on your dick.

“Damn, you finally coming to get some of this dick?” I asked.

He laughed.

“You wish.”

He walked into my room and sat on the bed. I watched his tight little ass cross the room. My mouth was watering really. I wasn't about to take no for an answer though. I grabbed a hold of my package letting him see how big it was through my basketball shorts.

“I mean you show up in the middle of the night, you know this is the devil's hour right?”

Love crossed his arms, “And I'm here to cause a little mischief. Just not the type that involves me doing squats on that dick...impressive as though it may be.”

“I can show you how impressive it is---”

“Craving, you going to be serious for once in your life?” Love asked.

I sighed, “OK, OK fine. What did you want?”

“I agree with you...about Desire. We should find a way so that he doesn't have to come back? We should find a way for him to stay here or even escape somewhere.”

“I didn't know you care so much about Desire—-oh wait, you don't do you. This has nothing to do with desire. Ah, now I get it. Now I see what you meant. Wow. I feel dumb. The reason you are in this room is because you want Urge all for yourself, isn't it?”

“Craving---”

“Isn't it!”

“Maybe. That's not the point though. If Desire comes back, it'll be bad for everyone. He is dragged back into this lifestyle and Urge will no doubt be all over him again.”

“Get out,” I told him.

It was just like Love. He was always making plans because of how he felt for Urge. It was getting annoying. He didn't give a damn about Desire. He didn't give a damn about what he had to do to get Urge.

I opened the door for him. He just looked at me almost disappointed.

Love walked over to me. He was walking out of the door but then stopped, “Look...you know what I want and I know what you want. Maybe we can work together.”

Love was rubbing on my dick at that moment. I was shocked.

“Get out.”

“I know you want this... you've wanted to fuck me for years...”

He was right. A part of me wanted to take Love out on his offer. While he wanted Urge to fall for him, I wanted to rip his clothes and just fuck his brains out. I took a deep breath as Lust started to stroke my dick over my pants. He was being very convincing.

All of a sudden my phone rang.

“Why would a moderator be calling your line after you've already been assigned to a mission?”

He was saying that because only moderators called our phones. It wasn't like we had a personal life or anything like that.

“Get out.”

I grabbed him and basically threw Love out into the hallway. My dick was still hard but I knew I had to take this call. I knew this call was important.

It was life or death important.

I looked down on the call. It was the same Unknown number that had called me multiple times in the last few months.

“Hello?”

“Craving.”

The voice was disguised. I knew it was some device that disguised the voice.

“Yes...”

“Where are you?”

“Upstate New York. On another mission.”

The strange voice that I didn't recognize seemed interested in this.

“What is the mission?”

“Look. I can't tell you.”

“You have 29 days to live. It just hit 12.  Do you remember that? How is the cough going? Have you started coughing up blood yet?”

Shit.

“What do you want to know?”

“What is the mission?”

“To retrieve a runaway operative.”

“Code name?”

“Desire.”

The person on the other line paused. I couldn't believe I was giving away this mission. I couldn't believe that things were happening like this.

“Text me the address to your location after we hang up on the phone.”

“Will you give me the antidote then?”

“No. But soon. How much do you want the antidote? How much do you want to live Code name: Craving?”

“You promised me the antidote awhile ago.”

“I will give you the antidote now. I need you to do one last thing for me.”

“And if I refuse?”

“You'll die in 29 days.”

“I've done everything you asked. I've sabotaged my team's missions for you. I've risked their lives. You don't ever tell me why. You don't even tell me who you are. WHO ARE YOU!”

“Who I am doesn't matter. I will give you the antidote. You just have to do one last thing for me.”

“What...goddamn it. Please tell me. What...”

It had started a few months ago. I had ordered coffee. I was in Moscow on a mission. I got a strange call on my line. No one ever called the line but moderators and they only called to give me new missions. I was shocked that someone had this number. It was him. The 'Man on the other line' is what I called him. The person on the other line had told me that I had just drank a very rare poison that kills at an extremely slow pace. He told me I had three months to live unless I did what he want.

What did he want? To fuck with my team.

The Man on the other line wanted me to set up my team. Lust had been wondering who was sabotaging the missions. It was me. It was me all along. I was a traitor to the people that I considered the only family I had left.

The Man on the other line never even told me what his endgame was.

Until now...

“I want you to do exactly what I say. Send me your address after we hang up. I'll deliver you a package. In that package will be a bomb. I want you to blow up your entire team. Including Desire.”