“One day, there was a job that involved a lot of armed guards at an Asian restaurant. I realized there were too many enemies for my supervisors to track, so when I took down the guards, I stole two of their smaller handguns. I ducked into the restroom and took out all their bullets, then picked the better gun and dismantled it.”
Crush frowned. “How did you manage to get the gun past the frisking?”
Killian’s mouth twitched into a smile. “I didn’t have a solid plan, because I was still figuring it out. But! While I was running toward the kitchen, I caught a whiff of this terrible stink.”
“Fish?”
Killian shook his head. “The chefs had been picking durian flesh out of their spiky shells. I don’t know how they got fresh durian inColorado.But it was a really expensive Asian restaurant, so maybe they had it specially shipped in. Anyway, the chefs were hiding from the gunfire. There was no one guarding the durian flesh container, so I grabbed handfuls of it and began stuffing my pockets.”
Crush snickered. “Correct me if I’m wrong. Doesn’t that smell like garbage?”
“Yeah! And it was really gross, too. I don’t know if you’ve ever touched it; durian flesh is yellow, squishy, and slimy. Kind of stringy. I shoved it into all my pockets, on top of the gun parts. And down my underwear. I smeared it all over my clothes, and inside my clothes too. I rubbed it into my face and hair. When there was no more left in the container, I grabbed the durian flesh out of their shells; those still had big round seeds in them. Kind of like balls.”
Crush was thoroughly amused. “They brought you back with them, smelling like crap?”
“Like I was freshly scooped out of the garbage truck. I didn’t actually think that far ahead. I just grabbed a huge tub of ground pepper in case I needed more ammo. When everything was wrapped up and we finished the job, they tried to get my clothesoff. I ‘accidentally’ spilled pepper all over myself. When they tried to grab me again, they started sneezing. They couldn’tstopsneezing, and the cops were closing in.
“So we got into the car and drove back. Everyone in that car sneezed nonstop all the way back to base.”
Crush laughed, his chest vibrating against Killian’s back. “What about the frisking?”
“By then, I had realized that they wouldn’t let that stink into the base. They would want to tear the clothes off me and burn them. So I, uh. I tried some reverse psychology. I whined that I wanted new clean clothes, that the durian ones were gross and sticky. I said I did nothing wrong, so I deserved to get clean clothes the moment I got back to my cell. Please don’t punish me by making me wear them.
“You could see the idea forming in their eyes,” Killian said dryly. “I didn’t think it would work, but it did. Especially when they reluctantly frisked me and grabbed my ass first—I had shoved ahugehandful of squishy heavy durian flesh between my cheeks. The alpha who grabbed me thought it was something else. I think he was going to puke.”
Crush was crying, he was laughing so hard. “S-so they sent you back to your cell, practically untouched?”
“Yeah.” Killian grinned. “They said I wasn’t getting dinner or breakfast, either. I spentall nightpicking durian out of my gun parts. It was so horrible. Then because I was starving, I ate some.”
“Bad?”
“I... acquired a taste for it,” Killian admitted. “It smells worse than it tastes; durian flesh is dense and really sweet. Strong flavor. The thing was, that was the first time in a while that I had enough to eat. It was so nice not to feel hungry.”
Crush sobered, rubbing Killian’s thighs. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“I’m not the only one who’s experienced some fucked-up stuff,” Killian said, craning his neck to look at the mottled skin running from Crush’s forehead to his jaw. “Does your face hurt?”
The alpha shrugged. “Sometimes. I have lotions for it. But I’d much rather you didn’t have to go through all the crap that you did.”
Killian leaned in, carefully nudging his temple against Crush’s cheek.
Crush nuzzled him. “Tell me the rest of your prison break story.”
Killian made himself comfortable against the alpha’s chest. “It took me a while to clean the gun. I wasn’t gonna use it without knowing if the durian had gotten into all the parts, and I had to scrounge up some oil to clean it with. When I was finally ready, I picked the lock on my cell door. I’d had the picks for a few months while I was trying to come up with the rest of the plan.”
Here, Killian paused, twisting his fingers together nervously. This next part might turn Crush against him completely.
He was surprised to realize that he really,reallydidn’t want Crush to hate him, after hearing the rest of his story.
“Sweetheart?” Crush pressed a kiss to his hair.
“Nervous,” Killian mumbled. “I don’t want you to judge me.”
Especially since they were still knotted together.
“You’ll be fine,” the alpha said soothingly. “If it’s what I suspect it is, I won’t think badly of you for it.”
Killian looked over his shoulder at Crush’s steady gaze. Crush squeezed Killian’s hands; Killian took a deep breath.
