Beep. Beep. Beep.
She popped her head up, looking up the muscular line of his body, and snapped up her brow. “What. Is. That?” she said between pants of breath.
“That is the person I plan to kill when I get my hands on them. Who the hell would be calling right now?”
With a sigh, she reached into his front pocket and pulled out the cell, handing it to him. “I understand. A little.” She sighed.
He blinked and clenched his teeth. “I don’t,” he said as he brought the phone to his ear. “What? Yeah…. are you freaking kidding me? Shit! I’ll be there.” He clicked off.
Wynn lifted herself to her knees, suddenly feeling stranded on a deserted island. “You’re leaving?”
He tore a hand through his hair, making the waves into unruly curls. “I’m sorry.”
Crawling off his legs, she fixed her shirt that was sideways. She wished she could easily fix the aching between her thighs. “Work?”
“They’ve found another dead body.”
~~~**~~~
The man stepped back into the shadows of the parking lot when he saw the two men descend the apartment building. He looked up at the third floor where the light was on—where he had been hours earlier. Usually he wasn’t so impulsive that he would have to corner his victim in their home, but he liked the challenge, taking a chance he would be seen by a witness. His adrenaline rushed. The hunger was getting out of control. The need for blood felt like an addiction that couldn’t be settled with a hit of any drug. He had become a monster, but there was no turning back. He’d be on the hunt again soon…
CHAPTER 15
WYNN OPENED HER eyes. It was still dark outside and she could hear the rain splattering the bedroom window. She felt a stirring next to her under the blankets and she smiled. “So, you were able to come back after all?” She snuggled against the source of warmth, and stopped…
“You should know I’ll always come back.”
She jumped out of bed, almost tripping over the sheet in the process. Hurrying to turn on the lamp, she felt her knees go weak as her heart slammed against her ribs. “Rory? What are you doing here?”
“Don’t act so surprised, love. You can’t tell me you weren’t expecting me. Although, I do think that the lawman is trying to take my place.” He tossed back the covers and climbed from the bed, smoothing his designer jacket and wrinkled slacks.
“I don’t want you here!” Wynn wrapped her arms around her waist, feeling the cold all the way into the center of her bones. “The feds are looking for you. An agent was here so you need to leave.”
“Is that any way to greet the love of your life?” He took a step toward her, but she drew back.
“You’re not the love of my life and you’re not welcome here.” She grabbed her robe and pulled it on, tying the belt tight at her waist. “Go or I’ll call the Sheriff.” She took a step toward the door, but he was on her before she got more than three feet, grabbing her by the elbow and dragging her back against him.
“Not so fast, baby,” he whispered next to her ear.
“Please leave.” Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing how scared she was, she wished the quiver wasn’t in her voice. “I mean it.”
He jeered. “Oh, I imagine you do. Yet, you were sleeping naked.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “Not for you!”
“Ah, the lawman, huh?” He caressed her cheek.
“He’ll be here any minute,” she snapped.
“No, I doubt it.”
She tilted her chin, looking at him. “How long have you been in Crooked Creek watching me?”
His grin was calculating and his eyes icy. “Long enough. Locks don’t keep me out, sweetheart.” He tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear. “Did you think I wouldn’t trace you? You know I’m more resourceful than you give me credit for.” He let her elbow go and she pulled away, rubbing the bruised skin.
“Wh-What are you doing here? You should be out of the country by now.”
“That was an option, but as I pondered my future, I couldn’t see myself without you. You’re a ray of sunshine.”
“Liar!” She hated when he treated her like she was a child. “I’m calling the Sheriff.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t if I were you.” He took three steps, grabbed the cell off the nightstand and gave it a toss to the middle of the bed.
Her ex was conniving and dangerous, always had been, but she’d missed it—missed the red flags. How had she been so blind? “Tell me what you want and then I want you to get the hell out.”
He swiveled on heel, examining the space. “Some place you have here,” he said in such a way that told her he thought she’d hit rock bottom. “I’d ask how freedom is going for you, but I think it’s obvious.”
“I have a feeling you didn’t come here to talk about life, so just get to the point.” She could only hope that Zander would show up, but he wouldn’t. He’d be wrapped up in work.
“You have something that belongs to me.” He held her stare.
And then she remembered. The money…
“It was counterfeit, Rory. What were you doing with counterfeit money?”
His laughter was raw and more like nails scraping down a chalkboard. It unsettled her. “Truly, sweetheart, you don’t want the answer to that. The less you know the better. Just give it back to me…”
“I-I don’t have it.”
His jaw creaked. “What do you mean?”
“I’m telling you, I don’t have it. I used some of it and I handed over the rest.” There was an obvious tremor to her voice.
“To the lawman?”
She didn’t want to answer any of his questions.
He shook his head and his lips thinned. He clenched his hands into fists. “Why would you do that?” he spat.
“I want no part of this, Rory. You dragged me into this unfairly.”
“Honey, you were the one who took the duffel bag. No one forced you. Now you’ve written our death sentence.” He dropped down on the end of the bed.
“What are you talking about?” She’d never seen him so pale and his face so twisted.
“Think about it. You’re smarter than that question. One hundred grand might as well be a million. If I don’t get the goods into the right hands by the end of the week, I’ll be dead meat. And don’t think for a minute they’ll stop with me. They know you took off with the merchandise.”
She blinked, wrapping her head around what he was saying while trying to keep her heart from bouncing out of her chest. Wynn reached down and dragged the mentioned bag out from under the bed. She unzipped it and tossed out the hand weights she’d left inside. Searching the interior closely, she finally realized there was a secret compartment and tore the material, and there the goods were…. Her heart sank. How had she been so stupid? All this time she had the counterfeit money here, under her bed. “Every last dollar is here. I didn’t touch it and I had no clue.”
He stood, “Well, look at that.” He brought out a stack of bills and fanned it against his palm. “We’re in business.”
“No, we’re nothing, Rory. You have what you came for, now you can leave and never come back.”
Seconds ticked by. He dropped the money back in with the rest, zipped it then slowly turned to face her. “This isn’t all that I came for. I want you, baby. I promise I’ll get out of this cut-throat way of life. We’ll run off somewhere where no one knows us. We can start again.” He took the three steps to get to her, his eyes pleading. “I love you. I know you love me.”
But she didn’t. She doubted she ever loved him enough, and for that she was sorry. “I can’t. I want to stay here. This is my life now.”
He blinked and his jaw tightened. Those weren’t the words he wanted to hear. “Why? Because you want to stay here with the lawman?”
“Yes, I do. Even if he wasn’t here, I’d still want to do this, Rory. I’m getting back on my feet and I’m happier.”
Several expressions flitted o
ver his features before his shoulders went limp. “This won’t work.”
“What won’t work?” Her heart hammered her ribcage.
“You don’t have a choice. In good time you’ll see that you belong with me,” he said the words with such blank emotion.
“I do have a choice. I made that when I left.” He wasn’t the man she remembered. He seemed defeated, lost.
“Okay, you want choices.” He narrowed his gaze. “Here are your two options. You can go with me and I’ll prove I’m a better man. Or, you can stay and…well…you know what you used to say… you’d rather be alone than deal with any man’s bullshit.”
Her bottom lip trembled, and she tried hard to stop shaking. “What are you saying?”
“That’s an interesting question.” His lips were quirked upward in a smirk as if he knew what buttons to push. He slipped the jacket from his shoulders and tossed it over the end of the bed. The white button-down shirt was wet as if he’d got caught in a rain storm. He rolled up each of his sleeves, showing off the elaborate tattoo on his forearm. He seemed to be enjoying taking his time. “The thing is, Wynn, you and I…we belong together.”
“I think you’ve been sniffing too much bullshit,” she answered with a hint of snark. She didn’t like that he felt he could show up here as he liked. She especially didn’t like the way he looked at her in a deceitful way.
He sat back down on the end of the bed and patted the spot beside him. “Come on. Come sit.” She just stared. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Let’s have a discussion and no one gets hurt. Understand?” He reached out, grabbed her hand and dragged her into a sitting position beside him.
Not knowing what he wanted, she was getting a good idea of what he might hold over her head. “Let’s make this quick.”
“You said you gave the lawman the goods.” He slid his cool knuckles down her cheek and all she could do was compare his cool touch to Zander’s warm one.
There was no reason for her to lie. She’d do anything to get him away from her. “I took the cash from your desk. I-I didn’t know…”
He turned slightly, took her other hand and clasped both in his tight grasp. “That’s gone. There’s no way to get it back. That shit was poor quality, not like these beauties.” He brought the money to his nose and inhaled, smiling. And then just as quickly it was gone. “You can’t possibly think you and the lawman have something, do you?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Really? Does he know that you like it rough?”
“I don’t know who you are anymore, Rory.” It made her sick just to say his name.
“You’ll get to know me again, sweetheart.”
She felt the blood drain from her face. “I’ll never go back to that life. Ever.”
“If you don’t, then your friend will have a visitor.”
“You wouldn’t do that.”
“No, I wouldn’t, but I know a group of men who enjoy making people pay by the skin of their teeth.”
“Zander has nothing to do with this—with us.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Wynn. He has everything to do with us and that’s because you gave him the goods. Now he’s as much a part of this as you and I are. See what you’ve done?”
Wynn recognized the look in the man’s eyes as evil, and when he brought his hand up to her face, she jerked. He pushed a tendril of her hair behind her ear. He seemed tender, but he wasn’t…hadn’t been in a long time. “He’s a special agent. Your people wouldn’t mess with him.”
One groomed brow flipped up. “Is that what you really believe? If so, you’re far more naïve than I ever thought you were. No one is safe against the mob, my dear. No one. Not even that pretty boyfriend of yours. All they need is a name and they’d love to take out a man wearing a star.”
“I can’t trust anything you say.”
Not liking her rebellion, he leaned closer and snarled. “I could take the bastard out myself, but I don’t want to dirty my hands. You see, I don’t blame him for wanting a piece of the pie.” He swiped his hand between her legs and then brought his fingers to his nose. “Mm. As always, sweet smelling and succulent.”
“I’ll tell him everything.”
His laugh scraped her nerves like a raw blade. “And you think he can hide?”
She was trembling by this point. He stood and held out his hand to her and she reluctantly accepted it, and he pulled her upright. Once she felt the dizziness pass, she asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“Come with me.”
“Why?”
“Because you know too much, sweetheart.”
“I don’t know anything,” she protested as she felt a familiar tightness in her chest. Breathing was getting harder.
“You know me. That’s too much.”
A small voice in the back of her head warned her to send him away and divulge everything to Zander. He’d know what to do, but then what if Rory’s threats were valid? Her fear wasn’t from him as much as the people he had dealings with. Would they hunt Zander down if Rory made them believe Zander was a danger to them? She didn’t know a lot about the mob, but what she’d heard was that no one could hide from them.
He swiped his palms down his shirt. “I’ll even show a little compassion. I’ll be back to Crooked Creek in a week. This gives me time to handle the situation back in New York. I expect you’ll see my way of things, and when I return, you’ll be packed and ready. Just don’t fuck with me and I won’t fuck with you,” he ground out in a menacing tone that made the hair on her nape stand. He leaned in and kissed her temple and she felt sick.
The feeling didn’t subside when he left.
She took a long, hot shower and scrubbed every inch, but still she had an unsettling sensation in her bones that she couldn’t shake. She went back and forth a hundred times, unsure of what she should do. Wynn didn’t want to stay and put Zander in danger, but she also didn’t want to lose everything she was starting to love.
What could she do?
She knew exactly what she wanted…
Her life back.
Her cell rang and she hoped to see Zander’s name on the screen, but instead she saw an unknown number. Reluctantly, she clicked ‘talk’. “Hello?”
“Yeah, right number,” Rory was on the other end.
“How…?”
“I saw your phone, sweetheart. I’m just calling to remind you of our bargain,” Rory’s voice rasped on the other end. “The lawman can die. It’s all in how you chose.” Click.
She threw her phone to the bed and dropped to the floor, tears flowed down her cheeks. No one should ever pay for her mistakes.
~~~**~~~
Zander stared at the open file on the latest victim. Twenty-two. Brunette with brown eyes. Straight A student. Same bruises and she had a used syringe in her pocket. There were obvious physical resemblances and the clues were growing, but not anything that points to a killer yet. Although Zander was starting to compile a profile of the killer. White male who was educated, if not above average in intelligence, with enough knowledge of the law that he could keep a clean crime scene. Possibly a current or former cop.
He looked through the window, watching a bird sitting on a branch. It chirped and flitted its wings. He hoped he was headed in the right direction.
Even though he hated going behind his buddy’s back, Zander knew they needed someone from the outside helping, so he’d asked his brother, Cullen, to take a look at the deputies, not only in Crooked Creek, but also several surrounding counties. So far, everyone checked out clean.
Blowing out a long breath, Zander leaned his head back, closing his eyes. An image of Wynn developed on the back of his eyelids. He was miserable and he wanted to see her, but he’d dedicated himself to finding the bastard who was killing innocent girls. He felt he was doing the right thing by staying away from Wynn until he could concentrate on only her even though he missed her and wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms. To fin
ish what they’d started when he was called away.
He realized he was getting involved with a woman who wouldn’t just be a fling. It wasn’t possible to not fall for her.
Lord, he could still smell her, feel her satin-smooth skin under his rough hands. Hear her soft, delicate whimpers fall off her lips as he nibbled her neck, licked her ear lobe. She’d been on fire…
He looked down at Susie-Q who looked up at him with sad eyes. “You miss her too, huh girl?” He gave the dog a scratch behind her ears, then stood and went into the kitchen to pour himself a second cup of coffee for the morning when he heard a soft knock on the door.
Standing on the stoop was the exact person he’d been thinking about non-stop. “This is a great surprise,” he said when he opened the door.
“Can I come in?” Wynn asked.
“Sure.” He stepped back and let her pass, then closed the door with his foot. He watched her bend and give Susie-Q attention. When she stood back up, he skimmed his gaze over her red T-shirt that read, “Life would be boring without me.” He smiled.
Her smile seemed somewhat forced and the dark circles under her eyes told him something was wrong
“I know you’re probably neck deep in work, but I was wondering if you were planning on going into town this morning?” she asked.
“I planned to eventually. I promised mom I’d help her out with something later. Is there something you need?”
“If you can’t it’s okay.” She waved a hand through the air.
“You might want to ask first.”
“Sure.” She tucked her hands into her front pockets. Was she nervous? Why did he hope that she wanted to revisit what they’d started before? So much for staying away from her. “It’s time for my lab visit to check all my levels. Just something I have to do on occasion before I can get my prescription for my medicine and nebulizer.”
“I’d be happy to take you into the lab.”
“Are you sure? I can see you’re busy.” She looked at the coffee table where he had folders strewn across the top.
“I need a break. Are you ready to go?”
Wanted by the Lawman Page 13
