Love & Hate Series Box Set 2 (Love & Hate #3-4)

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  “Seriously, you’re not curious about me at all?”

  Our eyes meet then and for a split second I think I spot arousal in hers. She quickly gathers herself, looking away. The temperature keeps dropping, but I’m boiling hot. She is aware of the attraction between us—more than just aware of it.

  “You’re investigating the murder, so you must be smart, and you’re young, so you probably started early.”

  “Let’s just say that I didn’t need to study very hard. I was lucky, but my parents didn’t think I could get anywhere. I left home as soon as I could.”

  I don’t even know why I’m saying this to her, but I feel comfortable. We are alone, surrounded by buildings and trees.

  “So you must have seen quite a lot of disturbing stuff if you started out so young?”

  Disturbing doesn’t even cover it. When I started training to be an inspector I hardly slept, especially after I found that girl in the basement. She broke me and then I stopped believing that criminals were like humans.

  “You have no idea. It’s an ugly and violent world out there,” I sigh.

  Chapter Twelve

  A moment of weakness.

  The silence is unnerving. She doesn’t respond to that, but I feel her body stiffen next to me. I have an urge to move my arm around her for comfort, to finally know how it is to be close to someone. No, I want to feel her pressed over me, hear her shallow breath.

  My pulse is racing away and the tension is like a blister ready to pop. It’s unbearable. Why did she have to share the room with Suranne?

  Fuck, I wish we had met in different circumstances.

  “Let’s look at the stars. The sky is so clear tonight,” she finally says, almost whispering to me.

  This seems easy. I can just turn around and slam my lips into hers, taste what I have been craving for so long. And somehow I know it will fill me with a warmth Kerry was unable to give me.

  She jumps off the bench, drinks some more beer and starts running towards the library. I shake my head. I have never been a heavy drinker, but the cider gets into my head.

  I follow her. She’s standing by the wall on the stairs, looking up at the sky. Her eyes are wide.

  “What’s so nice about the stars?” I ask. Then she loses her balance and I catch her hand, so she can steady herself. The sudden contact gives me another moment of déjà vu. I need to get it together, but at the same time I don’t want to let go of her.

  “Don’t you think they’re beautiful?” she asks. I look up at the pitch-black sky filled with small shiny dots, aware of the warmth of her skin that travels down my chest.

  My heart starts jackhammering between my ribs as I glance back at her. She’s focused, staring at the navy sky, looking mesmerised by it. I probably have been looking at her for too long, because she darts her eyes back at mine, losing the smile.

  “Have I got something on my face?” she asks with a giggle. Yeah, she’s slightly tipsy.

  I don’t respond. Instead I let my instincts take over and I swirl her around, so she’s between me and the wall.

  “No, but I’ve been thinking about this all evening,” I rasp out, squeezing her hand tighter.

  “Thinking about what, Detective?” she whispers, looking serious.

  “No talking now,” I say and then slam my lips into hers. There is a split second when she hesitates, pauses, probably wondering if this is such a good idea, but after that she parts her sweet lips for me, groaning with pleasure. The heat explodes in my pants when I press my body over hers, kissing her deeply. Her tall frame molds into mine, and she arches her head to the side as I begin to trail a line of kisses to her ear. I push my hips down to hers while I’m back to devouring her mouth.

  The alarm bells start ringing in my head. I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but it feels so fucking right. I return to her mouth and deepen the kiss with the thrust of my tongue, sensing that she wants to taste me the same way I want her. I grab her hands and move them up, so she’s under my mercy. Fuck, she tastes sweet and I want more. The heat of her mouth and the curve of her tits against my chest get my cock aching for release.

  I start running my hand down her body, remembering the lines of her hips. She overwhelms me as I move my mouth down her neck, biting it gently.

  Even the skin is softer than I imagine. I cup the shape of her breast over the coat, pressing my hips down to hers, harder. Fuck, I’m so hard and ready that this isn’t even funny anymore.

  “Micah,” I hear her moan.

  Crap, I’m just about to lose it. My blood rushes hot with need to live in this moment forever. Then out of nowhere I have a flashback from the past.

  “Why do you always get the best girls?” asks my friend Josh. He’s a year older than me. His father drinks most days and beats up his bipolar-alcoholic mother. I look at him, smiling towards Stephanie Morris, one of the girls that I’ve had a crush on for as long as I could remember.

  “The best? I have no idea what you’re on about,” I say to him. Josh raises his eyebrow and looks down at Steph. She quickly looks away.

  “Morris girl, she wants to get into your pants, mate. I can see that in her eyes. Shame, ‘cause we’re from St. Patrick’s estate and the good girls wouldn’t dare to go out with us,” he says, smirking. He’s bigger than me, with messy blond hair and baggy clothes.

  “You want to bet that by the end of the month she’ll go out with me?”

  The memory quickly dissolves as my mouth is on Tahlia’s. I want to see her in the light, explore her body with my tongue. God, she smells incredible, and I’m so turned on.

  Eventually she pushes me away, and for a brief moment we both try to steady our breaths. In the darkness her eyes are focused again.

  “We shouldn’t be doing this,” she snaps, her chest rising and falling in rapid movement. I can’t hide the boner any longer and I know that she noticed it.

  “Let me walk you home, Tahlia,” I say, thinking about Josh again. I don’t know why I keep having these flashbacks when I’m with her.

  “No, Detective, you don’t have to do that. I live just around the corner,” she says curtly. I have no idea what happened, but she’s back to being herself. She passes me and adds, “See you around.”

  ***

  My alarm wakes me up at five and for a split second I think that I’m still in London, getting ready to see the girl that I’ve rescued from the hole in the wall. I was the only one that she could tolerate seeing, and no one could explain why. She was only a year younger than me, but we had some kind of unexplained bond, a connection. The psychiatrist that was in charge of the ward sent for me after I calmed her down the first time. My boss wasn’t too keen on this, but eventually he agreed. The guilt still burns my insides, blurring my vision and my abilities. I regret that I didn’t fight to help her after that.

  I drag myself off the bed and head straight to the shower. Surprisingly, I had a good sleep last night. The nightmares about that day when I found Steph haven’t returned. Instead I’ve been dreaming about Tahlia, seeing her watching me from a distance. Now when I think about it, I realise how alone I have been for all these years.

  Last night our kiss left me high and dry afterwards. When I think about it now, I’m hard instantly and I have to jerk off in the shower. We kissed and she fucking liked it. Her body reacted, her nipples were hard, but then she backed away, panicking. When I followed her around the campus, I didn’t notice her talking to other guys. She kept to herself and avoided contact with most people. Maybe she likes being on her own. I can’t figure this out.

  We had a good time, and I instantly needed more. I want to see her naked, undressing slowly for me. Shit, I can’t be thinking that this is all right. This attraction will ruin me if I’m not careful. I dress up, put on a tie and head to the office.

  I plan to drive to campus today with Rogers. We need to pursue the lead on the boyfriend and find out more about the fight that Tahlia and Suranne had just before she died. Something is bound to
come up, but first I have to clear the air with her, smooth things over.

  “What are you doing here so early?” Rogers startles me, appearing at the door half an hour later. We have gone through all the CCTVs, and now we have to nail down the men that were flagged up. Roger went through statements more than dozen times. We have also looked into the victim’s past in much more detail, but nothing surprised us. Her parents confirmed that she wasn’t involved with anyone in her hometown. She lived an hour away from Braxton, and her life seemed perfectly normal. She was wealthy, a girl from a small town up north who wanted to move away. The killer doesn’t seem to have a motive, and I start to believe that maybe Suranne was bait for the case from eight years ago. The case that was never solved.

  “Just going through the records, nothing special,” I reply. Rogers sits down.

  “Mate, were you banging Kerry?” he asks after a silent moment, and when I look at him, he quickly adds, “I thought we were friends, and you didn’t say anything?”

  “It’s been what… barely twelve hours and you’re already asking me about her?”

  He grins, then drinks his coffee. “She called Lisa last night, complaining about you. They went to the same school. What the hell did you do to her? She sounded pissed off, calling you all the names under the sun.”

  I start rubbing the nape of my neck, thinking about Tahlia again. I need to give her some cash for that wheel that I damaged. We promised to bury the hatchet.

  “I asked her out, and that was my first error,” I say, making a face.

  “Kerry is hunting for her next wealthy husband, not a fuck buddy, mate. She can be a right bitch sometimes if she wants to be.”

  “We are over, I hope. I won’t be making the same mistake again,” I mutter, shifting on the chair when images of sweet Tahlia start rolling in front of my eyes. I need to stop daydreaming like I’m thirteen years old.

  “Good. So what’s the plan of action for today?”

  “Campus. We need to find that guy that Suranne was seeing. I don’t want to be stuck in a dead end any longer. If Woo hasn’t sold us any crap, that is.”

  Rogers agrees with me, but he isn’t convinced that the campus will give us any answers. We discuss the further potential leads until we’re called for a meeting at ten. Clarke praises Watson’s team. Apparently last night they cracked the case and made some arrests.

  I get out of there as quickly as I can, and we head straight back to campus. I drive, thinking how much I enjoyed being in Tahlia’s company, once the arguments ended and we were communicating or making out. Roger talks, distracting me from my inappropriate thoughts.

  We park in the usual spot and walk around. Our faces are probably known around here by now. Students keep staring at us, probably wondering if we are close to finding out the real murderer.

  After an hour we decide to split up again. Rogers gets back to the porter’s office to retrieve the latest CCTV footage. He has this new theory: he thinks that the killer might want to swipe the crime scene again. Any lead is worth pursuing, and I don’t want to tell Rogers that he is wasting his time. The access to the flat is still sealed off.

  After circulating around the university, I withdraw some cash for pinky head, knowing that I have to honour our peaceful agreement. She has a lecture for the next hour, and I don’t want to keep stalking her, so after failing to find Suranne’s classmates, I find a quiet spot in the library to see if there are any updates from intelligence about that damn number that we highlighted. I accidentally open an email from Kerry. She is on the top of my list and her message is simple and straightforward.

  Fuck you.

  I mess with my hair, exhaling sharply. I should be the one pissed off. In the end she turned down my offer of commitment. I should have seen that Kerry never took me seriously. This whole thing was about using a younger guy for sex. Hopefully, she’ll get over it soon enough. I am scrolling through my phone when I hear the conversation at a nearby table. There is a tall shelf of journals between me and some girls on the other side.

  “Did Woo tell you about that hot detective who questioned her about the murder in the flat below her?” asks a voice that I don’t recognise. I wonder if it’s better for me to go. I’m not interested in any silly gossips.

  “Oh yeah, she bragged about it at the party, but you know it’s bullshit, right?” laughs another high-pitched voice. I freeze and sit back down, wondering what the hell is going on here. When I was in uni, I went to a few parties but never bothered to gain any real meaningful friendships, always being so afraid of intimacy. The past kept me raging inside, so I had to keep fit, trying to release the aggression that way.

  “Seriously?” asks someone else.

  “Well, the story is that Suranne was going out with a really possessive guy from Broomly. Woo said she had seen him and heard when that strange girl argued with her about it.”

  “The guy was in Woo’s imagination. She clashed with that strange girl over the waitressing job in Valentino’s. Woo is such a bitch,” the third girl says, giggling.

  I lean over to make sure that I’m catching every single word.

  “So Woo made up some story and sold it to the cops?”

  “Pretty much. Suranne was never seeing anyone. She was hung up on some guy back home who didn’t even know that she existed.”

  “How do you even know that?”

  “I heard someone else talking about her. Woo made up the fight to impress the hot detective and to make sure that Tahlia—yeah, that’s her name—was in trouble.”

  I scratch my jaw, trying to keep my breathing steady. The girls continue to laugh and I slowly begin to realise that so far, my investigation has gone nowhere. I have nothing to go on, no reliable witness, no connection to the mysterious number. I’m useless.

  Finally, the girls change the subject and I leave, feeling like a complete loser.

  I think I need to start taking boxing again, because right now I can’t control myself. I know for a fact that if Woo lied, then we have to question everyone again, but this time on my fucking terms. I have no lead and no suspect. I have nothing.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Doubts and sorrows.

  Rogers texts me a few minutes later. He is grabbing a quick lunch in the canteen, so I leave him there and head straight to Tahlia’s house. It’s just after one o’clock and I hope she is there. I need to talk to her about what I have just heard. She told me that I shouldn’t have listened to Woo and she was right.

  A few students stop and bluntly stare back at me when I buzz Tahlia’s flat number. It’s a shame that she lives in the middle of campus. Sometimes people talk and I don’t need silly rumours to reach Clarke or other cops.

  I have no idea what I’m going to do with Woo yet, but she can’t get away with lies.

  “Yes.”

  “Tahlia, it’s Micah. Buzz me in?” I ask.

  She hesitates for a good ten seconds before she lets me in. My heart speeds up, and my cock rises to half-mast. That’s not a great sign, especially if I’m supposed to ignore last night and just be the detective that asks uncomfortable questions. Deep down I know that I can’t pretend around her. I want her and I believe that she is innocent.

  She peers through the door, looking gorgeous in a white see-through shirt. She has her piercing back on.

  “What do you want, Micah?” she asks, narrowing her eyes at me. The heat brushes my face, and I suddenly forget why I’m here.

  “Aren’t you going to let me in?” I ask, being careful that I don’t use that demanding tone of voice.

  She sighs and opens the door, going back inside. I step into her small living room, closing the door behind me. She has her back to me, washing the dishes, purposely ignoring me.

  “Woo lied about your fight with Suranne, and there never was any guy,” I start, after clearing my throat.

  “I told you so, but you were adamant, didn’t want to listen,” she snaps, finally turning around and pouring boiling water into a cup
. She’s keeping her distance from me, which isn’t good. Right now all I can think of are her pierced lips.

  “Tahlia, I’m sorry, but I had no choice. I needed to ask these questions.”

  “Is that it? That’s why you’re here, because of Suranne and that goddamn murder case?” she asks, walking up to me.

  “No, that’s not the reason. I still owe you money for the wheel,” I say, taking a step forward to close the gap between us.

  She keeps staring at me with a mixture of wariness and sympathy, like she’s still not quite sure if she should trust me.

  “Good, so you remembered,” she says with a smile. “Actually there was a guy that liked Suranne, but she wasn’t interested. He studied economics. She was murdered before he had a chance to talk to her.”

  “I’m glad you told me,” I say, inhaling the scent of her perfume. I reach out and grab a lock of her hair and swirl it around my finger. A stinging lust shoots down the side of my neck, down to my chest. Her eyes are wide, heated, and my thoughts start galloping into her bedroom. She inhales deeply and I lean over to her ear and say, “I did enjoy myself last night. Who would have thought that drinking a beer on the bench would be so much fun?”

  Now our bodies are only inches away from each other’s. She sucks in her pierced lip and my cock twitches instantly, sending signals to my brain to do something, anything.

  “I know how to have a good time without spending a lot of money,” she whispers. “You want to kiss me again, Detective, don’t you?”

  My lips curl in a smile. She has no idea what I want to do to her body, taking control as always.

  “That depends. I will if you want me to.”

  “You’ll get in trouble. I’m the key witness.”

  I frown. All right, I’m the one who started this game, and I should back off, but I don’t want to. There is more to it than just the case. She is crashing the wall, allowing me to feel something other than guilt and pain.

  I put my hands on each side of the kitchen counter and look deeply into her eyes. A sharp memory from the past comes back, clouding my mind instantly.