Scarlet Angel (Mindf*ck Series Book 3)

by S. T. Abby

  The Boogeyman doesn’t have shit on me.

  “You shouldn’t be ashamed of who are,” I tell her quietly.

  “I’m not. I just don’t like people telling my business. Besides, I don’t really put myself in a box. I’m not one hundred percent sure of my sexuality. It’s just…men are attractive but harder to trust than women,” she confesses softly.

  I flip through the screens, checking out all the pretty camera placements Jake has found. He was a busy boy last night while I was finishing off Morgan.

  “My brother was gay. Jake is bisexual. Jake was too scared to tell anyone he and my brother were in love. People made my brother feel like he was a walking sin or abomination when he came out a few months before they killed him.” I try to say it with no emotion, but it’s a lot of effort.

  She sucks in a breath, and I rub my chest where the pain, that always accompanies my brother’s memory, starts to form.

  “Jake always says his biggest regret was being too scared to show Marcus how much he meant to him. Marcus knew he wasn’t ashamed of him. He knew how toxic that town was. He didn’t confess his sexuality to prove his love for Jake. He did it to be honest with himself. He never once doubted that Jake loved him.”

  “But Jake is doing this to prove his love?” she asks sadly.

  “No. He’s doing it because he’s a romantic.”

  The confusion on her face doesn’t surprise me, but she doesn’t press for me to elaborate. We drive in relative silence after that, until we’re nearing Delaney Grove. Then the conversation mostly veers toward a few other cases the team is working on.

  Jake sends a text while we’re talking, and I read it.

  JAKE: Olivia called and said Dad is giving her a hard time about his medicine. I’m going to go take care of that, but I’ll be back soon. Step one of our plan is already in action.

  ME: Call me if you need help.

  JAKE: Don’t worry about me. Should only take a couple of hours. Just watch the fun stuff. I’m about to send you some pictures you’ll appreciate.

  Hadley asks for my opinion on some of those cases, drawing me away from Jake’s texts, and I give it. Then she makes voice memo notes.

  “Logan will think I’m twice as genius as he already thinks I am if I go spouting off these facts,” she says, laughing.

  But I don’t laugh, because I get distracted. Jake sends me a picture of a street. Of the street. Of the words written in red.

  The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

  “What?” Hadley asks.

  Jake also sends me a picture of Logan studying the message, and I pull up the video footage, watching the man I love as he observes the people around him. Most are pale and terrified.

  They know what happened on that spot. They painted over it. Made it black again. Pretended as though the red stains aren’t there just because you can’t see them.

  Logan doesn’t seem disturbed or terrorized, just as I knew he wouldn’t. He’s a logical man, after all. He doesn’t believe in ghosts.

  But Delaney Grove…they’ll fall to their knees soon.

  “I don’t understand why they’re all falling for that,” Hadley states.

  “It’s called conditioning. They’ve been conditioned to be sheep. Sheep follow sheep,” I tell her.

  “I don’t get it,” she argues.

  “You have someone you look to for inspiration?” I ask her.

  “Queen Latifah. Why?”

  I smile to myself. “My father was an Einstein man. My mother loved Confucius. My brother, the hopeless romantic who was too easily emotional, lived and breathed Shakespeare.”

  “What does that have to do with sheep?”

  Smiling, I face her. “Personally, I was always in love with the words of Voltaire.”

  “All that sounds a little pretentious to me. But your family liked dead people who had something to say that people felt the need to recite. Proceed.”

  Still smiling, I say, “Voltaire said, ‘Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.’ For too long, Sheriff Cannon has ruled the county, and very few ever break away from the corruption he instills. Women are beneath men. And his word is gospel.”

  I gesture to the flock who are crying, panicking, and already on the verge of an all-out mutiny against the sheriff by now. After one single day of mind-fuckery.

  “Sheep,” I repeat quietly. “Fucking baa.”

  She blows out a shaky breath as we drive the rest of the way into town, and she texts someone. I look around, seeing the place that has jaded so many and broken many more.

  “I’m back, motherfuckers,” I say quietly as we pass the town hall. “And I’m going to make your life hell before I paint your town red.”

  I try to find Logan on the cameras, using the app Jake installed for me before the first kill, but can’t. He’s apparently in some blind spots.

  I don’t even notice we’re parked until Hadley turns off the engine.

  “I’m letting Logan know you’re here, in case—”

  Her words end on a shrill scream when my door is ripped open, and Logan reaches in, heaving me out of the car with one pull. I grin against his lips the second he kisses me, and I wind my arms around his neck, enjoying the feel of his body pressing against mine.

  “Sheesh! We’re in the middle of Fucking Madhouse Hollow, on the edge of the woods, and you give a girl a heart attack?! Not cool, Bennett. Not fucking cool,” says the redheaded girl who knowingly drove the killer into town.

  Logan smiles against my lips despite the crazy he’s had to endure since he arrived early this morning. I’m trying not to laugh at the irony of Hadley screaming and freaking out like he was the killer coming to get us…when…yeah…

  As he lifts me, my legs wrap around his waist, knowing their place. He holds me to him as he carries me inside what I assume must be our cabin. I don’t look around, worried it’ll be the cabin where Kyle used to take me.

  Back before I knew the monster he was.

  Back when I unknowingly trusted someone so dark.

  Back when I was a sheep stuck in the same flock I intend to tear apart.

  He bends, and a sense of weightlessness hits when I’m momentarily falling, before a bed hits my back. I grin up at him as he tugs his shirt off.

  “You act like you missed me,” I say, committing every moment with him to memory.

  I’ll need it to hold onto. I’ll need it to remember. I’ll need it to get me through the rest of this. Hopefully alive.

  Then I’ll need it when it’s just me and Jake looking back on the chaos we created; the justice two killers achieved under the guise of avenging angels.

  “I’m seriously considering seeing a shrink about this mindless obsession I have with you,” he mumbles, but his lips twitch with a smile before he pushes down his pants.

  The timing of our arrival is perfect. Halloween is just around the corner.

  There’s a reason I picked Myers as a surname.

  But I don’t think of any of that right now. Nothing else exists when it’s just us, because my time is limited. I know that. He doesn’t.

  He still loves me like it’s the last day when he comes down on top of me, pushing my dress up on my hips.

  “You wore a red dress just to drive me insane, didn’t you?” he asks.

  Before I can answer, we hear Hadley through the door. “I put your bags in here, you horny fuckers. You’re welcome.”

  Logan laughs against my neck, and I run my fingers through his hair, getting high on heaven. That’s what he is to me.

  “Sometimes I think you’re an illusion, and that none of this is really happening. That I really died ten years ago after the accident,” I tell him softly as he starts tearing my underwear down.

  “I’m real, Lana,” he murmurs against my neck as he finally peels off the last of my clothes.

 
; Just the feel of his body sliding against mine as he undressed me has gotten me ready for him.

  “And I’m yours,” he says before he kisses me, swallowing the words I try to return.

  Mine.

  Just like I’m his.

  For as long as he’ll keep me.

  “I love you,” I say as he slides inside me, shuddering as though the feel of me was exactly what he needed.

  I know the feeling.

  The words mean more to me than he knows, because they’re words I thought I’d never utter in that context. Thought I’d never heal enough to feel that connection.

  “I love you,” he says, opening his eyes to stare into mine, watching me as he rocks in and out.

  It’s everything I need and more.

  He’s everything I wish I could be.

  A hero.

  A hero loved by a monster.

  Chapter 15

  If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

  —William Shakespeare

  LOGAN

  “One place. Anywhere you could go. Where would it be?” Lana asks me.

  “Hmmm,” I say, humming against her skin. “Greece.”

  “Why Greece?” she asks, a tangled mess of naked limbs.

  I wish I could just spend my days lying on a beach in Greece with her wrapped around me just like this. This job is starting to take too much and give back too little.

  Then again, after this case, I may not have a career at all. But I won’t just bow down and let them cover up whatever went on here ten years ago.

  “Because my stepdad always said if he had a choice, he’d be drunk in Greece and in love. But he wasted all his sexy years on my mother.”

  She laughs, and I grin down at her as she wipes a few tears from her eyes from the surprise outburst.

  “He sounds like he was great.”

  “He was,” I tell her.

  “My father was great too. He did everything he could to make sure my brother and I had what we needed. He was our world, and we were his.”

  “What about your mother?” I ask, deciding to pounce while she’s speaking of the past.

  “Amazing,” she says wistfully. “She baked. I loved it when she baked. My father always said if she was a witch, children would willfully jump into the oven just because of how good it always smelled.” She looks up as I arch an eyebrow. “He was a bit of a morbid sense of humor type of guy. But my mother loved it. Loved him. I never understood how rare that love was when I was younger. Like most things you see daily, I took it for granted.”

  A sadness touches her eyes, and I slide in closer, brushing my lips over her eyelids, kissing each.

  “Where would you go?” I ask her, deciding I don’t want to see her sad.

  “Anywhere in the world?” she asks.

  “Anywhere.”

  “I’d go to Greece with you.”

  And this is why I’m so fucking obsessed with her.

  My lips find hers again, and I kiss her like it might be the last time. It’s the way I’ll always kiss her, because she’s lost love once—the love of her parents. I never want any lingering insecurities to dwell in her about us.

  I want her to know exactly how I feel every time she’s in my arms.

  When she breaks the kiss, I try not to slide on top of her and take her again. I was way too damn eager to be inside her when I saw her in a dress. I was just going to scare her, but Hadley screamed; Lana smiled. She always surprises me.

  And just like that, I had to have her.

  “I want you in Greece with me too,” I tell her, kissing her cheek.

  “We’ll get drunk and have entirely too much sex,” she agrees. “And of course eat. There’s always something amazing to eat in Greece. Unless that’s just a false stereotype.”

  Grinning, I press my lips to her cheek. “We’ll find out one day.”

  Her breath catches, and I pull back, looking into those haunted eyes that pulled me under her spell so long ago.

  “What?” I ask, running my finger down her cheek, worried about that look.

  She turns toward me a little more. “If you found out I wasn’t this perfect girl you want me to be, would you still love me?”

  The way she asks it is like a punch to the gut. “Lana, I don’t expect you to be perfect. I think you are perfect. At least perfect for me.”

  Her lip quivers, and she forces a smile. What’d I say wrong?

  “But what if I wasn’t perfect?” she asks again, genuinely distressed over this.

  “Then I’d love you anyway. I don’t use that word liberally. Well, at least not since high school. But everyone uses it in high school without knowing what it really means to love someone.”

  That look in her eyes chills just a little. I’m trying to read her, but she’s always a mystery. Constantly doing one thing when I expect another.

  “But yes,” I say again. “I’d love you regardless. In case you haven’t noticed, I go a little crazy when it’s been too long since I’ve seen you, and you give me a reason to want to live instead of just exist. You accepted every piece of me, and dealt with the scraps I could offer. And never complained.”

  She starts to speak, but I go on.

  “Those eyes find me when you walk into a room, like I’m the only person you’re looking for. You hold your head up when others would cower. You stand tall when others would fold in on themselves. Your strength is beyond amazing. And you always keep me guessing, which is my favorite part about you, as much as it is infuriating.”

  She laughs under her breath, and I kiss the corner of her mouth before continuing.

  “And you smile for me like you smile for no one else. That makes a man feel powerful. And when I’m with you, I smile like I never have before. It’s a sense of equality, a partnership even. It’s rare to find someone who matches you step for step, and you do. I love that about you. I love you.”

  She kisses me before I can ramble on, assuring her in every possible way there’s nothing that could change the way I feel. Just when I decide I have time to prove it a little more thoroughly, there’s a loud knock at the door.

  “Logan! We have a break!” Donny shouts.

  “He has horrible timing,” Lana says on a sigh.

  “They always do. One day, I’ll just throw away the phone and hide from them.”

  “When we disappear to Greece,” she says, her smile not touching her eyes.

  I feel like there’s more wrong than she’s telling me. I can see it in the way her gaze grows increasingly distant. I’ll fix that. Just as soon as I figure out what’s causing it.

  “Yes,” I tell her, smirking and pretending as though I don’t notice the hint of sadness in her eyes.

  I get dressed quickly and meet Donny outside. Then I walk back in just as Lana stands, the sheet strapped around her, and I pull her to me, kissing her long and hard.

  She moans against my lips, and Donny loudly clears his throat.

  “I’ll be back soon,” I tell her, then walk out, ignoring the laugh Donny lets go as I step out.

  “Gotta say, never thought you’d fall so hard,” he quips. “Company men like you usually end up a ride-and-die bachelor type.”

  “Things change,” I tell him as I take the driver’s seat. “Where’re we going?”

  “Craig called and said a guy came up to him and told him we needed to speak to Diana Barnes. He wouldn’t say anything else, but Johnson is on a rampage. Says we’re inciting terror by posting those flyers, and demanded we tear them all down. Elise and Lisa are putting up more, while the deputies are tearing them down.”

  “Unreal,” I say on long breath. “He’s not even trying to be discreet about this.”

  “Just makes me wonder what we’re going to find.”

  “The cryptic messages the unsub is leaving us to terrorize the town isn’t helping matters. They’re all sure a spirit has risen, but no one will speak a name aloud,” I point out.

  “The Evans kids? Or Evans himself? They
definitely aren’t speaking about it,” Donny says in his own unique way of agreeing.

  “It’s what he wants. He wants to incite terror. He wants them huddled in a corner. The question is why? We know they were raped, but the hospital couldn’t give us anything more than that. The kids were too scared to speak.” I’m mostly just speaking aloud, hoping that hearing the words will offer something more than just knowing them.

  “The whole town is too scared to speak,” Donny says, watching as people read the message on the street and walk away, their steps hurrying like they’re going to carry home a piece of devil if they dawdle too long.

  Donny gestures to the road we need to turn on, and stops me when we’re in front of a small, white house. It even has a fucking white picket fence.

  “Cross your fingers this one doesn’t slam the door on our faces too,” Donny says as he climbs out.

  I hop out as well, straightening my tie, and we walk up the cracked sidewalk to the house. The blinds by the front window crack open, and all I get is a glimpse of an eye before they seal shut again.

  Donny raises his hand to knock, but the woman opens the door, staring at us like she’s been expecting us all day.

  “You the FBI?”

  “Yes, ma’am. We’re here to—”

  “I know what you’re here for. You work for that Johnson guy?”

  My lips twitch. “We have different agendas. Mine includes getting the truth about what happened here ten years ago. We may be able to save lives if we know more.”

  Her lips tense. “Ain’t a life you can save that needs saving,” she says bitterly. “This whole town needs to burn. Only reason I’m still here is because I knew this day would eventually come. One day, someone would want to hear them babies’ story, and finally give them justice.”

  Donny swallows hard as the woman wipes her tears away.

  “Come on,” she says, gesturing us in.

  Donny shuts the door behind him, and Diana points to the couch where she apparently wants us to sit.

  “I can’t tell you everything. You’ll need to learn about Robert from someone who knows all those details. But I can tell you about my babies. They were good to my son. Always good.”