He looked down at her. She was sleeping so peacefully in his arms. He had made good on his promise of sex, dinner and more sex. He got her in the house, checked the house to make sure nobody had gotten in unnoticed. He didn’t figure anybody had because his house was pretty secure, but it wasn’t Fort Knox; checking was mandatory. With that lunatic after Clair he felt the need to check.
Once he was sure everything was safe he wasted no time getting her clothes off, although he didn’t get her flat on her back. He let her ride him the first couple times. He liked having her on top of him, those beautiful breasts enticing him to take a taste as his hands clutched her slender waist. He liked looking up at her as her orgasm took over and she lost all control. He liked it a lot.
Then she cooked and he grilled. He did check on the progress with the police investigation of the break-in; there was none just yet. They were still going through mountains, and the detective meant that literally, of evidence. He wondered if the delay had anything to do with the fact that they already knew Levins was their man; they just had to catch him. He was already on a death row sentence; a breaking and entering charge wasn’t going to make much difference.
Still, Greg liked an investigation to be completely thorough, and he hoped these detectives felt the same way. Maybe they had, maybe that’s why they’d collected every scrap of clothing, bedding and glass they could find. Manitou didn’t typically have cases like escaped convicts terrorizing one of its residents wreaking havoc on their town. He’d seen the paper; the sensationalized title would scare anybody. Their peaceful area had been turned upside down with the fear that an escaped convict was on the hunt. They should all lock their children away, the article implied. Well, maybe they should, but right now it wasn’t Levins they had to worry about. Levins was solely focused on Clair, and until he finished what he started twelve years ago he wouldn’t be moving on. Greg figured when Levins did move on he’d probably leave the sate. If it weren’t for Clair the man would have probably already left and set up shop somewhere else.
If Greg had any say in the matter, Levins wouldn’t be bothering anybody else ever again.
He traced his fingers over Clair’s cheek. She stirred slightly, stretched and then settled closer to him, draping her arm over his stomach and resting her head on his chest. He had to be the luckiest man in Colorado right now. After ten years—one major fuck up and ten years—he still landed the best woman that had ever been in his life. Thank God for second chances.
He was going to apply for the marriage license as soon as possible. Once Levins was ready to go six feet under, Greg wanted to make sure he and Clair could go down to the courthouse and get married. He didn’t want to wait, and that had nothing to do with fear she’d change her mind, because he didn’t think she would. He just wanted her to be his wife so much that waiting months seemed like an eternity.
He placed a soft kiss on her forehead before cautiously untangling himself from her body. He had heard the call of nature almost an hour ago and now it was practically screaming.
It was getting late, maybe too late to call the lead investigator chasing Levins, to see what they’d found out since he spoke with them four hours ago. U.S. Marshal Harrison Tanner was probably going to get a restraining order against him if he didn’t let the man work without interruption. Greg had called him everyday since Levins escape, and everyday he heard the same thing, “we’re working on it.” Working on it was code for they had nothing, not even a hint of where he might be. They had checked motels in the area and there were no new check-ins matching Levins description. Right now they were at the proverbial dead end.
Greg was sure Levins was staying close to Manitou. He wouldn’t risk losing his focus on Clair by staying three or even four hours away. Actually, he doubted Levins would be willing to stay more than twenty minutes drive from Manitou which opened up some possibilities for location while ruling out others. Except the feds had checked local motels and hotels and had come back empty.
When he came back into the room she was awake and sitting up in bed.
“Go back to sleep,” he mumbled.
“Can’t,” she said. “I’m too excited.”
He grinned.
“About the wedding,” she clarified. “I can’t wait until I’m your wife. I can’t believe I’m going to be your wife.”
“And I’ll be your husband…”
“Well yeah, obviously,” she stated with a smile on her face. “I just can’t believe we’re here at this road. I wanted it years ago, but I never thought…”
She never thought it would happen, and it almost didn’t. He got into bed and laid down before pulling her down onto his body. “Well it’s happening, we’re at the road and we’re going to drive down it.”
“Yeah,” she yawned. She was tired and she needed to sleep.
“Go back to sleep, honey. You can dream about the wedding if you want, but you need sleep.”
She started to say something, but when she opened her mouth another huge yawn escaped. “Maybe you’re right.” Instead of going to sleep, she settled closer to him and asked, “what did your boss say when you called? Does he want you back in the office?”
“Not yet. He misses me, obviously,” being missed was a good thing. He didn’t doubt his job would still be there for him when he got back. “But the entire FBI hasn’t fallen apart without me—”
“Oh, for shame.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I know. That does something to a man’s ego,” he laughed again. “Nah, they’re fine. We’re fine. I told him we’re getting married.”
“What did he say?”
“He said it was about time I settled down with a good woman.”
“Smart boss,” she lifted her head enough to kiss his stomach and then she curled back into her original position.
“Genius,” he grinned. “Now, shouldn’t you be drifting off into dreamland?”
“No. I’m awake now. You can keep talking.”
“Who says I want to talk,” he rubbed his hand over her hip.
“Oh, you want me to stroke your ego a little, make up for the FBI not falling apart without you?”
“I’d rather you stroke something else,” he mumbled.
“I bet you would,” she slipped her hands low on his body and set action to word.
By the time they finished she was exhausted and drifting back off to sleep, back into dreamland where he hoped she was dreaming about him and their wedding, the life they would have together. Minutes later he, too, drifted to sleep.
Chapter Fifteen
Married? He was going to marry that slut! She was outraged. They’d dated for years and never once had he mentioned marriage. He’d been with Clair for a little over two weeks and he was talking marriage already. What had that slut done to her man?
She knew the slut was complicating her plan, but marriage was a lot more complicated than just dating. He’d morn the loss more. If he married Clair and then she was killed he’d feel some sense of obligation not to love another woman. She knew he would feel that because he was that kind of man. But, if she could get rid of Clair now, even though he’d still have that sense of obligation to remain faithful, the fight for Greg’s love wouldn’t take as long as it would if he were married.
There was no doubt in her mind that she was in for a battle. Greg hadn’t told her he was getting married. He had told the boss and the boss had let it slip to the entire department. In fact, Greg hadn’t even bothered to call her today. She had waited for his call, she had even gone back by the house, but they weren’t there. They were supposed to be around the house today, but they had gone.
That slut was doing everything in her power to keep them apart. Greg would have never gone off without her. She was his partner; the woman he really loved, he would have called her to tell her to meet them wherever they went. No, she was sure Clair had orchestrated being completely alone with him so she could trick him into marrying her.
She would bet anything that Clair
told Greg she was pregnant. That was the only way Greg would betray her…he must have felt obligated. Greg would never turn his back on his duty. Well damn if she were pregnant that would complicate things even further. She didn’t believe the slut was pregnant; it was probably just some lie she created to secure Greg. An autopsy would prove that point and then Greg would hate that witch.
Maybe her plan wasn’t as ruined as she thought it to be. Tomorrow, she promised herself, tomorrow she was going to change things before things could escalate and completely ruin her chances with Greg. She just couldn’t wait any longer. Clair had to die, and she had to die tomorrow.
Chapter Sixteen
Levins sat parked down the street. His Clair was in that house with another man. The anger hit him like a sack of bricks. He didn’t like for people to make him angry. He was going to get them both. Clair would be fun, his unfinished project finally finished. The fed would be justice for taking his chocolate éclair to bed.
“Hope you enjoyed it,” he mumbled. “I hope you enjoyed it because it’s about to end you son of a bitch.” He gripped the steering wheel tight.
He didn’t like being inside females who’d taken another man inside them. He didn’t like it at all. He liked being the first, taking their innocence, the innocence they had promised to the future love of their life. This was going to be something new for him, something different, but he was up for the challenge. Thinking about Clair made him up for anything.
Before he had time to really plan how to get his victims, but this time he wasn’t completely sure. He had seen the fed’s partner lurking outside their window. She hadn’t seen him, but from where he was sitting he could tell she was pissed. Maybe she’d seen them screwing. The look on her face when she left told him maybe she had. She had also parked down the street so she had nearly skulked back to her car. Yeah, she had seen something she didn’t like. Maybe he’d be able to use her to his advantage. He’d seen that look before, the one she had on her face and in her body. He knew what it meant. It meant jealousy, rage, unstableness. It reminded him of his mother. Maybe that’s why he hated the bitch so much. She was just like his mother.
He remembered those times his mother was pissed at his father and she’d take it out on him. She never hit him. She just locked him in closets, or made him strip naked and stand out in the snow. Then she’d stand there and laugh at him because his dick had shrunk to a tiny ball. She was punishing him for what Tate Levins did and that wasn’t right.
He grinned. “Then I punished the bitch,” he said with great satisfaction. She wasn’t his first kill, but she was one of the most satisfying ones he’d had since he started. He was seventeen when he got her. He was strong enough, old enough to combat her limited force. He enjoyed cutting the bitch apart. Cops never found her, and with the way he’d taken care of the body, nobody ever would.
Maybe he’d do the same for this Duvall lady. He used the term lady loosely because he was sure she wasn’t a lady. She was a bitch, just like his mother. She had that same look of hatred that his mother would get when she was pissed at Tate. Yeah, she was just as unstable, maybe more so. She must have been obsessed with the fed fucking his Clair. Maybe if he watched her, followed her, he’d find the perfect moment for entry.
His plan greatly depended on using the stupid cow. He knew she would make a mistake. Her ability to hide who she was from everybody else would eventually break. Women like her always eventually messed up. Like his mother. She hid what she’d done to him from everybody for a long time. Everybody thought she was sweet and gentle when she wasn’t. But she had messed up when she thought she could make the seventeen year old man that he had become strip naked and stand in the snow again. The stupid bitch. He had showed her who ruled his body now.
“Sweet,” he unzipped his pants and fondled himself. Thinking about murder always gave him a hard-on worth paying attention to. Soon, his sweet Clair would satisfy him, whether she wanted to or not.
He just needed to figure out if he wanted to kill the bitch federal agent first, or pay some attention to his Clair and then kill the bitch. Maybe he’d kill her first, get her out the way, then take his Clair some place and finish what he started twelve years ago. Then he’d need to do the other fed. He had planned to leave after Clair, but killing the fed doing his Clair was now on his to-do list before leaving Colorado. People didn’t take things from him, and when they did, they were punished. He’d have fun cutting him up. He knew exactly which part of the body to start with too.
“Bastard,” he snared. His erection suddenly deflated and he no longer wanted sexual release. What he wanted was revenge and murder. He needed to kill, and he needed to do it soon or God help him he wouldn’t be able to stop himself for grabbing the first kid he saw and taking out his frustrations on the kid. It wasn’t that he didn’t plan to start back up the way things had been before prison; it’s just that he needed to keep a low key. The more outdoor activity, the more drama in Manitou or anywhere near it, the stronger his chances of getting caught. He couldn’t get caught, not now and not ever. He had so much left to do, so many people to kill, so many pleasures to seek. He especially needed to revisit Clair.
Would she be as fun now as she had been all those years ago? He wondered. She was much older now than he normally went for. She wasn’t untouched either, as she had been when he got her. He would have to think of new ways to inflict pain, to torture her until she begged for mercy.
Despite his obsession with Clair he didn’t plan on leaving her alive again. He thought about the possibility of keeping her locked in a basement somewhere. He could use her whenever he wanted, but then he thought better of that idea. He didn’t want to get attached. Besides, part of his fun came from killing so he’d have to kill her. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t cut her up like the others. She was too beautiful to slice open. Even now, with her skinny little body, she still turned him on. A body like that should be preserved, not mutilated.
He’d have to think of something to do with her. Maybe strangle her. He couldn’t hold her to winter, but maybe…just maybe that could be fun too. He could strip her naked and bury her in the snow. Or, he could save himself the wait time and just stick her in a freezer naked. Her body would be preserved then.
He started his car and drove away. He had a feeling his time was getting ready to come. He was going to have the perfect opportunity to grab Clair and he didn’t want to miss it. He needed to prepare his space. He had the perfect place for their reunion, now he just needed to finish preparing it for her.
Chapter Seventeen
“The boss asked me to have you come in today,” Janet dropped her keys on the dining room table.
“I’ll just call him,” Greg picked up the phone.
“No, he said he needed to talk to you and he couldn’t do it over the phone. I think he’s paranoid if you ask me, but he wants what he wants.”
Clair figured paranoia came with the job. If Greg needed to go in he should go in. She knew he was worried about leaving her. He wanted to stay with her until Levins was caught, and while she wanted him to stay with her, she also knew he had to go to work at some point. His leave couldn’t last forever.
“Go,” she said. “I’ll be okay here.”
“And I’ll be here. You know the bastard won’t get her,” Janet assured him.
“Yeah, what she said,” Clair tried to ease his decision making process. He hadn’t been there the first time Levins grabbed her and Amy, and he shouldn’t have been. He was at work, and even if he weren’t, she and Amy were not his responsibility. Somehow he seemed to be trying to make up for not being there in the past. Maybe he lived with regrets about that day too, although she couldn’t understand why.
His protectiveness now had so many parts to it she didn’t know exactly which one to attack first. He was worried about her as an officer of the law, but also as a man who loved her. He wanted to protect her like he couldn’t protect her before, and he still felt guilty for leaving her ten year
s ago. She was going to have to find a way to make him feel better about that, or at least forget about it and stop letting guilt eat away at him.
She knew guilt was eating him from the inside out because his first conclusion while they were in that dressing room was that he had made a mistake and would have to pay for it the rest of his life. She wasn’t about to say anything about his dropping her like yesterday’s trash. She had been grappling with so many of her own guilt and personal issues that his leaving, well it wasn’t a completely gone thought, but it wasn’t the first thought on her mind at that time. He assumed it was because it was obviously the thought on his mind.
“I don’t want to leave you here.”
“Well if you’re feeling that strongly about it I can just go sit in the lobby at your job, or you can get me in on a visitor’s pass or something.” Whatever it was they did with non-federal employee visitors he could just put her some place while he worked. He would probably feel better with her at the federal building anyway.
“Now that is a good idea,” he grinned.
At some point they were both going to have to get comfortable knowing he wouldn’t be there every minute of everyday, but today didn’t have to be that day.
“Oh this is ridiculous,” Janet interrupted. “I am trained you know; I can protect her here. You’ll be gone an hour, maybe two at most. We’ll be fine. Would you just go?”
Greg looked to Clair and she shrugged. “What she said,” she smiled. “I’ll be okay, Greg. I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Damn,” he ran his hand against his jaw before shoving it through his dark hair. “Okay, but don’t go anywhere. Don’t open the door for anybody. Call me immediately if anything feels off—”
Dangerous Obsessions Page 17
