by Casey Diam
Her retort sent a signal to an itch that hadn’t been scratched for some time—a month to be exact, which was a fucking long time for me. I wondered if she knew how tempting she was.
Good thing I prided myself on restraint. I thought for a moment before replying.
Me: I thought you’d be asleep by now. You looked like you wanted to crawl into your coffee cup this morning. Don’t tell me. You went out with your friends, got drunk, and are now drunk-texting me.
I stood and strolled over to look through my window. The light was still on in her apartment.
Way better view than from my suite downtown.
I had the strongest urge to see her.
Paige: You’re wrong again.
Paige: Are you drunk?
No, I wasn’t, but was she?
I sent Calvin a message.
Me: Is she still at work?
Calvin: Yeah, she’s inside, cleaning up, I’m guessing. Bar’s closed.
I pressed the Call button and smiled when I heard the softest voice through the receiver. “Hi.”
“Hey you.” I grabbed my car keys and headed out. “What are you doing up so late?”
“Working.”
It seemed that either Paige was a woman of few words or she really didn’t want me to know anything about her.
“Are you downtown? If you are, we should meet up.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“It’s after two in the morning. I’ve also been cleaning all night. I’m disgusting and tired. And I mean, so disgusting. Like, I’m so gross right now.”
“Oh my gosh, Paige! Who are you talking to?” A girl laughed in the background.
“Um, uh...” Paige did a little laugh, and I pictured her biting on her lip like she’d done in the café. “No one.”
My gut twisted as I pulled out of the parking lot.
“Paige!” the girl squawked, and the line went dead.
It wasn’t often that a girl hung up on me. In fact, a girl had never hung up on me.
As I reached a stoplight in traffic, I texted her.
Me: Meet me at the library downtown. I’ll be sitting on the steps waiting for you.
It was the closest place to her job I could think of without raising suspicion.
The next message I sent was to Calvin, letting him know that I was going to take over then, that he could head home once she left the bar.
After waiting on the steps leading into the main entrance of the library for a half hour with no response from her, I couldn’t help but think she wouldn’t show. I paced and nibbled on my lip, wondering if I should text Calvin, but I’d already told him he could go home. First, one and then two people passed, and each time, my hope would drop. She wasn’t going to show.
At least there was only a slight chill in the summer air, so I wasn’t freezing my ass off.
My gaze lingered to my left, the direction she should be approaching from if she were coming from work. And, as another ten minutes passed, I took a seat in the middle of the stairs and rested my elbows on my knees.
Something to my right on the opposite side of the street caught my eye, and I turned my head. Paige was walking with her head turned toward me, dressed in all black like she had been this morning. She stopped, turned to face me, and then walked across the asphalt in my direction, stopping after her first step up onto the sidewalk.
We stared at each other for a moment, and I could tell her guard was up, but so was mine.
Why is she so careful about what she says when she speaks, about keeping a visible distance from people she doesn’t know, about approaching from the right when I expect her from the left?
It was as if she knew someone was after her.
Judging from what I’d learned so far, she didn’t seem like the stupid kind to show up by herself to meet with a stranger at three thirty in the morning. Unless she was able to protect herself and was also feeling what I’d been feeling since I laid eyes on her. Attraction. Temptation.
“You came.” I smiled.
“Only for confirmation,” she said, hooking her thumbs into the straps of the backpack sitting snug against her back.
“Confirmation?”
“That you are in fact here, waiting. Why are you?”
Curling a finger, I gestured for her to come to me. She looked around, and then she started walking forward. I would never forget the feeling when she approached. Like holding two magnets far apart but then slowly moving them toward each other, so the closer one got to the other, the stronger the force of attraction, and the harder it was to hold them apart, to keep them from touching.
The charge between us intensified as she neared, and I let out a breath. Holy shit! I’d never felt anything like it.
Chapter Six
Paige
Sitting next to Caleb on the steps, my body leaned forward, my elbows rested on my knees, and my hands clasped together, mimicking his pose. He was attractive, really attractive. Even more than what I recalled from this morning in the café. His black hair was disheveled, as if he’d been running his hand through it while he waited. It must have been what had caused a few lush locks to touch his forehead. He still had a five o’clock shadow, and his mysterious, dark eyes looked the same, still reading me like they had been less than twenty-four hours ago.
Thinking I was delusional was baby stuff compared to being here with him. I should be questioning my sanity or believing the vengeance side had taken over, or I was just out, looking for trouble. Those could all be reasonable answers to why I was here. But none of those was the answer.
When I looked over at him, his lips curved up, and again, mine mimicked his. Something crawled in my abdomen, and I bit my lip as it went to settle low in my belly.
“We don’t have to talk,” Caleb said. “I have a feeling you don’t talk much anyway.”
“I don’t.” I waited before adding, “At least, not about the things that matter.”
“Me either,” he whispered. “Which category does boyfriend fall into? If it’s in the things-that-matter category, you don’t have to answer what I’m planning to ask you.”
“It isn’t TTM.”
“TTM?”
“Things that matter.” I smiled, knowing he was about to ask if I had a boyfriend. “And the answer to your question is no, and the answer to the question after that is no.”
Caleb laughed. “I’m lost on the answer to the question after. What would I have asked after the first one?”
“If I wanted to go out on a date with you or if I wanted to be your girlfriend.”
With a haughty chuckle, he stood and said, “Come with me. Let’s go for a drive.”
“To where?” I frowned. “I don’t know you.”
Caleb pointed to the building. “Look, cameras are everywhere. If I were up to something crazy, I doubt this would be the place to start. We don’t have to go anywhere. We can just drive around until you’re ready to go home, and then I’ll drop you off wherever you want.”
His offer was enticing because I hated going home. Hated wondering what kind of night it would be. The past few nights hadn’t been good.
“Okay, let’s do it.”
“Cool.”
He showed me over to a sleek black Challenger, and as we drove around the city and the neighboring districts, rock music played at a low volume in the background, smoothing out the gaps of silence between us. He still didn’t know what kind of music I liked, just asked if what he was playing was okay. I enjoyed secretly sharing something in common with him. As I rested my head back and let my attention drift to the passing scenery, I decided that I’d let him know another day how we had the same taste in music.
“Tell me, what do you like to do?” Caleb asked.
“Read, workout...”
We talked for a while before my eyes closed. It was so relaxing in his car. I didn’t know how much time passed before my eyes fluttered again, but when they did, Caleb was smiling over at
me.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” he asked.
“Okay.” My legs should have been tired from being on my feet all day, but I was filled with energy and even more awake than I had been on my shift at work.
The streets were empty, and all the stores were closed as we walked between the street-lit buildings. An eerie feeling swept over me. I didn’t know this man, and he could be leading me into the hands of the killers. He could be one of them.
But he was cute and did things to my heart and my stomach that made me forget how scared I should be.
We stopped on the sidewalk at an intersection, and he smiled at me, distracting me from my thoughts.
“You okay?” he asked.
I nodded. “Where are we walking to?”
“The park. Is that okay?”
A killer wouldn’t want to make sure their victim was comfortable, would they? Was he a killer?
I was being such an idiot. I observed his black hoodie, joggers, and sneakers. Clothes that allowed flexibility in movements, such as fighting and capturing. I looked at what I was wearing, and I would have laughed at how similar we were dressed, but something else came to mind. What was he doing in downtown dressed like that? It was clear he hadn’t been out on the town.
“Back to my question,” I said. “Why did you want to see me at this hour of the morning?”
He folded his arms across his chest, and a smug grin passed his lips. “I just wanted to see you. And, since we were both awake, I figured, why not?”
“How old are you?” I asked.
The little green man on the walking signal came on, and we started across the street.
“Twenty-four. You?”
“Nineteen.” After a moment of silence, I followed up with, “Sorry if I’m being weird.”
“I hadn’t noticed. I was too busy thinking about how I shouldn’t even be with you in the park right now.”
Something twisted in my gut, and it wasn’t butterflies this time. There could be others lurking in the park, waiting to finish what they’d started almost five years ago. I stopped in my tracks and did a quick check of my surroundings because even though I had a 9mm in my waistband, I still felt unprepared.
“Why is that, Caleb? Why shouldn’t you be with me in the park?”
He laughed and looked me up and down.
I cocked my head. “What’s funny?”
“You. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“You’re being weird.”
“I know. We are in the park at four in the morning. I think that in and of itself is strange. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No, and I don’t want one.”
“Then why are you with me in the park at four in the morning?” Caleb asks.
It was a damn good question.
I shook my head. “Just because I’m taking a walk with you doesn’t mean I want you to be my boyfriend, but I’m going to go home. This is too much for one day.”
Caleb walked up to me. “No. Don’t go. Come on. I want to show you something.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you. I don’t even know your last name. You could be some psycho killer for all I know.”
He frowned and just stared at me. “Maybe, but I’m not.”
A gun went off, and I jumped. “What was that?”
There was a pause before Caleb fell to the ground.
I dropped to his side. “Caleb?”
I touched him, but he wasn’t moving, and blood was spilling from his face. The men. They’d found me, and they’d taken Caleb, too. I looked up, shaking, as five men closed in. They were dressed in all black and had their weapons centered on me.
“No, not like this,” I begged. “No. Please.”
“Paige,” Caleb said.
I turned to the body on the ground behind me, but my vision became obstructed by a cold, dark metal pressing into the skin between my eyes. “Caleb?”
Chapter Seven
Caleb
“Fuck.” Unfastening my seat belt, I pulled the car over on the shoulder of I-95.
Paige had been sleeping for the past three hours but had started breathing fast and thrashing around in her seat.
Since saying her name hadn’t done anything, I resorted to shaking her shoulder. “Paige, wake up.”
“No!”
“Paige. Paige. It’s just a dream. Wake up.”
She gasped, opening her eyes. A frantic look was on her face as she swung her head from left to right, taking in her surroundings. “Where-where are we?”
A woodland was on either side of the highway, but the sun had risen not long ago, enabling me to see the excessive moisture on her forehead and neck.
“On the highway. You fell asleep, and I didn’t want to wake you, so I kept driving all the way to Maine. But we’re about thirty minutes from Boston. Are you okay?”
She seemed to shrink in her seat as she hugged herself and turned her head to peer through her window. “Yeah.”
She wasn’t okay, and no matter how strong the need was to embrace her, smooth a hand down her gorgeous baby face, and tell her it was okay, I didn’t know her well enough to invade her personal space like that.
“I’m going to pull off at the next exit for gas, and we can get coffee and water.” As she continued to stare out her window, I touched her shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay.”
She nodded but didn’t move.
For most of the drive back, we remained quiet except for when she asked for my age again. I understood why she might not have remembered. The first time I’d told her, she had been half-asleep.
Twenty minutes outside of the city, I reached over and took her hand in mine, surrendering to the persistent need to comfort her in some way. She didn’t pull away, so we drove like that the rest of the way to the coffee shop where we’d first met. That was where she wanted to be dropped off, but that was okay with me. Because, if one of the men my father had tasked to watch her apartment saw me with her, I didn’t know what the fuck I would do.
Releasing her hand, I put the car in park and looked over at her. That was when a possessive ache altered my usual reasoning, and I found myself saying, “I live in Brooks Flat, a block behind this coffee shop. I just moved in, so there isn’t much in there really. Anyway, if you feel like staying up or you can’t sleep, feel free to come over.” When her gaze fell to her lap, I added, “We can play Scrabble, tic-tac-toe, or some other shit.”
It was a stupid idea. My father’s men would notice if she went home and left again to go somewhere else, which would easily track her to the place I rented if she came over.
A smile stole the frown from her rose-pink lips. Lips I wanted to taste, enjoy, own. This uninhibited craving was not normal, but within one day of meeting her, I knew I could see myself with her for a while. And, as Alex Connor’s son, this was saying a lot. I lived in a circle where I never had to sweet-talk women into spending time with me. By age twelve, I had already been getting blow jobs—first, from my tutor and then from the maids who tended to my hotel suite as I grew older. Basically, the opportunities were endless for me if ever there was an itch to scratch.
The thought provoked some sense into me because, as Alex Connor’s son, I should know better than to mess with one of his targets. He was efficient, clean, untouchable; nothing could be traced back to him. It was all a process, and I was becoming a complication. My father loathed complications and was relentless to anyone who intervened, even me. Especially me.
“Thank you, but I should go now.” She sighed instead of making a move to get up.
We sat in silence for a moment. It was as if she wasn’t ready to go, and honestly, I didn’t want her to go.
Taking her small hand in mine again, I said, “You must be tired. Sorry I kept you out all night. Do you work today?”
She nodded. “I’m at the bar again tonight.”
While she had been in and out of sleep on the drive out of state, we’d only talked about music, books she’d read, and her not knowi
ng what she wanted to major in at college. She hadn’t mentioned anything about where she worked. Said college was considered TTM, so she hadn’t told me what school she attended either. And, though I would figure it out soon enough, I kind of hoped she would tell me on her own.
I squeezed her hand. “Take a nap today. Matter-of-fact, you should go to your apartment and fall right into bed. Then go to work and come hang out with me after.”
She bit the smile forming on her lips. “Are you going to take me out of the state without my permission again?”
I grinned as her alluring blue eyes unraveled a warmth inside me. Tugging her hand over to my side, I touched my lips to the backs of her fingers. Still looking at her, I urged, “Call me later.”
❧
“Good morning, Mr. Connor,” a receptionist greeted as I stepped through the front door and into the hotel’s lobby.
“Morning,” I mumbled without making eye contact as I headed straight for the elevator. I never made eye contact.
Frankly, I was over every-fucking-thing, including some of the staff I’d fucked until I was eighteen. Some of whom still worked here. It had been awkward after I’d started college, which was when the generous sexual offers I had gotten from the staff were no longer needed. The girls in my classes had been around the same age as me, and when word had gotten around that I lived in a suite, variety was what had happened. However, variety had ended two years ago when I graduated with a degree in business. Then I traded co-eds for the occasional lonely guest at the hotel’s bar at night.
It was easy.
For most people, sex was a form of connection, fulfillment. For me, sex was a distraction. Yeah, it felt good, but only because I was distracted. And, of course, I made it pleasurable for the person I fucked. Since I had been introduced to sex at twelve, it hadn’t and still didn’t mean anything to me. This numbness was one of the reasons I hated this place. It was a constant reminder of a disgusting version of myself.
The staff’s elevator doors opened, and out of all people, my younger brother stepped out in his signature designer suit. He was usually up all night, doing some shady shit for our father, so him being up this early was surprising.
