“What happened? You scared me. I thought you were …” Her breathing labored, she squeezed him tighter. “I thought you were going to drown.”
Never. He would never fail to save her. So he couldn’t drown.
Lifting his head, he placed a hand around her neck and pulled her closer, pressing a light kiss to her lips.
“I don’t like the water.” A shiver rushed through him. He landed another light kiss on her lips. “I hate it. It …” His hand tightened on the back of her neck as he touched her lips one more time, harder. “It terrifies me, Rose.”
Her hands on his back tensed, yet they soothed him. “Why?”
Those eyes.
He could still see those eyes staring at him underneath the water.
“Because my brother drowned when I was kid.”
Shock touched her features, but she said nothing except to increase the hold she had on him.
“We have a problem.” He tried to slow his breathing, the fear aching to crush him where he sat.
A tiny strangled laugh escaped from her sweet lips. “You didn’t get the oar.”
He laughed, even though it wasn’t that funny. “I wish that was the problem we had.” He released a slow breath.
How did he tell her?
How did he say he saw a dead body in the water? More than one.
Those eyes.
He would never forget seeing those vacant, dead eyes staring at him just as his brother Charlie had.
Things had gone from bad to worse.
His worst nightmares were coming true.
And what was worse was he didn't really have anyone to blame but himself.
He’d followed Rose down to the lake and hung back in the shadows—hiding behind the trees, just watching her. She was so beautiful, and he could stare at her for hours. The way the dappled sunlight caught her jet-black hair, making it shine and sparkle; the way she sat, leaning against a thick tree trunk, her face relaxed and contemplative. He liked seeing her that way.
Which had led to his mistake.
He had wanted to talk to her.
No, scratch that; he had needed to talk to her.
He had been ready to tell her everything. That he was desperately in love with her, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, that he couldn’t think, couldn’t function, could barely breathe without her.
But he had messed it all up.
He couldn’t garner enough courage to actually go and speak to her and then she’d sensed him following her as she walked back to her car. He hadn't known what to do—risk everything and tell her how he felt, or wait for a better time?
In the end, all he had done was terrify her.
Sending her straight out into the middle of the lake.
That really wasn't so bad in and of itself, except then the cop had turned up.
He hated that cop.
The man had only known Rose just a few days, and already she was infatuated with him. He could see it in her eyes. She was smitten. And that wasn't a good thing.
Rose was supposed to be his.
She was supposed to love him.
She was supposed to live happily ever after with him.
Not the cop.
If this cop insisted on hanging around and getting in the way, he might have to do something about it. Get rid of him. Permanently.
But right now, scaring Rose into finding a boat and rowing out into the lake was the least of his worries.
The dozens of cops and crime scene people swarming the lake were on the top of his list.
He had been watching them for an hour now. They’d pulled six bodies out of the water. They showed no signs of stopping, and he was sure that before the night was over they would have found the rest.
It was getting increasingly difficult to stay hidden in the trees.
Technically, he was perched in a tree. It had been the only way to hide from the cop. He’d hung around, hoping Rose would row back to shore, then he’d intended to apologize. Only, once again, the cop had ruined things. He’d turned up here and gone swimming out to Rose, inadvertently making a discovery that would eventually lead him back to Evelyn Marshall, and so much more than they could have imagined.
This was his dumping ground.
His trash can.
At least, it had been.
Only now, the cop had ruined that, as well. The man just couldn’t leave well enough alone. He had been dumping unwanted bodies here for years, and so far, no one was the wiser. He was always so careful, weighing them down with rocks, but this cop seemed to possess supernatural abilities to destroy his life.
These people had no right to be messing with his stuff. He wanted nothing more than to storm out there and scream at them to leave it alone. Those women were garbage—nothing but trash, and they weren't worth anyone’s time or energy. They had already outlived their usefulness, which is why he had thrown them away.
But now they were being dragged back up.
And his secrets along with them.
How long until they figured it out?
How long until they realized who the girls were and what had happened to them?
How long until they connected it all to him?
What would happen to him when they did?
He wasn't going down for this. And he had been careful—very careful—so there shouldn’t be anything to bring the cops knocking on his door. There was no need to panic. No need to do anything stupid or reckless. Business as usual.
Quietly, he climbed down the tree. He might not appreciate people rifling through his garbage bin, but it wasn't the end of the world. His business was still safe. He was still safe, and more importantly, Rose was safe. He would have her. He would make her his, and they would spend the rest of their lives together. If anyone tried to mess that up, he would rip them to shreds with his bare hands and make them wish for the relatively quick and painful death those women in the lake had received.
Carter stood near the shoreline as they pulled another body carefully out of the water. He didn’t even want to be standing as close as he was—not that he was standing so close his feet could touch the water—but close enough to have his heart racing the entire time.
No, he didn’t want to be standing here.
He wanted to be with Rose.
Except, she left hours ago, given a ride by another officer to make sure she made it home safely, something he had insisted without any room for argument. Someone scared her tonight, enough to make her flee into a boat and row to the middle of the lake. Maybe it was a teenager looking for some fun, scaring an unsuspecting woman. Or maybe it was the killer.
Serial killer?
Unfortunately, Jade mentioned that quite a few times as they spoke about what was unfolding in front of them. Right now, they both stood quietly as the crime scene crew pulled body number six out of the water. It’s not as if they said, “Let’s keep quiet while they do this.” More like unspoken respect for the victim.
Yes, he wanted to be with Rose so badly instead of dealing with this—death and destruction. At a lake, no less. Why did it have to be a lake?
He almost groaned aloud at the predicament he had landed in.
Rose knew.
She knew he feared the water. And why he did.
She’d have questions. Want answers that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to provide. Talking about Charlie was never easy. He hadn’t meant to reveal anything earlier, but it came out when she looked at him so terrified.
“This doesn’t make sense, Carter.”
Jerking his gaze from the lake, he looked at Jade. “What?”
So lost in his own thoughts, he couldn’t be sure if Jade had said anything before that. Because she was right. Nothing made sense. Not about this case. Not about his life.
“How does Evelyn Marshall fit into this? Sure, she liked men, but this. This doesn’t fit. We haven’t found anything in her life that would suggest she was involved in anything illegal or worthy of getting killed.” Jade threw a ha
nd toward the six bodies now lining the shoreline. “And these women … how do they all connect? Why were they killed?”
Carter didn’t need to follow her hand to see the gruesomeness lining the bank. In fact, he didn’t want to see it ever again. At least one victim looked no more than sixteen. So young. Of course, his eyes could be playing tricks on him. Crock couldn’t give them much information yet, as the bodies were badly degraded by the water. Hopefully, they'd know more once he completed the autopsies.
“Like you said earlier when they pulled body number three out. We have a serial killer on our hands. One who excelled at hiding his victims well. They all look bloated in the stomach, and no, I don’t think it’s from the water. He probably stuffed them with rocks, like Evelyn.”
Jade nodded. “We found his dumping ground. We’ll have to search the entire lake. They found six bodies where you saw the first one, but there could be more hidden in other parts of the lake.”
“We didn’t find anything, Jade.” Carter met her gaze. “Rose found this.”
He turned away from her as a vicious curse left his lips. A soft hand touched his shoulder.
“Carter, Rose is going to be okay. It was probably a teenager—”
He whipped around. Jade let go of him, her expression filled with surprise. “We haven’t found anything to suggest Evelyn’s involved in something that got her killed.”
“I know—”
“This was a place that Rose and Evelyn liked to come.”
“Yes, but—”
“Someone scared Rose tonight, so badly that she fled in a boat to the middle of the lake.”
“Carter—”
“Maybe the killer was here to dump another body and Rose surprised him.”
“That’s a—”
“And maybe Evelyn stumbled upon the same thing and it got her killed. She saw something here at the lake she wasn’t supposed to see. And now Rose—”
“Carter!”
He stared wild-eyed at Jade as she gripped his chin tightly, her lips framed into a fierce frown, the concern dotting her eyes. He was breathing heavy, as if he just ran ten miles. Jade appeared to be breathing just as heavily.
“I need you to calm down. I need you to focus and listen.” She slowly let go of his chin and produced a smile.
How could she smile?
“You could be on to something about Evelyn seeing something she shouldn’t have.”
He nodded, grateful she was finally seeing his side of things, as he tried to control his breathing to an even level.
“Maybe …” She pierced her eyes into a stern glare. “Just maybe Rose might’ve almost experienced the same thing. Except she didn’t see anything.” Her eyes rounded, as if waiting for him to contradict that. “So we can’t automatically assume it was the killer out there trying to scare her.”
“We can’t assume it was a teenager either.”
She threw her hands up in the air as if exasperated with him. “Fine. I agree.” Her eyes narrowed. “And if I know you … and I know you well … you’re going to go see her when we’re done here.” She laid a tender hand on his shoulder. “And you can’t go see her like this. You can’t lose your cool. You can’t scare her, Carter. Because right now, you’re kind of scaring me.”
He grabbed her hand from his shoulder, squeezed once, and then let it drop. “I can’t explain my crazy emotions, except to say, she means a lot to me. I look at those …” He threw a hand in the direction of the bodies but didn’t actually look at them. “I look at those women, and all I see is Rose lying there. I won’t let that happen. We need to solve this. We need to identify those women and find out why they were killed. What do they have in common? Why was Evelyn killed? I need answers before I can begin to calm down.”
“I’m just saying when you go visit Rose, don’t lose your cool. Don’t interrupt her like you did with me.” She slapped him playfully on the shoulder as a grin appeared. “And if you interrupt me like that again, buster, we’re going to have issues.”
He pulled a smile out of nowhere hoping Jade understood he didn’t mean to hurt her feelings in any way. “I hear you loud and clear, partner. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry.”
Her smile widened. “Of course you are.” Then her smile dimmed. “As soon as Crock identifies the women, and hopefully he can, we’ll have something to work with. Because right now, we don’t have much.”
He shrugged. “Well, we have something. I still think Nathan Insoll is worth a deeper look. Maybe, just maybe, we can identify one of these women because they’re associated with him.”
“I agree. Let’s get to work.” Jade started walking toward Crock.
Carter blew out a breath, hoping to compose himself before following her.
And he needed to compose himself. He needed to find some calm when all he felt was a turbulent rage and fear coiled together like a deadly snake, suffocating him.
Jade was right about one thing.
He had to stay calm and in control when he saw Rose.
He would see her before the night ended. He had no doubts about that. If he had his way, he’d leave everything behind and run to her side now.
He had to make sure she was okay.
He needed to see her beautiful face.
Maybe then he would be okay. Because right now, he was the furthest thing from okay.
9
The first rays of the sun were just starting to peek over the horizon.
It was morning, and she hadn't slept a wink all night.
By the time she finally got home, Rose had been too wired to lie down in bed and close her eyes, so she had cleaned. Her entire apartment was sparkling from top to bottom. She had dusted and vacuumed, swept and mopped, scrubbed and washed every wall, every surface, every piece of furniture, and now, as the sun was coming up, she sank into an overstuffed armchair by the window.
Rose liked to clean. She found it soothing, and she liked being able to lose herself in the repetitive motions. She didn't have to think. She didn't have to concentrate. She could let her body work and her mind take a little time out.
And she really needed a time out right about now.
Her best friend’s death, and then finding out a man she had bumped into on the street had been murdered, and having her special spot at the lake ruined by someone following her there, it was a lot to take on in a short space of time. She felt so overwhelmed.
Except when she was with Carter.
He did something to her.
He calmed her in a way no one else ever had. He gave her confidence that she had thought she would never have. He made her tingle from head to toe with a warm fuzzy feeling, a feeling that she hadn't experienced before she met him, a feeling she thought might be love.
Love.
She couldn’t believe that she was actually considering the possibility that she was falling in love. It wasn't something that she had ever thought would happen to her. She was too quiet and shy. She lived in her head too much, overthinking and overanalyzing every single thing, and she had been damaged too badly too early in her life.
But now it was happening.
In just a few short days, Carter had become very important to her. Last night when she had been terrified that someone was following her and she had rowed out into the middle of the lake, it had been instinct that had her calling Carter. She hadn't even thought about it. She had been alone and afraid and her mind had known what—whom—it needed to soothe her.
Rose hoped he got here soon. He’d said he would come by when they finished at the lake.
The lake.
Her and Evie’s special place to go and talk and relax and enjoy nature, and now it was ruined. Someone had dumped bodies there.
Bodies.
One half of her life was getting crazier and the other was pretty close to perfect. Evie’s death and everything that had happened since contrasted violently with her blossoming relationship with Carter.
Her doorbell chimed and Rose pra
ctically bounced to her feet and ran to the front door.
“Carter.” She smiled when she opened it to find him standing there. He looked exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes; he was pale. His hair was a mess—as were his clothes—and his gorgeous brown eyes were haunted. She suspected it wasn't completely to do with the horrors he had found in the lake. Part of the pain buried in his eyes was because of his brother and what had happened to him.
Without even thinking about it, Rose stood on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around Carter’s neck, and kissed him.
The second their lips touched, she felt the tension curled inside Carter spring free and fade away. Beneath her touch he relaxed. His arm curled around her waist, drawing her closer. His other hand rose to cup the back of her head, his fingers tangling in the messy bun she had twisted her hair into when she started cleaning.
“That was exactly what I needed,” Carter whispered against her lips when they finally ended the kiss. “You are exactly what I needed.”
Rose smiled. It felt nice to be needed. “Come in,” she said, sliding her hand down his arm and taking his hand, intertwining their fingers. “You must be starving; I’ll make us something to eat. Why don’t you go and grab a shower. You must be freezing after being out at the lake all night.”
“I’m not hungry, and I warmed up in the car on the drive here. The only thing I need is you. Let me hold you.” The barely concealed vulnerability in his voice touched her. When he was at his lowest point, it was her whom he sought, just like when she had been afraid, it was him whom she had sought. Whatever there was between them was growing. Rose hoped it never stopped growing.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, pressed her ear to his chest right above his heart, and held the man who was very quickly taking hold of her heart and making it his own.
As he drove away from the lake, Carter hadn’t known whether coming to Rose’s home this early in the morning would be okay. But with her warm arms wrapped tightly around him, he knew he made the right decision.
It was instinct when he started driving. His mind just knew he needed to see her, no matter what time it was.
Sweetest Obsessions - Anthology Page 197
