We have two days to rest. Take advantage of every hour. When we reach Miami we won’t be getting any sleep.
The House of Archer, Bower, Georgia
Thursday, 8:12 p.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time
Rodney dropped the shovel, then stepped out of the old barn to cool off and take a break from the hot, stagnant air. The temperature still hovered in the high eighties, making the barn as hot as a furnace. His shirt was soaked and clung to his skin. Sweat dripped from his forehead and stung his eyes. He used his shoulder to wipe away the sweat, then reached for the jug of water under the live oak tree. Empty. Damn. He didn’t want to walk the half mile back to the house for more water. At least he wouldn’t have to drag a body with him. He’d lugged Troy to the barn right after he’d killed the man and had definitely learned the true meaning of carrying around dead weight. Despite the fact that the man hadn’t eaten once during the days he’d been with them, Rodney estimated that Troy had weighed close to one hundred and eighty pounds.
A whistle caught his attention. He shaded his eyes from the setting sun as he searched the field. Adeline emerged from a copse of gangly pines and held up a small cooler.
Although grateful to not have to walk to the house for water, he wasn’t ready to see Adeline. He wasn’t ready to face anyone, let alone his own reflection. He’d killed a man. As he’d dug Troy’s grave, he replayed the man’s death several times in his head. Like a scratched record stuck and tripping over a single note, one particular image had repeated itself. Troy’s hands around Adeline’s neck, the bulging of her watery eyes. Watching Adeline approach him now, her long hair caught up on the breeze, her billowy sundress pressing against the contours of her sexy curves, added to his self-loathing.
Because given the chance, he’d kill Troy again.
He didn’t regret taking the man’s life. Troy had come to them a leery, yet friendly individual. Although Adeline had discovered him at a homeless shelter in Tallahassee, and he’d needed a shower, shave and haircut, his clothes hadn’t been in bad shape. When Rodney had asked him about his work skills—under the ruse that they would pay Troy seventy-five dollars a day, plus room and board, to work the land—Troy had explained that he’d been homeless for only three weeks. He’d lost his job, then his house and had lived in his car until that had been repossessed. The seventy-five dollars would have given Troy the chance to make his way north to where he had family. Instead, he and Adeline had turned Troy into a monster. And that he regretted.
If fate wouldn’t have brought Troy and Adeline together, Troy might still be at the homeless shelter, or trying his damnedest to reach the family he had up north. But that man had disappeared the moment they’d sent the A-Line drug into his veins. Too bad his drug hadn’t been able to quickly reverse the damage. Too bad they had only one test subject left.
“Thirsty?” Adeline asked when she reached the barn.
He nodded and took the cooler from her. After pulling out a bottle of water and taking a drink, he looked to the marks on her throat, her swollen lip, the slight bruise on her cheek. “How are you feeling?”
“Sad.”
He eyed her with skepticism. Sadness was one emotion he’d never seen from her. “Why’s that?”
“I know how much you value life, and you had to end a man’s today because of me.”
He looked away. “What happened to Troy wasn’t your fault. My drug didn’t work, so the blame is on me.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “But if you weren’t trying to help me, if I wasn’t…sick, you wouldn’t be creating the drug.”
“If Troy hadn’t lost his job, he would have never met you. He’d be alive and some other man would be dead in his place.” He took a step forward. “We could go back and forth with this and it’ll do neither of us any good. Don’t blame yourself for being born a certain way. This is not your fault.”
She reached for his shoulders and searched his eyes. “It’s not yours, either. You know that, right?”
“I killed a man.”
“In the name of science.”
“Science? That’s an excuse. I could have let him live. I could have tried to save him. I chose to smother him instead.” He stared at the marks along Adeline’s throat. “I allowed my emotions to rule my judgment.”
She moved her hands from his shoulders. “You’re sweaty. I brought you a shirt,” she said, bending down and retrieving a plastic grocery bag from the cooler. “How are your emotions now?”
He pulled off the soiled, damp shirt in exchange for the clean, dry one Adeline offered him. “What do you mean?”
“Do you feel remorse?”
“Of course. We’ve been over this.” He slid the shirt over his head, and let the hem drop. Adeline’s hand stopped the material.
“I feel sadness for you, because I love you. But I have no idea what it’s like to feel true remorse,” she said, running the back of her hand along his stomach. “Since Geoffrey was only fifteen, I thought I’d feel guilty for what I did to him. I waited for it.” She inched closer, moved her hand to the waistband of his jeans. “I stared at his mutilated face, at the hole I’d put in his head, the bits of brain clinging to the knife and rock I’d used and felt nothing but the desire to do it again.”
“Why?” Other than showing him Geoffrey’s body, Adeline had never spoken of the murder.
Her lips tilted into a grin as she loosened the button of his jeans. “The rush. The shock and betrayal on Geoff’s face. Knowing I had power over his life and how he would die.” Her smile grew. “And, no, I don’t believe I have a God complex.”
“But you liked the power.”
She closed her eyes and placed her hand over his crotch. “And the pain.” She cupped him, and this time, he let her. Right or wrong, he loved when she touched him, loved touching her.
“I tasted his blood,” she continued. “Not on purpose. When I smashed the rock against his face it splashed up at me and hit me in the mouth. It was warm, and knowing that only seconds before it had been pumping through his body made me want to see more of his blood.”
His penis thickened. He grabbed her hand and held it still against him. “Is that why you stabbed Cindy forty-three times?” Adeline’s college roommate, Cindy Cantrell, had been stabbed so badly, she’d almost been decapitated.
“No, I never liked the bitch. She was a slob and always stole my food. Even if I’d been able to take my time with her like I did with Geoff, I wouldn’t have. She wasn’t worth it. I just wanted her dead and out of my life.”
“Most people would have gotten a new roommate.”
She pressed her breasts against him and stared at his mouth. “I moved in with you, didn’t I?” she asked, leaning her lips toward his.
He grabbed her mouth and forced her to look at him. “Geoff was going to move into Gramma’s for the summer.” He released her, then knocked her hand from his erection. “That’s why you killed him and our baby. Isn’t it?”
“I have no idea where you’re going with this. I’m heading back to the house.”
He gripped her arm and swung her around. “Admit it. You don’t want anyone else in my life. If Gramma didn’t have so much money, she’d probably be dead, too.”
“A little egocentric, don’t you think?”
Maybe. Or maybe killing a man, then spending a couple of hours digging his grave made him paranoid and edgy.
He turned away from her and picked up the shovel. “Just go back to the house.”
“I saved dinner for tomorrow night, but there’s plenty of lunchmeat in the fridge. I’ll make you a sandwich once you’re showered.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Understandable, but you can’t ignore your health. We still have another test subject to attend to.”
“Stay away from him. I’ll take care of his meds when I’m done here. I shouldn’t be much longer.”
“He’s fine for now. I gave him the saline drops, changed the video and voice recordings out, and s
tarted the placebo. I’m hoping your drug works on him, but I still think we should get a couple of more test subjects. I think it would be interesting to see how my drug and yours works on a woman.”
Stunned, he held the shovel in both hands and faced her again. “I’m about to put a man in the hole I just dug, and you’re already planning to experiment on more people? Christ, you really are sick,” he said with disgust.
Her chin trembled. She looked away and rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ll see you at the house.”
Guilt had him dropping the shovel and reaching for her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Not meeting his gaze, she shook her head. “No, you’re right. There is something wrong with me.” When she looked up at him, tears shimmered in her eyes. “I just told you why I killed Cindy, and that I tasted Geoff’s blood. As for additional test subjects, I understand if you don’t want to continue with the experiments. I just figured that if we’re going to do this, we better be prepared, especially because we only have a short time before Gramma gets back from her trip.”
Seven weeks and three days. Not the ideal time frame to run such a complex experiment, but they had no choice. Gramma couldn’t know. The righteous old woman would go to the authorities. But if they succeeded and discovered the proper chemicals and dosage to ‘fix’ the monsters they created, governments around the world would want his drug.
“I’ll think about it. When you go back to the house, stay away from the test subject. I don’t want a repeat of this evening.”
She nodded. A tear slipped down her cheek as she started to turn.
He stopped her, then touched her cheek. So smooth, so soft. “I didn’t mean what I said.” He captured a tear with his thumb. “I’m sorry. I was angry. Maybe when I’m done here and showered, we can have something to eat and talk about bringing in more test subjects.”
She brightened a bit, but the earlier sparkle in her eyes hadn’t returned. “Tomorrow? The subject needs to be on A-Line for at least three days. In theory, we should be able to see some results within a week of administering your drug.”
“I agree. And since I took a leave from the clinic, it’ll be good for both of us to get out of the house anyway. I’d like to wait another day, though. I don’t want to leave the test subject alone the first day we administer the placebo.”
“Good idea.” She finally smiled. “Going to Tallahassee will give me something to look forward to.”
“I know you were wearing a disguise, but I don’t want to run the risk of you being recognized. I think we should switch cities. How about Atlanta?”
Chapter 3
Tallahassee, Florida
Friday, 2:06 p.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time
“WHO’S THE GUY we’re meeting?” Harrison asked her as she exited I-75.
Melanie’s stomach flipped as she made another left turn. In less than fifteen minutes they’d arrive at her house. And it was still her house. While she was here, she should have Cash remove the chandelier from her walk-in closet. The closet was actually considered a bedroom, but Cash had turned the small space into a frilly, girly, princess-like sanctuary for her. She sighed. Dang if it hadn’t been a sweet place to house her clothes, shoes and purses. She pictured the enormous full-length mirror that had been too big to hang, but had looked fabulous propped against the wall. As she made another turn, her memory took one, as well. How many times had she and Cash made love in front of that mirror?
“Well, honey,” Harrison began, hitching his voice and using an exaggerated southern drawl, “I’d tell ya’ who we’re meeting, but then I’d have to hide your body in my daddy’s swamp.”
She laughed and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Sounds about right.”
“Okay, then if you won’t tell me, I won’t help you.”
“Lola said you have to. Or maybe you’d rather be back at Polina’s Paradise hanging out with Vlad and his gator?”
Harrison groaned. “No thanks.”
“I don’t get you two.”
“I told you I don’t want to talk about Vlad.”
They’d been on the road for nearly six and a half hours. One thing she liked about Harrison was that he didn’t feel the need to fill the silence. Sure, they’d talked, but he’d also been cool with simply listening to the radio. She had to admit, she’d enjoyed this mini road trip and learning more about him. While she knew that he’d been incarcerated before joining CORE—the legit version of ATL—she hadn’t realized why.
Holy moly, had he surprised her. With his laid back, computer geek attitude, she would have never guessed that he had helped stop a madman who’d murdered over two hundred innocent people. But Harrison hadn’t been the only one to stop the killing spree. Vlad had been by Harrison’s side through the ordeal. The two of them were like Oscar and Felix from The Odd Couple. They were best friends, yet total opposites.
“Then I guess we’re even,” she said. “If you won’t tell me what’s going on at Polina’s Paradise, I’ll make my own assumptions, since Vlad already gave me his side of the story.”
“I guarantee his version made me look like the asshole.”
“It did,” she said, egging him on. She’d rather focus on Vlad and Harrison’s issues than think about seeing Cash. Despite their problems, she knew one look from him—that cocky one that said, I’m going to taste you, love you and make you come in a heartbeat—could derail her reason for driving to Tallahassee.
“Right. Poor, innocent Vlad. Everybody’s buddy,” he said with heavy sarcasm. “Look, he’s a good dude. But until you live with him, don’t judge me.”
“I get it. So you have an issue with his smoking.”
“A big issue. Do you realize that he’s been smoking since he was a kid? Like twelve or something ridiculous? He’s also a total slob. He lets his stupid gator run the house, leaves his shoes and clothes all over the place and never, and I mean never, puts his dishes in the dishwasher, let alone unload the damned thing. And, you’d think by now the man would be done referring to himself in third person. Vlad this, Vlad that.” He heaved another sigh. “You know, I don’t care why I’m here with you. Just thinking about Vlad pisses me off. It’s a good thing we’re getting a little distance from each other.”
That had been what she’d thought about Cash. A little distance. A little time and he’d change. But he hadn’t. Which had made her realize she loved him more than he’d ever loved her. And that realization hurt. Badly. He’d obviously loved her enough to marry her, just not enough to change his destructive ways. How could he ever expect her to raise children with a man who risked his life on a regular basis? Not that the kid part mattered. After how Bobby had turned out, she had no business having any of her own.
“Maybe one of you should move out,” she suggested. “You could move into Barney’s trailer, let Barney move into Polina’s Paradise, and—”
“No way. If anyone is moving, it’s Vlad.”
“Then let Barney move in with you and give Vlad his trailer.”
“And listen to Barney’s stories? Oh, my God. Where’s the ice pick so I can pierce my eardrums?”
She stiffened. “I like Barney’s stories.”
“So do I. At least when he tells them, he doesn’t refer to himself in third person. But I still couldn’t see us living together, or Barney giving up his own space.”
Her stomach tightened and her palms grew sweaty as she turned the Camaro onto the street leading to her and Cash’s house. Harrison and his complaining were not enough of a distraction. The anticipation was killing her. She wanted to see Cash. Kiss him. Touch him. Run her hands along each and every one of his scars to make sure he was okay. Once she’d done that, she wanted to push and shove him for making her so miserable with constant worry. If only, for more than ten minutes, he thought about her rather than himself. But that was the way he was made.
Can’t change the stripes of a tiger.
“Vlad has Barney snowed anyway,” Harrison said,
as she slowed the Camaro to a stop two houses away from hers and Cash’s. “Are we here?”
“Almost.”
“Why are we stopping?”
She debated over how much she should tell Harrison. The truth would be the best route, but she wasn’t good at that. Fibs and exaggerations kept people happy. But, like her, Cash had a temper and a severe jealous streak. He could take one look at Harrison and go territorial. After all, they were still married and Harrison was a good-looking guy. Just not her type.
She pulled lipstick from her purse. “I just need a sec.”
“For what? Why are you putting on that?”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, checking her reflection in the visor mirror and giving her hair a little volume with her fingertips. Once she had her hair exactly the way Cash liked it—draping her shoulders and wavy—she shifted into DRIVE, but didn’t take her foot off the brake.
“What are you doing?” Harrison asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Who are we seeing that you have to make sure you look hot?”
“You think I’m hot?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, when you’re not threatening anyone with a knife. But I mean that in a brotherly sense,” he quickly added. “I don’t want us to be weird or anything. No offense, you’re not my type.”
She turned to him. “Vlad told me my boobs were too small. Is that your problem with me, too?”
Harrison looked out the window. “No. And I don’t want to discuss your body. It’s almost…you’re kind of like a sister, so that’s just gross.” He tapped his thigh with his palm. “Are you going to drive?”
Melanie looked toward the house, drew in a breath and lifted her foot off the brake. She eased the Camaro forward and moved the car to a crawl.
“So, are you going to tell me who we’re meeting or not?”
“Cash Maddox.”
Perfectly Toxic Page 6
