20. Ike
20
IKE
I lifted the crime scene tape and quickly picked the lock on the back door. Being the middle of the night, we shouldn’t have to worry about anyone sneaking up on us, but it wasn’t a certainty. As the door creaked open, the stench instantly hit me, making me wish I was anywhere but here.
“This is seriously the most fucked up thing I’ve ever done,” IRIS hissed.
“Somehow, I doubt that,” I said, stepping inside. I slowly moved my flashlight over the kitchen where the bodies once were. There was still a good amount of blood coating the floor, enough to make Isla vomit if she were here.
IRIS covered his nose with a cloth and walked over to the desk attached to the counter. A few small piles of paper lined the sides, but there wasn’t much to search through.
“I’ll see if there’s an office,” I said, pressing the inside of my elbow to my face. Once I was far enough away, the smell wasn’t nearly as bad. With the bodies carried away this morning, at least the worst of the stench had gone with them.
I had no luck finding an office, so I headed to the bedroom. My eyes immediately scanned the wall for a safe, but there were no pictures hanging to cover one.
“Anything?” IRIS asked, coming in behind me.
“I don’t see a safe.”
“Of course you don’t. Normal people don’t have safes.”
I hid them in floorboards or under loose pieces of linoleum, but somehow, I doubted there were any of those around here. I went to the closet and searched for any hiding places, but all I found were clothes and way too many boxes on the shelf. And a lock box.
I grabbed it and pulled it down. “IRIS, did you find any keys that might fit a lock box?”
“Nope. You don’t think they’d hide anything in there, do you?”
“Maybe they weren’t hiding it,” I answered, looking around for a good hiding place. I walked over to the dresser, setting the box on top, then opened the drawers and rifled around. The key was shoved in the back behind the underwear.
“Here we go.” I quickly unlocked it and pulled out a pile of paperwork, passing a stack over to IRIS. Holding my flashlight between my teeth, I rifled through my own stack, searching for anything that could be of significance. Titles to cars, the deed to the house, birth certificates…all important documents that they would keep in a lock box in case of a fire, but nothing that would lead us to Shawn.
“Hey, look at this.”
I set the papers back in the box and took the flashlight out of my mouth, shining it on the paper IRIS was looking at. “What is it?”
“It’s a deed to a property.”
“Where is it?”
“Up north.” His finger trailed down the paper and tapped at the bottom. “No, this is the sale paperwork. They don’t own it anymore. The deed was transferred to Lee Mitchell. Dead end.”
Sighing, I looked around the room again, hoping for any last clues. “I knew it was a long shot. Let’s get this cleaned up before they figure out someone was here.”
IRIS snorted. “Unlikely.”
After cleaning up quickly and wiping everything down, we slipped out of the house, leaving no trace that we’d ever been there. But as soon as we stepped outside, I felt a shift in the air, like we were being hunted. I drew my weapon at the same time as IRIS.
“Do you think it’s Shawn?” IRIS asked.
“No, there’s too many of them.” I scanned the tree line at the back of the property. I counted at least three, maybe more. It was hard to tell in the dead of night. I was going off pure instinct. I was used to being hunted in cities, not in the wilderness. I was going to have to rely on IRIS a little more on this one. He was more familiar with this sort of situation than me.
“How do you want to handle this?”
“If I said I had a bomb on me?—”
“I doubt using explosives is the way to go.”
“Yeah, I thought that’s what you’d say,” he grumbled. “Fine, I guess we’ll do this the old-fashioned way.”
“Let’s get to the truck and lead them away. The last thing we need is any of this connecting to the Yates family.”
“Sure, no problem. We’ll just wave to them, kindly ask them to follow us out of town before firing upon us. That works all the time.”
“We just have to make it to that hill, then we’re home free to the road.”
“Sure. Just a few hundred yards of open field. No problem.”
I frowned at him. “I think your math skills need some work. That’s maybe a hundred yards.”
“What’s the difference?”
“The difference is two hundred yards,” I pointed out.
He scoffed at me. “So sorry. I had no idea we were being quite so precise in our measurements at the moment.”
“I had no idea we weren’t.”
“Fine. It’s about a hundred yards. If we can outrun them, we’re home free.”
“Sure, repeat everything I just said,” I muttered before taking off across the yard. Bullets ate up the ground at my feet as the Irish fired at us. “You’d think they’d have better aim!” I shouted over my shoulder.
“Don’t give them any ideas!” IRIS retorted.
Fifty yards to go and their aim was still shit. Either they weren’t trying to kill us or they were really bad at this. I wasn’t sure which one at the moment, and I wasn’t going to stop and examine it too closely.
We crested the hill, diving over the other side in a roll. Once we had cover, we took off for the truck. Jumping inside, the tires spun in the gravel before gaining traction.
We lead them through the country, far away from the small town and the Yates family home. For a moment, I thought we lost them, but then their headlights appeared in the rearview mirror and gained speed.
“Now can I blow them up?”
I couldn’t believe this guy. What was it with him and his constant need to blow up people?
“IKE, any minute now.”
“Fine, do your thing.”
“Yes!” He fist-pumped the air like a little kid. I huffed in irritation at the excitement rolling off him. How the hell did the guys on his team work with him constantly?
“Just slow down and I’ll hop out.”
“You have enough on you to blow up their vehicle?”
He grinned at me like a kid in a candy shop. “I always have enough on me.”
Shaking my head, I slowed enough for him to jump out without letting the vehicle behind us suspect anything. Then I took off, hoping IRIS didn’t blow himself up.
“Come on, come on,” I murmured as the seconds ticked past. I kept my eyes fixed to the rearview mirror, and just when I was sure IRIS had failed, a large explosion shook the earth. Bright yellow and orange flames filled the sky as I spun the truck around and hit the brakes. I couldn’t believe he’d actually done it.
“I’m never gonna hear the end of this,” I muttered as I hit the gas to go back in search of him. It didn’t take long to find him, singed and jogging along the side of the road with a huge grin on his face.
“Did you see it?”
“Kind of hard to miss,” I said, putting the truck in park.
“Man, it was beautiful.”
“You know, I think you may love this just a little too much.”
He stared at the flames licking the sky and nodded. “Yep, pretty sure I do.”
“Are we telling the girls that the Irish attacked?” IRIS asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. That’s good,” he nodded. “Because I don’t keep anything from Jane. I mean, not much. Little things, really. Tiny. Okay, maybe the occasional larger secret, but nothing major.”
I slowly cocked my head at him.
“Okay, once, I kept a big secret from her, but it was for a good reason.”
“I don’t care.”
He nodded, then turned back to the elevator doors. “You know, it really wasn’t like I had to tell her anyway. These things get blown out of proportion in the long run. If she had found out, it would have been way more of a?—”
He stopped talking the moment I cut a glare his way. I really didn’t give a shit what secrets he was keeping from Jane. That was between him and his wife. I had long since left that fucked up relationship behind. And while I would always care for Jane, I had no right to step between them.
“So…not telling them.”
“We are telling them.”
“Right,” he cleared his throat. “Maybe we could not tell them about the whole explosive thing,” he added quickly. “You know, just because that’s really an unnecessary detail.”
I smirked at the panic in his voice. “Thumper made a bet that you couldn’t go the whole trip without blowing something up, didn’t he?”
“Maybe,” he grumbled. “But that’s really not fair. I did what I had to do. It’s not like I wanted to blow them up.”
“Of course,” I agreed, quirking an eyebrow at him. “Any sane person would have jumped out of a moving vehicle to light explosives they were carrying on them. It’s a natural reaction.”
“That’s all I’m saying.”
The doors opened and I stepped off, headed toward Isla and the warm bed she was currently residing in. I could already taste her skin on my lips and feel her hands on my cock. The rest could wait until morning. For now, all I wanted was her.
I slid the card into the reader and opened the door, but what I found couldn’t quite be explained. Peanut shells littered the floor. It was like one of those restaurants where they handed out peanuts to eat until your table was ready and you dropped the shells on the floor. Except, these hadn’t accumulated over the evening from customers. At least, I really hoped not.
I pulled my weapon just to be on the safe side and pushed the door open all the way. “Isla?”
Shrieks filtered in from the other room from the connecting door. I quickly cleared the room and jerked open the door leading to IRIS’s room, my gun aimed right at the source of the noise.
Isla and Jane went completely still as they sat in front of me on their asses. Twizzlers were fisted in their hands, but that wasn’t what had me frowning at them in confusion. Both of them had gobs of makeup on their faces. So much that they couldn’t even pass for hookers. Black eyeliner extended past their eyes, lining their lids, giving them an almost spooky quality. Bright red spots dotted both of their cheeks, but it was the bright red lipstick that really finished off whatever look they were going for.
Clowns. That’s what they looked like.
“Are we under arrest, officer?” Jane asked innocently.
Isla snorted out a laugh, then shoved a Twizzler in her mouth as she doubled over in laughter. I had no fucking clue what was going on or why they were acting so strangely, but when IRIS walked in, he just sighed and holstered his gun.
“I see you hit the sauce without me.”
I glanced to my left and found a vodka bottle tipped on its side on the table. I picked it up and set it upright on the table, then walked over to Isla, who was still cracking up on the floor. I got down on my haunches, giving her a disapproving look.
“What do we have here?”
She sat up suddenly, flinging out her arms. “Welcome to the circus!”
I glanced around again and nodded. “So, that’s what the peanuts are all about.”
She nodded excitedly. “And the candy,” she said, shoving the Twizzlers in my face. “They didn’t have any Jujyfruits.”
“So, when I left you behind, you decided to get wasted.”
“I decided to become a clown. It was her idea,” she said, pointing in Jane’s direction. “I think.”
“You think it was her idea?”
“What?” she asked, looking at me in confusion. Then she burst out laughing and flung her arms around my neck, kissing me hard.
“Okay, we should get you cleaned up.”
“Why? It’s so much fun over here at the circus!”
“I bet it is, but we have bad guys to find.”
“Nah! Bad guys, shmad guys,” she slurred, getting to her feet with my help. I slid my arm around her back, holding her up as best I could as she stumbled toward the bed instead of the door.
She flopped down on it, rubbing it lovingly. “Mmm, I just love this bed so much. It’s such a comfortable bed. Don’t you love this bed?”
“Yep, it’s a great bed.”
“I could lay all day in this bed.”
“Let’s go lay in our bed,” I suggested, tugging her upright.
She sent me a sexy grin, pulling her hand from my grasp. Then she stumbled back a step and started pulling up her shirt. “Wanna see what I’d do in our bed?”
The thought of IRIS seeing even a small amount of her skin made me burn with anger. I stormed over to her and flung her over my shoulder. To hell with being nice about it. We were getting out of here before she started ripping her clothes off in front of an audience.
I spun around and was about to storm out when I saw IRIS was in much of the same predicament that I had been in. Only he was cornered by Jane, and she looked like she was about to prove that she could be a hooker. Shaking my head, I walked through the connecting door, locking it behind us for good measure. Isla was squealing with laughter as I set her down. I wasn’t sure why she thought this was so funny, but then again, I couldn’t remember a time when I’d been drunk and thought anything was fun.
“IKE. That’s such a funny name. IKE. IKE, IKE, IKE.”
“That’s why I told you to call me Knox,” I said, taking her hand and pulling her toward the bathroom. I wanted to get her to bed, but not before I took that silly makeup off her face.
“I like IKE.” She snorted, then started laughing again. I grabbed her by the hips and hoisted her up onto the counter. My fingers skimmed over her waist, but I held back. Taking her to bed was no longer an option. As adorable as she was drunk, I wanted her to remember every second that I touched her.
“Just sit there for a second, okay?” I looked around for her makeup kit, but it wasn’t there. Surely, she had something for removing makeup. Didn’t all women have that stuff? Then again, Isla never wore anything. This had to be all Jane’s makeup, and I wasn’t about to knock on that door right now.
I snagged a washcloth and ran it under warm water as Isla kicked her feet out, back and forth, repeating IKE over and over again. After lathering up some soap, I coated the rag and ran it over her face.
“What does IKE mean, anyway?”
“Why does it have to mean anything?”
“It’s an acronym, isn’t it?”
I paused to look at her as I took another swipe. “How do you know that?”
“I’m not telling,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Then neither am I.”
She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. “That’s not fair.”
“Life’s not fair, gorgeous. Now, close your eyes.”
She did as I asked and I gently wiped the cloth over her eyes. Black smeared everywhere, but not much came off. I had a feeling this was going to take a very long time.
Her eyes fluttered open as I turned on the water again and began rinsing the rag. Black water swirled down the drain as I lathered more soap into the washcloth.
“Aren’t you going to tell me?”
I chuckled at her persistence. “It means I know everything.”
“Of course it does. And I’m guessing you gave yourself that name.”
“Nope. I got that name in basic because I knew everything.”
She chuckled, the dazed look on her face almost loving. “I bet they all hated you.”
“They did because I was the best and they knew it. Close your eyes.” Over and over, I swiped the makeup from her face, then rinsed and repeated. The washrag was hardly white any longer, stained from way too much makeup. No doubt, the hotel would bleach that right out.
“How long did you serve?”
“Four years. That was enough for me.”
Her body swayed toward me as she started to come down from the drunken high she was on. I caught her arm, holding her upright as I finished up. “Why did you get out?”
“I wasn’t very good at following someone else’s command. Can you imagine that?”
“Nope.” She chuckled, then leaned forward and fell into my lips, pressing hers to mine. She hummed against mine, then threw her arms around my neck as she kissed me. “Love you, IKE.”
“I’m sure you do,” I grinned.
“No, really.” She leaned back, staring at me in earnest. “I spark you.” Then her face twisted in confusion. “I spark for you. You sparked me?”
Fucking hell, she was absolutely adorable. If she wasn’t so drunk right now, I’d fuck her right here on the sink. But she was drunk, and I didn’t want to take her when she didn’t know what I was doing to her.
“Yep,” I sighed, hoisting her off the counter. “I think that’s enough for one night. You need sleep.”
“Sleep smeep,” she mumbled. “Who needs that when a hot guy is here?” She spun around and pressed herself against my body, her finger trailing up my chest. “Do you know what I really want, IKE?”
My breath caught in my throat. “What’s that?”
“I want a man who will throw me up against the wall and tear my underwear off and then fuck me so hard I scream. Will you do that for me?” She leaned forward and nipped my bottom lip between my teeth. Fuck, she was so sexy.
My cock hardened painfully as she rubbed her body against mine. She was making it so damn hard to remember that I didn’t fuck drunk women. Ever. Not even when she was begging me for it.
“Every fucking day,” I promised. “But tonight, you’re going to sleep.” It took everything in me to pry her fingers from my body and push her back a step. My dick didn’t thank me for it, and neither did my brain. But as soon as she was on the bed, the fog of lust cleared just enough to see clearly.
She sighed heavily and flopped backward. “Do you remember our first kiss, Knoxy poo?”
I chuckled at the nickname. “Yes, I remember.”
“You were so…pushy.”
I started to shift her legs up onto the bed to get her more comfortable. “How was I pushy?”
“You were all I break legs for a living. And I was like That’s really bad. ” She snorted out a laugh, but I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Isla, the first time we kissed was on Christmas.”
“Nooo,” she laughed. “The first time we kissed was right before we got kidnapped. But you don’t remember that ‘cuz you were drunk,” she slurred.
My heart hammered in my chest as she rolled to the side and tucked her hands under her cheek. I had kissed her back then and she hadn’t told me? Why the fuck would she keep that a secret unless…
“Isla,” I shook her, trying to wake up her. “Isla, wake up!”
She rolled back to face me, her eyes blinking as a smile lit her face. “Knoxy poo!”
“Isla, when I kissed you the first time, did I hurt you? Did I?—”
“I’m so tired. Just wanna go to sleep.”
“Isla, I need to know?—”
But she was already passed out. I leaned back on the bed, shoving a hand through my hair as I stared at the woman I loved. What the fuck had I done that night?