Chapter Twenty-Five
Theo
After a week of trying to lead Lorry’s investigation in the wrong direction, all I want is to pin the little reaper to my bed and fuck her until she begs to show me the video she recorded.
I hadn’t planned on visiting her this morning when I finally got home, but she left the unwashed toy on my bed, still smelling like her, and I couldn’t help myself. I had to taste her.
It was exactly what I needed to fall asleep after the shit show that was last night. Lorry finally saw me with June when I picked her up from work on Wednesday. Unfortunately, that’s the day we fucked on her couch, so he watched me arrive, park, go inside, and take twenty minutes to leave.
He didn’t confront me until yesterday.
“What the hell were you doing with Graves?”
I look up from my desk to see Lorry standing in the doorway of my office. “What do you mean?”
He barges inside and kicks the door shut behind him. “I asked you to help me put a serial killer away, and you, what… start fucking her?”
I lean back in my chair, carefully not revealing any reaction. “Lorry, I’m going to need more information.”
“Don’t play stupid.” His face is red, filled with anger. “I saw you at her office yesterday. You went inside, then she left with you. On your bike.”
I’m surprised it took him so long to figure this out, but it works for me. I interlock my fingers on my desk and pull in a measured breath. “Of course she did.”
He pauses mid-pace, surely not having expected me to admit it so quickly. “What?”
“Lorry, this isn’t like other cases. You want me to frame someone for murder. Actually, you want me to help you put away a serial killer who, according to the rest of the police department, doesn’t exist.”
“Since when do you ask questions? I’m not asking you to investigate! I’m asking you to help stop a killer.” His volume is rising, and though the Iron Cage isn’t full right now, I still would rather not be overheard.
“Sit down.” I gesture to the chair across from me.
He doesn’t sit, but he does cross his arms and wait for me to continue.
“I’m not investigating. But this isn’t a case of planting some drugs on someone or breaking a taillight.
I don’t have a body I can drop in Graves’s house.
And I’m sorry, but I’m not going to frame a random woman, who appears to be a perfectly respectable member of society, for murder without a little more information. ”
“I don’t pay you to investigate.”
“No, you pay me to break the law so your job is easier.”
“She killed my cousin.”
“I believe you have reasons to think that, but you haven’t shared them with me, and you haven’t listened to any of my other findings or theories.
You’re confident this Graves woman is the killer, and I don’t know why.
” He opens his mouth, but I barrel forward before he can interrupt.
“I’m not saying you have to share your investigation with me.
But this isn’t a simple job, and there isn’t a simple answer.
I have to get into her life, see how she lives.
The more I know about her, the better I can help you.
You may not believe me, but I don’t kill without reason, and I won’t kill someone just to frame her.
I’m guessing you don’t want me to wait for her to kill someone.
So, yeah, I was at her office, because the best way to get into someone’s life is if they invite you. ”
“So, what? You’re dating her now?”
I shake my head. “I tried that, but she’s not going to date me.
I’m clearly not her type.” The lie is sweet in my mouth.
“But she does have a bit of a hero complex, and she’s been writing a book on the psychological reasons people find belonging among broken or ‘sinful’ people.
Or something like that. The way she said it sounds much smarter.
” In reality, June briefly mentioned that she’d love to study why people like Luna feel happier and safer with a found family that, to the rest of the world, is more dangerous than their blood family.
But it gave me this cover story idea for Lorry.
“And?”
“And, what better case study than the Saints? So, I’m letting her believe she’s saving me while getting the chance to observe the Saints and interview some of our members.”
Lorry finally sits, lowering slowly into the chair. “You’re bringing her to the Cage?”
I nod. “And while she’s with me, we know her house is empty. James has looked around a few times. Found nothing yet, but we set up a few cameras. I told you, this isn’t like the other jobs. It’ll take time.”
He chews on his cheek, looking for something to fight me on. “When will you be done?”
“I don’t know, Lorry. But you’ll need a lot of hard evidence to convince a jury that someone like June Graves is capable of cold-blooded murder.”
“Just be careful. Don’t let her fool you. Trust me, this woman is a killer.”
I know, I think. “If she is, then you’ll put her away. But not tomorrow.”
“Next time, tell me what you’re planning to do before I catch you picking the killer up from work,” Lorry mumbles.
“Sure thing. Now, I’ve got work to do.”
I followed Lorry after that and was unsurprised to see him go to June’s house.
I had to sneak in and turn on the lights and TV to keep him from breaking in or learning that she hadn’t slept there in two weeks.
I already removed everything incriminating from the house but didn’t want Lorry digging through her drawers.
I spent the rest of the evening looking into the disappearances he’s attributed to my little reaper.
Four of them I’m reasonably confident were June’s work, and I can for sure link two of them to her.
The rest aren’t her. Two of them aren’t bad guys at all, which leads me to believe that Lorry has no idea what type of victims June prefers.
After searching the house of one of her assumed victims, whose wife used to see June, I decided to check my cameras at the house.
There was my reaper, drinking with Sadie, Rose, and Luna.
Seeing her happy in my living room, comfortable enough to invite her friends over, filled my entire body with warmth.
Unfortunately, I was distracted when the dead man’s widow arrived. Thankfully, I managed to hide and spent an hour watching her with her new boyfriend before I snuck out. Enough time to hear the man verbally abuse her. Her taste in men hasn’t gotten better.
Which means I have two plausible suspects I can pin the guy’s disappearance on. Cops are much more inclined to think a widow or new boyfriend is guilty of murder than a random serial killer.
Before I could go home, Axel called about seeing some drugs pass through the Cage that neither he nor Bella sold. With the South Five on our backs, I couldn’t put that off.
The thought of taking June home and fucking her senseless was the only thing that got me through the exhaustion of last night and today.
When I knew Lorry wasn’t watching me at her office, I couldn’t help but kiss her.
My body ached for her touch. My mind begged for the respite of losing myself in her.
Sometimes I forget that I’m temporary to her.
After church, Axel says he has an update on where the drugs are coming from. June seems fine to hang out longer, and I try not to feel jealous that she’s getting so close with the other Saints.
But whatever conversation she had with Benny and Luna didn’t go well. She looks lost in her head when we leave, and her hold on me is more desperate as we ride home.
“Can we talk?” she asks as soon as we’re inside.
I toe off my shoes and sigh, thinking about church and how everyone looked at her when I brought up the Five. “Look, it’s not your fault. This war with the South Five has been building for months.”
She shakes her head. “Not about that.” Her chest rises with a deep breath, and her next sentence comes out like one word. “It was Amber Wallace.”
My movements slow as I process her words, brows pulling together. Amber ? I thought we were past that. “What?”
“That’s why I was going to kill you. Amber’s aunt is a client of mine, and she said you’d been abusing Amber.
I watched you for a while, and there was clearly something wrong with Amber.
You’d get in fights, and the next day she’d have bruises all over her arms. Then, when Amber disappeared, Jennifer was sure you killed her. ”
“ Fucking bitch, ” I swear under my breath. I knew Amber’s aunt hated me, but is that really what she thought? She doesn’t know her niece at all. What must she have told June? Of course, June hated me if all her information was coming from Jennifer.
I sigh, rub my face, and nod to the bedroom. There’s no point hiding this from her, and maybe the truth will help break down some of her defenses. “Alright, come on, let’s do this.”
I shut the bedroom door behind us and carefully don’t think about June on my bed or how she tasted this morning. “I wasn’t abusing Amber. She was—”
“I know,” she interrupts. “A junkie trading secrets to the South Five. But you were still rough with her.”
“I’m not going to lie and say I was the perfect boyfriend.
Hell, she was way too young for me. But at first, she was just so…
” I make a wild gesture, lost on how to explain Amber or why, after seven years of not dating anyone for more than a few weeks, I chose to bring home a twenty-one-year-old.
“She was fun, and she fit in,” I manage.
“She reminded me of an easier time in my life, and I liked how little I thought around her. Then her using got out of hand and, yeah, I was angry. But I didn’t kill her. ”
She sits on the foot of my bed, pulling her feet up. “What did happen?”
I lean against my dresser, arms crossed at the memory of those last few days with Amber. Sometimes, I’m surprised I didn’t kill her. “Rehab.”
June’s mouth drops open. “What?”