26. Harley
harley
. . .
W hat is she playing at?
I thought things had changed between us. Not only did the contract stipulate we must see each other every few days, but the time we spent in Hawaii was perfect.
Ever since first seeing her, I had dreamt about what it would be like to be with her. For her to want to be with me. The time on the island was like a dream come true.
Maybe it was, but only for me.
She had still been my Laura, but more relaxed. Happier. And more open to the bond between us.
But somehow, as soon as we got back, it had completely changed. She shifted back. She was ignoring me.
No calls. No texts. Not even updates about the case, which she seemed really excited about.
Even when I checked the bugs in her house, it was silent.
I should have taken a chance and had the cameras installed anyway.
I had trusted Laura, maybe a bit too much, especially since I didn’t really trust anyone. It hurt to be ignored in such a way when I thought we were actually getting somewhere.
But it also caused me to worry. There was no sign of her at all. Did she get hurt? There were no hospital records as proof. Did someone take her? No evidence.
I was going even crazier than back on the island when she was sick. I needed to be with her. There was no way around it.
I tried to give her time. Tried to adhere to our contract. But I was just barely making it. I even decided to go after that stalker fan, cut the brake lines in her car, and then watched as she went into oncoming traffic. It was satisfying, but it didn’t really work. Nothing worked without Laura.
I was on a filming break for three days, and on the third night, when she was still unreachable, I decided something needed to be done.
Her assistant wouldn’t answer my calls. When Penelope went there in person, Laura was nowhere to be found, and she had been escorted out after pushing too hard on her whereabouts.
She did say Laura was busy with trials, but I knew that was a lie based on Penelope’s research. She had one . But it was a bench trial. Over in one fucking day. So fast that Penelope couldn’t even find her in the packed courthouse after.
I had people I could reach out to. People who would get me all the information I needed for the right price. If it were anyone else, I would have made that call. And yet, something was telling me to give her one more chance.
And then Laura ignored my call for the hundredth time.
Fuck it. I’m going to take matters into my own hands.
So I hacked into her assistant’s calendar to see where she was. I was no expert, by any means, but you couldn’t do what I did without picking up some skills along the way.
Imagine my surprise—and anger—when I saw that there was a calendar invite titled “Lenard,” and the address was a fucking five-star hotel.
Lenard?
I heard her kick the bastard out. I heard her refuse his proposal.
This can’t be right. And right after our time in Hawaii ?
There wasn’t a strong enough word to describe the rage I felt. Murderous might come close, though.
I thought we were on the same page. I thought Laura felt it too.
I should have killed him the moment he left her house after delivering that half-assed proposal.
I didn’t because it was over. There was never really anything between them anyway. So I let it go. I focused on being everything she deserved.
But not this time.
No more Mr. Nice Guy. Killing is what I do. It’s who I am.
I was going to kill him. And I would make Laura watch. Remind her of the monster I truly was, and when all was said and done, I would fuck her over his dead body.
It shouldn’t have been this easy.
When I got to the hotel, I was wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a mask, but one quick peek behind it and a star-struck receptionist had given me all the information I needed. I was pretty sure she would have given me a key card for the room if I’d asked for it.
It seemed very unlike Laura not to protect her privacy. It seemed… careless, and that surprised me. Laura was smart.
It should have had alarm bells ringing in my head. Should have had me pausing before I got to the room. Should have had me thinking this could be a trap.
But my mind was too busy trying not to think of all the things Laura could be doing in there with that fucker.
I stood to the side of the hotel room so I wouldn’t be seen through the peephole and knocked on the door.
Nothing.
Not so much as a sound from beyond.
I knocked again. This time, there was a shuffle just before the door opened to show a smiling Laura .
“Took you long enough,” she said and opened the door for me to come in.
My eyes trailed her form in the hallway light. She was wearing one of her standard work outfits, though this time with velvet pink pumps on her feet. Shoes I’d never seen her wear before.
The room itself was pitch black, but just beyond her I could see a figure in the darkness.
Is that Lenard?
I entered the dark room. The sound of Laura closing the door softly behind me and locking me in was louder than my own breathing.
Something was off. And Laura was eerily calm.
“Are you playing with me?” I asked, giving her a look. The anger about her coming here to meet Lenard was still boiling under my skin, but curiosity was currently fighting for first place.
“Playing?” she asked with a small laugh as she came closer. Her hand reached up to caress my cheek, and that small gesture had my skin heating. “Not at all. You could call this… a test. Maybe even a present?”
What?
She walked in front of me now, farther into the room, her heels clicking against the hard flooring. Then she clicked on the light.
There was a man tied to a chair in the middle of the room. He was knocked out and already bleeding from the head, but the rhythmic movement of his chest told me he was still alive. The area all around the chair was completely covered in plastic.
It wasn’t Lenard. Not even close.
Julian.
“I said we needed a plan, didn’t I?” she asked and reached to pick up something to the side. A knife.
But instead of pointing it at him, she held it out for me to take.
Bloodlust shot through me so powerfully it rooted me to the floor. The image of me stalking over there and digging the knife into his belly over and over again was clouding everything else.
Including the way Laura looked at me in the dim lighting .
I had told her more than I ever told anyone, and she’d listened. My parents, the whole sick story of what made me who I am. Or maybe I’d always been this way.
I thought she understood in Hawaii, but now I was sure she did.
She saw me. The real me.
She wasn’t afraid or disgusted.
She was excited.
A test , she said.
“I propose we make some changes to our contract,” I said as I stalked toward her. But instead of grabbing the knife right away, I pulled her to me, fisting my hand in her hair.
She held the knife to my neck, a move that had an ache running through me. I had never needed her more than in that very second.
“Will you do this for me, my love?” she whispered, her hand steadily holding the knife to my throat as her tongue came out to run across my lips. “If you do this, I can guarantee you will never have to fight that urge of yours again. I’ll be your supplier. And your keeper.”
Fuck . Her words were swirling intoxicatingly around my head. The heat of her body was sinking into mine.
“You want to use me,” I murmured.
Her eyes searched my face. “It’s more than that, and you know it.”
The best present she could have given me.
I could see it then. She hadn’t been ignoring me. She had set this whole thing up. She wanted to test my limits. Test to see just how far I would go for her. What I was willing to risk.
But the answer was and would always be everything.
“How could I say no to you, my love?” I asked and let my hand trail down her side. “Are you asking me to be your attack dog?”
“I am,” she replied. “You have my hands tied. The footage? The contract? But with this…” She turned the knife around, handing it to me. I released the hand gripping her waist and took it from her. “We’re even. ”
I let out a dark chuckle.
“I knew we were meant to be. Take off your shoes and clothes, wouldn’t want to get them dirty.”
Laura gave me a sensual smile.
“I don’t mind a little blood, as long as you help me clean up when we’re done.”
“ Deal .”
In one swift motion, I stabbed the knife into Julian’s throat.