Chapter 2 Delilah
TWO
DELILAH
The sound of loud, crashing waves and seagulls screaming above startled me awake.
I groaned, sand covering my face as my eyes strained to focus.
It was bright, the overwhelming collision of sounds and smells hitting me all at once while the sun burned against my bare back.
My side stung, and I winced at the salty water brushing along my torso, quickly reminding me that something had attacked me in the water.
I rotated my body, glancing at my stomach as my hand began to tremble, my eyes struggling to comprehend what I saw.
My fingers shook as the tips felt along the many indentations pierced into my flesh.
Blood lightly swirled into the water, the stingy warmth causing me to wince in pain as I gasped, realizing that the shark I saw last night had attacked me, leaving the giant bite mark imprinted into my side.
I quickly stood, glancing around to notice that the beach was completely empty.
It must still be early. I looked around, spotting my belongings.
I snatched them up and quickly dressed, careful as to not scratch the large wound.
As I stumbled in the sand, I turned, looking back at the buoy bobbing in the distance, and remembered him.
Reef. He had disappeared. Did the shark attack him too?
I rubbed my head, a small bump now formed from slamming into the base of the buoy. What the hell happened last night?
I tossed my damp clothes aside, landing on the tile floor with a smack as sand scattered across the floor of the bathroom.
Steam filled the tiny room, warming my skin as I stood, staring at the reflection of my body, examining the large shark bite in the bathroom mirror.
The bleeding had stopped, as the bite mark wasn’t deep.
The shark’s teeth had pierced my flesh, but there was no other damage, which was…
odd. Why would a shark simply take a taste and leave?
The thought instantly reminded me of what Reef said.
I shook my head and stepped into the shower, the hot water stinging the wound that stretched across my entire side as I began cleaning it carefully.
As my hands skimmed along the many teeth marks, I reminisced of how it felt when Reef touched me, his hands gliding along my skin.
I continued to shower, carefully washing my hair and body while tending to my new injury, my mind obsessed with the thoughts of Reef.
He was mysterious, dominating, and sexy…
this enigma of a man who appeared out of nowhere.
I couldn’t help but wonder if he was a local, hoping I would get the chance to run into him again.
“There you are!” Cherri, my bombshell roommate, shot from her chair, rushing to me.
She hugged me tight as I winced, causing her to step back.
Her chocolate eyes looked me up and down, immediately noticing the fresh bite mark that stood out, obvious beneath my tied striped halter and bell bottom jeans.
She gasped lightly, covering her mouth with her hand, the bracelets along her arms clanking together.
“Delilah,” she breathed. “Did a shark attack you? Is that why you didn’t come home last night? ”
I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide the mark, but I didn’t expect it to cause such concern.
“Yeah, I went out swimming last night and woke up on the beach this morning with it.” I laughed anxiously.
“Guess I wasn’t what it was craving.” I continued to try and laugh it off, nervous as she watched me, her warm irises glistening in the rays of the sunlight that peeked through the blinds from outside.
Cherri crossed her arms. “What were you doing at the beach, swimming so late at night?” She raised an eyebrow. “I thought we agreed on no more random hook ups, Delilah.”
I rolled my eyes, crossing my own arms. “Look, last night.” I stopped remembering the man I murdered.
My spine straightened as I cleared my throat.
“Last night was different. I know we agreed I would stop with the random hook ups, but…I think I met someone.” I tried to change the topic, moving from the corpse I left behind and referring to the man who fucked me like a god in the sea.
“Oh?” Her demeanor lightened. “You think? Well, spill. Who is it?”
My cheeks began to burn, giving away my feelings. “First, it’s a guy.” I giggled like a child.
“Really?” she poked, intrigued by what happened. “Well, what’s his name? Tell me all about him!”
“About who?” An older man in a sheriff’s uniform walked into the room, setting Cherri on edge as she immediately stiffened and returned to her desk and typewriter.
She completely fell silent and began to type away, resuming her job.
Cherri was a secretary at Golden Coast’s police station, the same station my dad, Chief Bailey, worked at.
“Hey, Dad,” I sighed, lowering my eyes as he glanced between the two of us.
“I thought I told you two to keep your personal lives at home and stop all this gossiping during business hours?” he grumbled, handing Cherri a stack of papers. “Here, I need you to get these typed up immediately.”
Cherri took the papers from his hands, looking them over as her face drained of color. “Another one?” she asked.
My father cleared his throat, placing his hands atop his hips. “Unfortunately. I would’ve asked Deputy Danielson to handle it, but no one seems to know where he is. Fucking Danielson. That man would lose his head if it wasn’t attached to his body.”
“What is it?” I asked, trying to peek at the papers in Cherri’s hands.
“Looks like another body was found on the beach this morning. Seems the Angel of Death has claimed yet another victim, leaving him—” Cherri stopped, her eyes widening as she cleared her throat and continued.
“Leaving him indecently exposed on the beach.” I giggled internally, forgetting that I had left the man’s dick hanging out. Whoops.
Angel of Death; the ridiculous and over the top nickname I had been given by the media.
The name made me sound like I was the super methodical serial killer, stalking my prey before murdering them, when in reality, it was the opposite.
I wasn’t as if I had planned to murder all those people.
I just couldn’t help it. I’d always had a temper, and my ‘victims’, as he called them, were simply unlucky hookups who pissed me off at the wrong time.
There was no strategy or elaborate planning behind the murders, though I enjoyed the credit the media had given me.
The only reason they were even able to link all my crimes was ‘cause of the lipstick I usually left on each of my victims. It had started as a simple goodbye kiss, but as the media became obsessed, dubbing it the Kiss of Death, who was I to not oblige?
Now, I purposely added it, embracing the signature.
My father’s eyes fell onto me, noticing my torso. “Wait, what the hell happened to you?”
“Looks like a shark bite to me.” The man stepped into the police station, the stench of fishing bait and body odor choking my stenches as my body stiffened in response to his familiar voice.
Fucking Dale. “By the looks of it, I guess it didn’t like the way you tasted.
” Dale stepped to my father’s side, his dirty, stained clothing all disheveled, his long, dirty blond hair tousled in every direction, as if he’d just gotten out of bed, matching his scratchy little mustache perfectly.
His green eyes lingered a little too long on my body, causing me to stiffen as I remembered our past, recalling all the painful reasons I left him in high school.
“I heard you moved back to town. It’s nice to finally see you again after all these years. ”
“A shark attacked you? Damn it, Delilah. What have I told you about your late-night swims?” my father scolded me. Dale smiled, reveling in watching me shrink beneath the weight of my father’s words.
“It’s fine, it barely hurts—” Before I could finish my words, Dale had stepped forward and yanked my hip towards him, peering closely at my wound, his dirty fingers causing me to groan in pain.
“Looks like we were right, Chief Bailey.” He sniffed, glaring at me before releasing my body with an attitude.
“Right about what?” I asked, stepping back, my arms covering the bite mark.
“Dale and I have been discussing the recent shark attacks along the beach here. Seems Golden Coast is plagued with not one, but two killers, one on land, and now one in the sea.” My father pointed at me, his gaze leering into my soul as he spoke.
“You better be careful in the water. No more late-night swims. You’re fucking lucky that shark didn’t stay around to finish you off.
” My eyes shot past him to Cherri, her irises locking with mine.
My dad turned, noticing the direction of my eyes.
“Now, I mean it, you two.” He pointed back and forth between us.
“You keep my daughter safe, Cherri.” He returned his heavy stare to me, inching close as he whispered in my ear.
“You may not live under my roof anymore, but I’m still your dad.
You better respect my word and do as I say. Understand?”
Our eyes met as rage and fear bubbled in my throbbing gut. I nodded, lightly trembling. “Yes, sir.”
He smacked my arm, causing me to jump as his mood lifted. “Alright, Dale, come talk to me in my office.”
Dale stood, watching me before turning to follow my father into his office. “See you around, Delilah,” he hissed, shutting the door.
Cherri and I both exhaled, relieved to be alone. “I swear, one of these days, you’re going to get me fired,” she snapped, returning to her typing.
I approached her humble little desk, leaning forward as I placed my hands on the edge, my long hair draping over my arms. “Hey, let’s do something fun when you get off work, blow off some steam.”
She peered up at me, her fingers pausing atop the metal keys as my words intrigued her. “What’d you have in mind?”
I smiled, glancing at the closed door of my father’s office. “What do you say we head to the beach?”
“Delilah.” She sighed. “Did you not hear a word the Chief just spoke? Your dad, my boss, just said no more swimming—”
“He said no more night swimming. Never said we can’t go out during the day.” I twirled a strand of my golden hair, our smiles mirroring one another.
“Fine.” She smiled. I clapped my hands together with excitement, Cherri instantly shushing me, giggling as she spoke. “Now, get out of here. I need to finish all this so we can go before it gets dark.”
“You got it, babe.” I turned, the sound of the typewriter resuming as I stopped, glancing through the glass door to my father’s office.
My smile faded away as Dale stared back at me, my father bent over his desk, motioning to something as he spoke to the fisherman, unaware that he wasn’t paying attention. Fucking Dale.