CHAPTER 2
The Pawn
“You’re a nasty little fucking liar, Bridget Byrne…
” I grumbled under my breath, clicking on this and that over several screens, while I watched my little doe on the tracker she thinks she’s hidden from me.
She’s in Witherle Woods. And this was after she posted up at some dodgy pub about ten miles from where we torched the O’Dell compound last year.
She’s up to something. I haven’t quite figured out what yet, but I’ve got a few breadcrumbs I’m following. “…and I’m gonna destroy you.”
I eased my glasses off and tossed them onto my desk, pulling my hair into a knot on top of my aching head.
She gave me one hell of a boner, tryin’ to take a page outta my book to see if she can hack a fucking hacker.
Her delusion is nothing, if not a bit sexy.
Only thing that’ll make this more alluring is to see her freeze in my headlights and piss herself.
My curiosity is piqued at what she’ll do if she suspects somebody’s onto her.
It’s just a bonus that she’ll never know it’s me.
I’ll tell her eventually, but I’m gonna make her work for it.
It’s only fair. I’ll scare her into a frenzy first and then drag her down when she realizes she actually does fucking need me…
and I’m not there to save her. I wanna hear my name tear outta her throat before I choke it… and let the truth sink in.
My hands have always been dirty, love. But Callum Byrne didn’t take me in to kill. I’m all about the hunt, Little Doe.
I gloved up and threw on my black hoodie, popped in a pair of contacts, and blacked my eyes.
I made sure to grab the mask I had stashed in the closet on my way out, and then I followed her every move until Witherle was in view.
I spotted her car on the beaten path and tucked mine into the wood line where it would be well-hidden.
She’s pretty deep in the cut…and now I know why.
There’s blood all over the dirt at the back of her car.
I popped her trunk open, finding more on plastic that she’d laid out over the entirety of the back…
along with a shovel. I’m not sure I’m believin’ this shit.
Now I’m pissed. Watching my screen and keeping an eye out for shrubs and low-hanging branches, I made my way through.
My tracker let me know when I was within a fifty-foot radius and I dismissed the screen, shoving it into my back pocket when I finally spotted her.
I hid in the dark, leaning on the trunk of a pine, watching my girl make an absolute disaster out of dumping a fucking body.
“Yeah, well…that’s why I have you, Mr. Miyagi. She didn’t give me much, but I do have a couple names you can look for in that file.”
Who the hell is Mr. Miyagi?
I heard enough to gather that she’s killing for intel.
That just makes this shit worse. She knows there ain’t much I can’t figure out for her…
so why the fuck is she hiding this? Unless…
that’s exactly why she’s hiding this. God, I’m fucking livid.
Talkin’ myself out of storming up behind her, ripping her jeans down and layin’ fire to that perfect round ass—before I fuck the Irish out of it—might be the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
My knuckles hurt from how hard I had my fists clenched in my front pocket while I watched her very shitty attempt at covering this girl up with pine straw.
Time to make myself known. I pulled my mask over my head, covering that with my hood and dropped my eyes to see a healthy-lookin’ branch.
It snapped pretty good, and her flashlight went straight for me. I stepped forward just a smidge.
“I dunno who you are…but if you take another step, I’ve already found a great hiding spot for your body.
” I smiled beneath my mask, watching her slither out a knife from her waist that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.
The blood went straight to my dick. “I’m not fucking around!
I’ll carve you like the Great Pumpkin, asshole! ”
Haha. Try it, Bridge. Please, try it.
I chuckled under my breath and went for her. She didn’t disappoint. Those eyes went wide and I clearly unnerved her…because she’s trying to stab me with a flashlight.
Ohhhh, Bridget. Bridget, Bridget, Bridget…you’re as helpless as a wee mouse.
I snatched the wrist that had a horror flick special clenched in it, and flinched when my knuckles caught fire.
Damn, she got me. The light went out completely and I missed my mark when I tried to shake out my throbbing fingers and let her get away.
She took off through the woods, and it wasn’t until then that I realized I’d stepped on the flat of the knife that must have dropped out of her hand.
If it was anybody but me tonight…she’d fucking be dead. I’m furious.
“Run, run, run, Little Doe…” I growled quietly, stalking towards the direction she’d disappeared to.
I couldn’t see her, but I could definitely hear her.
I pulled my phone out and dropped a pin to this exact location so that I can come back and clean up her goddamn mess later.
It’s gonna take everything in me not to absolutely annihilate her when she gets home.
Almost ten months we’ve been living under the same roof, and this is where we’re at?
I watched her tracker skirt around the woods and followed parallel to it until I made it back to her car—way before she did.
She’s worked up. I love it when she gets like this.
Her hair gets redder when she’s pissed off.
I hid and watched while that car went back…and forth…back…and forth. How many fucking points is this? I snickered and shook my head, knowing damned well she’s probly cussin’ that steering wheel to kingdom come.
And then I stepped right into the middle of the path.
The car jerked to a stop, kicking dust up in between us and I could almost smell her hair burning with the bitch fit going on inside that head. My grin is probably feral underneath this getup.
Show me your balls, Red.
Right on cue, she revved that engine. I know she wants every one of those tiny cylinders to end me right now, and honestly?
It’s fucking hot enough to make me let her.
I stood still and kept my intense focus on what I could make out of her behind the wheel.
Seconds ticked by, and then she surprised me a little—just a little—when her bratty ass foot stomped on the gas.
She got close enough that before I went completely blind…
I realized that her eyes were shut. This bitch was actually gonna kill me.
I stepped out of the way and continued to step until I was out of sight.
I watched her taillights fade through the dust cloud.
Oh, when I get my hands on you, Bridget Byrne…you’ve been a bad, bad girl.
The idea that people think the tech guy doesn’t have the pleasure of gettin’ his hands bloody is one that I actually take some grime to.
I don’t do it often, but anytime I’ve had to, it’s always been satisfying as fuck.
It’s just part of who we are. I’m not new to what I’m finding myself busy with tonight.
Only difference is…it’s not mine. Bridget did get me fired up enough about whatever the fuck is going on, though, that this poor lass that had her throat skewered…
just became my outlet. I didn’t know I’d need supplies tonight, but I knew they’d come in handy one of these days…
even if Malek said it made me seem more psychotic than he is.
I have the complete serial killer starter set under the carpet of my trunk where the spare tire sits.
After Bridget’s car had made it a few miles down the road, and I was able to get my rattled head on straight, I sat there thinking of how I could clean this up quick.
I grabbed my hatchet and set out to find the pin on the tracker.
They don’t call me ‘The Hacker’ for nothing.
The pile of pine straw made for a good cover for all the blood that was left behind after I chopped the lassie, piece by piece, and started tossing parts throughout the woods.
Rule number one, Bridget…don’t ever leave ‘em whole. What doesn’t get eaten, will get dragged off to different parts of these woods.
…sigh…
How in the fuck did we get here, Bridge?
A few years back, I remember gettin’ caught staring a bit too long after I’d realized at one of our quarterly ‘dinners’, that little Bridget Byrne was becoming a woman.
Am I still a fucking creep for thinking that about a lass that was barely legal?
Sure. But I’m a boob lad. And fuck, was she bloomin’.
Sick, I know. But tits are tits. I’m not an arsehole.
I respect the hell outta women. I don’t graze, and I hardly ever approach.
I let them come to me after they’ve hit my radar and I make it a point to consider myself the bait that draws them in.
If they bite, then they do. If they don’t…
I move onto the next. Nobody ever stayed long enough to decide I’m good enough to be more than a glorified nerd that fucks like a god.
And I do.
I worship any woman that graces my sheets, because that’s how the fuck it should be.
And Bridget is the only one of those women that’s graced them before they weren’t lock-up age.
To be fair…I wasn’t exactly legal either the first time she talked me into the idea of dancing with the Devil, and fucking the daughter of a mob boss that held my death warrant if I ever so much as toed a line.
But that night, we’d locked eyes way too many times to be safe—and she snuck into my room stark fucking naked, ready to wreck my entire life. I didn’t know it then…but I let her.