CHAPTER 2 #2
The wee witch cast a spell on me that night.
A damn curse I have yet to break, ever since she left me to wake up alone that following morning.
We both pretended it didn’t happen for almost an entire year.
She went on to toy with the lives of several other blokes, while I watched it all behind a screen and heard about it every time Mal had to carve up another one.
Bridget’s always been known for her promiscuity.
I was just one of the many that got spun into her web…
and happy to be there. She’ll never admit it, but the reason she started coming back…
was because I knew the Bridget no one but Malek ever got to see, and I fucking adored the little psycho.
Finley thought he knew the lass that hid beneath the mask she likes to wear…
and look where that landed the sorry sod.
I really thought that last year was the moment that tied us in for good.
Truthfully, everything was fine up until a couple months ago.
We even started building a house together.
I’ve been hired as a hacker for a well-known group just to keep myself busy, and it wasn’t until that couple months ago that I started spending a bit more time looking into her instead.
I might already know what the hell is going on if it didn’t make my balls clench up in worry.
This is far from what I expected. Here I thought I’d end up becoming what Malek used to be in Bridget’s regard…
even if she didn’t realize why every guy she dared to climb on top of now… would end up in pieces.
You’re mine, Little Doe.
And I’m hers. I’ve always been hers. Which is why I’m choosing to convince myself that this is all being kept for a reason that has nothing to do with committing to whatever senile label you could put on the two of us.
I’d bring the world to its fucking knees for her.
I thought she already knew that. I guess now…
I’ll have my fun playing with my Black Widow before she inevitably becomes the fucking death of me.
She’s tracking at Malek’s now. I ran the history of where she’d been while I’ve been cleaning up all her shit, and damn if she isn’t just surprising me at every turn tonight.
I know this place. That’s the Hobbit hole that Mal was crashin’ at after his brief split with Seven Grey.
That must be Mr. Miyagi. What in the hell is she playing at?
Is he fucking mentoring her into a murderer?
“What the fuck, Bridget. Goddammit.”
I loaded up and headed home, showering and getting rid of my bloody clothes before parking my ass on the couch and ordering some Chinese.
I’m gonna get nowhere tonight, trying to figure this out with everything on my mind.
I’m also tired as fuck…and way too pissed.
Gonna be interesting to hear what excuse she comes up with in the morning…
And if she’ll say anything about the strange chap that chased her through the woods tonight.
Let’s play, you beautiful little liar.
When my eyes peeled open, I could smell Bridget’s soap.
The fan on her side of the room blew the shit straight up my nose.
I wanna touch her so bad, but I know as soon as I do…
I’m gonna get pissed and end up fucking all my frustration out on her.
I’m not ready to let it show that I’m fuming about somethin’ just yet.
I sighed hard through my nose, slipping out of bed and pulling my hair back into a loose knot behind my head as I padded to the bathroom.
The slow pan around the way she’s laying isn’t doing me any fucking favors.
Bridget sleeps with a bare leg hiked over the top of the covers every night.
She’s too prissy to wear a t-shirt to bed, and her sexy nightgowns make it impossible to stay mad at her—and I think she knows it.
This one is her signature red, short enough that it’s fucking pointless, and the satin tapers off to a lace hem that’s currently in the middle of her pale arse cheek.
Why does God hate me?
I wanna reach down and fry that hind like a fucking egg, I swear it.
Breakfast of champions…but I won’t. I growled under my breath and all but slammed the bathroom door to attempt to take a pish with a rock-solid cock.
That ended up being a twenty-minute ordeal.
I thought sleeping this off would be beneficial, but my mind is still reeling.
Watching her end Jonas O’Dell that night was a sight I’ll never forget.
Being able to be one of the people to give her that revenge was even better.
That was a long time coming. But I know nothing about the girl she gutted last night.
I’m not sure how I would have felt, seeing her do that to a random lassie. There had to be a reason she chose her.
I pulled a jacket around my bare back and snuck outta the apartment, nodding at one of our neighbors as I trudged down to the parking lot and spotted Bridget’s car.
She cleaned it. I popped her trunk open and saw that she’d cleaned that too—except for the dainty black purse that I knew didn’t belong to Bridget.
She’d never carry something that wasn’t a name brand.
Jackpot.
There was a wallet, some makeup, a set of keys, the woman’s cell and a half-empty pack of gum in here.
Taking the wallet will be too obvious. I don’t need the whole thing.
I snatched her license out of it and shoved it into my pocket, slamming the trunk closed.
I checked our mailbox on my way back up so that I’d have a good excuse if Bridget had gotten up while I was outside.
Smart move. She was diggin’ through the rest of my Lo Mein when I walked through the door.
“Emerald Lotus?” she smirked, chewing cold noodles. “Again?”
I shrugged and tossed the mail onto the kitchen island. “Tryin’ to keep up the physique. Don’t want ya runnin’ out on me for a dad bod.” Her green eyes raked over the body I’ll let, in no way, turn into anything close to a fucking ‘dad bod’.
“That’d be a travesty.”
“Aye.” And cue the weird silence I was hoping to avoid this morning.
We just stared at each other, the only sound filling the space between us?
Wet noodles and the slobbering of a camel.
The fact that it somehow makes my cock twitch…
is irrelevant. “Got some shite I gotta take care of this morning. All yours after that.”
“It’s fine, I fucked up one of my nails. Need to fix that anyway.”
By the looks of it…she fucked up more than just the one.
I’m shocked she said anything about it. She’s gonna make it real easy to list all the ways I figured her out when I finally decide to snap the mouse in the trap and make her listen to every fucking word while I gag her with one of my body parts.
God, I’m a sick fuck. Oh well.
I smirked at her and leaned in to chomp off the end of a few of those noodles while they dangled from her fork, and moved past her to go to my bat cave. I closed the door behind me and slid the license outta my pocket while I booted up my wall full of eagle eyes.
Natalie Truman.
Five-six.
Hair color…blonde.
Eye color…blue.
Current residence…
Yikes. Certainly isn’t 428 Perkins Street.
I started plugging in all the details, anyway. Went to school at Colby…didn’t stay long. Worked at a strip club not far from Waterville. That checks out. Such is the way, sometimes. I started filtering through her social media, aaaaand…
Bingo.
I recognize that face hanging over her shoulder in a drunk selfie video at some party.
Lassies always tag. Led me right to the bloke.
Zach McKinley. Spoiled, frat-boy nephew of none other than Ace McKinley, himself.
The immediate churning of my stomach told me I just stumbled onto something way bigger than I hoped.
Bridget’s out for Irish blood. By her fucking self.
“Fuck me sideways,” I whispered, dragging a palm down my face and sighing through my fingers.
Why? The way I tried to tell myself that it’s just some leftover bitterness over what happened last year…
it did nothing for me. It’s gotta be something bigger than that if she killed somebody for it.
I slid my phone out of my pocket, continuing to click on anything I could pull up on Zach, his closest friends, and the rest of his twisted family. Malek answered on the third ring.
“I swear I hear more from you now than you did from me when I needed favors. Can’t we just call it even, mate?”
I snickered through my nose and turned my neck to hold the phone while I fumbled around for my earbuds. “Dunno about that, brother. You promised a nice rack.”
“That was before you started fuckin’ my sister. You’re just lucky I’m a delivery boy now.” There was a pause before he added, “…and married.”
“Fairs fair, I reckon. I won’t keep ya. Just bein’ thorough. That being said, was Bridge at your place last night?”
“Don’t put me in that position, Dec. I’ve already got more than enough reason to rip your bollocks off as it is.”
“That’s not why I’m askin’, Mal. How did she seem to you? Anything seem…off?” I shoved one of the buds into my right ear and set my phone on my desk, bringing up a few more windows on different screens.
“She seemed edgy and stressed out, but I ‘figgered you probably haven’t been fluffin’ her pillows right, or bought off-brand Bugles. That’s what usually got the other ones a death sentence.”
“Did she talk to you?”
“Nah, she told me to get fucked like usual. Somethin’ I should know, deartháir?”
I know he heard me sigh. I didn’t catch myself soon enough. “Not unless I’m right. I made you a promise, Mal. I still mean it as much as I did the night we dragged them outta that shite-hole.”
“If I’m readin’ you right…you should know, I’ve got no qualms with gettin’ bloody.”