Chapter 12
12
RAE
T heir murmuring and occasional burst of laughter stopped minutes ago. The clock read two in the morning. I’d been in this bed since Alec walked out hours before. Sleep evaded me this entire time, leaving me listening to make out any details they discussed and staring at the closed door, willing it to open and for Alec to charge through saying he was sorry.
He was holding back, that was clear. But why, fuck if I knew.
Rolling over, I released a long breath. It was almost like he didn’t trust me with the truth, which hurt, but then again, I hid something from him too. So who was I to cast the first stone?
The fan whirled overhead, helping cool my skin. It was warm in here, but July in Texas meant nighttime temperatures sometimes didn’t drop below eighty degrees. And my house was ancient. Any cold air my struggling AC could pump out sucked through the creaky floors, through gaps in the walls, and out the uninsulated attic.
A creak drew my gaze to the opening door. Through the darkness, I tracked Alec’s silhouette as he lumbered into the room. Shortly after he paused at the bedside came a rustle of clothes, then the clang of a belt and soft stomp of a boot.
My breathing kicked up to match my heart rate. Is he getting naked?
The thin sheet lifted off my body, and the mattress dipped under his weight as he slid onto the bed beside me. He wiggled and shifted, getting comfortable. A few times his thigh or arm brushed against my own.
Every place he touched felt like a brand, my skin burning with the need for more.
“Hey.”
He stilled at my word.
“Why are you still awake?”
“Can’t sleep.”
He hummed in a noncommittal way. “Want to talk about it?”
“Not really.” I sighed. “I don’t want a reminder of everything we covered tonight or the fact that you have a target on your back because of me.”
The bed jostled. “I can take care of myself.” His voice was closer, like he hovered an inch from me, lying on his side. “It’s you I’m worried about. Charlie and I made some good headway with the other cases tonight. We’ll find this guy soon, promise, Sunshine.”
I stayed silent for a second before blurting, “I’m still upset and confused about why you left, but thank you for coming now when I need you most, Alec. It’s nice having you in my life again, even if it’s just for a little while.”
“Did you miss me?” he asked, the words rumbling over my heightened sensitive skin.
“Yes. Every day.” I licked my lips, eyes fixed on the fan, too chicken to turn and face him.
“Sunshine, everything I did was for you. Please don’t hate me for leaving.”
“I don’t hate you, Alec,” I admitted to him and to myself. “I could never hate you.”
I sucked in a harsh breath when a ghost touch caressed my shoulder.
“We’re playing a dangerous game, you and I.” Fingertips brushed over my exposed collarbone. “But right now, with you in bed beside me panting like you’d die if I didn’t touch you, I can’t stop myself.”
“Please don’t,” I pleaded. “Don’t stop.”
“It would help you sleep,” he hummed to himself. His palm encircled the column of my neck. My throat worked against his grip.
I nodded. If he didn’t finish what he just started, I’d have to do it myself with or without him in the bed with me. Already my underwear and sleep shorts were damp between my thighs.
“Two rules.” I listened with rapt attention. “First, this is only tonight. Agreed?”
“Yes,” I said, the word a hiss from the pleasure pumping through my system.
“Second.” I felt his lips hover over my ear. “You’ll have to stay quiet. The bedroom door is open, and Charlie is just outside still working.”
I sucked in a shaky breath. Why did that make my entire body shiver?
His deep chuckle vibrated against my skin. “You like that idea, don’t you? My sunshine has a dark side.” Teeth sank into my lobe, and I bit my lip to keep from moaning. “So do I.”
A scorching hot palm slipped from my neck, lower and lower. Dipping below the light lavender cami I wore, he circled one pebbled nipple with a blunt nail and then the other, never touching where I needed.
“Please, Alec,” I begged.
Two fingers latched on and pinched. I moaned, my back arching off the bed as pleasure spiked through my veins. More, more, more was all I could think. I slid my hand across the sheets and skimmed up his massive thigh, but a hand encircled my wrist, stopping me.
“Three rules,” he groaned. “No touching me. If you do, there won’t be any way I’ll hold back from bending you over and fucking you all night long.”
“But—”
“Let me touch you tonight, Sunshine. Give me tonight.” Before I could respond, his hand moved to my other nipple, pinching and twisting, while his tongue flicked over the tip of the one he’d just tortured.
Any argument died on my lips as they parted with a throaty moan. The sheets were too rough, too hot; I kicked them off until the covers bunched at my feet. My cami snagged beneath Alec’s fingers as he stroked three along my belly and then dipped beneath the elastic band of my matching shorts.
“How wet are you, Sunshine?” Alec purred against my neck. His tormented groan vibrated against my skin when his fingers slipped between my drenched folds. “Holy fuck, baby. You’re so damn perfect. I can’t wait to taste you.”
A thick finger pressed against my opening before pushing inside. I gasped at the intrusion. Knees bent, I pressed them to the mattress, opening myself to whatever he had planned.
Another finger slipped inside, the fullness beyond any pleasure I’d ever felt. My hips moved against his hand.
“That’s it. Ride my fingers.” Alec’s voice was guttural as he curled those fingers against my sensitive walls. “How about this?” With a twist of his wrist, the heel of his hand pressed against my swollen clit.
I cried out, completely forgetting about the open door and the FBI agent in the living room.
Alec’s dark chuckle filled the room. In and out he thrust those two talented fingers while rubbing that bundle of nerves. Stars exploded behind my shut lids as an intense, body-shaking orgasm ripped through me, back arched off the bed, fingers fisting the sheets as I let out a silent cry. He continued to push into me, drawing out the orgasm, and sending aftershock ripples shivering down my arms and legs.
I panted, blinking at the rotating ceiling fan as I slowly came down from the high. A soft moan slipped past my lips when he withdrew and pulled that hand from my shorts. Alec’s hungry moan had me whip my head along the pillow to face him. He had two fingers plunged deep between his lips.
“Delicious,” he said around those fingers I couldn’t tear my eyes away from. “Just like I dreamed.” Dreamed? He dreamed of me? I thought it was just me who had lusty midnight fantasies starring us. “Now go to sleep, Sunshine.”
He fixed my top, carefully tucking my exposed breasts beneath the soft cotton, and retrieved the sheet, laying it over us both.
“Sleep?” I huffed. “After that? Are you kidding me?”
The bed shimmied as he shifted to plop on his back. Two fingers latched onto two of my own and squeezed.
“Rae.” His voice was gruff, forced almost. “I want—” He cut himself off and sat up straight in the bed.
“Alec?” I questioned, not understanding what happened and why he was now on high alert.
“Shh.” Without a sound—which was impressive for a guy his size—he stood from the bed. He picked up something off the floor before creeping toward the open bedroom door.
I felt the blood drain from my face. Something was wrong.
The sheet tangled around my legs when I tried to follow Alec as he disappeared into the living room. Throwing it off, I scooted to the side and rushed on my tiptoes in the same direction.
My bare feet skidded to a halt, but I wasn’t fast enough to not slam into Alec’s back. A single lamp in the corner shed soft light across the dim room. Charlie, very shirtless and tattooed— wait, are those nipple piercings? —stood with his gun drawn, his stance mirroring Alec’s. An arm wrapped around me and tugged me to his chest.
“What’s going on?” I asked, frantically searching the room to see what set them on edge.
“I heard something,” Alec whispered. “He heard it too.”
“And it had nothing to do with what you two were doing earlier.” Charlie’s voice was no longer light and fun as he stared down the length of the gun barrel held between two hands. “Come over here, Rae.”
“No, I want?—”
“Go, Rae. I need to check the perimeter, but I can’t with you unprotected.” With a firm squeeze to my side, Alec all but shoved me toward Charlie, who caught me with ease. The room still spun when the distinct click of the deadbolts releasing met my ears. “Stay with her. I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t,” I gasped. “Don’t go out there.”
“I have a gun” was his indifferent response.
“Actually, you have three.” I turned and studied Charlie, his normally cocky features now set in a firm line as he surveyed the entire room. “The one in his hands and his arms. It was a joke.”
“Oh.” It was all I could think of as a response.
“It was funny, just bad timing,” Charlie grumbled.
“Knock it off, you two,” Alec snapped, ear pressed to the front door.
I held a hand over my chest, pressing hard to keep my heart from pounding out and sputtering to the floor. Dread and anxiety fought for dominance, making my stomach churn and washing away all remaining effects of the mind-shattering orgasm.
Shoulder against the door, Alec leaned close and peered through the peephole. He shot a cautious look my way before stepping back and reaching for the knob. Bile rose up my throat. A loud protesting groan emitted from the door when Alec tugged it open an inch.
“What the—” He stopped as he opened the door all the way. I stared into the darkness outside the door, squinting to see what he saw. “Call the police.”
Distracted, I moved out of Charlie’s arms and raced to Alec’s side.
“Rae, no,” he said, voice slightly panicked. Only when I stood right by his side could I see what was there.
I slapped a hand over my mouth to keep from puking all over the dead body just outside the doorway.
“Fuck.” With a hard shove that pushed me back into the house, Alec leapt over the body and raced down the stairs. Before his bare feet landed in the grass, Charlie had an arm around my waist, dragging me across the living room.
A wall pressed against each shoulder when Charlie pushed me into the far corner, the one not visible from the front door.
“Do you know how to shoot?” I shook my head. “Do you understand the basics?” After cocking a second black gun, he held it out to me. “Point toward the bad guy and pull the trigger.”
“Charlie, I can’t?—”
“Rae, listen to me. You can and you will. You’re stronger than the fear that’s trying to take control. Don’t let it win, you hear me?” I nodded and took the offered gun. “Repeat it back to me.”
“Don’t let fear win. Point and pull the trigger.” Palming the rough grip, I held it tight between two hands and pointed the barrel to the ground in case I got spooked or trigger-happy. Accidentally shooting an FBI agent wasn’t something I wanted to add to my record.
“Exactly.” When he turned, I reached out and latched onto his lean, muscular, fully tattooed arm. “I’m not leaving you,” he told me firmly, “but if someone comes through that door ready to finish what he started with you, then I need you prepared to defend yourself. We’re assuming this guy works alone, but what if he’s not? I’m not risking your life because I assumed something.”
He uncurled my fingers from around his bicep and stepped to the center of the room, where he could see both me and the front door. Phone pressed to his ear, he described the scene unfolding around me and then hung up.
“Police will be here shortly.”
“Who… who is… who is it?” I stammered. “The body.” I cringed just saying the word.
“I don’t know. Can’t see much detail from here, but what I can see….” He stopped and tilted his head. “It’s not pretty, Rae. Looks like whoever this unlucky bastard is was on the wrong side of a rage-fueled beating.”
“Do you see him? Alec?” I shivered, only now realizing I still wore my skimpy cami and shorts. I tried to cover myself as best I could—not that Charlie was looking at me—but couldn’t do much with the gun in my hands.
“I don’t, and I don’t hear him anymore—” He stopped and held a hand in the air, palm out toward me. I held a breath, trying to hear what he heard. The floorboards creaked and groaned as Charlie crept toward the front door.
I heard it then, a rustling sound, footsteps maybe. Charlie sealed his back to the wall, slipping out of sight from the front door, and held the gun tight to his chest as I watched the door. Pounding steps shook the house, and a familiar annoyed groan and curse overtook the summer bugs’ chirps and buzzing.
“Charlie,” Alec’s voice bellowed through the house. “Lend me a hand with this one. Unconscious, not dead like the other one.”
Charlie stepped into the doorway, his eyes wide at whatever he found there. After securing his gun into the back of his gray sweatpants, he held out both arms. He grunted and tilted forward as if Alec deposited a massive weight onto his outstretched arms.
And it was.
Arms underneath a limp man’s armpits, Charlie dragged him away from the doorway and laid him flat. Alec stepped through the doorway half a second later. His white undershirt stuck to every curve of his chest, the cotton nearly translucent from sweat. When his searching gaze landed on me, some tension eased from his shoulders, dropping them an inch.
Until he noticed the gun.
“You gave her a gun?” he said dryly, turning, his bare feet squeaking on the hardwoods.
“I didn’t know where you ran off to. I wanted her prepared just in case.” Charlie nudged the unconscious man with a toe. “Isn’t this guy convenient.”
“The police on their way?” Charlie ran a hand through his black hair as he nodded to Alec confirming he made the call. “This makes little sense, doesn’t it?”
“What are you two talking about?” Moving along the wall, I gently set the gun down and grabbed the blanket I’d set out for Charlie to use tonight. After securing it around my shoulders, I moved toward the men.
“It all seems too easy. This is the guy from the library, and now he shows up to dump a dead body on your porch. It would be easy to assume this was the guy who was stalking you and killed all those people.”
Eyes wide, I took in the familiar man. I expected for hate or anger to well inside me, but I felt hollow instead. “But that’s too easy. That’s what you said.”
Alec nodded and turned for the front door. His thighs bunched when he squatted low to get a good look at the dead body. “What if the real bastard doing all this used this guy as patsy so we’d leave?”
“That would make sense. He’d know he couldn’t get through both of us to her. When that threat against you came to the library, he didn’t know about me being added to the protection detail mix. Then when I showed up, disrupting his plan, he needed to get rid of us to get to Rae.”
“Who is that?” I asked, pointing to the body at my front door.
“Guessing by the smell, he’s been dead a few hours. In this heat, it doesn’t take long for the stench to become unbearable. But the coroner will tell us exactly when and how he died. There’s too much damage to his face to get a good ID, but I’d wager this is the guy who went missing three nights ago.”
My hand rose to cover my open mouth.
No.
Tears welled and slipped down my hot cheeks. I’d hoped we could save him. Somehow prevent the inevitable that came with knowing me. Guilt slammed into my stomach, shoving the earlier Thai food up my throat.
The blanket slipped from my shoulders as I raced to the bathroom. I made it to the toilet just in time. Every time I thought about that kid’s smiling face, the joy in his spirt, and the now dead body at my doorstep, I heaved into the toilet.
Abs sore, throat burning, I turned and sat on the cool tile when the nausea finally subsided. I squeezed my eyes shut.
This was my fault. If I hadn’t engaged, if I hadn’t gone out, that man would be alive.
But now he was dead. Violently dead.
That was on me.
I thought about the two men arguing in the living room.
If they wouldn’t leave, then I would. There wouldn’t be any more death because of me. I would leave this town full of painful memories and never come back.