Chapter Nineteen
Gage
Striding into the dressing room, I feel like my body is being drawn by a magnet. Jill is standing just inside the door like I knew she would be. The sight of her settles my raging soul, and a small weight is lifted off my chest.
She’s been avoiding me since the day at the medical examiner’s office last week, not that she would admit it. But I’ve noticed how she edges away from me, how she’s the first to break eye contact. I tried to corner her earlier behind the bar, but she muttered something before using one of the servers dropping a glass as a distraction to make her escape.
She thinks one emotional afternoon looking for her brother was a sign of weakness, and she doesn’t like that I was the one who saw her crack. But I don’t see it that way. All I saw was a strong woman trying to find the answers she needs.
Looking for her brother has been weighing on her, and the stress of it shows more everyday. I’m tempted to ease her mind, but I know she’s better off not knowing the truth. At least not yet. Her brother was a leech, sucking the life out of her. She deserves a life free of him.
But that doesn’t stop her from having questions. She might not have gotten them the other day, but I liked being there anyway. I want to be there to hold her hand next time too, and I plan to be.
“What are you doing in here?” Jill asks flatly. “Did you miss the part of the sign on the door that says women’s dressing room?”
“You said you wanted to fuck.” I spread my arms out and gesture to my body. “Here I am.”
“What I said was ‘fuck off.’ But nice try.” Her sharp words make me grin. “While you’re here, make yourself useful and zip me up.”
I step forward, breathing in her sensual perfume. Taking hold of her open dress, I grasp the zipper where it sits halfway up. My hands itch with the desire to yank the little piece of metal down with so much force that the dress tears in two. Instead, I drag my fingers along the curve of her ass and spine as I close the dress.
“What exactly am I zipping this up for?” Or who.
“I have a date.” Her response has my expression darkening. She looks at me over her shoulder, her eyes looking pointedly at my crotch, feigning a pitying expression. “But have fun taking care of your little problem.”
She turns to leave the room, but I’m faster. My hands grab her by the waist, leg kicking the door closed with a bang. I use my hold on her to slam her against the wall, and my body follows. Her full breasts press against me with every amped breath, every one of her soft curves molded against my hard panes. She looks up at me with those enchanting eyes, making my possessive tendencies surge.
“Another man touching you isn’t good for his health,” I inform her, darkness rumbling beneath my voice in a very unveiled threat. Jill’s expression remains unbothered, but her eyes on me heat. Her eyes pull from mine to briefly glance at my lips, and I’m sure she’s going to kiss me.
Do it, kiss me.
Instead, she gives me a smile that settles into my chest and makes my cock twitch—one full of dark promises. “That’s not something you need to worry yourself with,” she says, piquing my interest.
I’ll see about that.
Jill pushes against my chest just hard enough to side-step out of my grasp. The sultry look she flashes me over her shoulder before walking out the door has me striding to my office.
Clicking open the security footage, I track her movements through the halls on my monitor while I pull my Ruger out of my desk drawer and check the clip. I watch Jill move through the club towards the front door while I tuck the handgun behind my back into the waistband of my pants and pull my shirt over it. Even in a hurry and pixelated on a screen, Jill looks infuriatingly good in her little black dress. Grabbing my keys off the desk, I’m on the move.
It was raining earlier, so I didn’t take my bike to the club. I drove my Yukon, which gave me an advantage. Jill might be listening for my motorcycle, but she won’t be looking for my car. She’s going to lead me straight to the sack of shit that’s going to lose his hands if he even thinks about touching her.
Vince fucking Rossi.
The edges of my vision turn red at the sight of the loan shark’s ugly face.
I followed Jill to an upscale restaurant, where she found a seat at the bar. After fifteen minutes, I was beginning to think she’d lied to me—that there wasn’t another man after all. But then Vince showed up.
He walks up to where Jill sits at the bar and doesn’t stop until he’s leaning so closely over her shoulder that he’s practically on top of her. Taken slightly off guard, Jill turns to find Vince’s mouth just centimeters from hers. A look of contempt flashes across her face so fast that anyone else would’ve missed it before her sultry smile—but I didn’t. That’s when it hits me.
This isn’t a date. It’s a hit.
Jill isn’t going to fuck Vince tonight. She’s going to kill him. Adrenaline floods through me at the realization, the excitement seeping into my veins until I’m intoxicated. A grin spreads across my face, and my muscles relax as I ease back against my chair.
This changes everything. Instead of watching some asshat paw my girl and plotting his slow and painful death, I get to watch my Jill do it. And she does it so beautifully.
The entire time they’re at the bar, I can’t pull my eyes away from Jill. Watching her is like watching a Venus fly trap ensnare its prey, beautiful and seemingly innocent—coaxing and teasing until it’s too late. Vince is leering at her like a kid in a fucking candy store, ready to indulge until he’s made himself sick—not that I can blame the sucker. Jill is magnetic. She knows when to lean in, flash a smile and a seductive glance, and when to pull back to play coy.
When she stands from the bar before she’s even finished her second drink, Vince follows eagerly, crowding behind her with his hands on her waist that have my lips twitching in disdain. If Vince weren’t a dead man walking, I’d already have him pinned against the wall with my 40mm jammed against the hard-on he has for my girl.
Instead, I follow in the shadows as Jill leads him out of the restaurant and into the parking lot. Walking past the cars, Vince trails along behind Jill as she pulls him by the hand around the building. Being in heels doesn’t seem to slow my girl down at all as she struts through an alleyway toward an abandoned building that’s currently waiting to be made into new condos.
Demolition day is tomorrow.
My clever girl.
Before they enter, Vince loses his nerve for a second. His steps falter and he pulls his hand from hers as he opens his mouth to protest. But Jill looks back at him with that devilish smile, and he’s pulled right back in. She might not know that I’m here with her, but that look on her face is just for me.
Her dark soul singing to mine.
I need that shit on repeat.
Vince follows Jill through the door, looking like he’s about to get away with murder—the fucking idiot. He’s about to get what’s coming to him, and I have a front-row seat.
It’s pitch black inside the building, with only the city lights outside filtering through the broken windows and holes in the walls. The structure has been stripped to its studs, with debris scattered across the cement floor. The sound of sexy heels clicking against the floor echoes through the empty space, allowing me to move in silence.
Placing myself behind a half-demoed wall, I admire the way Jill’s black dress moves with her dramatic curves when she finally slows to a stop—she’s fine as hell. Vince looks around at the dump and says something to her, making her smile up at him in excitement. Unlike Vince, I’m smart enough to know what that smile means. But the dumbass takes it as an invitation.
Vince doesn’t see the blade, but I do. The light glints off the metal at her side, bringing my body to life. A thrill runs through me in anticipation, my cock standing at attention.
The loan shark takes another step closer to her, completely oblivious that he’s inching closer to his death. Undoing the zipper of my jeans, I shove down my pants to grip my throbbing cock. Lust pours over me, hot as molten lava that melts into my bones.
If only I could hear her voice from where I’m standing.
Jill waits for Vince to make his move before she makes hers. He closes the distance between them, lunging at her like a man who has the upper hand. Jill uses that in her favor, leveraging his own weight against him to impale his body on the blade.
She’s gotten stronger since the last one.
Goddamn, she’s the most incredible creature to ever walk this planet.
Just like the others, Vince is taken completely off guard. His eyes bulge in shock as he stumbles backward, the blade now covered in his blood. He looks down at her hand, then at his stab wound—the blood soaking his white shirt.
I pump my rock-hard cock, biting back a groan at the sensation.
When the shock on Vince’s face wears off, anger replaces it. The malicious intent in his eyes is clear, making me tense.
He gears up to attack, but Jill works fast. She lashes out with her blade, slicing his cheekbone. Vince rears back, pressing his hand to his face and his fingers coming away covered in blood. Jill uses his moment of distraction to plunge the knife upwards into his torso.
The strangled wheezing sound Vince lets out tells me she hit her target: the lungs. Vince folds over like a lawn chair and collapses onto the ground, coughing and gulping. Jill stands over him, blood dripping down her lovely arm like an angel of death.
The fire in her eyes burns so brightly it steals my breath. The exhilaration on her face, so pure and powerful, has my hand all but strangling my erection. The friction is building, my eyes unable to move from the divine figure standing over her fallen victim.
Jill steps forward and crouches down next to Vince’s convulsing body. With the way she looks at him as she murmurs something—boldly and with absolute control—I can tell she doesn’t plan on toying with him for too long, not like Jonas.
With Jonas, she took her time, letting him die slowly as she savored the sweetness of the moment. This time will be hard and fast, exactly how she likes to be fucked. And just like last time, we’ll both get off from it.
Vince lets out a short, garbled cry as Jill plunges her blade straight into his heart. She presses all of her weight onto the knife until it’s to the hilt. Vince stills beneath her, his wheezing breaths and tortured grunts of pain dissipating into complete silence.
Heat flares through me, every nerve in my body firing all at once as hot cum shoots from my cock onto my hand. The pleasure is white hot, whipping through my limbs. My jaw clenches from the intensity of it, a silenced groan building in my chest coming out as a harsh, shuttered breath.
Jill doesn’t move for a long moment, just gazing down at the now-lifeless asshole. His dead, unseeing eyes stare up at her in return. She mutters something, a smile ghosting her lips when she reaches into her neckline and pulls out a tiny vial. Crouching down, she runs the container along the blood streaming from the slice on Vince’s cheek to collect a few drops.
Holding a vial up to the light, Jill speaks again—this time loud enough for me to hear. “For someone so ugly, you have some very pretty blood.” The sardonic tone in her voice has my cock beginning to stiffen all over again. She’s so fucking sexy when she’s being cruel. “Rest in misery, cockroach.”
With those last words, she stands and walks away. I watch her until she’s out of sight, listening to the click of her heels until her footsteps have completely disappeared. Putting my dick away and pulling out my phone, I track Jill’s location until she’s safely in her apartment. Only once I know I’m alone do I emerge from the shadows.
Seeing Jill’s handiwork up close and personal is like looking at a work of art. The stab wounds are both painful and precise, meant to inflict intense suffering right before the end. The fact that she took this ugly brute of a man who was twice her size down so easily and without hesitation fills me with pride.
My Jill is a powerful little thing.
I grin as I look down at the blood coating him and picture just how stunning the color of it will look on Jill’s full lips.
Leaving the body here was reckless, but I expect nothing less from my girl. Now that she’s finished with him, she’s ready to move on with her life. And I’ll make sure she can, just like I did with that cock-sucker Jonas.
Jonas’ body was easy to get rid of—now he’s nothing but a pile of dust at a crematorium. She got lucky with Carter when the cops assumed his death was a random attack.
A happy tune whistles from my lips as I begin to scrub the scene of anything that can be tied to Jill. Disposing of the body won’t be too difficult—there’s a building around the block with an incinerator big enough to fit this fucker. Soon, he’ll be nothing but smoke and ash, and Jill will be free to live without the ghost of her vengeance coming back to hound her.
I’m the only shadow allowed to haunt Jillian Hart.
And I’ll never let her go.