Chapter 13
Thirteen
Some of y’all’s birthstones is crystal meth, and it shows.
—Hux’s secret thoughts
Hux
Being gone for five days looking for a needle in a haystack should’ve been easy.
I’d never had trouble leaving before.
I’d just pack up and go hunting or fishing or hiking, and I didn’t tell anyone where I was going.
I hadn’t answered to anyone in years, and probably never would again.
But the paranoia had set in, and if it wasn’t for the cameras that I had on the outside of the house and the outside of Bernice’s work, I might’ve very well flown home without finding anything out.
Griffin Storm and Wolf Dupree, two buddies who were in a motorcycle club in Uncertain, Texas, had met me on their home turf to talk about what they knew about the Corpse case.
Which, admittedly, wasn’t much.
I’d have to tell Griffin and Wolf about Bernice’s name, Necro.
They’d appreciate it.
They hated the “Corpse Violator” almost as much as I did.
They also didn’t have very much to share, in the end.
They’d let me read everything that they’d found while not raising any red flags in the bureau, and that’s where I’d learned that there’d been several other murders, all of them looking like Bernice.
After sharing that with her, I’d watched her light dim.
I’d also watched her start to shake when she saw me nearing the end of my beer, as if she didn’t want me to finish it. Because finishing it meant that I’d be leaving.
Reading the mood change correctly, I’d told her that I would stay.
And she’d looked overly relieved at the news.
I’m sure that her brother wouldn’t be too happy about me staying over, though.
He’d noticed my interest in her and told me that she didn’t need my brand of crazy the night before I’d left to go visit Wolf and Griffin.
I had let it go at the time, because he was emotional and had just learned that his sister had a serial killer’s attention, but that leeway wouldn’t last for long.
“Damn, it’s cold.”
I looked down to see her rubbing her hands up and down the length of her exposed arms.
“Where’s your sweatshirt?” I asked.
“Forgot to put it on,” she grumbled.
She never forgot to put it on.
But I hadn’t thought to mention it to her, seeing as she hadn’t had a bra on underneath her long-sleeved, skin-tight shirt. I could see the outlines of her nipples, and I’d liked the view.
That, and actually being able to see her body for once, not under a bulky amount of clothes, had momentarily stupefied me.
“You can borrow one of mine,” I said as I put my thumbprint on my door handle and it unlocked.
I pushed the door open, and my cat Benz met me at the door.
She meowed, curling around my feet.
Then hissed when she realized we weren’t alone.
“This is Benz,” I said as I flicked on the lights to the living room. “She’s a bitch. Don’t pet her.”
“She doesn’t look like a bitch,” she said. “She looks all sweet and cuddly. She’s definitely saying that she wants me to pet her.”
“She’s fucking lying to you.” I snorted. “Don’t let that cute little face fool you. She’ll steal the breath right out of your lungs if you let her.”
I closed the door and walked to the couch where the blanket that Bernice had used last lay, then walked toward her where I wrapped it around her shoulders. “Thanks.”
“Welcome,” I said. “Follow me.”
She did, right on my heels.
When we got to the bedroom, I pointed to the end of the bed and said, “Sit.”
She sat, her brows furrowing. “I don’t know why I’m listening to you.”
“You’re scared, and not willing to admit it,” I said.
“But he won’t find you here. After talking to Griffin, Wolf, Silas, and Apollo, we’re all in agreement.
He has no clue where you went. Plus, you live in a tiny mountain town in the middle of Dixie Wardens MC territory.
People are quiet here. Plus, everyone knows everyone. A newcomer to town will be noticed.”
She nodded.
“I also have a worry that I have to bring up with my FBI friends,” I said as I pulled out my phone. “Don’t freak out.”
She frowned and wrapped the blanket tighter around her, bringing her feet up to tuck underneath the blanket, too.
She watched as I dialed the number and put it on speakerphone to rest on the edge of the bed while I packed up a few things for the night.
“Hux, what’s up, buddy?”
“Griffin, Wolf nearby?”
“Sitting at the desk next to me. What’s up?”
I spoke my worries aloud.
“My friend, Bernice. She said that she saw her mom went missing three weeks ago. Do you think that it could be related to the other missing women?”
Bernice sucked in a deep breath so swift that I practically felt the oxygen leave my lungs.
My eyes met hers as Griffin said, “Huh. Let me look into it. What’s the name?”
“Bessie Ross,” I answered for her.
Bernice’s brows lifted, surprised that I knew it.
“I’ll see what I can find. I’ll slip this name through the grapevine to the case director.”
Then he was hanging up, leaving me to look at Bernice, who was wearing a horrified expression on her face.
Her breathing was quick, and I dropped down to my knee beside the bed and reached for her throat with my hand.
“Slow down,” I urged. “Calm.”
She blinked. “I can’t just calm down.” She threw her arms wide, her fingernails clipping me along the neck as she did. “No woman in the history of women has ever calmed down when you tell them to calm down, Huxley. They get angrier. And more uncalm!”
My lips were fucking twitching as I tried to restrain my smile.
“You’ll have to,” I said. “Because you took the extra inhaler I had here for you.”
She tilted her head, her arms dropping, one hand coming down onto my shoulder and the other falling to her lap. Her breathing slowed slightly. “Why did you have an extra inhaler here for me?”
“Your brother thought it best to have one just in case,” I lied smoothly.
I wanted one here in case you ever needed it. I don’t ever want to see you needlessly suffer.
Her frown softened. “Oh.”
“Now, tell me what you’re thinking,” I urged.
“What makes you think that my mom’s disappearance has anything to do with the serial killer?
” she asked. “Maybe it’s just her druggie self doing what she does best…
drugs.” She clenched her hand onto my shirt.
“I made no apologies when I let the world know that I hated her. Hell, everyone that looks into me will know that I just about killed her once. Maybe I did it.”
When Creed had been sent to prison, Bernice had done her level best to get him free. She’d petitioned judges. Hired lawyers. Private investigators. Investigated herself. She petitioned outside the courthouse. Congress.
Hell, she’d been on every front-page news article in the country. Even some national news stations, too.
Her face and her stance on all things Creed-related was well known to everyone in the world.
Even in the middle of Iraq, I’d seen her on the news.
That was when I’d fallen for her.
For five years now, I’d looked at that photo of her and wondered about her.
For five years, I obsessed about a person that I would never meet.
But then she walked into a club party with her brother, and my entire life had rearranged itself. Around her.
I knew that one day she would be mine.
I also knew that I had to play this safe.
Creed was protective as fuck over his sister. When I’d approached her the first time, he’d pulled me aside and asked me to stay away from her.
I couldn’t say I blamed him.
Before she’d walked into my life, I’d been with quite a few women.
Always searching for the one that I would never have.
The women were like water to me. I used them because they were necessary to function, but there was nothing special about them.
I didn’t want more past the quenching of my thirst.
And I hadn’t necessarily treated them all that well, either.
I never made any promises.
I never tried to take anything further than a night. What would be the point when my obsession lay around someone else?
I’d built my reputation brick by brick.
That was why, when Creed told me to stay the hell away from her, I had.
For a time.
But, because I was obsessed with her, I didn’t let her slip away.
In fact, I’d gone about ensuring that she was safe and protected, watching her every move.
Watching her, though, came with a downside.
I saw the way she suffered, and I fucking hated it.
Hence the medication in my truck that I kept there for her.
Just in case.
“Because there were several other people that were killed that looked like you. An agent that was tied to your case. And I don’t believe in coincidences. Your mom went missing.” I frowned. “You just internet searched her name?”
“I do a Google search of the town every now and then. To keep up with everything. Just in case I ever hear anything about the serial killer,” she explained.
“I guess you’re right. But like I said. I made no apologies for how much I hated my mother.
Why would he go after her when he knows that I won’t give a shit? ”
“Because she looks like you?” I guessed. “I don’t know.”
“Well, what do you know?” She pinched me.
My lips twitched. “Do you want to know the truth?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Of course I want to know the truth.”
I stood, dropped down to a crouch, and my hands went to either side of her hips. “I’ve wanted you for five years.”
She blinked. “You what?”
“I saw you on television when I was in the middle of Iraq,” I said. “Watched you plead your case to a news crew in front of the state capitol. Begging for them to give your brother a chance. Watched as you begged and pleaded, and no one did a thing.”
Her mouth fell open.
“Had no clue who you were at the time,” I said. “Just that you were hot as fuck, and you looked pretty when you cried.”
“You think when people cry they’re pretty?” she questioned.
I leaned forward so that my nose was only inches from hers before I said, “I think you’re pretty when you cry. I don’t think about anyone else anymore. I especially haven’t thought about anyone else since you came into town.”
She bit her lip, and I reached up and pulled her lip free from her teeth.
“Let me go get my clothes,” I said and stood up. “Don’t leave.”