28. Dead Body Virgin
DEAD BODY VIRGIN
Hazel
As far as I can tell, Lachlan is Flynn if you take away the sense of humor and add a butt load of responsibility and seriousness.
“Soo, you have two cars,” I say because I’m totally getting better at this small talk thing.
“No. I have four cars.”
My gaze skates over the copper leather interior of what I’m pretty sure is a Maserati sports car.
It’s not exactly an under the radar car but I guess the whole point of being the decoy is to capture the attention of the bad guys.
The bad guys being the scary men in the black SUV who are currently tailing us.
“So, what exactly is the plan here? We let the creepy tinted windows SUV follow us for a while and then lose them?”
Lachlan takes his eyes off the road and cuts me a look. “We’re not losing them.”
“Then what are we…” I trail off as Flynn’s words come back to me. Fancy going hunting, brother. “Oh.” My stomach flips, like we just drove over a hill. “I take it the whole killing thing runs in the family then?”
Lachlan stays quiet.
I tug on the toggles of Ana’s hoodie, twisting the string around my fingers.
“How do you do it?” I ask quietly. “How are you okay with ending someone’s life?
I mean, I get it with Flynn. Sort of. He doesn’t feel things like the rest of us do but how do you stomach it, how do you kill someone and not feel bad about it?
” I clamp my lips together, cutting off my rambling.
I don’t know Lachlan that well and maybe it’s not the best idea to interrogate a killer when he’s in hunting mode.
Lachlan checks his mirrors before meeting my gaze. “Some people aren’t worth feeling bad for.”
I want to argue with him, to say everyone deserves to live, but doing the job I do, the number of calls I’ve answered where a husband’s beat his wife, or a girl’s been assaulted in a club, makes it hard to disagree.
“Hold on tight.” Lachlan nods to the door and I grab the handle just as he takes a sharp left turn.
I haven’t been paying enough attention, but we’ve driven out of the city and onto a quiet road with trees on either side so tall they cast the blacktop in shadow. Lachlan speeds down the road then yanks on the wheel and skids to a sharp stop, blocking both sides of the road with the car.
Sweat makes my palm slip on the door handle and I’m marginally concerned with how fast my heart is beating right now.
Lachlan reaches into the glove compartment, and my eyes bug out as he retrieves a gun and silencer.
Behind us, the SUV stops a few car lengths away.
Lachlan keeps his eyes on the vehicle as he screws on the silencer, and I retreat against my seat as the door to the SUV opens.
“Stay in the car. Close your eyes,” Lachlan says and then he’s stepping out onto the road.
Sure Hazel, just close your eyes and pretend your boyfriend’s brother isn’t about to commit double homicide, that’ll work.
The door slams shut behind him, enclosing the car in an unsettling quiet. I watch through the window as two men get out of the SUV. They’re dressed in cargo pants and T-shirts with holsters over their shoulders. Oh and guns in their hands.
There’s no negotiation. No warning. They just start shooting.
Lachlan fires back and the men duck behind the open doors to the SUV. I sink down into the footwell, peering just high enough that I can see what’s happening.
A bullet pings off the body of the car, the sharp vibration ricocheting through my toes.
I bite down on my cheek to stop from screaming as more shots fly but then Lachlan heads to the trees, using the tall pines as cover as the bullets chase after him.
Chips of wood scatter through the air, dirt spraying up off the ground.
I watch Lachlan through the rear window, standing with his back to the bark, not looking the slightest bit perturbed to be in the middle of a gun fight.
He takes his time, waiting for the spray of bullets to stop before twisting around and dropping to one knee.
His gun kicks back just once and the guy by the driver’s door falls to the ground.
I stare at the motionless body. Holy fuck, I think Lachlan just killed a guy.
I’m on the edge of hyperventilating when movement catches my eye.
The second man has made it around the back of the SUV and is heading to the trees.
Lachlan’s gaze is still set on the car. He hasn’t seen him.
Fuck. I don’t think, I just lunge across the console and scramble out the door.
“Lachlan, to your right!”
Lachlan whips around just as the man raises his gun and a crack rents the air.
For a second, nothing happens and then a red spot blooms on the man’s forehead and he drops.
“I told you to stay in the car.” Lachlan storms towards me but all I can do is stare at the two bodies in the road. The blood is so bright red it doesn’t feel real. It’s like some sick joke.
A 911 operator, a serial killer’s brother, and two mercenaries walk into a bar…
“Hazel.”
I hold up a finger. Then I turn around and throw up over the wheel of Lachlan’s fancy car. I brace my hand against the hood, coughing and spitting as my eyes water.
Lachlan’s boots appear in my vision and I stand up to find him looking down at me with his arms crossed. “You know, the whole leaving no evidence behind is easier if you don’t contaminate the crime scene.”
I let out a sharp humorless laugh and throw my arms wide. “Well excuse me for being a dead body virgin.”
Lachlan sighs and curls a hand around my bicep. “Come on, it’s due to rain soon anyway.”
My body goes numb as I let Lachlan guide me back around the car and into the passenger seat. A few seconds later, he climbs into the driver’s side and hands me a bottle of water.
“Thanks.” My fingers tremble as I unscrew the cap, but the clean water feels good on my burning throat.
“Are you okay?” Lachlan asks.
“No.”
“They would have killed you. Killed Ana.”
“I know.”
He passes me an open bag of Werther’s Originals, but I shake my head.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You’re going into shock. The sugar will help.”
I feel like I’m on autopilot as I untwist the wrapper and pop the candy in my mouth. I wait for the flavor to hit my tongue, but it tastes of nothing. I shudder and pull my feet up onto the seat.
Lachlan turns the engine on and straightens the car. I turn my head, not wanting to see the bodies as we drive off, leaving the SUV stranded in the middle of the road.
Maybe Wright will get a 911 call later today from whichever poor soul stumbles upon the carnage Lachlan and I just left behind.
We drive in silence for a while as the candy slowly melts in my mouth.
Rain starts falling, just the occasional drop at first before building to a steady patter on the roof of the car.
Lachlan’s gloves creak against the steering wheel and he glances over at me before setting his gaze back on the road. “There is no doubt in my mind that those men deserved to die. If you have doubts, then you need to figure that out before it’s too late.”
How can I not have doubts about the death of two people? “Too late for what?” I ask, staring out the passenger window.
“You’re right about Flynn, he doesn’t feel things the way the rest of us do, but he does still feel and I’ve never seen him as obsessed with anything as he is with you.”
My ribcage flares in a way that makes me feel unprepared for the blow Lachlan delivers next.
“What I just did is child’s play compared to Flynn. So you need to decide, Hazel, whether you’re okay with that. Whether you’re okay with him.”
The windshield blurs and I’m not sure whether it’s from the rainfall or the tears in my eyes because I’ve fallen in love with a sociopath and it’s about to break my heart.