Chapter 24
Carnivorous
“You look nervous,” Katie tells me.
“I am nervous. Thanks for pointing it out, though. That’s very helpful of you.”
She smirks. “What have you got to be worried about? I’m the one who should be nervous.”
“Yeah, well. I don’t think there’s a hard limit on who’s allowed to be nervous in this situation,” I mutter. “I’m sure Mark’s nervous too.” I glance at my watch. It’s six-forty-five. He should be here in fifteen minutes.
I’ve only been home for about thirty minutes, having stayed at my office later than I normally do and then walked to my car with my head on a swivel.
I might be paranoid, but now seems like a good time to vary my routine as much as possible.
Garret Fischer knows what I’m doing. He can’t prove it.
But he knows. And he knows I know. I basically taunted him with the fact this afternoon, and the look on his face was murderous.
He’s smart enough to realize this is a zero-sum game.
Either he dies or I do—and right now, I’m winning.
You wouldn’t know that from my body’s physiological response, though. My hands have been shaky since he left my office earlier, and I’m not sure my heart rate ever fully returned to normal. The pressure in my chest definitely hasn’t receded at all.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he’s trying to figure out my routine, much the same way that I’ve been learning all his scumbag-rapist friends’ routines prior to killing them.
It makes me want to get rid of Rhys Steichen sooner rather than later, but I can’t.
Until Vaughn can get me the tranq gun I asked for, it’s not worth the risk.
For the immediate future, it’s two against one.
The odds are not in my favor, and it’s making me jumpy.
At least they’ll be leaving for road games in a day and a half, which will give me a bit of breathing room.
That’s assuming Garret bothers to share what he’s learned with Rhys, and I’d guess the chances of that are about fifty-fifty.
If he tells Rhys, they could try to figure out a way to kill me together.
But Rhys is an idiot. He’s the one who made the video of Katie.
He’s the one who had an address book containing the addresses of women he’s assaulted mixed in with friends and family.
I sigh, trying to stop thinking about it. It’s all I’ve been doing since Garret left my office, and there’s no predicting what’ll happen next.
I should tell Katie that he came to see me today.
But if I do, she’ll want to cancel her trip to Redding to visit Erica.
And right now, it’s safer for her if she’s not here.
I don’t believe he’d go after her, but why risk it?
I definitely need to talk to Vaughn. Hopefully he’s back in town, I think, chewing on the inside of my cheek.
He’s not going to react well. Vaughn and I might not be related, but I know he considers me family anyway.
He’s going to want me to shut this whole thing down. He’s going to be pissed when I refuse.
God. This would all be a lot easier if Garret Fischer didn’t have a brain.
I’m sure he connected the dots as soon as he realized Katie was my cousin, which, based on the timing, was probably immediately after he saw me with Mark at The Rose Room.
I bet he initially wanted to figure out who I was simply to screw with Mark, but then—
“Why would Mark be nervous?” Katie asks, interrupting my slow descent into madness.
“After I told him you wanted to meet him, and explained who you were, and he got over being mad that I lied to him, the first thing he said was, ‘What would I even say to her? Sorry doesn’t exactly cut it.’ So yeah. I’m pretty sure he’s nervous.”
I check my watch again. Ten minutes. There’s nothing for me to do except wait. I already placed an order for half of the local Chinese restaurant’s menu.
“You’re going down to California on Friday?” I ask, checking that her plans haven’t changed.
“Yeah. I was going to take the train, but if I did, I’d either get there at two in the morning or have to leave here in the middle of the night. So I decided to drive instead. I’ll get there in half the time anyhow,” Katie tells me.
“Okay. Good.” The Black Bears have road games starting this Friday and going through next Thursday.
They’ll be out of town by the time Katie leaves.
It’ll probably be next Friday at the earliest before I can get rid of Rhys, which should give the reporters time to find her.
After that, I’ll just have to figure out how to deal with Garret—the sooner, the better.
The intercom buzzes, and I jump.
“Geez. You really are nervous,” Katie says.
I huff and walk over to it. “Hey,” I say as I press the button.
“Hey, it’s me,” Mark responds, and I buzz him in.
My heart is beating just as erratically as it was this afternoon when I looked up and saw Garret Fischer standing across from me in my office, only now it feels like it might explode for an entirely different reason.
I glance back at Katie. She’s chewing on her lip, and she looks paler than she did a few moments ago.
I take a deep breath and exhale it as Mark knocks.
This is going to be the most fun dinner of my life, I think sarcastically as I open the door.
Mark is there in faded, paint-stained jeans and a well-worn flannel.
Apparently, he decided to dress down, and it somehow makes him even more attractive—highlighting the fact that he’s actually gorgeous.
His dark red-brown hair seems to glow with the reflection of the hall lights, and the hint of stubble along his jaw is begging for me to run my fingertips over it.
A smile spreads across my face. “Hi,” I say as I step out of the doorway. He steps in and freezes when he sees Katie behind me. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him look unsure of himself. “Mark, this is Katie. Katie, this is Mark.”
For a second, there’s awkward silence as they stare at one another, each uncertain about what to say. Finally, Mark’s chest rises. “I’m really, really sorry,” he blurts out.
Katie gives a small nod. “Thanks. Well, um. Come in. Nice to meet you and whatever,” Katie replies, also sounding confused.
There aren’t a lot of meet your rapists’ boss moments to model.
This is uncharted territory for us all. “Alyssa told me you pushed her off a step stool,” Katie says eventually.
Mark’s eyes flick to mine, his brow furrowing in confusion. “I didn’t—” he begins, and Katie and I burst out laughing. “Ah,” he murmurs with a sigh.
I loop my arm through his. “Come on. I’ll give you a quick real-life tour before the food gets here.
Katie’s room is over there,” I say, pointing to the closed door off the living room on the right, before tugging him toward the hallway on the left and opening the first door.
“This is the laundry room,” I say as I flip on the light.
The room is about ten feet by ten feet and has the hot water heater in addition to the washer and dryer.
Other than that, it’s a completely undecorated room.
I let him look around for a moment before I turn off the light and pull the door shut.
“Half bath,” I say when we reach the next door, which is already open.
The walls are a light sage-green, and our reflections are peering back at us from the mirror above the sink.
“I like the color,” Mark tells me, his eyes meeting mine in the reflection.
“Thank you. This was the first room I painted when I moved in four years ago. It used to be a very violent red. It was like being inside a blood bag.”
His lips twitch, and I move to the next door.
“This is just a closet. Nothing exciting,” I explain as I open the door to a small storage space that’s about four feet by six feet. We glance in for a second, and then I shut the door. “This is my room,” I say as we approach the last door in the hallway.
I drop his arm and shut the door after we step through it. Mark looks around, surveying my bedroom. He’s seen it on video, but that has a way of distorting a room’s dimensions while simultaneously failing to capture the actual feel of a space.
“There’s a bathroom through there,” I say, pointing to the door on the right. “Katie’s room is more or less identical and also has its own bathroom.”
“Your curtains are closed,” he comments, looking at the dark blue velvet drapes that cover the sliding glass door and large windows opposite my bed.
“Yes, of course they are. It’s been dark for over two hours, and I live in the city. I have lots of neighbors.”
“Mmm,” he murmurs, interlacing his fingers with mine. “And you have orchids.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
He turns to look at me, lifting his free hand to tuck my hair behind my ear. “I’ve always thought carnivorous plants seemed more your style.”
I grin, stepping closer to him. “I tried. They’re too hard to keep alive.”
“Ah. Yes, that tracks,” he says, his mouth centimeters from mine. “I can see how that might be a problem.”
I close the distance between us at the same time his arm wraps around my waist, tugging me toward him. His lips have barely brushed against mine when the intercom buzzes.
I sigh, and Mark steps away. “We should go back out there before Katie comes to find us,” I say.
“You know, I like it.”
“Like what?”
“Your place,” he says, and I smile. “And how much you want me.”
“Oh, get over yourself,” I grumble, opening the door and heading back to the living room without bothering to look behind me. I know he’s watching my ass as I walk away.
Katie is at the small dining table we never use when it’s just the two of us, unboxing the food. “Hey,” she says, glancing up. Her eyes move past me and land on Mark. “Did you have a nice… tour?” she asks him.
“It was revealing,” Mark answers. “She has orchids.”
“Yes. Alyssa is full of surprises,” Katie says. “Apparently you found out about me before I found out about you.”