Chapter 10 #2
“Hunter!”
“Hey, if he gets to be an asshole… I do too. Only fair.”
God, I needed to get this figured out and fast. I didn’t know how much more of their “trying to prove whose dick was bigger” I could take.
If today accomplished anything, it proved people who liked having two men fight over them were insane.
Okay, insane may have been a strong choice of words.
Because I wasn’t gonna lie. It was incredibly hot how protective they got over me—even if it usually meant someone ended up with a black eye.
Graham
I hated that asshole. If he laid one hand on her she didn’t beg for, I was going to fucking kill him. Plain and simple. Should I have left? Probably not. But I couldn’t stand seeing her with him like that. Choosing someone like him even though I was right there. Fuck the curse. We’d figure it out.
God, Locke, you’re so stupid. You’re the whole goddamn reason she’s in this situation in the first place. You left. You fix it.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I hoped it was her, but it wasn’t.
It was Nettles.
I blew out a breath to regain my composure, then answered. “Cap, what’s up?”
“Bishop’s out.”
“Oh yeah? Story panned out?”
“No. Not exactly. We even got pictures of his two previous lovers—both look so similar to the Midwest Girls—”
“Then why’d you let him go?”
“We got another body. M.E. says time of death occurred while Bishop was in the cooler.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“I wish I was.”
“Any ideas on what our next move should be?”
“No, but I’ll text you the new information—let you hash it over.”
“Okay, thanks, Cap.”
I hung up and tucked the phone back in my pocket.
If it wasn’t Bishop—which I knew already—we were back to square one.
Which meant Maggie was still in danger. I knew Bishop was innocent, but the selfish part of me wanted him guilty just so we could put this to bed and move on from the fact that the girl I loved continued to be a target.
Maybe there were two killers. It’d happened before. In the movies, anyway—guy offs someone while his buddy’s in custody, forces a release. Oldest trick in the book.
No. That wasn’t it. Bishop was innocent. He had to be. I’d known him for years—never had any of the signs.
As I pulled into the bird sanctuary, the light gave way to the dark of the forest as I made my way home.
Nothing about this was easy. Not solving this case.
Not trying to swallow down my feelings for Maggie.
None of it. No matter how I tried to play it, I was the bad guy.
I shoved them together, and now everything I wanted in the world was to rip them apart, even though she could have a chance at happiness with him.
My phone buzzed again.
Probably the case files—right on time.
The nightly routine of kicking my boots off, downing a couple glasses of whiskey, and passing out on the couch to classic rock sounded really good about then.
I flipped the light on and threw my leather coat on the counter.
God, I wished it were as simple as coming back to Port Grey, fix my mistakes with her, and move on. But it wasn’t, and that made it feel like I was cracking in two.
I grabbed the half-empty bottle of whiskey and a tumbler from the night before off the counter and traipsed to the living room, where I’d set up a sort of investigation hub.
I’d spread the folders filled with the case files over my coffee table to try and make sense of this mess—establish a pattern.
I’d even gone so far as to make a murder map of the coast and pinpoint each victim, and from the looks of it, Port Grey was the epicenter… or his home base.
Fucking fantastic.
A total of six girls had shown up so far, with four of them directly in the city limits. Too close to home. Too close to her.
I collapsed onto the couch, bottle and glass still in one hand, pulling out my phone with the other.
The message from earlier wasn’t from the captain. It was from Maggie.
I clicked the notification and, to my surprise, found a picture of her wearing nothing but a playful smirk and a few bubbles in the bathtub. My dick woke up with a single surge.
I thumbed out a response.
Jesus Christ, Max. Do you have any idea how goddamn hard I’ve been since seeing you in town? Contemplated jacking it onto a Christmas tree just so I could make it through my shift.
What are you trying to do to me?
As much as I wanted to rub one out to the image of her beautiful body… I had to solve this case.
My phone chimed again.
Max: Hunter and I want you to come over tonight.
Really?
I wasn’t catching that vibe from him.
Yes, it’s fine. He just wasn’t expecting to see you there today.
…on top of me.
Fair.
I had to wait for the extra info on the new girl from Nettles anyway, and it would be a good way to pass the time.
Ah—fuck it.
When do you want me there?
4?
Was it the best idea? No. Would it bring me any closer to finding the asshole that couldn’t keep his hands off girls like her?
Also no. But would it most likely end with my heart on a platter displayed relentlessly for the world to poke at as I crumbled to pieces wishing I was the only one in her life?
Probably. Was I going to torture myself again? For her?
Absolutely.