Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
King
After our second kill in the woods, I’ve all but forgotten the grand plan, the cabin, and what exactly it is that I’m supposed to be doing. Because it’s happening again. Josie is pulling me into her orbit, lowering my defenses with her charm and easy demeanor.
Seeing her kill is like taking a little blue pill. My dick hasn’t been soft this entire time.
Josie bends at the waist and attaches the tag to our second victim. It’s a man this time, and I already know what she’s planning as she begins to lower his pants.
“Not today, my beauty.” I grab her arm to pull her up, but she shakes out of my gentle hold.
“Oh, come on. When did you lose your sense of adventure?” She rolls her eyes and goes back to his pants. “You remember how funny it was.”
I had a sense of humor then. That was before feelings got involved and something shifted inside me. When it shifted, it crushed the parts that remembered how to laugh.
She can’t revive those shattered pieces.
“Let’s keep moving,” I urge. “You want to win, don’t you?”
Another shotgun blast rings out, belaboring my point.
“I’m almost finished.” With a few flicks of her wrist, she raises the dismembered penis. “There. Now we just need to collect a few more.”
“I’m not doing it, Josie.”
I look around for any clue that may lead us to our next kill as Josie gets to her feet and stuffs the appendage into her vest pocket. A bit of blood spatter marks her cheek, and I fight the urge to bend lower and lick it away.
“See anything?” she asks.
Yes. I see my fucking demise, and she’s standing right in front of me.
But I shake my head.
“We’d better hoof it to the stream, then. We don’t want to lose out on fifty points.”
I let her take the lead so that I can admire her from afar.
If I were to settle down, it would have to be with a woman like Josie, wouldn’t it?
Someone who could understand me. Marcia couldn’t, and maybe that’s why she refused my hand.
She couldn’t articulate that she sensed something was off about me, some rotten bit of soul that she could smell but couldn’t see, but Josie reveled in my decay.
And I repaid her by breaking her heart.
No, it never would have worked with Quinn’s mother. I loved her, but she represented something I couldn’t have.
Perhaps that’s why I wanted her so badly. I’ve long suspected as much. I would have been faithful and true to her, but I wouldn’t have been happy. Not in the long run.
Would it be so bad to settle down, though? Especially now, when I have plans to retire from the bureau. What am I so afraid of? While I still wish to sate my bloodlust, killing won’t take up all of my time. I could share my life with someone.
But then again, so much could happen by the end of this trip.
“So what’s the deal with the Carter shit?” Josie asks. “You’ve tried to explain some of it, and the girls and Jim peppered in some lore, but I’m failing to grasp why the kids can’t just go kill their dad.”
“Can you keep a secret?”
“The fact that no one knows about the time you wore my red lace panties on the beach should be proof enough of that.”
“Because I lost a bet!”
“Still. My lips are always sealed, dude.”
I smirk. “Not both sets.”
I nearly pat her on the ass like old times, but I pull back. My smile drops.
“The goal isn’t actually for the children to kill their father. Rather, we hope for . . .” I roll my hand through the air, searching for the correct word. “Reunification.”
“So what you’re telling me is I’ve actually stumbled into some fucked-up family reunion shit? Why did no one make matching shirts?”
I motion to our clothes. “We often have matching outfits. It’s actually been part of the psychology.”
Josie starts walking again, picking her way through the brush as we draw closer to the stream. A squirrel scampers across her path, and her smile brightens.
She may think I forgot her love for animals, but I haven’t. I remember so many things. My only fear is that it would hurt her to know just how much I remember.
The desire I have for her, the way I did and do love her—these are the things a man should feel for a woman, but I’m not a man, and she’s no woman. We’re not even human, and we can’t pretend to be anything other than what we are.
She would want something I can’t give her, like stability or reassurance. By keeping my distance, I’m merely protecting her from the walking disaster that is me.
I’ve made some questionable choices in my life. She was never one of them, but I doubt she could get past the things I’ve done.
There are things far worse than murder, after all.
We reach the stream and stop. The wide stretch of water is more akin to a river than a stream, however. At least we don’t have to cross it, but that doesn’t tell us which way to go. Jim didn’t say if the cabin was upstream or down.
“What are you thinking?” Josie brushes a strand of red hair from her face, then puts her hands on her hips. “We have a fifty-fifty shot whichever way we go unless your bestie gave you a clue.”
“Jim told me nothing. He likes to keep things fair.”
A shotgun breaks the quiet to our left, and we nod and head in that direction.
“So why’d you do it?” Josie asks as we trudge up a rocky hill. “Fucking Charity, I mean. I might not like you, but you know I’m always down to fuck. If you had needs . . .”
I wish she’d stop reminding me.
“I told you. I didn’t fuck the girl. Not for lack of effort on her part, I assure you, but I turned her down.”
“King turning down pussy?” She tips back her head and laughs. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
I stop walking. “I’ll have you know I do not accept every offered invitation. I’m very picky about which events I attend.”
“Right,” Josie drawls with a glance over her shoulder. “Should we test that out?”
“Go for it. Strip down to your nipples and see if I’m affected.” I start walking. “Spoiler alert! I won’t be.”
“If you ever say spoiler alert again, you won’t have to worry about an offer from me. Yikes, dude. No one says that anymore.”
“Spoiler alert, I don’t care.”
“Yeah, you never really cared about being cool. That’s what I like about you.” She glances at me. “Past tense. Liked.”
“It’s okay to admit you like me. I like you too. Present tense.”
Thankfully, the cabin appears ahead of us, putting an end to the uncomfortable direction this conversation was heading. If I said many more sweet things, she’d have tested my ability to say no to her pussy. And I’d have lost.
Bennett and Cat stroll out of the cabin as we reach the crumbling front steps. The shotgun rests over Bennett’s arm, and blood splatters decorate both their faces.
“One left,” Bennett says. “Don’t go reading the letter to my dad, either. That’s for his shitbag eyes only.”
I give him a salute and hurry into the building. Two men lie dead on the floor in a lake of blood, with a bloodstained envelope pinned to each.
“Hello again, Violet,” I say to the ashes sprinkled on one man’s face.
“Remind you of anything?” Josie whispers as she nudges the closest man’s leg with the toe of her sneaker. “Like maybe a late-night session in a hot tub filled with blood, come, and hopes and dreams?”
I remember.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I say instead. It’s kinder, and I need to keep up the facade. I’ve slipped up too much already. “Where’s the third target?”
Josie glances around, turning in a circle as she surveys the space. We both spot the open back door at the same time.
“Blast,” I say under my breath. “That Bennett never did play fair. He cut the third one loose.”
With a sigh, Josie props the shotgun over her shoulder. “Let’s get tracking, then.”
We’re on the same page for once as we bolt out the back door and race after our quarry. He couldn’t have gone too far.
“That way,” Josie says, flicking her thumb to the right.
I spy the broken branch that tipped her off. “Oh, good girl,” I say behind her.
“Stop it. I’ll come.”
She’s not lying. She will.
We spot his trail again, moving deeper into the forest. I know exactly which man got away, and I’ll be damned if he gets much further. Freedom is an impossibility where he’s concerned. You don’t molest and murder children and live to tell about it.
Josie stops running and drops to a squat. I do the same, and using hand signals, I ask her what she sees. She points toward a clearing and signals up. As my gaze drags higher, I spot the wheedling little shit clinging to a pine tree.
“Do you want to take the kill, or can I?” she whispers.
“Think you can peg him square in his bum?”
“If you’re about to make another butt-fucking joke—”
“Now that you mention it, I did set myself up well. Peg and getting him in the bum?” I shake my head. “You can’t blame me, my beauty. The jokes write themselves.”
With a grumble, she grabs the shotgun and strolls into the clearing. I hang back and watch her, just to see what she’ll do. You can never tell with that one.
She turns to face me, then gives me a wink and places her hand over her eyes. She turns in a dramatic circle, looking all around. “I just can’t seem to find him. Wherever could he be?”
I stuff my hands into my camo pockets and meander closer to her, stepping into the sunshine. “I’ve lost his trail, I’m afraid. These eyes aren’t what they used to be.”
“I dunno,” Josie says with an adorable smirk. “They still look pretty good to me. So dark and sinful.”
“Why does everyone say my eyes are dark? They’re blue,” I mutter.
But I’ve wised up to her game, and I’m keen to play along. We slip closer to the tree where the man hides. Well, where he believes he’s hiding. We can see him clinging to a branch with his eyes closed. It’s like watching a small, rotund, suit-clad child play hide-and-seek.
“Just like Boston?” I whisper as we inch closer to the man’s hiding spot.
She nods. “Yeah, except if you think you’re sticking your dick inside me, think again.”
I can’t even visit Boston anymore. She’s ruined it for me. It only reminds me of the first time I sank inside her.
The situation had been much the same as this—a man hiding, the two of us pretending not to see him. His terror fueled our passion, and we reveled in the smell of his fear as we enjoyed each other’s bodies. Our literal captive audience met his end once we met our satisfaction.
“I don’t need to stick my dick in you to recreate Boston,” I say as I pluck the shotgun from her shoulder. “Undress.”
The limb creaks above our heads, likely as the man adjusts his grip and opens his eyes to get a better look. Is he panicked now that he sees how close we are? Or does he believe he’ll merely get a sneaky show and we’ll be on our way? It’s the farce that turns me on. It’s the attention for Josie.
It’s the target’s fear for both of us.
Josie turns to face me as I lean the shotgun against a tree. She tilts her head to the side, studying me. Her fingertips glide to her waistband, and she fingers the button, then shakes her head.
“No, I don’t think I will. Not until you admit that you slept with Ice Pick’s woman.”
I roll my eyes and sigh. Boston has never felt further away, both literally and figuratively.
“I didn’t fuck her. I’m sorry if that isn’t what you want to hear, but I can prove it.”
“How?” Her fingertips go back to her waistband.
“When we get back to camp, ask Chef. Now strip out of those pants and put your hands on that boulder.” I motion to a large rock jutting from the earth a few paces away. It would give me the right angle to watch everything I’m doing to her while keeping an eye on our prize.
“Just the pants?” she asks with a pout.
I consider, then say, “Leave nothing but the vest.”
The excitement of having an orgasm in front of a captive audience is too much for her. She strips as if fire ants nip her skin, and when she’s down to only the vest, I applaud my decision. Her nipples peek at me behind the sheer orange fabric, and it’s a delightful tease.
“Now you,” she says, motioning to me.
“Absolutely not,” I say with a scoff. “It took a great deal of work to get myself into this outfit. I’ll be damned if I stand in a field wearing only the most egregious element of the ensemble.”
“Do you ever listen to yourself talk to fall asleep?” She folds her arms over her chest and looses a deep sigh. “I guess I’ll have to get Blayne to help me when we get back. Like you helped Charity last—”
I glance around to be sure we’re still alone before I begin to strip. Josie watches the entire time with a smile on her face. I can’t let anyone else see me like this. If anyone catches wind that King has a weakness and it’s a redhead named Josie, I’m finished.
“Care to make another wager?” I ask as she waltzes past me with a sway of her hips.
“No, I won’t fight it this time. I have every plan to come.” She bites her lip. “Hard.”
I hate that a hideous camo covering no longer hides my desire from her. My cock jumps, and she giggles.
She plants her hands on the large rock and looks at me over her shoulder. “You coming? Oh wait, no. You won’t be.”
“That’s right,” I say as I grab the shotgun. “I can’t fuck you with my dick, but I still have every plan to fuck you.”
And when I come up behind her and she feels what I have in my hands, when she realizes what I plan to do, she doesn’t scream. She doesn’t scramble to get away. She simply smiles as she grinds on the long barrel and asks one question.
“Is it loaded?”