15. Jasper
FIFTEEN
JASPER
She blows across her coffee cup, her fingers tightly wrapped around it.
I preen like a fucking peacock on the inside when I realize it's my blood tinging her nails, from when she grasped onto my neck.
My gaze lingers with regret on the bruise already starting to form on the side of her cheek, from when she must have hit it somewhere in the car when I was fucking her.
She's refusing to meet my glance, and has been doing that ever since I urged her to tell me the truth about Ashmaker.
Instead of driving her home like she demanded, I brought her to my place, and she's currently seated at my breakfast bar, wearing one of my oversized T-shirts, rather than the shirt I tore apart in my haste.
Pity, I was really enjoying the view of her perky breasts, and the whisker marks I left across them.
"Scarlett..."
She flinches at me voicing her name, and then visibly forces her shoulders to straighten, and her head to rise. Finally, her dark chocolate eyes meet mine, and in them I see anger, but what really decimates me is that I'm almost positive I see regret. "That can never happen again."
Yeah, fuck that. Not only is it going to happen again, but if she keeps pushing me, I'll have her bent over my breakfast bar and screaming my name shortly.
There is no possibility of my ever forgetting how Scarlett feels wrapped around my cock.
Now that I've had a taste of her, there's no going back for me.
I smirk, feigning a calm I don't feel, and lean my elbows on the counter, putting my face closer to hers, until I can feel her coffee-scented breath across my lips. "Is that so, little vixen?"
"Stop calling me that!" Her cheeks flush an adorable shade of pink as she bites down nervously on her bottom lip, but she holds still, refusing to give up ground. Atta girl.
I lean a little closer, until I can clearly see the amber specks in her eyes, and that she's got the most charming freckle right near the corner of her right eye that I've never noticed before.
Her scent, a mixture of both of us, permeates the air, making me inhale deeply with satisfaction.
I wonder if my cum is still leaking out of her?
God, I hope she lets me check. I'll gladly offer to clean her up with my tongue. "No, I don't think I will."
"Tell me, Scarlett, have you ever experienced anything like that before?
Have you ever put on a show, 'cause, baby, you seemed to enjoy it, and are a natural.
" Her hand instantly rises to slap me, but I grab for her wrist and squeeze until she flinches.
"You're a violent little thing, aren't you?
You hide all that rage behind a mask, but I see you clearly now. "
She pushes back on the counterseat and yanks her arm from my grip, and I allow it for now.
The truth is, I don't want her to feel cornered.
Now that reality has set back in like a vicious bitch, Scarlett is raising those impenetrable walls again, and I can't have that.
I need her to trust me with what she knows, not only about our investigation, but specifically about Ashmaker, and I'm not above using seduction to get what I want.
All's fair in love and war, isn't that what they say?
"This," she motions between us, "is insane. What happened between us was a horrible lapse in judgment. Neither of us was obviously thinking coherently, and it can't happen again. We're partners, for fuck’s sakes!"
Every word that escapes her pretty mouth is a sharp dagger piercing me.
She's claiming she regrets what we did, but I don't buy it for a second.
She could have halted me at any point. I would have stopped, and it would have ended right there.
Instead, she let me fuck her raw and fill her with my cum.
"My cum is probably still dripping out of you, Scarlett.
I'm pretty sure we're more than partners at this point. "
I raise my hand before she can do more than stutter, her eyes widening dramatically at my audacity.
"I don't regret any of it. Not for one fucking second, do you hear me, little vixen.
If you think I'm just going to go back to the way things were, and pretend I don't know the sound of the little whimpers you make as you explode on my cock, you're fucking mistaken. "
"This can't happen, Jasper! We have a job to do, a violent killer to catch, and we can't allow anything to distract us from that!
" She begins pacing back and forth as she rubs at her temples, her hair swooshing from the intensity radiating off her.
I can see the pressure and anxiety settling over her like a thick blanket, and it has a rising hopelessness tightening my chest. I allow her the space to rage for a moment, even though everything in me wants to wrap her in my arms, take her to my bed, and reignite the passion we had in the car.
I decide it's time to change her train of thought, and instead of focusing on us, 'cause fuck that if she thinks there isn't an us now, I direct her thoughts back to Ashmaker. "You noticed the second figure in the alleyway on the video, yet you remained silent, Scarlett. Why?"
She turns away from me, and I can almost see the wheels in her head spinning. She's trying to come up with a viable excuse for staying silent, but I refuse to allow her to lie to me any further. "Did you know that there was an accomplice all this time and not disclose it?"
I dart forward and grab her by the shoulder, using my much larger body to push her into the nearest wall.
I'm not prepared for how quickly she reacts, her open hand slamming into my solar plexus with force, and her knee jamming into my family jewels.
I grunt as I choke on air, releasing her.
She uses the momentum of my collapsing forward to slam her elbow into my back, taking me to the floor before climbing on top of me, pressing her knees into my back, and locking me into a headlock.
"I've had just about enough of you manhandling me, Jasper Garnier.
You forget yourself. I'm not one of the whimpering women who follow you around, and readily get on their knees for you.
" She tightens her grip, and white spots pop across my quickly dimming vision.
I try to force air inside my lungs, but it's tinged with the bile racing up the back of my throat from the hit to my nuts.
"You will treat me with fucking respect, or I'll destroy you. "
She releases me and shifts out of my reach, her eyes trained on me.
I roll myself to my side and croak, as I urge the nausea away.
Fuck, not gonna lie, that was sexy as hell, not to mention a good reminder not to underestimate her again.
She's probably made sure I'll never have kids, but somehow it was worth it, now that I see that look of glaring pride and satisfaction on her face.
"I didn't know, at least not for sure, not until I saw the video.
I had my suspicions. There were too many murders in a short span of time, with never any evidence left behind.
Killers make mistakes, even the most organized ones, but this one seems to not only always be one step ahead of us, but he's also toying with us. "
I propel my body into a sitting position as I go over what she's just said in my mind. "The connections between them, the thread we haven't been able to establish, you think you've found something?"
Indecision is painted across her face, as she wrestles with whether to let me into her thoughts.
God, she's so fucking beautiful. So strong and unwilling to bend, so determined to succeed alone, when she doesn't have to.
I know she doesn't fully trust me; it's evident in how she holds back her suspicions.
I need to change that somehow, and not only because I want that promotion, but more importantly, because we need to catch this unhinged sicko who is out serial-killing men.
"Fuck it!" She growls and reaches forward to give me a hand, and I gratefully take it.
Once I'm standing, she moves back to the counter, as if she still needs there to be distance between us.
I force myself to stay put, even though it's the last thing I want.
She stares at the marble counter, her thoughts unreadable to me.
"I think they're all predators, the men that is.
Rapists, child abusers, maybe even traffickers.
The ones Ashmaker is killing. I can't fully prove it, just call it a hunch.
The crimes are violent, but also personal, as if the killer believes that he's providing a service, divine retribution, if you will. "
"The second one? Is his role only to do clean-up?
It didn't seem like Ashmaker was even aware they were there.
" I rub at my tired eyes, a wave of exhaustion permeating through me.
This fucking case is going to be the end of me.
If we don't manage to stop and catch these two, my career will go up in smoke.
"I don't think Ashmaker is aware that he has a fan.
The second one hides himself from him, but ensures that Ashmaker doesn't leave any evidence behind to be caught.
There's a sense of duty and adoration for what he's doing.
Like he's a disciple of Ashmaker's." She blows out a frustrated sigh and meets my gaze, and I can see the heaviness she's been carrying all this time alone.
"I'm no longer even sure if all the kills can be attributed solely to Ashmaker, Jasper.
I think the second one is out copying his crimes to throw us off the scent, and keeping us busy so that Ashmaker can achieve whatever sick goal they have in mind. "
I work rapidly through the various points she's made, my mind circling with new possibilities. "So... you think the victims were rapists and pedophiles, and Ashmaker is distributing justice? Why is he out here doing that? Why not just lead the police to them and their crimes?"
"Rapists, pedophiles, abusers, the worst humanity has to offer.
I think Ashmaker is making them pay for their crimes.
The ones we've not seen attributed to them either, because they were never reported, or were swept under the rug.
The ones the law failed to serve proper justice on.
He's out cleansing the world of their sins, and he won't stop until he's reached a pinnacle. "
"A pinnacle?" I question with concern.
"Until he either kills them all, or we kill him trying to capture him."
"Well, shit, Scarlett, you really know how to kill a mood." I groan as I quickly reach for my phone and pull up our team chat.
"What the hell are you doing?" She moves closer, the heat emanating from her small frame, an enticement I have no time to indulge in.
"Instructing the team to do full background checks on the victims, their families, and any possibility that they have assaulted anyone.
If there's dirt on them, we're going to fucking find it, and then we'll catch these two self-righteous assholes, and put them behind bars.
No one gets to take the law into their hands and serve unsanctioned justice, regardless of the crimes. "
I notice she doesn't contradict me, but she also doesn't agree with me.
There's more to this story, and she's still keeping secrets, but I know I'm about to enjoy prying them from her one at a time, until she's laid bare for me, both figuratively and physically, and then I'm going to gorge myself on her until I've had my fill.
"Let's go, little vixen, we have psychos to catch."