Here I was, eating an expensive, delicious meal, while the woman who made sure I had a life to live settled for the re-heated garbage they kept in the nursing home.
I tried their food once when I was starving. It was so bland I would hesitate before giving it to a dog. The largest sum of the money I’d acquired yesterday went to bribing Alice into sneaking in some junk here and there.
Proper nutrition was important and all. I wasn’t about to deny that.
But living was important too.
Just because Mom didn’t remember whether or not she was having the same thing day in and day out didn’t mean she should lose out on the taste of something fried and unhealthy every now and then.
“What’s wrong?” Monster’s voice grabbed my attention.
He snatched a breadstick from the basket and pulled a disappearing act with it. While I was zoned out, he’d made short work of most everything else on the table. There was one lonely breadstick still sitting in the basket and a few slices of pizza left as well. While he waited for me to answer, his hand went up.
A moment later, a waitress was grinning bright and wide in his face while she placed everything in a carry-out. To his credit, and likely the reason I didn’t stick my foot out and trip her when she walked away, Monster looked largely oblivious to the kind of attention he was getting.
I lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “Nothing.” When his features started to twist, I grasped the first thing I could to turn his focus away from me. “You said you order pizza for your office. What do you do when you’re not breaking into places or burning them down?”
His finger circled along the rim of his glass. “I’m a realtor.”
I didn’t mean to burst out laughing, and I certainly hadn’t felt capable of doing such even a moment ago, but that’s exactly what happened.
He seemed way more into murder and way less into joking, but he had me going for a moment there.
A throat cleared and I sat up, clutching my middle while I tried to contain the last few snickers escaping from between my lips. The trail of them died a slow death when I looked at his face and saw the offense sketched across it. Painted there by the grim neutrality of his expression.
Wait...
He wasn’t seriously…
I had to know. “You’re actually a realtor?”
His clipped nod screamed pissed-off. “Is that so difficult to believe?”
Another peal of laughter escaped, and I clapped my hand over my mouth in horror.
But...seriously?
Monster cursed and shoved to his feet, sending his chair squealing. The sudden silence caused by the giant man looking so damn irritated as he strode to the counter made my point for me. When he reached the register, he pulled out a faded, leather wallet that looked like it had been with him forever and paid with enough crisp bills that my eyes went wide.
It wasn’t until he shoved through the front door that I realized he had left me in my seat. My cheeks burned, largely from the curious looks. This was way more attention than I wanted to attract while I was deep in Sinners territory. Huffing out an annoyed breath, I got to my feet and followed his path.
Just not before scooping the to-go box into my arms.
If this was about to be the end of whatever adventure he had planned, there was no need to waste perfectly good leftovers that would get me through the night and most of tomorrow. Maybe the next day too if I rationed well enough.
Outside, I found Monster leaning against the front of his SUV, impressive arms folded. His scowl deepened when I descended the steps. By the time I was right in front of him his gaze had narrowed into small, angry slits.
Good, something inside me whispered upon witnessing the distaste bordering on fury. We shouldn’t like each other.
Except I still found myself tucking some stray hairs from my braid back over my ear and saying, “I didn’t mean to make fun of you.”
He was a killer and a thorn in my side. But it would be worth remembering that he also saved my life. Just because I didn’t trust him for shit didn’t mean I needed to be a complete ass.
“You think you hurt my feelings?” he spat, standing to his full height.
He took a single step into my space. It was enough to put our feet close together, our mouths within kissing distance. His eyes dropping to my lips told me I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
This spark that threatened to ignite an entire countryside filled with flammable gas went both ways.
I had a sudden feeling that if we weren’t careful, we would both be caught in the blast and have to pick up pieces from the inevitable fallout.
I shifted on my feet and dropped my gaze to the buttons going up his chest to stop from memorizing the slant to his lips. “People don’t usually storm away dramatically for no reason. Unless they’re on a TV drama. Then every time somebody walks away from the other person it’s made out to be this whole thing.”
A confused frown swept away the worst of his ire. “What?”
“Stay with me here, big man.” I flicked one of the buttons I was staring at and then met his gaze. “TV shows. Ever heard of them? There’s usually lots of attractive people running around getting into all kinds of janky-ass situations that could mostly be resolved if they stopped for a minute and talked to each other.”
Monster shook his head, but his lip was curling. “You’re so fucking weird.”
“And apparently, you sell houses and don’t watch television. So, who’s really the weird one here?”
“Still you.” His hand was lightning quick as he reached out and captured my chin, lifting my face towards him. The kiss he stole was barely a peck. My body shouldn’t have ignited the way it did. “Since the moment I let the conversation veer off-topic ended with you insulting me and being weird as fuck, I’m getting it back on track. What made you stop eating?”
His thumb slid across my jaw and my mouth opened, the truth dangerously close to spilling out. Then I stepped out of reach. “I lost my appetite.”
The glare was back. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Too bad,” I sassed. “So sad. Tell me again when I care. Oh, look.” I pointed behind him and the fact that he actually looked made it so much better when I said, “There goes your opportunity. Going...going...gone. I’m already over the inquisition. I think it’s time you take me home, Romeo.”
He went to the passenger door and held it open so I could climb inside. I tried to keep my surprise off my face. Him choosing this moment to be reasonable instead of needlessly combative caught me off guard.
Except after I climbed in and he joined me, he didn’t head back in the direction we had come from.
“Umm…” I hiked a thumb over my shoulder. “I know guys that aren’t good with directions get all cranky when you point it out, but you’re going the wrong way.”
His eyes slid to me for a moment before returning to the road. A muscle in his jaw bunched. “Enlighten me, pussycat.” God, I need him to stop saying that. Every time, it was like soft lips brushed across my stomach and formed all-new dips and drops my heart kept falling into. “What guy has been getting cranky with you? I’ll give him an attitude adjustment, free of charge.”
I stared shamelessly at the side of his face, parsing how serious he was. Going by the sudden death grip of his fingers on the wheel and the tightness to his jaw, he was pretty damn serious. For a moment, I imagined pointing him towards some of the men I had fooled around with in the past, just to see what would happen.
“By attitude adjustment you mean...what, exactly?”
His eyes burned when they locked on mine, and I shivered for vastly inappropriate reasons. “Does it matter?” he said softly, voice the cool kiss of a blade pressed to an artery. “The only thing that’s important is that it would be a lesson they never forget.”
Would someone please think of my poor ovaries? I’m too young to lose them to all these explosions.
My thighs clenched and he didn’t miss t
he slight shift as I adjusted in the seat. I trained my gaze out the window, wishing for a moment that I didn’t have my hair in a braid. It had gotten impressively long over the years of me not cutting it.
Definitely long enough to act as a curtain to hide the way his threats of violence on my behalf had me biting my lips and suppressing a moan.
“And I’m not going the wrong way,” he said. Possibly the biggest lie I had heard in a while. At least until he followed it up with, “Your little boys’ club is out looking for you. Seems they’re not too pleased about their money going missing.”
I crossed my arms to ward off the chill that slid down my spine. “How would you know? Besides, it’s not my fault they were too busy running like bitches to remember leaving their precious money in a burning building. For all they know, it went up in flames with everything else.”
“That might work as far as excuses go,” he rumbled. “If not for the fact that someone saw you disappearing into the woods with the briefcase.”
“Who?” I snapped, more from irritated at myself. Damn it. I thought I made sure no one was around.
This isn’t good.
Monster settled back in his seat, big body sprawling comfortably while he guided us through downtown with precision. Soon enough, we were hitting backroads. “Does it matter?” he asked. “They’re on your ass now. You can either give the money back—”
My fist came down on my thigh. “Not going to happen.”
He smirked and I imagined my panties going up in flames, never to be seen again. “What did you do with it anyway?” He answered himself when I arched a brow. “That’s none of my business too, huh?”
“Aww...you’re learning. Whoever said an old dog couldn’t be taught new tricks?”
His lack of reaction to my prodding told me he felt like he had the upper hand here, and that made me instantly wary.
“Looks like you don’t have many options then, pussycat. You can keep roaming around, hoping they don’t find you. Or you can stay with me while I finish dealing with our little cockroach problem.”
I licked dry lips, mind spinning. There was one thought in the endless tumble that stood out above all the rest. “Why do you care whether I live or die?”
“Who said I did?”
I nearly broke my neck from snapping my head in his direction so quickly.
The grin he wore was pure, male cunning. “You’ve got something I want, Josie.” God, The sound of my name on his lips. “Until I get it, I’m willing to make sure you don’t eat a bullet. But don’t get confused for a single moment. Afterward, you’re on your fucking own to clean up your mess.”
I had my door open and my seat belt off in record time. The sound of whipping wind filled my ears and my body was halfway out the car before I felt his huge hand grasping my shirt. I tried to push myself the rest of the way out with my feet. The fabric stretching gave me a bit of give, but not enough.
With a growl, Monster whipped the car to the side of the road. He pulled me back inside and all the way across the center console with ease. I landed with the gear shift digging into my hips and my ankle trapped beneath me. None of that discomfort could touch the anger going into overdrive inside my chest.
“Get the fuck off me!” I thrashed, throwing an elbow back into his stomach.
He only grunted. Then both his arms banded around my middle.
I would’ve had more leverage after being sealed inside a straight-jacket and strapped to a table. His strength was insane. No matter how hard I twisted and fought and kicked, hearing things crack and splinter beneath my assault, he never let up.
His grip was more secure than any prison and he didn’t seem intent on letting go anytime soon.
Finally, when I could manage nothing else but panting breaths, he put his lips to my ear.
“You done?” he whispered, warm breath drifting across my neck. Goosebumps rose in the wake of it. “We can keep wrestling if you want. It’s been a while since my dick was this hard.”
I tried to knock my head against his nose, but he moved out of the way, laughing.
“You’re disgusting,” I spat. “You think I’m going to whore myself out for your protection?”
His grip on me tightened. “Trust me, pussycat. When I decide to take you, you’re going to want it. But it’s not just your pussy I’m interested in.”
Hating how small I sounded, I asked, “What else is there?”
“Doesn’t matter.” He maneuvered me into my seat and secured the belt across my chest. My lips parted when his fingers brushed against my breasts. If he noticed, he didn’t react. Once I was in place, his distracting hands went to the wheel. “Are you in or out? Once I get back on the road, I’m not stopping again.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, noting the spiderweb cracks in the display of his rear-view camera. Another going across one of the vents. There were dirty footprints everywhere.
Except...despite the damage I’d caused throwing myself around, he wasn’t lashing out at me. He wasn’t raging about how much it was going to cost—an amount I certainly couldn’t afford. Monster was just sitting there, looking decidedly not monstrous and more like an angel ready to jump and take me with him for the fall.
Running was the best idea.
It had served me well this long.
After a moment of fidgeting, I grasped the door’s handle.
I had my answer.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Monster
The sound of a closing door had never filled me with such sweet relief.
Josie glanced at me from the corner of her eye, adjusting the strap of her duffel bag that had gotten stuck on the outside of the car. She settled into her seat and kicked her legs up on the dash. The woman was good at painting a pretty picture of calm defiance. She wasn’t the only one.
After all, I just pretended like she had a choice in the matter of leaving.
Make no mistake, I wouldn’t have kidnapped her. Although the thought of watching her walk back down the road made me want to.
But the strands tying us together wouldn’t have broken from that alone. I would’ve driven off, pretending to give her some space before tracking her down again. Thankfully, she’d made the right choice and I didn’t have to look too closely at what it meant for me to be so obsessed with this woman when I usually gave so few fucks.
Not everything had been a lie, either.
I was her best bet when it came to dealing with her former business associates. I knew their type. She could show up with more money than they lost, plus interest, and it would never be enough.
The thought of them hurting her...
It was an effort to keep from tearing the steering wheel from its housing. Already, indentations marred the formerly immaculate interior thanks to the woman beside me. The one being completely silent while I drove, pretending to focus on imaginary dirt beneath her nails.
What she didn’t know was that nothing she did would keep me from being on her ass like white on rice until I figured out why she affected me the way she did.
Counting the time we spent eyeballing each other in her trailer, this had been the longest the itch had ever stayed missing.
The base of my neck wasn’t tight.
There was no knot between my shoulder blades.
I wasn’t envisioning tearing everything around me to shreds simply because it had the misfortune of existing in my vicinity.
How was it that I could find peace in the presence of a honey-blonde spitfire with a chip on her shoulder big enough to cause a landslide?
I didn’t know, and I was damn sure going to find out. This mystery wasn’t going to end up in a cold case file. I was going to get my answers one way or another.
Josie never stopped pretending she wasn’t interested in a damn thing that was going on. But when I pulled up to the wrought iron gate and hit a button so that it would split down the middle and allow us access, her eyes darted, taking it all in.
We drove up a
winding hill, passing rows upon rows of evergreens and a bounty of well-manicured grass. The white stucco house at the top of the hill was new construction, built specifically to my designs. The expansive second story had tinted, floor to ceiling windows wrapping most of the way around. Tall pillars held up a huge, screened porch along the front.
Out of...respect for what had previously been here, the place wasn’t a mansion. But it was spacious. Sometimes too much so for one person. Then again, I needed that extra room to lose myself without winding up totally and completely lost.
Josie sat up in her seat, peering out the window as we got closer. “I never knew this was here.”
“Most people don’t,” I admitted, pulling to a stop in the roundabout and throwing the car into park. “A few years ago, a couple wanna-be rich fucks lived up here in their castle on the hill. Aside from sharing the same zip code, this place is as far removed from the rest of town as it gets.”
She threw her door open and stepped out, tossing her bag over her shoulder. When I came around to her side, Josie reached back in and reappeared with the carry-out box safely tucked beneath one arm.
I thought about saying something about it—namely that my pantry wasn’t nearly as empty as hers had been. But the pinch to her lips when she caught me eyeing the box said that was territory I might not want to tread just yet. There was a bomb lurking somewhere in that conversation.
It would be a crying shame to have to chase her again after I finally had her right where I wanted her.
Without waiting for me, she stalked towards the entrance. “What happened to the people who lived here before?”
“Their palace burned down.”
My steps were longer. I beat her to the front door and swung it wide open, stepping inside.
She kicked the door shut with her boot, looking around. I knew what she saw. Clean lines and modern living turned up to eleven. The wide hallways, heated, cherry floors, and sweeping ceilings were meant for comfort and functionality.
Monster: A Seven Sinners Novel Page 10