In an instant, Rowan saw the color drain from her face. “What is it?”
She slowly glanced up, meeting his gaze. “Ryder wanted to give us a heads-up. Another body has been found.”
The room spun slightly before Rowan gripped the exam table, pressing his feet hard against the floor to ground himself. He knew it should register that apparently Ryder was working the case now, but nothing mattered beyond the dark thoughts racing through Rowan’s mind. He shut his eyes and breathed deep before meeting Alex’s gaze again. “Is it Mia?”
Her fingers tightened around his arms. “Ryder doesn’t know.”
Rowan dropped his head, controlling the rage, sadness, and fear that invaded every crevice of his mind.
“I’m so sorry, Rowan,” Alex whispered.
He lifted his head, staring deeply at the woman he never could forget. “You know this pain.”
Her eyes saddened. “I do.” She cupped his face. “Ryder can get us any information we need.”
“We don’t need him,” Rowan said, moving away to quickly but efficiently clean the wound then put a bandage over top.
“How, then?”
He tossed the tray in the garbage can before taking Alex’s hand. “I’ll get us on the scene.”
CHAPTER 12
A QUARTER OF an hour later, Alex waited by the side of the road, next to a farmer’s hayfield. The dark night surrounded her, minus the numerous cop cars with their lights flashing and the spotlights beaming down on the roped-off crime scene out in the famer’s field. Rowan stood just outside the yellow tape with a lanky, tall man with dark brown hair and even darker eyes that hadn’t showed much emotion when she’d met him a handful of minutes ago before her nonstop ringing cell phone had her turning away from them.
That was two minutes ago. For those last minutes, Ryder had been drilling her. “For the last time,” Alex said into her phone, “I. Am. Fine. Please stop worrying about me.”
“You were attacked and hurt, and someone tried to kill you,” Ryder snapped. “How can I not worry?”
“You sure know a lot for someone who is not supposed to be having me watched,” she grumbled back at him.
“Alex,” he warned.
She ignored his snippy voice, knowing having Ryder there would only cause more tension, considering even she realized the stakes now. The killer knew who she was, and apparently, had hired Valens to take her out. Which, of course, only told her she was looking in the right place. Something she’d get back to just as soon as could. “Did you run Valens?” she asked, refocusing on what mattered—finding this bastard. “Get anything on him?”
“He’s a hired thug that’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted List,” Ryder reported “Rich. Obviously good at his job.”
“Well, not good enough, since I’m not dead,” she pointed out.
“Without Hawke, that would not be the case.” It was a rare thing for Ryder to sound impressed over anyone, unless they were a member of his team. “Run that name by me again, the guy who you’re with now.”
“Wes Lanning,” she said, glancing toward Rowan and Wes who were still standing by the yellow tape. “He’s an old military buddy of Rowan’s. FBI.” And Wes was the only reason they were allowed there.
“All right,” Ryder said. “You’re at the location of the murder now?”
“Yup, just waiting to view the body,” she said, noting the tension along Rowan’s shoulders, even though he kept his hands stuffed in his pockets, obviously trying to portray calmness in a moment he couldn’t have been calm at all.
Ryder hesitated for longer than necessary, and when he spoke again, some of the tightness had left his voice. “Dare I ask why Rowan needs to identify the body?”
Alex fought against the roll of her stomach. She’d wondered the same thing and asked that very question when they had arrived. She hadn’t liked the answer she got. “The head is gone.”
“The woman’s head?”
Alex groaned, pressing her hand against her stomach. “Please don’t make me say it again.”
Ryder harrumphed, paused, then said sternly, “I’m coming there.”
“You’d have nothing to do,” Alex countered gently. Of course, she appreciated Ryder wanting to keep her safe, but the last thing she wanted was to get Ryder dragged into all this. “I’m closing in on this guy. Tonight’s event is proof of that. We’ll get somewhere safe after this…and honestly, if the victim is Mia…” She couldn’t even finish, hoping with everything in her that it wasn’t.
“If it’s Mia, you’ll come home, and let the FBI and CIA handle this, right?” Ryder finished for her.
The question hung in the dark night. Which was…odd. Of course, Alex was going back to San Francisco…right?
As if he knew where her thoughts lingered, Rowan turned around, his intense gaze boring deeply into hers. He finally waved her over.
“Listen, I gotta go,” she said to Ryder.
“You never answered my question,” Ryder grumbled.
“Talk soon.” She ended the call immediately, not ready to answer the question. Not even understanding why she couldn’t answer that question. She tucked her phone into the back pocket of her jeans then hurried to Rowan’s side. “It’s time?”
Rowan nodded.
Wes interjected and said to her firmly, “Put your hands in your pockets and do not take them out.”
Alex blinked at him. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” Wes nodded. “Hawke shouldn’t be here. The only reason he is here is because I got clearance for him to identify the body. You absolutely have no reason to be here. Do not fuck with my crime scene.”
She’d met hard-asses over the years. Hell, she worked for Ryder, and he was the king of being a hard-ass. But she got the feeling that Wes was not a man to push around, and knowing she was there for Rowan, and Mia, she shut her usually loud mouth and shoved her hands into her pockets.
“Good,” Wes said, giving her an approving nod. To Rowan, he said, “I’ll say it again: Are you sure you’re ready for this? It’s…” His lips pinched in a firm line before he continued. “This isn’t a good scene.”
Rowan didn’t even hesitate. “I need to know. Let’s go.”
Wes’s shoulders rose and fell with his heavy breath, then he glanced at Alex. “Not a step out of place.”
He raised the yellow tape, and she followed Rowan beneath. Suddenly Rowan turned back and grabbed her arm. “You don’t need to see this.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not seeing this without me.” Even though there was a trepidation running beneath the surface of her strength, she pulled away from his hand and followed Wes toward all the bright lights. She felt Rowan follow.
She’d never seen her sister’s dead body, but she would have given anything to have had Rowan with her when she found out Lena was dead.
The closer they got, the more she realized the body lay near a small forested area. First, she saw a foot, then a whole leg, all the way up to the naked torso. The killer hadn’t even tried to hide the body. He had placed her on full display, like some sick piece of artwork. Which, as Alex moved closer, she admitted to herself made the scene slightly easier to take in.
She found very little blood. The body lay in a position that looked very similar to a move a ballet dancer would make. And in the place of the woman’s head was a bouquet of roses. So many things rushed through her mind, ready to fall out of her mouth, but she kept her lips pressed shut, knowing no matter how disturbing this was to her, it had to be much worse for Rowan.
With her heart in her throat, disregarding Wes’s order, she took her hands out of her pockets and reached out to find Rowan’s hand. He gripped her fingers tight and stepped closer. When she moved in next to him, she gave him a quick look and was surprised to find that his gaze was not shocked or disturbed, but focused, searching the body.
“Is it Mia?” Wes asked, sidling up to them.
Rowan finally let out his breath. “I don’t know. Can I get closer?”
Wes nodded. “You can, but don’t touch.”
Rowan gave Alex’s hand a final hard squeeze then approached the woman. Standing on top of the pressed-down hay, he scanned every inch of her skin, until he settled on her right hip. “Mia had a chicken pox scar on her hip here. I’m not seeing it.” He glanced over his shoulder at Alex. “You?”
It occurred to her that it was the worst time for her to feel flattered that he looked to her, not his good friend Wes, but she appreciated that he valued her input. She leaned in a little closer. “I don’t see a scar.”
Relief and emotions that Alex couldn’t put a name to even if she tried, rushed across Rowan’s expression. He turned back to the woman, and if Alex hadn’t been listening closely, she would have missed when he said, “I’m sorry, sweet girl.” With his hard expression back in place, he said to Wes, “Thank you for arranging this. If anything else comes up, you’ll let me know?”
“Of course.” Wes stepped forward and cupped Rowan’s shoulder. “I won’t stop trying to find her.”
“I know.” Rowan gave a firm nod then glanced at Alex. “We’ll keep you in the loop on our end.”
Wes inclined his head, then he turned away and moved toward the cops waiting at their vehicles.
Alex felt the slight tremble in Rowan’s hand when he slid his fingers in hers and led her away from the scene toward the Uber that waited for them on the side of the road.
Once the bright lights of the crime scene began to fade, she pulled a little against his hand. “Just wait a second.”
He glanced down at her, then, and the glow of the lights behind him displayed the dark pain in his eyes, and she knew exactly what he needed right now.
It wasn’t to talk.
She slid her arms around his middle, offering him the warmth she’d needed when Lena had first gone missing. He stayed tense for a long moment before he finally sighed, his arms wrapping around her while his lips came down on the top of her head.
CHAPTER 13
ONLY A FEW blocks away from Central Park, Rowan brought Alex back to his one-bedroom apartment. Alex went straight for the leather couch against the far wall between the two windows and set her laptop against the armrest of the couch, curling her legs up underneath her. “I need more time with that one server,” she said.
What she probably needed was sleep, but Rowan knew that wouldn’t happen for either of them anytime soon. “I’m going to shower,” he said.
She didn’t even look up. “Mmm.”
Exhaustion weighed him down as he moved toward the bathroom. There, he wasted no time shedding his clothes and then getting into the shower, turning the water onto hot. He’d felt conflicted many times in his life. Over many different things. But the feeling of relief that hit him when he didn’t see Mia’s chicken pox scar left him feeling sick to his stomach. He’d so desperately wanted it to be another woman, and yet when he saw that poor woman left in the way the killer had left her, he felt sickened that he’d prayed it hadn’t been Mia.
Beneath the hot stream of water, he dropped his head, allowing the water to beat against his hard muscles.
Mia.
His sister was a fighter. She was the little girl on the playground who beat up the boy bullies. She was strong and loyal and all the good that was in this world. And he wanted her close. Safe.
Yet, every step he took forward only seemed to place him farther away. Tonight, seeing the victim there reminded Rowan of the stakes here. If he didn’t find Mia and soon, that would be her body in the next field.
He couldn’t let that happen. The thoughts of his mother falling to her knees, brokenhearted, and of his father, torn apart by grief, nearly sent him to his knees. His parents needed him to find her. Mia needed him to find her. He couldn’t fail them.
Rowan had no idea how much time had passed when the sudden click of the shower door caught his attention. He glanced back, finding Alex standing there, fully clothed. Every raw emotion burning within suddenly amplified. She felt like the one piece that kept him together in all this. As long as she was there, he knew they had a fighting chance. And the more time he spent with her, the more he knew that having her support meant more to him than having her hacking skills. He needed her there. He wanted her there. He felt less unraveled with her.
Her lips parted as she took in a harsh breath. “I’ve got—”
He let everything he wanted and needed flood into him in this moment and yanked her inside the shower. She squealed as he pulled her tight against him, into the stream of the water. Her eyes widened at whatever showed on his expression. He was sure it was a mix of dark pain and hot desire.
She blinked once and then said, “—some news.”
He scanned over her lips—that mouth that made him hungry. He glanced down at her breasts beneath her wet shirt, feasting upon her hard nipples. Then he drew her closer, pressing her up against his hard cock.
She slid her hands up his arms, his muscles quivering beneath her touch. “I haven’t found Mia yet, but you’ll want to hear what I have to say.”
“I need you,” he said, loudly and firmly, and she shut her mouth. “I’m a step away from losing the very things that hold me together.” He reached for the hem of her shirt and had it over her head faster than he was sure she expected. “And you’re the thing keeping me from losing it.” He knew what he was throwing out into the world with that statement. He didn’t care either.
Tonight, at that scene in the farmer’s field, he knew life was too fucking short. In a blink of an eye, everything could change. Five years ago, Alex had left an impression on him that he couldn’t forget. Now she had taken his heart and he didn’t want it back. He knew the day he met her the danger she presented to him. She’d shown him another side of life. And being with her again made him understand he wanted that life.
He was done running.
When she stayed silent and stared at him wide-eyed, he added, “I’ve spent my life doing the right thing. And in the end, the sweetest, most innocent person I know is in the hands of a fucking cruel killer.”
Heady emotion crossed Alex’s expression while she cupped his face. “Don’t fall apart on me now. We’re going to find her.”
“You can’t promise that,” he said. “No one can. All that’s left in this world is evil fucking people and the terrible shit they do. But then there is you…” Her fingers tightened, her breath hitching a little, as he continued. “You’re one good thing in this fucked-up world. I’m done not saying it. You came back into my life exactly when I needed you. That’s twice now.” Her bra followed before he unflicked the button on her jeans and then yanked those down until she was stepping out of them.
When he straightened up, she said, “I know you’re feeling emotional, but I think you’re going to want to—”
He grasped her hip then turned her until her back pressed against the tile on the wall. “No more talking,” he growled against her mouth. He didn’t wait for a reply. He crushed his mouth against hers, and he felt the tremble of her body when she relaxed and melted beneath his touch.
He kissed her roughly, passionately, not letting her for one second avoid following where he wanted them both to go. He wanted her. No, needed her. To feel anything but this horrible awareness that he was one step away from losing the sweet, innocent sister he adored and having to crush his parents’ hearts.
Alex gave him that safe place. Christ, she was the safe place where he could let everything go and know that somehow, he could lay all of his heavy shit on her and she could support it, and him, until he could make his way back to himself.
The water rained down on them as he reached for her thigh and hooked it over his hip. He gave her direct eye contact. “Are you protected?”
She nodded and gasped, wiggling against him. “Yes. IUD.” Then she reached around and grasped his ass in her hands, moving him closer.
He entered her with a hard thrust forward, sending her up on her tiptoes, and he went cross-eyed. Her hot and
wet heat surrounded him, and he’d never felt anything so incredible in his life. She moaned against his mouth, and he kissed her harder, devouring all the sounds she made. Every thrust was faster and harder than the one before it, until he set a rhythm that was not about loving and exploring—it was about a release. One he needed in her. His growls echoed in the shower, and his fingers dug into her hip, pinning her where he needed her to stay. And he lost himself in all of her. Until she ripped her mouth away with a scream, her eyes wild with pleasure.
Yeah, he got why. He was hard. So fucking hard.
To have her—to truly have her—it was the dream he never knew he wanted until she came back into his life.
He held on tighter, thrust harder, and released all his frustrations, concerns, everything that was building inside him. And she let him. She held onto his neck and stared at him while he used her sweet body for his needs.
Until she tipped her chin back and fell into her orgasm, her hot, wet sex clenching at him. A minute later, he came in a wild rush with a loud growl and stumbled a little on the slippery floor before Alex got her other leg down quick. His muscles burned. His chest burned. Everything fucking burned.
“Well, that’s one way to make yourself feel better,” she eventually said with a soft laugh.
He slowly lifted his eyes and saw hers widen again with surprise. “Nothing about that was me trying to feel better.” I was making you mine.
Obviously aware of his intention now, she said softly, “One step at a time, Rowan.”
He’d already taken a big step forward; she just didn’t know it yet. Before he could say as much, she went on, “I know you’re going through a lot, but it’s time to get your head back in the game. I’ve found something.”
“Which is?” he asked breathless.
She gave a slow-building smile. “I’m pretty sure I found our killer.”
CHAPTER 14
Sexy Liar Page 9