Cocky Savior: A Hero Club Novel

by Jane Blythe

  That didn't mean the woman got to live.

  He’d meant what he said before, she didn't get to leave.

  His foot pressed down on her back, and he shoved her into the carpet, pleased when she cried out in agony as he stomped on her no doubt broken ribs.

  “You ruined everything, because of that you’re going to suffer before you die. Women think they get to do whatever they want, they don’t care about the pain they cause, they don’t care about anyone but themselves. All you do is poison everything you touch. You should have stayed locked in the house cooking and cleaning, it’s all you’re good for.”

  Reaching down, he curled both hands into her robe and lifted her off the floor, throwing her across the room. He stalked over to where she had landed and kicked her again, this time in the face, before hefting her up and tossing her again.

  Throwing another punch at her face, he was satisfied when he got her right in the mouth, wiping away her ability to ever again give a smug smile. He grabbed her shoulders, slamming her head into the floor over and over again, then curled his hands around her neck and squeezed.

  By the time the woman was limp, the life choked out of her, he was breathing hard, his heart drumming in his chest, tears of anger and release blurring his vision.

  His outburst had achieved what he’d wanted, but it had also been loud and messy. There was no way he could stay here and clean everything up, and he wasn't prepared to take the body with him when he left, that meant he was just going to have to hope that any of his own blood and DNA that had been left behind would be buried under all of the woman’s blood.

  Standing, he wiped her blood from his hands then realized he was now smeared in blood, he could hardly go back outside looking like this, but he didn't have time to hang around and clean up. If someone had heard the scuffle then the police could already be on the way here.

  There was a black coat hanging on a hook by the door, it looked big, and he thought he might fit into it. It was a woman’s jacket, but it was still early, and there shouldn’t be too many people about. He only had to get to his car, and even if it drew attention it was better than walking away covered in blood.

  Delivering one last kick to the dead woman lying at his feet, he grabbed the jacket, put it on, and then hurried through the building as quickly as he could.

  * * * * *

  7:10 A.M.

  Anger.

  When Florence walked into the room that was the first thing she thought.

  There was blood smeared on two of the walls, and on several places on the carpet. The body of Jana Friedrick lay in an awkward position on her side, off to one side of the room.

  About an hour ago, one of the neighbors in the building had been walking past on their way to work and noticed the door half open. He’d stopped and looked inside, and as soon as he’d seen the blood and the body, he’d immediately called 911.

  Given the message on the wall, she and Jake had been called in.

  Whoever had beaten Jana to death, had left behind a drawing of an eye, done in blood, on one of the apartment walls.

  Given that the Dumpster Killer had been leaving a message about being nothing on his victims, and had been dumping the bodies in the pattern of an eye, they had come to the only logical conclusion that Jana was the killer’s sixteenth victim.

  Only something had obviously gone wrong.

  With every other victim, the killer had kept them alive for two days, as evidenced by the timeline of when they had last been seen and time of death, and the fact that there were red marks on their wrists and ankles indicative of being restrained for a period of time. From the looks of things, Jana had been strangled, but only after she had been badly beaten.

  As soon as she’d gotten the call, she had come right to Jana’s apartment. Part of her had expected Eli to be waiting outside her building to pick her up, and she had to admit she was a little disappointed to find that he wasn't. She’d enjoyed learning more about him last night, and the way his face lit up when he talked about the family he had loved and lost had touched her, making her wish she’d had that same kind of family.

  Although she wasn't quite ready to admit that pizza in the back of his car constituted a date, it had been fun, and after they’d discussed families, they’d talked about all sorts of things. Hobbies, sports, music, things they liked and things they didn't, and by the time they got to her apartment, she’d been tempted to invite him up.

  She’d resisted though.

  She liked Eli, underneath the cockiness and the charming veneer there was a real softie. The way he talked about how much he’d enjoyed spending time with his mom told her that he had a big heart, and that he wasn't afraid to get in touch with his softer side when he was with people he cared about.

  He’d certainly been patient with her even though she had insisted over and over again that she wasn't going to go on a date with him. His persistence was beginning to break through her barriers, and maybe soon she would be ready to go on a real date.

  The idea didn't fill her with anxiety like it usually did.

  She had never dated seriously, never wanted to put herself in a situation to be hurt by men the way her mother had been, never wanted to be left raising kids alone. Once she had sworn off the whole casual dating with guys she met in bars, she’d expected that if she ever did settle down it would be with someone who could never disappoint her. Someone nice and boring and predictable and stable.

  And then Eli had come barreling—literally—into her life, and she realized she was falling for the opposite of everything she’d believed she wanted.

  He could have any woman he wanted, so why would he choose her?

  What happened when—if—he lost interest in her at some point, and decided he wanted someone in his own league, his own world? Would he abandon her and any children they shared? He would no doubt make her sign a pre-nuptial agreement—not that she would mind—before they got married, if they divorced, would he provide for their children or turn his back on them like her own father had?

  Her phone chimed with a message, and she pulled it out, smiling when she saw it was a message from Eli.

  Eli

  Thanks to you I was late to a meeting this

  morning. I dreamed about your mouth on

  me and had to take a long cold shower

  when I got up

  Her cheeks burned, but she couldn’t help but chuckle, she’d had to take a cold shower this morning too because she’d dreamed about Eli’s mouth touring her body, teasing her, pleasuring her, making her come so hard she’d been unable to think, even in her dreams.

  Florence

  Good morning to you too

  Eli

  Sorry, where are my manners, good

  morning my little sex kitten

  Florence

  How do you know I’m a sex kitten?

  We haven't had sex.

  Nor are we going to any time soon

  Eli

  Why do you torture me?

  Florence

  It amuses me to see you beg ;-)

  Eli

  Pleassssse go on a date with me

  Pleassssse have wild, hot sex with me

  Pleassssse put me out of my misery

  PPLLEEAASSSSSEE!!!!!

  Florence

  You’re so silly!

  Eli

  I'm a regular clown

  “Florence.”

  She looked up from her phone as Jake walked through Jana Friedrick’s front door.

  Florence

  I gotta go

  I'm at a crime scene

  Eli

  Be careful, I don’t want any psycho stalker

  taking you out before I get to explore every

  inch of that sexy body of yours

  Florence

  You’re all heart

  Eli

  I do try

  Seriously though, be safe, I worry about you

  Having anyone who wasn't her big brother worry about her
was odd, but kind of nice. And the weird thing was, she actually believed that Eli really was concerned about her.

  Florence

  I'm a cop, I’ll be fine

  I’ll talk to you later

  The last she’d written before she even realized it, but once she hit send she realized that texting with Eli had just become part of her daily life since they’d met just four days ago.

  Eli

  You betcha, princess

  ♥

  With a smile she couldn’t quite wipe off her face despite the carnage around her, she put her phone away, turned to her partner, and forced herself to focus. She wasn't used to distractions in her personal life getting in the way of her work, and she was going to have to be careful not to let it interfere with things because her job was important, people were counting on her.

  “That Eli?” Jake asked with a knowing smile as he nodded at her pocket where she’d put her phone.

  “Why do you ask questions when you already know the answer?”

  “Because it annoys you,” he grinned. “Eli told me someone was watching your apartment yesterday.”

  “He shouldn’t have done that.” This thing that was developing between them—whatever it was—was never going to work if he tried to go all alpha on her and undermine her with her colleagues. She was a cop, trained in self-defense, a perfect shot, and she didn't take unnecessary risks, she could certainly take care of herself.

  “He was worried about you.”

  “You say that like its cute,” she complained.

  “I like seeing someone worry about you. You tell me if anything else happens, no excuses.” He gave her his I’m serious look, and she rolled her eyes but nodded. If someone really was stalking her, she wouldn’t be stupid enough not to take it seriously and call in help if she needed it.

  “The killer left something behind this time, something I don’t think he meant for us to see,” she informed her partner, walking over to an evidence bag and picking it up.

  “What is it?” Jake asked.

  “The answer to how he gets into their apartments. He pretends to be a construction worker here to tell them that the electricity is going to be turned off. This form says that they’re signing their admission that they were informed and Jana Friedrick’s signature is on it. Once he hands them the clipboard, they’re distracted, he uses that to overpower them.”

  “What went wrong here this morning? This is an explosion of anger, something happened to disrupt his usual plans.”

  “Come here.” Florence walked to a puddle of blood close to the door. “See this, I think this one is his. I think she had something sharp in her hand when he grabbed her, and she was able to get away from him. At least temporarily.”

  “What makes you think this is his and not Jana’s?”

  “Because it’s so small and there’s no mess around it. The others all look like he threw her somewhere, and she crashed into a table, or a chair, or the pile of magazines, but this one is just here on its own. If this is his blood—and CSU will test it and see if it belongs to the victim—then we finally have something concrete on him. We could get a hit in the system, we could have this guy in custody today maybe, or at least within in the next couple of days. He messed up this morning, got cocky, and thought that he was never going to get caught, and because of that arrogance, we finally got what we needed to nail him to the wall.”

  * * * * *

  7:26 P.M.

  “We’re not offering that much,” Eli said into the phone. One of the things he hated the most about running a business of this size was that he couldn’t personally be in control of everything that happened.

  Lennox Real Estate had offices around the world, and owned and managed rental properties, hotels, office buildings, apartment blocks, besides buying and selling land, and sometimes flipping houses or even hotels. The properties were spread over twenty countries, and since he was only one man, there was no way he could personally oversee everything.

  When it came to his company he could be ruthless.

  A business had one purpose; to make money for the business owner.

  His father’s touch was a little lighter than his. As he was in his personal life, he was a charmer, and he was always looking to charm and talk his way into the best deal possible, but when that didn't work, he was always ready to do whatever it took to close a deal.

  Right now, he was past the charming stage and well into the playing hardball phase.

  “They said they won't take anything under three million,” Don from his Toronto office told him.

  “Our offer is two point five million, and that’s final,” he said firmly, what he was offering was a fair price considering the state of the hotel he was looking to buy, and the amount of work that would have to be put into it before he could sell it.

  “And if they turn it down?”

  “Then, we’ll simply wait for them to go under and buy it for even less.” The hotel was going under, as far as he knew, the couple who owned it were close to filing for bankruptcy, not only was his offer fair, but it also saved the couple from having to take drastic measures. If they wanted to wait him out hoping to get what they wanted they would be sorely disappointed, and they’d be the ones hurting, not him. There was plenty of real estate in the world, he wasn't going to miss owning one hotel in one city if he missed out on it.

  “I’ll talk with them again in the morning.”

  “I’ll be waiting for your call,” he said before disconnecting. Dropping his head into his hand, he stifled a yawn. It had been a long day, and because he’d had almost back to back meetings, he hadn't been able to squeeze in time to see Florence. It had only been twenty-four hours since he’d dropped her off at her apartment and left her with a kiss, but he felt like he was having withdrawals. Every time he touched her, kissed her, it was like a fix, but he wanted more, it wasn't enough, and he was starting to think he could never get enough of her.

  “Long day?”

  Eli looked up to find Graham standing in the doorway. “I thought you went home already, don’t you have Chloe this week?”

  “She and Soraya were excited about painting each other’s nails, apparently they have little stick-on hearts or something they were going to put on them or something like that. I don’t know, but Chloe was very excited when she was telling me about it.”

  “And you don’t want to put hearts on your nails and paint them?” he asked with a snicker.

  “If Chloe asked me to I would,” Graham said, coming into the office and dropping down onto the chair on the other side of his desk. “I've dressed up in tutus, and had tea parties with a bunch of dollies, and danced around to Disney songs. I'd do anything my little princess asked.”

  “You really would, wouldn’t you? What changed? I heard about you, the way you spoke to people, the way you treated your employees, that you were always in a bad mood, and now you're the guy who turns into a puddle of goo over the small things.”

  “Puddle of goo, huh?” Graham asked, amused.

  He shrugged. “That’s how I always thought of my brother and how he was with his son. With his wife too.”

  “Falling in love changes things.”

  “It certainly changed you.”

  “Wouldn’t have it any other way. I can't imagine my life without Soraya in it. She might drive me crazy sometimes, but she’s everything to me. She’s an amazing woman, an amazing wife, an amazing mother and step-mother, every day I'm thankful that I left my phone behind on the subway and that she was the one who found it. If she hadn't, then I don’t know what my life would be like.”

  “Did you two fall in love at first sight?”

  Graham chuckled. “Actually, I think Soraya hated me at first. I didn't make a very good first impression, but she left me some photos on my missing phone, which she dropped off here that had me in lust at first sight. We texted at first, and when I found out she worked for Ask Ida, I wrote in a few times to get her to talk to me. Soraya was he
sitant at first, had this notion that because we came from two different worlds that we wouldn’t work.”

  “How did you convince her to give you a chance?”

  “I wanted her from the moment I saw those photos she left for me on the phone, but she had this idea that we had to do something in each other’s world before she would commit to anything. I met her friends at the tattoo parlor, and she came to a charity dinner with me. It wasn't an easy road, especially once we found out about Chloe, but we fought for us. Sometimes we didn't always fight in the right way, and sometimes we let other people and our pasts get in the way, but we figured things out. I think the fact that I got a tattoo just like the one she had helped,” Graham finished with a wink.

  “Tattoos, huh?” He’d store that idea away.

  “Worked for me with Soraya. I take it this isn’t just a random conversation. You're thinking about the cop.”

  “I haven't been able to think of anything but Florence since I met her.”

  “I take it she’s still hesitant and turning you down.”

  “Kind of. I picked her up last night, and we got takeout on the drive back to her apartment, and we’ve kissed a few times, I know she’s interested, and I know she feels this attraction the same as I do, but she’s scared.”

  “Do you know what about?”

  “I know that her childhood wasn't great, her dad left when she was a baby, and I take it her mom wasn't much of a mother. She has a brother that she seems to like, but I get the feeling she doesn’t let people get too close to her.”

  “How are you going to get past her fears?”

  “I have an idea.” He grinned. Before he’d made this last work call he’d made a few phone calls to set something up.

  “From that grin, I'm guessing you're pretty pleased with whatever you cooked up.”