First Taste of Darkness

by Cynthia Eden

  How did it get in my bag? How?

  “Is your lover coming over?” Blake asked her, the faint lines near his eyes deepening.

  “My lover is right here! Being an asshole, and standing in front of me!”

  “Joe Burns,” he snarled.

  “What?” Her head was spinning. She jabbed her finger into his chest. “Listen up, hotshot. You are my lover. Joe is history, and if I ever see his cheating butt around my place, that would be the last mistake the guy made.”

  He glanced down at her finger. Then back up at her. “Joe is Hayden Finn’s cousin.”

  She shook her head. “Joe doesn’t have any cousins. I know his mom and dad—they run the local diner. Neither of them have brothers or sisters.”

  His hand lifted and curled around hers. He pulled her jabbing finger away from his chest. “Why did you take the diamond?”

  Actually hearing him say those words hurt so much. “I didn’t take your diamond. I don’t know how it got into my bag!”

  His hold tightened. “You were in my suite. You were the only person to have access to the diamond. You found me in that bar so that—”

  Laughter broke from her. Wild, disbelieving laughter. “You think I seduced you? No way. I was out of my league with you from the moment you said hello. And the first time you kissed me…” The first time she’d tasted him… “I was lost.”

  His eyes snapped closed. “Why can’t you ever look as if you’re lying?”

  “Because I’m not!” Her words were a yell. No, a scream. She felt broken inside right then. The diamond. The diamond. It was there. And Blake—he’d come after her because he thought she was a thief.

  Just like him?

  “I’m supposed to believe you’re what you say?” His eyes flew open, and, yep, the green was blazing again. “A woman who gave me everything I wanted, everything I needed, with no questions? A woman who was willing to risk her life for a man she’d just met? A woman who damn well burned in my arms as if I were the sun?”

  She swallowed, trying to choke back her pain. “Maybe you should try trusting me, the way I trust you. Wh-when you said that you were different, that you were trying to be a better person, I believed you.”

  “The diamond was in your bag. You were the only one in the room.”

  Translation—he didn’t believe her.

  “Call the cops then,” Jess forced herself to say. “Get them over here.”

  But he shook his head. “You know that’s not how it works. I don’t get to call them on a diamond I already stole.” He exhaled. “The fucking thing that gets me…I was falling for you. I let you get closer than I’d ever let anyone else get.”

  “Blake, I didn’t—”

  He stepped away from her. Grabbed the drawstring bag. Shoved the diamond into his pocket. “No cops, and, for your sake, I’d better not see you again, Jess. Never. Again.”

  Oh, the hell no, he didn’t get to say that to her.

  Blake wheeled toward the door.

  “Hey, asshole!” Jess yelled.

  Blake whirled back toward her, his expression shocked. Good. He deserved to feel a little shocked. He thought they were done?

  Think again.

  Jess lifted her chin. Glared at him. “I don’t care about your diamond.” A diamond as dark as his heart. “I care about you. I didn’t take it. Someone set me up, and if you’re too blind to see that, well, it’s your own fault.” She put her hands on her hips. “What you should’ve seen—hell, you should have seen me. Because I was right in front of you the whole time. I was offering you everything that I had, but you were the one too blind to take it.”

  Her breath heaved out, and, dammit, she still didn’t have on her skirt—or her panties. But since he’d ripped her underwear apart, the panties wouldn’t do her much good now, anyway.

  “Why couldn’t you see me?” The rage slowly drained from her, turning her voice into a hoarse whisper. “I always saw you.” Her shoulders sagged.

  Let him leave. Let him just take that diamond and go.

  She’d thought Joe’s betrayal had hurt. That pain was nothing compared to the way that Jess felt right then. “Go,” she ordered him as she turned away. “And believe me, I never plan to see you again.”

  Jess headed into her bedroom. Put one foot in front of the other. Keep going. Don’t look back.

  She expected to hear the door slam behind her as he stormed out.

  But it didn’t slam.

  Instead, she heard the creak of the floor, as if—as if he were coming after her.

  She still didn’t look back. Maybe he was coming to hurl more accusations at her. You fuck me, then you accuse me. That’s one hell of a combination. Not exactly the sensual after-sex talk that a girl liked to hear.

  Her bed waited for her. She fell into it. Literally fell. Then she yanked the covers over her head. As if the covers could protect her from the fact that her world had just imploded.

  The diamond was in my bag. Blake thinks I used him. What. The. Hell?

  The bed sagged. Not from her weight. His.

  “Jewel thieves…don’t usually hide under the covers.”

  He hadn’t left. He had followed her.

  Her back teeth clenched and she gritted out, “I’m not hiding. I don’t want to see—”

  Blake pulled the covers away from her. He bent low, so that their faces were close. “I don’t think I’m ever going to understand you.”

  “Why do you even want to try?”

  His lips thinned.

  Great. He had nothing to say. Wonderful. That was—

  “Because I think I’m falling in love with you.”

  Her heart stopped at that. “Don’t.” The word broke from her, and it was heavy with tears that she would not shed. “Don’t jerk me around anymore. I can’t handle it.”

  In the next second, she was in his arms. He was holding her tight. As if he’d never let go. “I’m not, baby, I’m not…I know I’ve been in trouble with you. Ever since I looked up in that damn bar, and you were the only thing I could see.”

  “The diamond—”

  “Fuck it.”

  She shoved against him. “I didn’t take it—”

  “Don’t you get it? I came after you, I fucked you…even when I thought you’d just been using me. Because I needed to see you. I needed you. I had to find you again.” Then his mouth was on hers. Hot and hard and tasting of dreams that she wanted to have.

  Stupid tears slid down her cheeks. She pushed him back when she wanted to hold him close. “Two minutes ago, you were leaving me.”

  He shook his head. “Two minutes ago, I knew I’d never be able to walk out of that damn door.”

  Her breath caught. She started to smile up at him.

  Then she heard the creak.

  The same creak of the wood that she’d heard moments before when Blake followed her into her bedroom.

  The old wood in her living room. Wood that had been warped by time and weather.

  Creaking wood that told her…someone else is out there.

  Blake must have heard the sound, too, because he jumped to his feet. He ran toward the door.

  But a gunshot blasted.

  Jess screamed even as she watched Blake fall to the floor.

  Chapter Seven

  Jess ran toward Blake. She wrapped her arms around him even as he tried to push her back.

  “Jess…” Blake felt his blood pumping out of him. “Run.”

  But she was just holding him tighter.

  Laughter came then. From the man who’d shot him. From the man he’d mistakenly thought was a friend.

  Carson Anderson.

  “Isn’t this sweet? Even now, she tries to keep you safe.” Carson’s voice mocked him. “Even now, when we both know you came racing down here, pissed to hell and back because you thought the little southern belle had betrayed you.”

  Blake managed to sit up. The bullet had blasted into his side, and the damn thing was still in him. “Jess, go.
”

  “No!” She put her body in front of his. Putting herself in the line of fire. She stopped Blake’s world and destroyed him right then. “Look, Carson, we’ll do what you want, just—just put the gun down.”

  Blake shoved up onto his feet. Staggered. Drops of his blood littered the floor. His hands closed over Jess’s shoulders, and he tried to pull her back. To put her behind him.

  “You’re going to do everything I want…no matter what,” Carson promised her. He smiled. His gun was aimed right at Jess’s heart.

  But the bastard wasn’t there for her heart. Blake shoved his hand into his pocket and hauled out the small, black bag. “Isn’t this what you came for?”

  Carson’s gaze darted to the bag, and Blake succeeded in finally getting Jess positioned behind his body. He wasn’t much of a shield, but he’d protect her with every breath that he had left.

  I’m sorry, baby. I am so fucking sorry.

  He’d put his trust in the wrong person.

  “Oh, hell, yes, I want the Night’s Heart. But you have to plan your moments, you know?” Carson’s smile flashed again. Cold. Deadly. “And here I thought Hayden Finn was my key. He knew all his father’s tricks, you see. I got him to teach me every single one…”

  “Including the trick where you kill your partner?” Blake growled.

  Carson shrugged. His grip on the gun never wavered. Only instead of aiming at Jess’s heart, the gun was now pointing at Blake’s chest. “If I hadn’t shot him, the guy would’ve killed me. He was really aiming for me that day. I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You have a choice now!” Jess cried out. “Take the diamond. Just walk away!”

  Blake still had the diamond gripped in his hand.

  Carson shook his head. “I know Blake. You think he’d ever just let the stone go? He’d search to the ends of the earth, he’d hunt down anyone who tried to take what was his. I mean, just look at the way he came after you, Ms. Delaney. Hell sure has no fury like a man who thinks he’s been fucked-over.”

  “You had the burner phone,” Blake snapped. His muscles were tense, adrenaline pulsing through him. “You didn’t find it in her room. You had it all along.”

  “I did.” Said with pride. “I was also the guy who edited the security footage so that you didn’t see me sneaking into your suite after you left to visit the police department.” His gaze focused over Blake’s shoulder, on Jess. “You sure are a sound sleeper, aren’t you? And you were so sexy spread out like that…all naked and waiting.”

  “You’re a dead man,” Blake swore.

  “No.” Carson shook his head. “You are. You’re both dying tonight.”

  There was no way Blake would let Jess die. So that means I’ll be killing the bastard I thought was my best friend.

  “This is how it’s going down…” Carson sure was a chatty asshole. “Blake, you found out that your lover betrayed you. She stole from you. You rushed down here, you confronted her, and, in a fit of rage, you attacked her.”

  “No,” Jess whispered.

  “Yes,” Carson said, smiling again. “Oh, yes. When he attacked you, well, you had to fight back. Lucky for you, Ms. Delaney, you had a gun handy.” He lifted his weapon. “You shot Blake. You killed him.” He made a sad, low rumbling sound in his throat. “Unfortunately, you didn’t kill him quickly enough. You see…he came armed with a knife, and he stabbed you, a wound so deep that there was no chance of your survival.”

  And Blake could see the knife. Strapped on Carson’s belt. The bastard was going to shoot him again, and then use his knife on Jess.

  “Take the diamond,” Blake ordered him as he lifted his hand and the small bag. “I won’t follow you. Let Jess go, and you’ll never have to worry about me hunting you.”

  Carson shrugged. “I don’t have to worry about the dead. I just have to bury them. And pretend to mourn. I’m very, very good at pretending.”

  Jess was inching closer to Blake’s side. Not staying behind him any longer. He knew the woman wasn’t just going to hide. Wasn’t going to run. I wish she would! She was going to fight. In her last moments, in their last moments, she planned to attack.

  Just as he did.

  But when they lunged forward, Carson would fire his gun. Blake had to make absolutely certain that bullet was aimed at him, not her.

  “I think I could have loved you,” he told Jess as his gaze flickered toward her. He needed to tell her that. He began to slide the diamond out of the bag. It was cold and hard in his grip.

  “Wh-what?”

  “I was already half-way in love with you, anyway…hell, maybe more than that.” Blood soaked his shirt. “Never thought that would…happen with me.”

  She stared at him, her eyes wide. “You can’t tell me this now.”

  “So freakin’ sweet,” Carson taunted. “Maybe I should kill her first. How about that, Blake? Seems fitting to see you lose what you want most, when all these years, I’ve had to watch you be the man who has everything.”

  No, he hadn’t had everything. Not until too late. His gaze cut back to Carson. “Is that why you’re doing this? Because you want what I have?”

  “You stole your way to the top. It’s my turn now. My turn.” Carson’s words held a jagged edge. “Now give me that diamond!”

  If he wanted it…

  Blake threw the diamond at his old friend, throwing it as hard as he could. Instinctively, Carson lifted his hands to catch the diamond—both hands.

  Mistake.

  Because Blake lunged toward him, and, even as Carson caught the diamond, Blake drove his shoulder into the other man’s gut. They hit hard, careening into the floor.

  Behind him, he heard Jess’s footsteps rushing toward them.

  Carson tried to lift his gun and aim it at Blake.

  Blake broke his wrist. The gun clattered across the floor.

  Jess grabbed for it.

  But Carson—he still had the diamond, and he slammed it into Blake’s forehead. Blood streamed into his eyes as Blake fell back.

  In a flash, Carson had his knife out and at Blake’s throat. “I told you before, man, that diamond will be the death of you.”

  The knife sliced Blake.

  “No,” Jess snapped out. “It won’t.” She stood right behind Carson, and she had the gun aimed at his head. “You get away from him, now. Drop that knife and back off!”

  Carson’s gaze held Blake’s. Slowly, Carson backed away.

  But he didn’t drop the knife.

  “Jess…” Blake began.

  Carson spun toward her.

  “No!” The cry was torn from Blake as the knife’s blade flashed and Carson drove it toward Jess.

  Gunfire exploded. One shot. A thundering roar. Carson jerked. “You…fuckin’…bitch…” He swiped out at Jess.

  But Blake had him. He tackled Carson and as they went down, Carson screamed, a high, wild cry that was abruptly cut off.

  Blake flipped the man over. The knife’s blade had embedded in Carson’s chest. In his heart.

  Blake wrapped his fingers around the handle.

  “D-don’t…” Carson gasped out. “I’ll…die…when you take it…out.”

  “I know,” Blake said. But he didn’t take out the knife, not yet. “You were my friend, Carson.”

  “I was…in your shadow.” Blood stained Carson’s lips. “Always in…dark…”

  Jess stood behind Blake. Alive. Safe. The way he’d make sure she stayed.

  Blake was still staring into Carson’s eyes when the life left his friend’s dark gaze.

  Friend.

  Betrayer.

  They were the same.

  The knife was still in Carson’s chest and the diamond was clutched in the dead man’s left hand.

  ***

  Two weeks later…

  Jess’s bare feet sank into the sand as she gazed out at the ocean. A storm was coming. She could smell it in the air. Could see it in the distant flashes of lightning that illuminated the tumbling wa
ves out in the Gulf of Mexico.

  She needed to pack up her art supplies. Go back inside her house.

  Jess glanced over her shoulder at the house.

  The place seemed so empty lately.

  The home was no longer a crime scene. The blood had been scrubbed from her floor—courtesy of some team that Blake had sent to her home. He’d been sending plenty of “help” her way.

  But, after he’d called the cops, after the local sheriff had swooped in—and been lost in a situation that was way over the guy’s head—Blake had left Seaport. He’d been injured, bloody, when she last saw him. EMTs had wheeled him away. She’d wanted to go with him.

  The cops had insisted that she stay for questioning.

  When she’d finally been cleared to leave the crime scene, it had been too late.

  The diamond had been gone. Blake had been gone.

  She was pretty sure he’d taken her heart with him.

  As the wind roughened, Jess packed her bag. She hadn’t been working with paints today, just sketching. She should have been sketching the oncoming storm. Instead, when she looked down, the charcoal outline of Blake’s face stared back at her.

  She had it so bad for him.

  I think I could have loved you. His words played through her mind as she trudged back to her beach house.

  There was no thinking about it for her. She’d fallen for him. Hard and fast, and with no restraint.

  Now, she was alone.

  Her steps were slow as she headed into the house. She locked the door—a new door, courtesy, again, of Blake and his minions. When the cops had rushed to the scene, they’d broken down her door.

  But it was fixed now. Everything was fixed. Everything except her. She was the one who still felt broken.

  Why didn’t he call me? Why did he just vanish?

  She put down her supplies. The house was too quiet, so she turned on the TV. He’d been in her house for one night, but Blake’s presence still seemed to fill the place.

  How screwed up was that?

  The news flashed on the screen. The anchor was talking about a bank robbery in the next town. Jess frowned as she headed into the kitchen.

  “And now, we turn to some surprising news out of Europe…” The anchor’s voice followed her.