Thomas’ voice was deathly calm. “You don’t want to do this, Brian.”
“That’s Mummy Man to you,” Brian snarled as he looked toward the doorway, jerking his head around sharply at the sight of Thomas’ companion. His gaze settled hungrily on Teegan as she emerged from behind Thomas, much to her husband’s displeasure. “I’m doing this for you, Teegan. All of it. I’ve done everything I can to make you notice me, but you can’t see past him.” He nodded in her husband’s direction.
Teegan took another step forward, glancing over at her husband before she whispered, “Sorry, baby. I don’t understand this myself, but I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to.”
Thomas kept his eyes on Brian, ready to react to even the slightest movement. His response was issued through lips that barely moved, his voice just loud enough for her to hear. “That’s okay. I understand. But you be careful because I need you in one piece when I take this out of your ass later.”
Teegan’s eyes widened and she gulped awkwardly. Brian mistook her reaction as a response to his presence in the room, and his chest puffed out with pride. He spoke his next words to her alone, his voice almost tender. “Come to me, Teegan. I don’t care about this bitch. She’s nothing. You belong to me. I belong to you. I belong inside you. Come with me and I promise you, I’ll erase all traces of your husband.” His voice dripped with sarcasm as he shot a baleful glance at Thomas and added, “From your body and your mind.”
The animalistic growl that rumbled from Thomas’ chest only egged Brian on. “I’ll claim every inch of you, inside and out, until even the memory of him is nothing but dust. I’ll do things to you that he’s never dreamed of, Teegan, things that you’ll grow to love, I promise. I just know it.”
The silence that followed was broken only by Queen Bee’s quiet weeping and incoherent mumbling as she swayed at the end of the chain.
Teegan’s voice was soft and warm as she took a step forward and addressed her tormentor. “But don’t you see? You didn’t have to do any of this for me to notice you, Brian. I noticed you a long, long time ago. You of all people know how deeply I’ve delved into the mind of serial killers. How could I not notice you? You’re the best of the best.”
“Really?” His eyes gleamed with hope.
“Oh, yes. You stand out far above the rest. The way you do what you do. Well, it’s…breathtaking, really. So unique. There’s no one else like you.”
“Teegan, I… I love you. Life wouldn’t be worth living without you by my side,” he said, lowering the icepick and stepping toward her as if he were considering running straight into her arms.
Just over Teegan’s shoulder, her husband’s eyes narrowed and he slowly turned his head, regarding his wife with barely concealed awe. Fucking perfect…
“Yes,” she purred. “That’s what I’m counting on, Brian. You see, you stand head and shoulders above the rest. And do you know why?”
“Why, Teegan? Tell me.” He took another step toward her and looked at her expectantly, his cheeks flushed like a child yearning to be told how special and precious he was.
Teegan’s expression shifted in that instant, from that of an understanding admirer to one of revulsion. “You stand out far above the rest…because… You. Disgust. Me. You aren’t even worthy to be called a serial killer. Hell, I’m a novice and I caught you. You’re nothing more than a wannabe, a copycat. You’re pathetic.” She jerked her head in Thomas’ direction. “He’s the real deal. Unlike you, he’s got a fucking pedigree. In his family, they kill with purpose.”
Brian’s bottom lip wobbled as he took in her scathing words, but she was relentless in destroying him, piece by piece. She slowly shook her head, her words dripping with disdain. “That’s right, Mummy Man. I could never love a freak like you!”
She stepped toward her husband and curled in tight against his side, laying her head on his shoulder for emphasis and rubbing her hand over his chest. “I’ve already got the real thing, and he truly owns me. How was it that you put it? Inside…and out.”
Brian’s face flushed beet red then went ashen until he was pale like a long-dead corpse. He shook his head, bewildered by this turn of events. It was the one thing he hadn’t prepared for. It hadn’t occurred to him that she would really refuse him.
“B-but…Teegan, please.” His face crumpled with emotion, then he closed his eyes and stomped his foot. He turned and looked at Queen Bee as she swayed slowly back and forth from the chain, tears streaming down her cheeks as she cried out softly for Terry.
Huffing petulantly, Brian turned back to face Teegan, his chest heaving with emotion. His voice shifted subtly until it took on the high-pitched, frantic whine of a small child being denied dessert. “I’ll be good. I promise. I’ll be so good.”
Thomas looked from his wife to Brian and back again, fascinated by what was happening. But Teegan said nothing. Her face took on a stern, forbidding hardness as she glared at Brian and slowly shook her head. She didn’t even flinch when he stifled a sob and raised the icepick high in the air. He brought it down, stabbing it into his own neck until only the wooden handle was visible.
He tried to take a breath but only managed a gurgling coughing fit as he wobbled on unsteady legs. Teegan straightened and walked toward him, ignoring her husband’s frustrated curse, her expression aloof and indifferent as she whispered close to Brian’s ear, “Is that all you’ve got? Be a real man, Mummy Man. Pull it out. Die for me, you sick fuck.”
No one had noticed the two FBI agents entering the room. The seasoned crime investigators had never witnessed anything like the grisly scene that was playing out before their eyes. They knew better than to interfere in a sequence of events that was almost poetic in its inevitability.
All eyes were on Brian as he clenched his trembling hand around the icepick and jerked it free, releasing a geyser of blood so forceful that it sprayed the wall. As he dropped to his knees, the rhythmic, scarlet spurts grew weaker with each dying beat of his heart.
His eyes were locked on Teegan as he teetered there before collapsing onto his back. The final surge of blood trickled weakly down his neck into a growing puddle on the floor as his eyes glazed over. Mummy Man was no more.
“Let the bastard die,” Teegan said in a cold voice that sent a shiver down Thomas’ spine. “Save the title of serial killer for the ones who are worthy of it: the vigilantes who right the wrongs on these fucked up city streets.”
When she turned to face Thomas, he closed his eyes briefly when he saw the streaks of blood on her cheek and neck. Fuck. She hadn’t even flinched.
Teegan crossed the room and leaned against the wall near the door. She slowly slid down until she landed with a soft thud on the dusty wooden floor. She hugged her knees to her chest and watched as the agents worked efficiently to free Queen Bee.
Turner released her wrist restraints and caught her limp body in his arms when she fell. Rene took off her jacket and wrapped it around her, then got to work checking her vital signs. “She’s groggy, which is probably for the best. Fewer memories to keep her up at night.” Rene nodded softly. “But she’s going to be okay.”
Thomas was cautious in his approach, kneeling next to Teegan but saying nothing as he wiped her face with the handkerchief Turner had handed to him on his way over to her. His wife would need time to come to terms with what had just happened, and he would be there when she was ready to talk. He would always be there.
Epilogue
Thomas worked his fingertips across Teegan’s scalp, as much to let the shampoo do its job as to soothe his wife’s frayed nerves. He paused in his ministrations and frowned. She hadn’t said a word on the way home. He assumed she was still reeling from the ordeal at the shack earlier that night. He stepped aside and gently repositioned her to let the shower spray pulse along her neck and shoulders.
“Lean back, baby, I’ve got you,” he murmured. After he rinsed the shampoo from her hair, he applied conditioner to the long strands, working in silence. They were bot
h exhausted so his plan was simple: shower first, then sleep.
Teegan felt nothing; no remorse, no triumph, not even relief. She was vaguely aware of Thomas gently cleaning the remaining traces of blood from her face. Brian’s blood.
Even though she knew it hadn’t been her hand wielding that icepick, it might as well have been. Somehow, she had known what made Brian Reed tick; what would break him. She had played him perfectly, using his obsession with her to orchestrate his own suicide.
Somehow, she had just known. With every step she’d taken toward Brian, she had sensed that her rejection would be too much for him to bear—and in her mind’s eye she had seen flashes of what was about to happen. If she could see it, could she have somehow stopped it? She decided it didn’t matter. The world needed to be rid of him and the evil that had oozed from his pores.
She had known what he would do; what she hadn’t expected was the exhilarating power that had surged through her veins as she watched him take his own life. She only wished her manipulations could have somehow granted him the same agonizing experience he had so cavalierly inflicted on his victims.
Maybe next time.
As Thomas dried her off and carried her to the bed, she gasped for breath as hysterical laughter bubbled up in her throat. Maybe she was a sociopath after all. Psychopaths didn’t form emotional connections to others, but sociopaths could…when it served their purpose. That didn’t feel right either. Maybe it didn’t even matter.
Maybe she had always been so fascinated by serial killers because, deep down inside, she was one too.
The criminal mind. Psychopaths. Sociopaths. Tomato. To-mah-to. What was the difference anyway?
As Thomas towel-dried her hair and slipped one of his t-shirts over her head, Teegan pondered how profoundly her perspective on life had changed since she’d met him. No longer confined by polite society’s constraints, she had embraced risk-taking and could see the merits of his ‘the ends justify the means’ approach to life and death. Hell, she’d married a serial killer she barely knew, and he’d been raised by the best—or the worst, depending on how you looked at it.
Ironically, in the moments before his death she had felt an odd connection to Brian. Not an emotional connection, but more like an unfiltered view into his intentions. Somehow, she had known what he was going to do before he did it. In fact, if she didn’t know better she’d think she had somehow guided him to off himself. But how could that be?! She cringed at the direction of her thoughts. She still felt adrift and devoid of any real emotion.
Thomas stepped toward the bathroom and tossed the towel into the laundry hamper in the corner of the room. He strode slowly back to the bed, watching Teegan carefully. Her eyes observed his approach with a cool, flat expression. He was beautiful in his nakedness. Perfectly formed. She knew his skin would be warm and supple under her hands, but still she felt numb. Cold. Disconnected.
“Baby? You okay?” he asked quietly as he took a step forward and reached out to pull the covers back and join her in bed. The emotional and physical toll of the events of the evening had come barreling down on him, leaving him exhausted and yearning to sleep next to his wife for, oh, about a week.
In the next instant, Teegan was on her knees by the bed. She wrapped her arms around his hips and brought her mouth down on his cock until the broad head was pressing against the back of her throat. Her lips pressed around his shaft as she sucked his length tight between the roof of her mouth and her tongue. His cock lengthened and hardened inside her mouth as a stream of epithets poured from his lips and a fresh rush of sweat dotted his forehead.
“Baby, what are you doing? You need to rest but, fuck, your mouth feels so good.”
With her mouth sealed tight around him, she sucked up and down his considerable length before releasing him with a pop. She didn’t worry about making a mess as a glistening strand of saliva quivered and hung between her lips and the now taut, swollen hood of his cock.
“Fuck, baby. That’s hot,” he groaned as he cradled the back of her head, encouraging her to continue. She laved his rigid length with broad, greedy strokes of her tongue. Then she went back for more, tracing the path of the thick, angry looking veins that coursed along his cock from root to tip. Fluttering her tongue along the hood, she tasted the creamy pre-cum that had gathered at his slit.
Thomas laid both hands on her head and pulled her toward him. It was like he’d flipped a switch as she proceeded to devour him. Up and down his length, she pressed in and pulled back, sucking him hard and steady. There was nothing gentle about how she was working him over.
She just wanted to feel. She wanted to feel everything. Anything.
Without warning, Teegan gripped his ass and tugged his hips hard toward her. She gurgled briefly when his cock pressed against the back of her throat, but when he tried to pull her head away to let her catch her breath, she pushed his hands away and continued.
Thomas could barely stand as he watched his wife give him the single best blowjob he’d ever had. She sucked him off like a she-devil. He’d never seen this insatiable side of her before—and he fucking loved it.
His eyes widened and he could barely breathe when she dug her nails into his ass and pushed forward on a harsh, sucking pull until her nose pressed against his abs. With the head of his cock tucked in tight inside the slim column of her throat, he leaned his head back and bellowed with pleasure.
Thomas struggled to string together a coherent thought. All he knew was that he had never felt so good—and that his wife could deepthroat like a champ. “Fuck, I’m gonna come so hard,” he groaned as his hips met her fierce rhythm. “If you don’t want it, pull off now. I can’t fucking stop.”
He frowned when her face became flushed from lack of air, even as she pressed forward and nuzzled his neatly trimmed thatch of pubic hair. He wondered if she might have drawn blood when she abruptly dug her nails deeper into his ass. When she used her throat muscles to swallow around his length, the base of his spine began to tingle and burn with the delicious heat of impending release.
With his last shred of coherent thought he managed to grunt, “Baby, you don’t have to take it so deep. Fuck, fuck, fuck…” His balls drew up tight and his abs clenched almost painfully when Thomas finally let go, groaning as the orgasm sent hot spurts of cum down Teegan’s throat.
He collapsed onto the bed and pulled her down next to him. With his chest heaving in the aftermath of the most powerful orgasm of his life, he managed to grab the corner of the comforter and pull it over their limp bodies.
“Fuck, that was good. What the hell was that?” he asked between ragged breaths.
“I just needed to.”
“Baby, I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever figure you out. I love you, Teegan,” Thomas whispered against her skin as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
She curled up against his side, letting the warmth of his skin against hers help her slowly reconnect with the world around her. “I love you, too, husband.”
“Mmm, I do like the sound of that.”
“You should. You’re pretty much stuck with me now.”
She shifted up onto an elbow and rested her chin in her hand. Her breasts were soft against his chest and his cock took note as it thickened and strained toward her.
Thomas slid a hand under the covers, letting his fingertips roam over her silky skin until they came to rest on the curve of her ass. As he stroked and caressed her firm flesh, he frowned up at her solemn expression. “What is it, baby?”
“Mummy Man’s gone and Louisville’s a little safer now. But this will never end, will it? There will always be another case. Another killing. Another victim to avenge.”
Thomas gripped her bottom with both hands and pulled her on top of him, using his knees to part her legs. “Well,” he murmured silkily as he notched the broad head of his cock at her slick entrance and brought her down onto his length in a single, smooth stroke, “then it’s a good thing I married you.”
&nbs
p; He worked her clit with his thumb as he rolled his hips in small, slow circles. “I’m still not sure what happened at that shack tonight, but the bad guys in this world won’t stand a chance with you by my side. I’m pretty sure you’ll know what they’re going to do before they do.”
“Mmm… You think so?” she whispered, feeling her body coming back to life as every inch of her skin clamored for his touch.
He pulled back and slammed into her with a particularly well-placed thrust. “Fuck, yeah, I do. You’re one of us now. Hell, I’m starting to think you always were. Welcome home, Teegan.”
The end…for now.
A dark forbidden taboo mystery about a man who will do anything to keep her safe. When protection turns to obsession it wakes up the demons he thought he'd put to rest long ago. She has no idea the danger she's in but she's getting ready to find out.
Cellar Door is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00C9L6YRQ
Mommy's Dearest (Black Rose Book 3) Page 20