“And how about here?”
“Fuck yeah. Give it to him,” Callen encourages.
I have a tougher time sinking the blade into his body but push through. There is a whooshing sound when I extract the knife. I repeat this process several times. Crimson covers the tarp under my feet. Laurence’s body practically convulses. My satisfaction intensifies inside me each time the blade punctures his skin. I play with the blood with the toe of my shoe. The dark haunting color lifts me up.
Clank!
The knife slips from my fingers and hits the concrete floor. I’m tearing off my clothes before it even settles. Then, I run to Callen. He lifts me up, and we connect. Through the death and violence, we feed off one another. His mouth sucks on my neck. My hands sneak under his shirt. He groans against my throat. The scent of blood and lust fills the room until we’re suffocating in it. I’ve never smelled anything better.
His clothes hit the floor, and he palms my breasts. The bloodstains grow larger while I rake my nails across Callen’s back. My spine straightens when it makes contact with the far wall. I grab his face in my hands and kiss him passionately. Our tongues wind, and our mouths punish. He twists my nipples between his forefinger and thumb, and the heels of my feet dig into his ass.
“On. The. Ground,” I pant. “I want to ride you.”
Callen grants my request without dropping me. We’ll fuck on the dirty floor and love every minute of it. My hands brace against his chest, and I line myself up with his stiff cock. The tip pushes against my opening, and I sink down, relishing in the fullness. Endorphins shoot pleasure throughout my veins, and I let my head fall back in pleasure.
“God, it feels so good,” I moan out, knowing Callen will know I’m talking about more than his cock inside me.
My clit aches, and my hand travels down my body until my fingers reach the sensitive spot. Laurence’s blood slowly flows across the ground under us, coming closer to where Callen and I fuck like sociopaths, and I ride Callen harder. My legs shake when the sensations building up within me reach new highs. My pussy clenches around Callen’s cock, and I grind against him harder. His hands grab my hips, pulling me tighter against him.
This man, he gets me like no one ever could.
Together, we indulge in everything that should be wrong but couldn’t be more right.
The copper scent of blood mingles with the intoxicating spice of sex as the sounds of skin against skin fill the room.
My orgasm coats his cock, and his cum fills me.
I fight to keep my eyes on the view before me—Callen and the life about to be lost.
My body falls, and I collapse on top of my man. Sweat covers our skin. My lips worship his flesh. I can’t get enough of his salty taste while my mouth kisses his chest. His hands sweep against my skin. I’m in love with everything dark and twisty that we share. I’m in love with us, and I’m madly in love with him.
“This was perfect,” I proclaim.
“It was more than perfect.”
I rise off him and crawl across the floor on all fours. Blood soaks my knees and the palms of my hands, and Callen’s cum leaks down my thighs. A sense of power overtakes me when I brace myself on the arms of the chair that holds Laurence’s dying body. His shallow breathing is beautiful. With the knife in my hands, I smile at the last man still breathing who took Aria from me.
“Good-bye, Laurence.”
I plunge the knife into his heart.
Rylan
Colt Park is quiet when you’re not supposed to be on the property. After a night of violence and death, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than where I am now. In Callen’s arms, under the stars, and sprawled out in the grassy field. Laurence’s body is safely hidden away to rot until the chaos dies down, and Callen can dispose of the body. In a few days, he’ll dismember the body and dump the pieces in the Connecticut River. We can’t afford to risk another public scene with the reveal of our last victim, but that’s a small price to pay. The men who hurt Aria no longer walk the earth.
“What now?” Callen asks while tracing my jawline with his thumb.
“What do you mean?”
“The job is over. You’ve gotten your revenge, so what’s next for you?”
“Honestly, I don’t have an answer for you. Since Aria died, my fixation has been on those that hurt her. I don’t know where I go from here. What about you?”
He turns and rests his chin on his arm. I follow suit, so I can look into his eyes.
“I got an interesting call yesterday,” he admits. “It was for a new job.”
“Where?” I’m hesitant about his answer.
“Oddly enough, Nevada.”
“Are you going to take it?” I look away. I can’t bear to watch the words leave his lips when he tells me he’s leaving. The stars above me seem to dull.
“Depends.”
“On?”
His fingers gently turn my face back toward his. “You and what’s next for you.”
I’m compelled to kiss him. Our connection, his words pull me to him.
Then, I whisper against his mouth, “I don’t want us to end. Deep down, I know this is only the beginning for us.”
His mouth moves with mine. Our kiss is filled with forbidden secrets. Our world is our own, and it’s fucking beautiful. I don’t want what I have with him to ever end. With him, I hope for forever.
“Rylan”—he pulls back, and confidence radiates from his eyes—“I love you.”
His declaration hits my ears and goes straight to my heart. This man loves me.
“I think I always have, and I’m certain I always will.”
“Say it again,” I plead past the emotion constricting my throat.
“I love you, Rylan Pierce. I love every twisted and dark depth of your soul. The way you challenge me. The way you fight me. Even the way you torture me. I love your free spirit and the unconditional way you care about the people you hold close to you. I love your darkness, but I also love your light, which I’m not even sure you’re aware exists in you.”
Violence. Fetish. Gore. Fucking.
Revenge.
And love.
“I love you, too, Callen Bailer. I don’t think I’m capable of waxing poetic like you just did because you might have knocked me off my feet. I’ll gladly take a hit for words like that, that come from a man like you.”
Callen shifts, and then he climbs on top of me. His fingers wrap around my locks, and his mouth descends upon mine. I could taste the death on our last kiss, but in this one, there is only love. Ours and forever.
“So, I’ll ask you again. What’s next?” Callen asks before dropping another brief kiss to my lips.
“I guess it isn’t smart for me to stay here in Maplefield. I shouldn’t push my luck…”
“You will get away with this. We’ll get away with it. I’ll make sure of it. There was a but missing at the end of your statement, though, right?”
“But I don’t want to leave Tatum behind.”
He nods. “Tatum will be your friend, no matter where you live, and I don’t think it’s smart for you to settle down in the town you organized a serial killing.”
He has a valid point.
“I want to go where you go, Callen. I’ll think about it because I want to be by your side.”
“I think you’d like life on the road. It would suit you.”
“I’d like life with you.”
“Now, who’s waxing poetic?”
His smile lights up his face, and for just a few minutes, the darkness within us both is hidden. He flirtatiously kisses my lips and whispers those three words that make my heart beat faster.
Callen
I get Rylan back home without anyone noticing, but I can’t bring myself to leave. At just after six in the morning, her cell phone rings, pulling us both from sleep. She rolls over to grab her phone, and I shove the pillow over my head. Her voice is groggy when she answers.
“Hello?”
Pause.
“What?”
Pause.
“Who?”
Pause.
“What channel?”
Pause.
“I’ll call you back.”
Rylan’s voice sounds frantic. I throw the pillow away from my head. She scrambles, looking for something within the sheets. A few seconds later, she holds the remote to the television. The light from the screen is harsh and crisp as it cuts through the darkness of the room.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“William. William Russo turned himself in for the murders.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying to find the channel. That was Tatum on the phone. She says the story just broke.”
The name William Russo repeats in my mind. Rylan finds the channel, and my mouth drops open in shock. Willy’s mug shot commands the screen. I stare at the image of my neighbor. The man who taught me to play horseshoes and unrelentingly pushed his way into my life is the biggest piece of news this town will probably ever see. Willy walked into the police station with the murder weapon—my missing knife—and turned himself in for my crimes.
Why? How? Fuck.
“Willy,” I whisper his name, and my confusion fills the room.
“Why is your senile neighbor taking the blame for our body count?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea.”
“I think you’d better find out.”
She’s right. I pull my tired body out of Rylan’s comfy bed and put on my clothes. Rylan stands beside me and starts to do the same.
“No. You stay here. It won’t look good for you if their first suspect is sniffing around for details about the man who turned himself in for the crime she was suspected of.”
Reluctantly, she nods. I can see it’s taking a lot of restraint for her to sit this one out, but it’s for the best.
I kiss Rylan’s forehead. “Get some rest. I’ll come back here when I have some answers.”
“Yeah, like I’ll be able to sleep now.”
“Try. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
She gets back into bed, and I head out the back door to my truck. There are two patrol cars parked outside her house, but the officers inside aren’t paying attention to anything but the backs of their eyelids.
My mind searches for answers, but my answers are with Willy.
I sit in my truck, unsure of where to go or what to do next. I replay every second I’ve spent with Willy in my head, trying to piece together why he would turn himself in for killing people I’m very certain he didn’t.
Did he know more than I thought? How could he?
I drive back to my place, hoping for some sort of direction.
When I get there, Willy’s place looks the same as it does every time I pull up, but it won’t be long before crime scene tape ropes off his lot. Everything looks as it usually does with the exception of a missing horseshoe stake. I scan the area and find it firmly planted on the far side of my own lot. I move to it and then bend to touch the top of the cold metal. A few feet farther from where I stand is a horseshoe. Another is a few feet beyond that and then another. The last horseshoe is a dead ringer around a rock.
Beneath the rock, under a layer of dirt, is an envelope that’s addressed to Rylan and me.
I head inside my place and straight back to my room. I leave the envelope on my bed as I shower and dress, but I spend the whole time wondering what’s inside it. When I leave, I grab the envelope on my way out the door.
The cops are still outside Rylan’s when I pull into her driveway.
I’ve got company the second I have one foot out of my truck. The two cops waddle up the driveway. I’m painfully aware of the letter in my pocket from Willy as they approach.
“Who are you, and what’s your business here?” the cop to my right asks.
“Hello, officers.” Calm. Cool. Collected.
“Your name and how you know Rylan Pierce, please.”
“Callen, and Rylan is my girl.”
“Your girl? What exactly does that mean?”
“It means, I’m with her. It means, she’s important to me. It means, I’m counting on forever. Though I’m guessing that’s not really what you’re interested in hearing from me by initiating this little chat.”
“I suggest you do yourself a favor and stay away from that girl. She’s damaged goods.”
I tower over both officers. “No more damaged than you or me.”
“The rumors about her and how she behaves in that club must be true if you’re willing to ignore all the red flags covering that girl. She’s trash and on a one-way path to destruction.”
“You don’t know anything about that woman, her strength, or heart. I’m giving you an opportunity to say whatever you came over here for, but don’t insult Rylan Pierce in front of me.”
The officer to my right clears his throat as I crack my knuckles.
“There isn’t an officer in this town that doesn’t believe she didn’t have something, if not everything, to do with these murders. We may not have the evidence to back our suspicions, and that man might have confessed, but I think we both know that he isn’t guilty.”
“Excuse me.” My voice is hard as I move to step around the officer.
“Her prints were found in Sebastian Rutherford’s home. Was he a friend of Rylan’s?”
His voice stops me in my tracks, and my stomach drops. I didn’t get all of the evidence. I was crunched for time, and we were careless. Still, this guy is out here, chatting with me, and she isn’t in cuffs, so they don’t have anything. He’s fishing, and I’m not taking the bait.
I keep walking away from the cop.
“I suggest the both of you get the hell out of this town. We might not be able to get her on this, but if you stick around, we’ll make sure to get you on something.”
Convincing Rylan to leave this town and come with me is my new top priority. Tatum is the only thing here for her, but she has to see that she can’t stay here. I want her with me.
I let myself into Rylan’s house. She is sleeping soundlessly, and I hate to disturb her, but this is important.
I sit on the edge of her bed and pull her legs onto my lap. “Rylan. Rylan, baby, wake up.”
She stirs, but her eyes stay closed.
I make my voice a little louder. “Wake up. I found an envelope at my house. I think it’s from Willy.”
Her eyes open, and it takes her a second to adjust. “What’s going on? Did you see Willy?”
“No, but I found this.” I show her the envelope.
“It’s addressed to both of us,” she states.
“I know.”
Guilt isn’t something I experience regularly, maybe ever really, but as I sit with Rylan, about to read Willy’s words, it’s eating at me. Selfishly, I know I’ll let Willy stay where he is, locked away for crimes he had nothing to do with so that I can keep her safe. There was another way, but Willy took things into his own hands and out of ours. The police will now never see the evidence that connects Elena to the crimes.
“Read it.”
And I do…
Dearest Rylan,
I recognized you. My mind isn’t going yet. I remembered you from the news coverage about your friend. I’m sorry for your pain. I know it well.
You see…Laurence Rawlings was my grandson. My daughter left him in our care when he was a young boy, and he was a handful right from the beginning. He was headstrong and stubborn but never cruel.
Once he was a teenager, things started to get out of control, and he went to live with his father, a man he had never met. I kept tabs on him and tried to bring good influence, but he only became further out of reach. His father gave him a new lifestyle, filled with money and entitlement. The older he got, the less I recognized him. His behavior wasn’t a phase and wasn’t going away.
I know what he did to your friend. I know he’s responsible. He hurt her, and I’m
sorry. I can’t say I’m sorry enough for the pain my grandson caused you. I hope, now that he’s gone, you can heal.
Love can mend all wounds.
And that brings me to you, Callen. I’m a lot more observant than you think, and don’t you forget that. After I met your Rylan. I knew what I was encouraging between the two of you even if you thought you were getting one over on me. What you’re doing for her…I’ve thought about doing it myself many times. I just never had the guts. Laurence was still my blood.
I’m sure you’re wondering why I confessed. I did it for you, for Rylan, for myself, but also for Louise.
It’s hard for me to write down the pain Laurence caused me, but you deserve to know. That boy killed my Louise. His hands may not have done the job, but his actions did. She found out what he did to that girl and the others, and the pain was too much for her, knowing her only grandson was a monster. Her immense grief over what he’d done, who he was, caused her death. He took my heart from me, his own grandmother.
My confession is a gift, unconditional, but don’t throw it away. Don’t make trouble about this. Let me do this for you and for the woman I fell in love with as a teenager.
Love is always the answer, Callen.
Love her fiercely and treat her well. Find the type of love with her that I had with my Louise. Don’t let your own stupidity hold you back. I saw the way you look at Rylan. It’s the same way I always looked at the love of my life.
Be the reason she smiles and never the reason she cries. Don’t let fights linger too long, but take a step away from the argument when you need to. Love each other blindly, but push each other to grow. Put her first above all, but take time for yourself. Take on hurdles together, and never shut her out.
Callen, don’t screw this up. I mean it.
Willy, the Horseshoe Master
P.S. Take that girl of yours on a proper date, and I don’t mean that sex-crazed club.
I promise, to all of it. I make a vow to the first person who ever held me accountable.
Willy did this for us. That old man did it for love. He did it because his grandson broke his heart. We killed my nosy neighbor’s flesh and blood, and he showed us mercy. It’s fucking funny how life connects us, but then again…maybe it isn’t.
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