“No. I’m sure I’ll be fine. It was probably a good samaritan that was worried about getting in trouble.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” He didn’t believe me, but he didn’t say anything else. He led me over to a squad car and helped me inside. “I’ll let you know when we find out something more. Why don’t you come down to the station tomorrow to give your statement.”
“I will, Sean. Thank you.”
He shut the door and then an officer drove me home. When we got there, the officer walked through my house, making sure that everything was secure. Once he left, I locked the door and went to my bedroom and sat on my bed. I couldn’t get the image of the man’s half blown off face out of my mind. I had seen some terrible things when I was an intern, but it was never related to me. This was a man that had attacked me and then paid the ultimate price because someone was watching.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I stiffened. He was here. I stood and looked around the room, but I didn’t see anything. Walking over to the window, I looked out into the dark, hoping that I could see something. I would rather know exactly where he was than wonder the whole night if he was going to come for me.
Hot air trickled across the back of my neck. My breath hitched as I felt a hand brush against the nape of my neck as my hair was shifted over my shoulder.
“You should be more careful when you’re leaving work.”
His voice washed over me in that rough, deep tone that sent shivers down my spine.
“Why did you do that?” I asked, my heart beating out of control.
“He was hurting you.”
“I was running away. I would have gotten away.”
His hand brushed down my arm and then back up to rest on my shoulder. “He might have come back another night. A man like that, someone who would attack a woman just to get a fix, he doesn’t deserve to live.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” I said shakily.
“I made it my decision the moment he put his hands on you, and I’d do it again.”
I spun around and faced the man that I had last seen just a week ago. “I don’t need anyone killing to protect me. I heal people and that man could have been helped.”
“That man was scum and if he went after you, he would go after someone else. He didn’t deserve to live.”
“Like you?”
He took a step back and his jaw tightened. “I repaid my debt. You won’t see me again.”
“I didn’t want to see you again to begin with.”
He backed out of my room and was gone. I had no idea how he got in or how he left. He moved so silently that I didn’t hear even my noisy stairs creak. Even though the man had just killed someone in front of me, I couldn’t help but still want to see him again, no matter what I said. He intrigued me and terrified me all at the same time. I turned back to the window and stared out into the night, wondering if I would see him again.
CHAPTER TWO
Knight
I WATCHED FROM the shadows just as I had every night for the past two weeks. I was still recovering from my gun shot wound that I received trying to take out an arms dealer and his crew. I was no stranger to bullets and knives, and being shot was not a first for me. It was just the first time that I woke up to an angel.
Kate Whittemore. I repeated her name over and over in my head as visions of her leaning over me came to mind. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. With long, chestnut hair and large blue eyes, I was instantly mesmerized by her. She was the light guiding me to the surface when I felt like I was drowning.
When I left my military life behind, I had thought I left behind everyone I knew also. But then Pappy showed up and my past collided with my present. I couldn’t turn my back on the man that had saved my life because there was no way I would have survived prison. Killing my superiors guaranteed that I would be shived or beaten to death within days of being locked up. The details of my actions had been covered up by those that didn’t want the names of “good men” tarnished.
When I agreed to help out Reed Security, I felt for the first time in years that I had chosen the wrong path in life. I didn’t regret killing the men that profited from soldier’s deaths, but I started to wonder if my chosen profession was a bad decision. I only killed men that truly deserved it, but when that bullet hit me and I waited for hours, floating in and out of consciousness, I began to wonder if I even deserved to live.
When I woke to Kate taking care of me, I just knew that I would never be worthy of a woman like her. I didn’t deserve to live because I had taken too many lives. My hands were stained with so much blood, there would never be any amount of repenting that could wash away my sins. When she practically ran from my room in fear, I hated myself just a little more than I already had. I vowed then and there that I would never kill another man as long as I lived. I would do everything I could to one day earn the right to call a woman like that mine.
Even though I told myself that I would stay away from her, I couldn’t. I found myself following her and watching her every move. I worried about her when she worked late at night. It still got dark early and the nights that she left late had me constantly worrying for her safety. Then, two weeks ago it happened. She left late at night and a man approached her. I didn’t hesitate to grab my rifle from my car when I saw him approach. I knew that he was up to no good. I barely had enough time to take him out before he went after her again. She had kneed him in the balls and run away, but he was going to chase her down. I just knew it. So, I broke my vow and pulled the trigger, ridding one more lost soul from the earth.
I had followed her home that night, needing to know that she was okay. When the officer finished checking out her house, I made my move. I had gotten used to moving through the shadows without anyone noticing, but I knew she felt me. There was some kind of connection between us. I saw her stiffen when I entered her room, though I hadn’t made a sound. I couldn’t resist feeling her warm skin beneath my fingers. I wanted to know what it would be like to touch her, but she didn’t want me there. I had suspected she would feel that way. She was a healer after all. She saved lives when I took them. I knew she could never appreciate what I had done for her.
She made it clear that I was not welcome nor would I ever be. As much as it angered me to walk away, I made myself do it and then I watched over her from outside until I was sure she was okay. Since then, I hadn’t been able to walk away like I had planned. Every time I tried to leave, I convinced myself that she could be in danger and I needed to check on her again. So that’s what I did with my time now. I waited for her to wake up every morning and I watched as she sat at her table with her first cup of coffee. I watched as she undressed every morning and put on a show for me with her beautiful curves. She didn’t know that I could see her, though part of me wondered if she suspected and purposely undressed where I could see her. It was ridiculous to think that she wanted me to see her.
I followed her into work every day and then watched from a coffee shop across the street as she went about her day. I didn’t see her very often because she was usually with patients, but every once in a while, she would come out to the reception area and I got to see her face light up as she greeted a patient or talked with her receptionist.
Today though, when she walked into reception, she looked out the window right toward the coffee shop. She knew I was here waiting. She seemed to always sense me, even if she never saw me. I was good at hiding, but I saw when she would tense up and start looking around for me. We had some kind of strange connection where I knew when she needed me and she knew when I was there. Like that night two weeks ago, I hadn’t intended on killing anyone that night, but I had put my rifle in the car anyway, just feeling like I might need it.
When she left that night, she stopped outside the door after locking up and looked out into the darkness. She wasn’t afraid. She was just looking for me. She shook her head and walked away. This was crazy. I had to stop this. I was basica
lly stalking a woman night and day, just so I could see her and know that she was alright. She didn’t want me around, so why was I so obsessed with her?
I walked away and broke my routine for the first time in two weeks. I didn’t follow her home that night. I went back to my motel room and picked up the phone, going through my dozen or so messages from people that needed me to do a job. I hadn’t been taking any new jobs since the job with Reed Security. I figured my reputation was shot after turning on an arms dealer and killing him and most of his crew. I thought no one would want to hire me again, but it seemed that wasn’t totally true. There were still people that wanted the best and I was that man.
I called the number that had the best offer and decided to take the job. I needed to get back out there and get my shit together. I would not follow Kate around any more. I would not waste another minute of my life chasing a woman that hated me so much. I would get back to what I was good at and live my life the way it was intended.
✯✯✯✯✯
I walked into my rundown motel room after finishing another job. Another easy kill. The adrenaline rush was wearing off and I was ready to go to sleep. That wouldn’t happen since Hunter “Pappy” Papacosta was hiding in the corner of my hotel room. Did he really think I didn’t know he was there? I had spotted his truck as soon as I pulled into the parking lot. He thought he was so slick parking in the back of the lot.
“I thought you were out of that life.” Pappy came out of the shadows and smirked at me.
“Why’s that?” I peeled off my shirt and threw it in the corner.
“I guess I assumed that after you tarnished your reputation that you would be working under a different name or give up the profession all together.”
“Jobs are still coming in. Apparently, some people don’t care if I turned on an arms dealer. They want the best and that’s me. My reputation says enough. Besides, the asshole was lying to me. He had it coming.”
“Aren’t you tired of this life? Don’t you want to settle down?”
“Settle down? You mean, like get a wife and kids with the white picket fence?”
“I mean, like have a normal job. One that doesn’t make you live out of shitty motel rooms that are probably crawling with bed bugs.” He sneered at the bed and moved a step away.
“You mean a life where I don’t answer to anyone but myself? I kind of like that aspect of it. I think we both know that I don’t work well under the authority of someone else.”
“You could come work at Reed Security with me.”
“Doing what exactly? Watching over princesses who want to go out and catch their ten minutes of fame? No thanks.”
“That’s not all the work we do. There are other jobs. You could work with training the guys. You’re one of the best I know.”
“I am the best, but what you’re suggesting sounds like the most tedious work on the face of the planet.” I pulled out my gun and placed it on the nightstand along with the other weapons I had on me. “I’d rather eat a bullet than do that shit.”
“You didn’t seem to have a problem helping us in the Dominican Republic.”
“That was one job. Tell me how many of those you get. How many times do you get to pull out your weapon and use it?”
“A lot more lately than I care to admit.”
“It’s not enough. I put my gun down for a week. A whole fucking week and then I saw some scumbag walking around, attacking-” I had to stop and take a deep breath before I spilled my guts to Pappy about my obsession with Kate. “That was it for me. This is what I’m meant to do and I’m real fucking good at it.”
“Attacking who?”
“Doesn’t matter. He’s gone and she’s alive.”
“Does this have to do with Kate?”
I didn’t say anything. I had already given away too much. Pappy could always read me like a book and I didn’t need him giving me shit over a girl.
“I heard about what happened to her. His face was blown off by the bullet from a rifle. There aren’t many people I know that walk around with a rifle in their car.”
I shrugged. “Sounds like she got lucky. A random citizen, I’m sure.”
“A random citizen would have gone to the police and told them what happened. Only someone who wouldn’t want to get caught would have walked away.”
“Why don’t you ask Kate if you want to know?”
“We did. She says she doesn’t know who it was, but she was lying. She wouldn’t look at any of us when we asked her about it. She knows who did it and wouldn’t tell us. Now, why do you think she would be protecting someone unless she was worried about them being caught?”
“I guess you’ll have to ask her. Are we done here? I’m kind of tired and I’d like to get some shut eye.”
Pappy shook his head and walked to the door. “You don’t have to do this any more, Hud. You can have a different life. You just have to let me help you.”
“When I want a different life, you’ll be the first one I come to.”
Pappy walked out the door and I fell back onto the bed, closing my eyes and coming down from the after effects of my latest kill. The feeling of crawling on my skin had me jumping off the bed.
“Goddammit, Pappy.”
Now I was never going to be able to sleep, as long as I was thinking about bed bugs. Grabbing my stuff, I left the motel, knowing I wouldn’t be able to sleep in a motel ever again.
✯✯✯✯✯
I tried. I really fucking tried, but I couldn’t stay away. Since I left her a month ago, I had taken job after job, trying to erase her from my memory. I told myself that if I was bad enough, if I killed enough people, I wouldn’t want her anymore. But no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t erase her from my mind.
Every time I took out my gun and used it, I told myself that I had way too much blood on my hands to ever be worthy of Kate. I picked my targets well, taking out the worst of the worst and when that didn’t work, I went around different cities looking for someone to take out just to release the tension that had built up in my system. When I came across gang members gang banging a teenage girl, I subdued all five of them and then made each one watch as I slit their throats.
When that still wasn’t enough, I tracked down the other members of the gang and took them out one by one until I finally felt my body start to relax. But as soon as I went to bed the night I took out the last gang member, my thoughts drifted to Kate again and I just had to know how she was.
She was out with friends tonight, laughing and having a good time drinking. Men were buying her drinks and trying to get into her pants. The more I saw, the more I wanted to take each of them out, but not from far away, with my rifle. No, I wanted to strangle the life out of every one of those fuckers who thought they were good enough for a night in her bed. I wanted to watch the life drain from their eyes as I snuffed out their life. Thankfully, she turned every one of them down and I didn’t have to kill anyone.
Again, she must have sensed I was there because as soon as I arrived, she started looking around for me. She rubbed the back of her neck a few times and rubbed the goosebumps that broke out on her arms. I had my binoculars with me tonight so that I could get a good look at her. It made me feel like I was there with her. Maybe that’s why she turned down those men. She must have sensed that I wasn’t happy about them hitting on her.
As the night wore on, I grew concerned about how much she was drinking. Even if she didn’t go home with anyone, the amount of alcohol she had consumed would be enough to make her an easy target for any man with the wrong intentions. Enough was enough. Packing up my stuff, I put it back in my car and headed for the bar. It was time to get her out of there before she did something she regretted.
Walking into the bar, I quickly catalogued all the potential threats and headed over to her table. One of her friends shot me an appreciative look, but my focus was all on Kate. She stiffened as I approached, but relaxed slightly into me when I wrapped my arm around her waist, p
ulling her into me. I hadn’t been expecting that.
“Kate.” My voice came out in a deep gravel because of the effect she had on me. She turned and looked up at me with a mixture of want and repulsion.
“What are you doing here?”
“I think you know the answer to that,” I whispered in her ear.
“Kate, who’s your friend?” The blonde across the table was attractive enough, but she didn’t hold a candle to Kate’s beauty.
“Um..” Kate looked up at me, unsure of what to say. I gave a slight shake of my head, letting her know not to say a word.
“Just a guy I know through my cousin. Gar-Gary, this is Samantha. Samantha, Gary.”
I gave a slight nod to her, but returned my gaze to Kate.
“You don’t look like a Gary to me.”
“Family name,” I muttered, never taking my eyes off Kate. Her face flushed slightly as she felt my gaze burning into her. “I think it’s time we took this someplace else, don’t you think?”
She smiled up at me hesitantly, showing me that she still feared me. “I’m going to stay here a while. Maybe I’ll catch up with you later.” She turned back to her friend and I leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“I’ve got no problem taking out anyone who stands in my way. Do you want to know how many men I’ve killed since the last time I saw you?”
I saw her visibly swallow and she pushed back from the table. “I’m sorry, Samantha, but I’m going to have to leave. Let’s do this another time.”
Samantha looked stunned, but didn’t say anything. I took Kate’s coat and helped her into it, then wrapped my arm around her waist and led her out the door.
“You didn’t have to threaten anyone.”
“You weren’t going to come with me.”
“Why would I? You’re a killer.”
“You’ve been waiting for me to come back for you. Do you think I don’t see you looking around for me? You always know when I’m around.”
Knight: A Reed Security Romance (Reed Security Series Book 4) Page 2