She shook her head, holding his arm so tightly now that the tips of her nails began to dig into the skin.
“It’s okay,” she said, grabbing both his arms this time. “He’s….” Her eyes narrowed over Linc’s shoulder, where he assumed the man was still lying in the grass. He’d better be. Linc had no problem putting him back down if need be.
“He was hurting you,” Linc said.
Veda shook her head again. Every second he was sure those brown eyes couldn’t get any bigger, she proved him wrong.
“He’s a friend,” she finished, nodding while looking up at him. “We were just kidding around.”
Linc raised his eyebrows at that blatant lie. The horrified look on her face grew more so by the second. He peered over his shoulder at the man.
“It’s all good, man.” The guy seized his camera and stumbled to his feet, wiping the blood on his bottom lip with the back of his hand. He tried to smile, but it rang false.
“Get the fuck out of here,” Linc spat. “Before I put your ass under arrest.”
The man cringed. “For what? For taking your fist to the face? I done nothing wrong. You got nothing to charge me for. You got nothing on me.”
“Until I do,” Linc spat, stepping forward, even as Veda continued trying to pull him back. “Am I gonna have something on you, or are you gonna walk the fuck away? Your decision.”
“Threatening to plant something on me. Just like a cop. Crooked piece of shit.” Even as he talked trash, the man stumbled backward, watching Veda. “Veda, I’ll see you Monday.” His sour gaze flew to Linc. “Don’t bring the pig.”
With every step the man took backward, Linc took one forward, all with his arm still trapped in Veda’s hold. Only when the man turned his back, walked away, and disappeared around a line of tall bushes did Linc face her once more.
He met her eyes, which were finally beginning to grow smaller in the man’s retreat, and only then did he relax. His blood stopped pumping at a thousand miles a minute. His heartbeat slowed. The flex of his biceps under her trembling grip relaxed.
The moment the adrenaline racing through him died down, the blood that had previously been clogging up his ears seemed to race straight to his knuckles. It filled and inflamed the bones. In the next instant, they were screaming with pain.
He cringed at the sudden shot of agony, like hot lava melting his knuckles. He turned his back to Veda, lifting his limp hand into the air and biting back a curse.
Over his shoulder, Veda cursed too. “Damn it, Linc.”
12
“Can’t a girl enjoy her lunch hour without some guy throwing a punch in her honor?” Veda breathed in the scent of alcohol as she ripped the sanitizer package open, peeking over her shoulder while lifting an eyebrow. Her eyes fell to the gold police badge hanging from a chain around Linc’s neck. “Who said chivalry’s dead?
Linc glowered at her from where he sat on the edge of the hospital bed, hands braced on the baby blue bedding as if he were readying himself to hop off and leave.
“Stop putting pressure on your hand,” she demanded.
He raised that scarred eyebrow and curled that plush top lip. After displaying his disgust at being told what to do, he did just that, removing his weight from his hands and cradling the one that had the bloody knuckles in his lap. A few wisps of his long brown hair had come undone from his bun during the scuffle, falling into his green eyes, which were the color of leaves under the hospital room’s bright lights.
“That’s better,” Veda whispered, opening up a few more packages before heading over to him.
Slowly, Linc lifted his eyes from where he’d been staring down at his bloody knuckles, meeting hers. His gaze went hard, as if she were a baby lamb approaching a cheetah in the wild, warning her that she shouldn’t dare come too close.
Her dark brown eyes held his, and she couldn’t stop her smile from growing a little wider the closer she moved to him. She hesitated once she was between his strong, jean-clad thighs, spread far apart on the bed.
His chest swelled under his black T-shirt when she took hold of his hand and lifted it.
Her chest rose high as well as she took a moment to survey the damage, turning it back and forth slowly so she could see it from all angles. Her breathing came slower, deeper.
She pressed her thumb into a few areas of his hand, asking, “does this hurt?” each time.
He responded with a deeper, more annoyed grunt every time, which she assumed meant ‘No, and please get on with it.’
“Well, it’s not broken, thank God.”
“I told you I’m fine,” he growled. “And I have a vic on the fourth floor I have to go question.”
“Anything to do with The Chopper?” Veda asked.
“None of your business.”
Expecting that response, she rolled her eyes. She hadn’t been looking for an answer anyway, just seizing the opportunity to distance herself from The Chopper. She hadn’t forgotten about Linc checking her nails months back to see if her manicure matched the chipped piece of nail polish that had been found at the crime scene of her number two’s failed castration. She’d narrowly escaped arrest and prosecution, and she hadn’t forgotten. So she’d leapt at any chance to keep the subconscious part of Linc’s mind—the part that had suspected her just a few months earlier—idle. She knew whatever victim was waiting for him on the fourth floor couldn’t have anything to do with The Chopper because she was the Chopper, and sadly, she hadn’t cut anyone’s balls out that week.
She’d hoped to have another victim for Linc to question before the month was out, but now that her number three had just dropped a bomb the size of Hiroshima on her in the hospital courtyard, she was having her doubts that she’d be able to finish Jax Murphy at all.
Jax didn’t just know who she was. He had photographic proof. Not just photos that proved she was The Chopper, but photos of Jake supplying her with the drug she used on her victims. Photos of her alone with Linc. Jax Murphy had enough dirt on her to end her relationship, her career, her freedom, and all the people she cared about in one fell swoop.
Would she even be able to finish what she came for? Eight of the animals who’d raped her still walked free, including Jax, most of them just as rich, spoiled, and entitled as ever. Now that Veda’s secret was on the tip of one of their tongues, she wasn’t sure she could risk continuing.
She couldn’t see any way out.
She might really have to stop.
That thought split her heart in two.
“You just focus on not accidentally killing anyone in here, all right?” Linc asked, his voice considerably softer and lower. He clearly thought her silence was a result of the nippy tone he’d just used with her.
“Even when I do accidentally kill someone”—she raised her eyebrows at him—“when, not if, I have an excellent insurance plan. So I’ll be just fine.” She drank in his smiling green eyes, thankful when they helped her forget about her problems. Even if only for a fleeting moment.
She took a deep breath and began cleaning the blood from his knuckles with the alcohol swab.
He winced when she hit a sensitive spot, where the force of his punch had split his skin open.
She winced with him, hating even the tiniest display of pain that may have been brought about by her hand. She peeked at him from under her eyelashes, knowing he probably wanted to complain but his ‘manliness’ wouldn’t allow it.
“Twice in one week, Linc,” she whispered. “Everyone in this hospital is already convinced I’m a curse to the male race. Bound to destroy any man who comes within a few feet of me. Way to prove them right.”
“Maybe they’re not wrong.” He winced when she applied more alcohol.
“You think I’m a curse?” she whispered.
“I think you looked terrified out there, that’s what I think.”
“I was fine.”
“I know what I saw.”
She fought a smile. “It was much more terrifying walking th
ese halls with you by my side. The nurses are surely plotting my death as we speak.”
He looked away, licking his lips.
“You’re pretty popular around here.”
His eyes came back to her. “You looked afraid.”
“Well, I wasn’t. I was… completely calm.”
He seemed to accept that she’d take this lie to the death. “Who was he?”
Just my worst fucking nightmare. “A friend.”
“Didn’t look friendly.”
Veda sighed as she finished cleaning the blood on his hand, going to step away.
He caught her forearm before she could get too far, pulling her back.
Mouth gaping open, Veda allowed herself to be pulled, stumbling forward.
Searching her eyes, Linc cupped her jaw with one hand, his fingertips tapping at the skin on the back of her neck, which he gripped for leverage. The pad of his thumb stroked her cheek, its roughness making her skin tingle.
Veda frowned, letting her eyes fall as he pulled his hand away. When she saw the pad of his thumb saturated with a faint red color, she breathed in softly.
“Hadn’t realized it got on my face,” she said, her eyes lowering. Grinning, she took one of the Flintstone Band-Aids she always kept in her pocket and covered the small cut on his knuckle.
Their heavy breathing filled the room, the only sound for several feet. The noises from the bustling hospital joined in faintly from the hallway.
“You could’ve easily gotten out of his hold back there,” he grumbled.
“Not all of us live to throw punches. I’m sure escaping some guy’s hold comes much easier to a man who loves to fight. And considering the amount of fights you’ve been in this week, I’d say you’re definitely one of those guys.”
He paused. “Next time we’re at the gym… I’ll teach you.”
Veda swallowed thickly as she pasted the Band-Aid to his pale skin. “My cruise to Cabo sets sail in less than a week.”
His eyes hardened. “No.”
“I haven’t even said anything.”
“The answer is no.”
“I asked Gage,” she said, as if she hadn’t heard him. “Turns out he has keycard access to every single area of the ship. Even the restricted ones.” She raised her eyebrows. “Are you telling me there isn’t a single thing you’d like to do with a handy dandy keycard like that?”
“There’s a million things I’d like to do, but exactly zero things I’d like you to do.”
“You don’t have a choice. Unless you finally get a warrant to search their ships. And according to our previous conversations, your boss has forbid you from even doing that. What did you tell me, ‘The next time I’m caught looking into my wife’s missing person’s case, I’m suspended’?” She pretended to think about it. “Yeah, pretty sure those were your exact words.”
His jaw tightened. “Am I free to go, Doctor?”
she studied him for a moment, looked down, and then ripped the Band-Aid off his knuckle with a little too much feeling.
He hissed.
“Ooops.” She dropped the Band-Aid to the floor. “Looks like you need a fresh one.”
“Any bandage with a Flintstone on the front is getting taken off the moment I leave this room anyway.” He tried to hop down from the bed but she put a hand on his bulky shoulder and shoved, keeping him on.
He chortled. “For real?”
She smirked and produced another Band-Aid, taking her sweet time peeling the layers away. “What if I got the keycard… and just gave it to you? To do with what you will? That’s not dangerous, right?”
His breathing picked up. His eyes expanded. Something passed through them that left him speechless. Then he sighed.
“I’m beginning to learn those deep, heaving sighs of yours aren’t the sound of disappointment like I originally imagined. Nope. That’s the sound of you giving in, Linc.”
“Why do you care whether or not I find my wife? Why do you care so damn much?”
“Why does it bother you so much that I do? We both know that all the poor people going missing on this island—never the rich ones—is no accident. We’re both sick and tired of it, along with every other hill kid who’s being subtly told that their lives don’t matter. Taught that their lives don’t matter. You should be happy to have an ally in all this, considering your boss is on a one-man mission to shut it all down.” After placing the fresh Band-Aid, Veda’s eyes climbed his bulging bicep, lingering on a scar that was peeking out of the arm of his T-shirt. She stroked it with her fingertips. “You’ve been shot.”
“You don’t say.”
She gave him a look. “Pretty gnarly scar.”
“Quarter of an inch to the left and I’d have lost the arm.”
“Any other bullet wounds?”
“A few.” He shrugged.
“Oh, just a few?” She laughed at his nonchalant tone. “Your wife must’ve hated that about you.” She crossed her arms. “Must’ve lost a lot of sleep waiting for you to come home every night.”
“She did.”
She took a deep breath, surprised at how easy it had been to pull that response from him. “What’s her name?”
He took his own deep, heaving breath, looking toward the door. He paused, eyes going to another place. “Lisa.”
Veda nodded.
He cut a look at her.
Silence.
She could almost hear him contemplating his own thoughts. Fighting them.
“You hand over the card….” He paused. “But you don’t become involved.”
Veda held her hands up on either side of her head, making a silent vow. “Scout’s honor.”
“Do it because you want to.” He pressed his lips together until they went white. “Not because you… you pity me, or something.”
Veda couldn’t stop herself from frowning at him. If he only knew.
“I could never pity you, Linc.” He had no idea that, to her, he was a superhero. He had no idea how deeply she would always feel for him for being the reason she breathed today. She shook her head. “Never.”
He continued studying her from the corner of his eyes, their chests rising and falling in time.
Then one corner of his mouth lifted.
“Is that a smile?” Veda teased, tilting her body to the side as if she were surveying an undiscovered animal in the wild. “At me?”
He tried to wipe the grin from his face, but that only made the pleasantry transfer to his green eyes, lighting them up.
His deep voice filled the room, crossing the small space between them and making her heart explode. “Thank you, Veda.”
And it hit her, right then.
Even though she’d just been blackmailed by one of her worst enemies, even if her boyfriend may have shared a surname with one of her worst enemies, and even if her life seemed on a constant mission to make her re-think her entire plan…
That world never failed to come grinding to a complete halt whenever she was within a few feet of Detective Lincoln Hill. The very man whose job it was to catch her. Apprehend her. End her life as she knew it.
She had to return his smile, not just because the sight of his rare smile sent a flash of light zooming through her, but because the sheer irony of her life wasn’t even stressful anymore.
At that point, it was simply hilarious.
13
Maybe it wasn’t so hilarious that Veda’s goal as she knew it was surely over. Maybe it wasn’t so hilarious that she was being blackmailed by Jax Murphy, who was apparently not only a rapist piece of shit but an opiate addict as well. Maybe it wasn’t so hilarious that she couldn’t even begin to imagine how to approach Jake about whether or not it was possible to lift two hundred milligrams of oxycodone from the pharmacy every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, without every alarm bell in the hospital sounding and a spotlight blinding him through the glare of the pharmacy windows.
Veda knew it would be nearly impossible. Even more than that, she wasn�
�t sure she could allow Jake to put his job on the line any further. If he was caught giving her a few hundred milligrams of undisclosed sodium thiopental, he would still lose his job, but probably wouldn’t even get arrested. And even if he did get arrested, he’d be facing probation, at most. But oxy? In the ridiculous dosage that Jax had demanded? A whole different ballgame. Jake wouldn’t just lose his job; he’d go to jail. That level of pilfering wasn’t just a breech of hospital policy, but a felony offense.
No.
She couldn’t do it.
But if she didn’t do it, would Jax punish her by releasing those damning photos that proved she was the Chopper? Was she damned if she did, damned if she didn’t?
She could hardly stand the reality that was hitting her like a rocket. He’d won again. Jax had won the game of destroying her soul ten years ago, and just when she’d begun to believe she had the upper hand, he’d hit her with an uppercut that threw her back against the ropes.
She exhaled sharply.
The tips of Gage’s soft fingers tightened around her nipple. Cupping her breast under her nightgown, she knew he’d taken her horrified sigh for a sound of pleasure, not terror.
“Where are you?” He whispered his new favorite words into her ear, his breath warming the lobe before he took it softly between his teeth.
Veda’s eyes ran over his feet, just as manicured and beautiful as his hands, stretched out past hers at the foot of the bed. She shifted from her place between his massive, olive-skinned thighs, dragging her leopard-print nails through the smooth smattering of hair that dusted his bulging muscles. She cuddled her head deeper into his chest, feeling the strength of his stomach rising and falling against her back, turning her ear into his collarbone so she could hear his heartbeat. The sound of it pounding didn’t make everything wash away the way it used to, but it still helped quiet a few of the demons in her heart.
“I’m right here,” she answered, covering his forearm with hers when he encircled her waist and pulled her closer. She took a deep breath and drank in his wonderful scent, which silenced the last of the voices in her head working overtime to make her stomach sick.
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