Games We Play

by Isabelle Arocho

  When they were alone it was Gage to ask, “You know her?”

  “She’s the sheriff’s wife and I used to have Sunday dinners at their house. She’s one of the few people I miss from this place.” Sasha managed to sit up as she spoke with only a few groans. The floor wasn’t carpeted and while hardwood was lovely to look at it hurt like a son of a bitch. “I’m going to wash my hands now.” Alone in the bathroom the reality of what happened started to settle in. The killer had been in her bedroom waiting to hurt her, scare her, all for his sick pleasure and to prove he can. His blood stained her fingers and her blood was ugly and sticky on her face.

  It was still a win, she reminded herself and turned away from the mirror. After washing her hands she went back out to face the questions bound to come. The sheriff’s department was going to want a statement before they left.

  Sasha met with two deputies downstairs in charge of taking hers and Nick’s statement while Sheriff Howard was talking to the crime scene unit outside. “We’re trying to see if he left us any foot prints we can use.” He explained as he joined the crowd in the kitchen. “Has the ever lovely Mrs. Katy left?”

  “Yes sir.” The deputy answered. “She wanted to get a rush on the DNA samples collected.”

  Deacon clasped his hands together. “Sounds good, sounds good. Do we need to get an EMT over here?”

  Sasha shook her head. “It’s nothing more than a cut and I can handle cleaning it up later. How did it go with Candice’s family?”

  “As expected, they’re angry and mourning her loss. There isn’t a Maple Oaks resident that doesn’t want this SOB captured. I have lots of calls and paperwork waiting for me, are you sure you want to stay here?”

  “Yes sir.” She gave him a big toothy smile. “We can handle ourselves.” Sasha didn’t want to remind him how she trained for these situations as was her pretend husband staying by her side.

  His smile wasn’t as big or as joyful. “That’s what worries me. I’ll be going then and if anything else no matter how minimal happens you call me.”

  Sasha sat back in her chair as Nick walked the sheriff and his deputies out and thanked them for their assistance. After swearing up and down she was fine and yes she and Nick would be safe Noah and Gage soon left as well.

  When Nick joined her again he went right for the cabinet and pulled the first aid kit free. “Let’s get that cleaned up. Do you still feel like eating?”

  “Yup, believe it or not I’m starving.” Sasha sat like a good patient and let him clean up the gash across her cheek and bandage it closed.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Not enough to be a cry baby about it.”

  “What about your wrist? You’ve been holding on to it.”

  Sasha hadn’t realized that and looked down to see she was cradling her wrist to her chest. “He twisted it and in the middle of trying to log evidence it slipped my mind.”

  Nick’s caring gaze was quickly shifting into something less pleasant. “It could be sprained or broken and you just forgot? You won’t stay at this job long if you’re reckless.”

  “Because Pete has a problem with it?”

  “No, because you’ll be dead.” He reached back into the first aid kit and pulled an ace free. “Can you move it?”

  “Yeah.” It hurt but she was able to move her wrist everyway she was supposed to. “Is there something else on your mind you didn’t get out earlier? I don’t know why you’re acting like an ass.”

  “Caring whether you live or die is acting like an ass?”

  “I’m not fatally hurt in any way and you’re overreacting yes. If this is how it’s gonna be we might have to rethink our earlier plans. You can’t treat me like less because you’re worried and you can’t try to protect me from the same career you lead. We have to be equals on the field and at home.”

  Nick’s eyes dropped down to the sneakers he still wore. “I’ve always cared whether you live or not and I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

  “I know. During the Silvino case when all those gunshots went off my heart stopped thinking you got hit. I almost jumped on you when you walked out of that warehouse perfectly fine.” Sasha thought it was time she be honest too and tell him it wasn’t always dislike between them and the transition into something more wasn’t as insane as it first sounded.

  Nick smiled and the tension started to lift. “You should’ve.”

  Chapter 21

  Nicholas wasn’t letting Sasha out of his sight and he didn’t care if he was overreacting or not. There was a pissed off sadist out there with her in his sights and there was no telling what he’d try next. The problem with the 7Xs killer was he held no fear in being caught and so far the bureau hadn’t done anything to shake his foundation. He was going to come at them again, Nick was sure of it as he lay on the couch with Sasha asleep in his arms.

  He was scared for her and doing a rotten job at hiding it. Unable to sleep he was focused on his thoughts and staring at her. Her brows were slightly pinched as she slept and he wondered what she was thinking about. He hoped it wasn’t the case and her guilt for not being able to save Candice Shelburne. There was nothing any of them could’ve done in time.

  His eyes moved down the sleek arches of her eyebrows over the tip of her nose and stopped at her mouth. Her set of full bee stung lips always drew him in. He remembered the exact day thirteen mouth ago when Pete called him in to meet their latest recruit. Sasha had tried to stand tall and appear calm but he felt her nervousness as soon as he stepped into the room and zoned right in on how she was biting her lower lip from inside her mouth. From that day on he always looked at her lips every time they were together. His fetish was only worsening as he now knew what it felt like to kiss her.

  Nick smiled at the reply of her words earlier. She was willing to give them a try, she wanted it to work out, and she cared about him. All good things. Now they just had to get the hell out of Maple Oaks.

  Sasha turned from her back onto her side and still asleep she was completely unaware the hell she was putting him through. The back of her body fit perfectly over his chest and groin. There was only a small space down by their legs were she wasn’t snug to him.

  There was no way he was getting any sleep now. His pants grew tight and he started to panic, she needed all the sleep she could get and he didn’t want a poke waking her up or the embarrassing conversation that would follow about how she wanted to wait and he was shit out of luck. Nick forced himself to think unpleasant things like Noah burping after a huge plate of his mother’s food, Pete’s long detailed accounts on the latest fishing techniques, Sasha naked…oops no that wasn’t helping. Nick thought of his mother’s face and that did the trick.

  Some point during the sexual torture and long thoughts he fell asleep. His eyes started to open when he felt his arm trying to be lifted, the same exact arm that was over Sasha’s waist holding her to him. Hmm, she was trying to get up without waking him, he mused and decided to see what her plan consisted of because so far she couldn’t move his arm.

  A slight groan left her mouth as she gave up momentarily and dropped her hands from his arm. “Why are you so heavy?” she grumbled under her breath.

  Nick tightened his grip. “Why are you trying to escape?” his voice was still laden with sleep as he buried his face in the crook of her neck.

  “I was trying to let you keep sleeping so—”

  “So you could go upstairs and retrace the scene without me?”

  “I was going to say so I could go pee but sure we can go with your idea too. Are you going to let me up now?”

  He kissed her neck and released his arm. “Sure.” It was nice to wake up with her in his arms and she wasn’t even weird about the whole thing. They were trapped in the middle of a gloomy situation but even so there was a reason to have hope and she just gave it to him.

  There was a big bursting feeling in his heart, the same type of feeling his younger sister would use to describe what love felt like and he’d tell
her to stop reading so many romance novels. Now as it was happening to him he didn’t think the feeling was so fake anymore.

  Nick got up from the couch and went to brush his teeth and get ready for the day. After washing up he climbed the staircase to join Sasha in the bedroom. He fully expected to find her pacing around the front of the bed mentally recounting the fight with the unsub but instead he was treated to a better show.

  Sasha was standing in front of her closet searching for something to put on and as she searched she stood with her back facing him and giving him a clear view of her panties. These had a leopard print.

  He asked, “Do you have some weird fetish with animal print underwear?”

  She shrugged, her long hair covering her shoulders and back. “It was a sale and I’m not very picky.”

  “Does the front match?”

  She laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Yes, I desperately want to know.” With another laugh she turned and gave him a quick glimpse of her bra and it didn’t match the leopard print. The bra was black, sexy, full, and forever imprinted in his mind. “Tease.”

  “Hey, I don’t see you giving me a peak of your underwear.”

  “I would if you wanted one.”

  “You have no decency Nicholas McBain.”

  He moved behind her, his hand trailing over her neck and turning her face for him to see. “None.” He kissed her and the dress in her hands fell to the floor.

  She turned around and fully kissed him back with no reserve. With the air clear and them on the same page she was no longer shying away from the attraction between them and gave into it with all her might.

  Her kiss was searing across his mouth and he wanted to know the heat of the rest of her body, her skin against his. Nick reached for his shirt and hiked it over his head and let it fall wherever it may.

  What started off as a morning teasing game rapidly shifted into intense sexual need to the point of being painful. Nick pulled her close to his chest and reached for her legs, when they were wrapped around his waist he carried them over to the bed. He touched his hands to the naked smooth surface of her legs and waist. He wanted to feel everything, to have her naked beneath him and calling out his name. Every night that week he had many of dreams that started this exact way but this was no dream, she was real against him and it was going perfect until she pulled back.

  “Nick, wait.” Her breathing was scattered all over the place and she held her hands between them as she tried to catch it.

  “What is it?” it was pure torture but he forced himself to move his hands and give her room.

  “I can’t do this.”

  “Can’t and don’t want are two very different things, which one is it?”

  “Can’t. I wanted to tell you this in a calmer setting when we got back home but me and sex don’t really work. I’ve only done it one time.”

  Nick’s eyes grew wide and betrayed his thoughts. He was surprised to say the least and very, very confused. “I don’t understand what that means.”

  “It wasn’t the best of experiences.”

  “You’re scared if we have sex it’ll be equally as bad or do you think it’d change something between us?” Sasha had no idea what she was doing to him, none at all. There wasn’t anything she could reveal that could change what he felt for her and what he wanted.

  “I think we should wait.”

  “And we can wait as along as you need but I want to understand this.”

  Her eyes darkened as they drifted from his face and over his chest. “We can talk after we put clothes on.” With speed he had never seen her use before she crawled out from under him and grabbed the dress off the floor.

  At a slower pace Nick got off the bed and grabbed his same t-shirt from the floor. Sasha was shying away from him again, her face red with embarrassment as she turned away and pretended to be interested in something on the nightstand.

  “I’ll go start the coffee.” Nick knew when it was time to giving her breathing room and now was one of those times. After pouring the water and measuring the coffee beans he moved over to the fridge to find something easy to go along with it.

  He was in the middle of searching when Sasha came marching into the kitchen. “Just let me say this all in one shot. I was nineteen in college dating what I thought was a great guy for a few months before going all the way. It hurt and after he got what he wanted he pretended not to know me. I swore off guys and made up my mind to keep focused on school and what I wanted from my career. It’s always been easier to blend in as one of the guys and ignore wanting anything romantic. It’s been working really good too until this trip and you. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing and I am scared this is all too good to be true and you’ll bail.”

  Nick wanted to ask her if she knew where her ex was now so he could go kick his ass but that wasn’t the point of her revelation. “I can say all the right things but I know that won’t be enough. You need me to prove this is real and until then we can wait. I’m fine with waiting because I haven’t been trying to gain your trust to get in your pants. If all I wanted was sex I couldn’t gotten that far easier from someone else.” It was the truth and that’s what she needed more than anything.

  “You want a real functioning relationship? With me?” she started to bite on her lower lip and he smiled.

  “Yes, you.”

  “I think you need to have a session with Pete because you’re crazy.”

  Nick moved to where she stood by the opening of the kitchen and kissed her. “Let’s have breakfast now.”

  Sasha was willing to drop the conversation only if he cooked something. That was going to be a requirement in their relationship and it was best he accept it now. She was giving him all the opportunities to pull out of their newfound arrangement but like a lunatic he wanted to stay, he still wanted her. As nice as if felt to be wanted she still couldn’t stop fearing the worse.

  And an hour later as they sat eating scrambled eggs and bacon the worse came but her fear had been directed at the wrong place. The earth shattering news had nothing to do with Nicholas.

  It started with a phone call from the 7Xs killer himself.

  Chapter 22

  Sasha knew as she reached for the phone it was him, he was the only person to call the landline in all these days they had been in Maple Oaks. “Hello, Maggie speaking.”

  “Now we both know that’s a lie, isn’t it Sasha?”

  Her body turned cold and it was as if time stopped moving. “Excuse me?”

  “Sasha Madden of the FBI. Sasha who used to walk around this town like a rapid dog begging to be loved. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out? I told you not to try and fool me.” His voice was emotionless, not even anger inside his flat tone, and that made him all the more scarier.

  Sasha wasn’t prepared for this and didn’t know what she was supposed to do next. She looked at Nick and saw he was on his cellphone calling Pete or maybe the rest of their team for immediate back up. There was no telling what 7Xs was up to. He sounded very confidant in the information he had and she refused to waste time trying to change his impossible mind. “How did you figure it out?”

  “Ah, now you admit it. I’m a lot closer than you think Sasha and I know every step before you make it. You’re going to live long enough to regret this mistake of yours and mourn down to your very morrow.”

  Sudden tears leaked from her eyes as her emotions made the connection before her thoughts could. “Mourn?” there was only one person left in her life to take taken away, only one person…

  “Carolyn says hello.”

  Sasha jumped from her seat as he hung up on her. “No!”

  Nicholas was there grabbing her before her knees reached the floor. “We’re going to find her.” He repeated the words over and over as she cried in his arms and they both ended up on the floor.

  Carolyn’s face flashed through her mind’s eye and Sasha knew crying wasn’t going to do a lick of good. She pulled o
ut of Nick’s arms and stood. “We need to figure out how he learned about me and my sister. He said he’s a lot closer than I thought.” Those words kept echoing and she knew they would be the key to finally nailing him to the wall. She picked up the phone and dialed the sheriff’s direct number. “Is there anything from those DNA samples yet?”

  “Wayne just filled me in on the way out to your place. I am so sorry about Carolyn.”

  “She’s not dead and we have some time before that changes. Is there anything from the samples? We have to ID him now.” Staying on automatic was the only way she could see surviving the day.

  “Katy spent the whole night preparing the sample and now we’re waiting for a hit. Your boss and I have called in every favor possible to rush it and as soon as there is a hint you’ll be the first to know. Is there anything I can do?” ever the gentleman Deacon was trying to offer his support and remorse at the same time.

  Deacon’s tender raspy tone brought fresh tears to her eyes and she was reminded again of all the good he and his wife had done for her. “We have to find him. I want to go to Caro’s place and search for any clues left behind.”

  Deacon rattled off the address of her sister’s new home. “I’ll have a deputy waiting there for assist you.”

  “Thank you.” Sasha hung up just as Nick went for the front door to let the guys in.

  Gage came and scooped her up into his arms. “It’s going to be ok.”

  Sasha knew she had to stay focused and wavering that focus for even a second was going to take her down the dark path she wouldn’t be able to turn away from easily. “I’m meeting a deputy at Caro’s place to find out what might’ve happened.” She was halfway out the door as she spoke and along the way she made sure to grab her gun from the coffee table.

  Nick was quick to follow and offering to drive. Inside the car he grabbed ahold of her hand and didn’t let go until they reached the address and he had to. There were words he wanted to say, along the drive he kept glancing at her but whatever those words were he kept them to himself and remained silent.