by WL Knightly
She began to move against his hand, her chin staying up as she looked at the ceiling. He noticed her throat as she swallowed. “You turn me on.”
“But you’ve only just arrived. So, you know what I think? I think you liked the attention that Max Smith gave you. I think you liked it so much that it made you wet for him.”
“No, that’s not true.” She shook her head, and he could see the fear in her, which made him hard.
“I think if you’d just left from bringing my fries, they’d still be warm, and this drink is melted down to chips of ice. Did you go somewhere with Officer Smith?”
“No, sir. He just brought me to the place and back.”
“Did you get in his car?”
“He had this ointment for my knee.”
He felt his blood begin to boil. “That’s not a no. Did he touch your knee? And don’t lie to me, Mia. I have eyes everywhere.”
Tears sprang to her eyes. “He just put the ointment on, is all. It was dirty, and he wanted to clean it. He gave me an alcohol wipe, but it burned.”
Bay ran his hand down to her cut and stopped just above it. “And did he blow on it or did you?”
“He did. He wasn’t being perverted.”
“I bet you were really dirty for him, weren’t you? The little dirty slut he wanted to touch. And you let him, didn’t you?” He ran his hand up her thigh and stopped. “Did he touch here?”
She didn’t have anything to say in response. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said as he brought his hand a little higher. “Here?” Still no response. He moved his hand between her legs and slipped his finger into the elastic of her panties. “Here?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“But you wanted it to be, didn’t you? That’s why you showed up here with cold food, bruised knees, and a wet pussy, isn’t it?” He had never seen her so beside herself, and when she shook her head, he stood up and whispered in her ear. “You need reminding who you belong to? Or maybe a little punishment for making me worry about you while you were out flirting with some fucking cop?”
She sobbed and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. I just thought he was nice is all. I didn’t let him touch me, Bay, I promise. I’ve only been with you.”
“I’ve got people dropping dead around me every other goddamned day, and the only thing that worries me in this world is that all of the horrible things I’ve done—and I’ve done a lot of fucking horrific things, Mia; too many things to tell you—I fear that they will catch up with me and I’ll lose you. And I don’t know how dangerous I’d be if I lost you. What would happen to your sister? To the baby? If I was to go away for doing something even more horrible.”
She looked up and met his eyes, and that was when he knew he had her attention. “I’m sorry,” she said, still trembling.
“Are you afraid of me?”
She nodded. “Right now, yes.”
“Don’t worry, Mia. I’m going to show you how much I was worried and remind you that you are mine.” He pinched her lips hard, so hard she winced. “This is mine too. You feel me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good girl.” He walked around behind her and pushed her forward on the desk. She caught herself with her hands and quickly moved down to lay across the paper calendar that had all of his appointments scrawled on it in black ink. Bay saw her tears splash on the paper, the ink smearing as he stood behind her. “You’re going to give it to me as good as you gave it to the cop?” He tried one more time to get her to admit it as he pushed up her skirt and pulled down her panties.
“I didn’t do anything. I swear it.”
“I believe you. Now, do you want me to stop?”
“No, please. Don’t stop. I need to be taught my lessons.” She tilted her ass upward, and he sank himself deep into her wet channel, still not sure no one else had been there. He’d been very careful with her. Perhaps too careful.
Chapter 8
Corey
Corey had been excited to see the storeroom he was going to stay in at Finch’s Guns and Goods, but what he hadn’t expected was to find it full of junk. And after a day of hard work to get it clean enough to get to the bed, he crashed out for the night, wishing he’d stuck to chopping wood and the hard couch on the compound.
With another day gone, he awoke on Tuesday and stumbled out of the back room to find the nearest bathroom, which Justin had told him was in the employees’ lounge.
He opened the door slowly, hearing voices out in the room beyond, and walked out to wide eyes and turning heads. “Hi,” he said to the two older men who didn’t have more than a curt nod to spare, and then he looked over to see a girl who was reading a magazine and eating powdered donuts.
“You’re the new stray,” she said, not looking up from the magazine. The girl was thin and pretty but plainly dressed in jeans and a work smock with her pale blond hair in two braids that rested on her shoulders and made her look a bit younger than he imagined she was.
“Is that what he called me? A stray?” Corey chuckled, and she looked up to offer him a smile. “I’m Corey.”
“I’m Brandy, and that’s what I called you. I’m a stray too, though, so don’t take any offense.” She pushed her small bag of donuts forward. “You hungry?”
He looked down at the bag and wanted something hot. “I was going to go out for something.”
“The store opens in less than ten, so you better get hopping.” She pulled the donuts back to her, took another one out of the bag, and bit into it.
Corey realized he didn’t have enough time to go out for food and that he had better take the young woman’s offer. The powdered things did look good, especially the way the powder dusted her lips. When she licked it off, he couldn’t help but notice.
“Fine, I guess I’ll join you.” He pulled out his wallet and then dug around in his pocket. He had a nickel and two pennies, neither of which would do him any good in the soda machine. So, he pulled out a twenty. “Do you have any change?” He held it out for her, and she looked at it a second before taking it and digging into the front pockets of her work apron. She brought out a few wadded bills and a handful of quarters and dimes and put them on the table.
He took the money, and when he unfolded it and had it all sorted, it was only four dollars and seventy-two cents. “This isn’t change for a twenty.”
She shrugged. “You asked for change. That’s all I have.” She managed to keep a straight face as the two men across the room chuckled. “Relax, I’ll buy lunch.”
As the two other men in the room chuckled louder than before, he took the dollar bills over to the soda machine and tried his best to straighten them out and feed them to the big metal monster. Finally, he managed to get a drink out of the thing, even though it wasn’t what he usually liked.
He sat down across from her, and she slid the bag of donuts back toward him and closed the magazine as the two other men left the room. She looked over and watched them go. “So, why are you sleeping in the storeroom?”
“I needed a place to crash.” He wasn’t going to tell her too much about his life.
“I used it last year before I got my trailer. Now I live out back.” She picked up her soda and turned it up. When she was done, she crushed the can.
He remembered seeing the trailer there his first day in town. “I saw it back there. I turned around in the lot on Sunday when I came here.”
She nodded with narrowed eyes. “You were in the Jeep?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Pretty nice mall crawler from what I remember. Are you from the city?”
He didn’t consider his Jeep a mall crawler, but then, he wasn’t sure what that was. “I’m from Phoenix.”
“You have money and a nice Jeep, probably worth about thirty to forty, right? And I saw that wad in your wallet.”
“Maybe it’s all I have in the world?” He liked that she was so observant. He’d always tried to be the same way.
“It’s not. I can tell. But the
re’s a reason a guy like you is sleeping in the backroom of a sporting goods store, and from the shit I’ve seen going on around here, it doesn’t surprise me. So, no worries, okay? Justin said you were going to be around a little while and that he’s already put you to work.”
“Yeah, he’s quite the taskmaster. I didn’t expect to be put to work.” Especially hard physical labor.
“Justin will whip you into shape, for sure. But it’s me you should worry about. I’m going to be your boss while you’re here. And you’re already two minutes late.” She got up, pushed her chair in, and walked away.
He stared at her ass as she went, and man, did she turn him on.
He ate a couple of the donuts, downed his drink, and then hurried downstairs to see that there were already a few people wandering around the store, shopping. The place was huge and spacious. He had no problem seeing to the front where Brandy and one of the older men stood talking. The guy finally nodded his head, walked away from her, and was gone by the time Corey approached.
“Do you think he’ll ever warm up to me?” Corey asked.
“Who? Jim? Him and Bob, the other man from upstairs, they don’t warm up to anyone. That’s why Justin keeps me around, for my sparkling personality.” Her sarcasm was apparent in her tone.
“I can see the customers liking you,” he said with a flirty tone.
She belted a laugh, and he loved the noise, like it was music to his ears. His first crush had had a silly laugh too, but Brandy was much prettier. “I’m sure you can see a lot of things, Corey.” She stepped away and went to the front counter to help a little old lady who had just walked in with a slip of paper in her hand.
He turned to see Justin heading his way with a look of determination in his eyes. “Follow me,” he said.
“Sure thing, boss,” Corey said with a chuckle.
Justin glanced over his shoulder. “I need you here, and you need a place to crash, so this works well for both of us, right?”
“Sure, I just didn’t see myself working here, but it’s cool, man. I don’t mind. It will give me something to do, and I have to say, I don’t mind the view.” He turned his eyes back to Brandy.
“Don’t get any ideas in your head. That one will chew you up and spit you out.”
Corey wouldn’t mind that one bit. “I’ve never minded a little bit of teeth, and it makes me no difference if she spits or swallows.” He chuckled.
But Justin looked down his nose at him and frowned. “Dude, she’s like a little sister to me, so seriously, if you’re going to go there, keep the witty shit to yourself.”
He didn’t want to do anything to upset Justin. “Sorry, man. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” He had to respect the guy. He had obviously helped the girl and gotten very close to her. “So, if she’s like a sister, you two never hooked up, right?”
Justin gave him a blank stare. “No.”
Corey knew he shouldn’t press on more about it and clapped his hands together. “So, what are you going to have me do?”
Justin headed to the back. “There’s a truck coming in, and I need your help unloading it,” he said over his shoulder.
Corey stayed on his heels. “Okay, no problem.”
He followed him all the way to the back where they waited by the back door. Justin got a call, and while he stepped away to take it, Corey leaned against the brick and looked over at the trailer.
Justin walked over as a truck pulled around the corner. “There it is,” he said.
Corey pushed off the wall and walked forward with Justin, who waved his hands for the driver to back up to the door.
When the cab opened, Justin walked forward and examined the load. Then he got the forklift, unloaded the heavy pallet of soil, and took it to the storeroom. After doing a few more that way, he jumped off the forklift and shut the truck door. He walked over and spoke to the driver, who drove away shortly after, leaving Justin to stand and watch him go.
“Come with me.” He walked by, went to where he’d placed the pallets, and pulled a large bag of garden soil from the top. “Here,” he said, passing it off to Corey. “Stack these by the wall there, and we’ll move them into the garden center later.”
“I could go get a cart now if you wanted,” Corey offered.
“No, just help me get these.” He quickly took out the other bags of soil one by one and passed them to Corey, who was sure they were just doing shit the hard way. One good thing about it, he was going to be strong when all was said and done with this trip.
Finally, after moving about thirty bags, Justin passed him a few of the pallets that the soil had been stacked on, and Corey noticed right away that they were heavy for wooden pallets, which he’d handled a few times before.
“Dang, these must be well-made.” His voice strained a bit as he took in a breath, and Justin, after giving him a sideward look, grabbed another pallet, hefted it up, and put it against the wall. Then Justin found two other pallets from the stockroom and put them on the floor near the pile they’d just created.
“Move the soil to these pallets, and you can take them to the garden center when you’re done.”
Corey didn’t understand what was going on but did as he was instructed. He finally got the answer to his question when Justin took a crowbar to one of the pallets that came off the truck and pried it open. He pulled out a large assault rifle and gave it a onceover before pulling out another and another. Each pallet had several neatly packed inside. Corey knew better than to ask, but Justin caught him looking.
“These are for my personal use. One day, we just might need them.” He gave Corey a wink and went back to checking the pallets for his loot.
Corey had always known the man was preparing for the apocalypse, and this confirmed it. There was no telling how many weapons he had on that compound, and he figured he was better off not knowing more than he had to.
His phone pinged while Justin went to bring his truck around. Corey looked down at the screen and saw the killer had finally decided to message.
Well played, now it’s time for you to choose another, it said.
Corey wasn’t about to give in to a bully like the killer. He’d had enough of that kind of pressure in his life. He let his thumbs dance across the screen and typed his own message. I’m done. This stops with me. I’m not playing your game or stooping to your levels ever again.
He released a cleansing breath, knowing the killer was probably good and pissed off, and he hoped that they couldn’t trace where his phone was being used.
A shame.
The message stared back at him on the screen and burned into his mind. He had no idea what the killer was going to do and figured he’d get a rise out of them. But instead, all he got was a vague message that would leave him guessing.
He only had one more message for the killer. I’m not like the others, I’ve got nothing to lose. So I’m going to find out who you are and I’m going to stop you.
Chapter 9
Darek
The office was much quieter now that the questionnaire had been passed out for the public who wanted to report cult activity, and Darek’s mood was a lot better. He had spent the entire morning going over the page of leads coming in but hadn’t found any which seemed solid.
Lizzy sat at her desk doing the same while sipping a cup of coffee. “Damn, that Tad Halston got around.”
“He was a very popular man. That’s for sure. And so was Logan Miller. He and that girlfriend of his made their way through every female escort in the city. I guess she liked to watch him with younger girls.”
“Or reward him with them,” said Max, who had been lingering around the coffeemaker. “I had a buddy who was into older women. He said they aren’t the same as the younger chicks; more mature and a lot more open to sharing. He said that his older woman would give him younger girls for special occasions.”
“You mean as gifts?” Darek asked. “Like birthdays and Christmas?”
“Right, or just for remembering certain
dates, like their first kiss, their first date and so on. He said that it was so good, he kept her around a lot longer than he should have just to keep the fresh young pussy coming in.” Lizzy looked up and gave him a sour look, but he kept on rambling like she wasn’t offended. “Turns out in the end, he hooked up on the side with one of the younger one, and they’ve been together since.”
“I guess that’s what you get for sharing,” said Lizzy.
Darek laughed. “Can’t blame the guy for milking that opportunity. Just saying.”
Lizzy squared her shoulders. “You would keep seeing someone, even though you have no real love for them, just because you like the arrangement of things?”
He was doing that with Raven but didn’t think it was going to be a good time to admit it. “It depends. I’m just saying, he had it made for a while. Why not milk it?” He realized that might not have been the right thing to say either.
Lizzy shook her head and turned over another report. “You two are both pigs.”
“And you love us. Admit it.” Max poked her side, and she wiggled away from him as she giggled. Darek couldn’t help but notice how chummy they were and knew he couldn’t get away with it himself anymore.
Instead, he changed the subject. “Did you see any Zodiac marks reported that were brands and not from one of the known victims?”
“No,” she said. “Most are from Halston and Miller, and the rest are bad tattoos and one guy whose girlfriend reported as having a swastika carved into his lower back.” She shook her head.
“A swastika tramp stamp?” asked Max. “Ten bucks he got it in prison.”
“After reading these reports, nothing surprises me. Most of these are parents with rebellious teens, and the rest are people wanting attention.”
“We’ll find something,” Lizzy said.
Max took another stack and started to sift through them. “At least the hall is nice and cleared out.”
Lizzy turned over another paper, and her reaction was much different than with the others. Her eyes narrowed, and she held the page away for a moment like it was too much to take in. “This is wild.” She held the page up, and there was a drawing of a symbol that was shaped like a U with a wavy line through it. “I am Ophi, it says. The thirteenth sign of the zodiac.”