Fever Claim (The Sigma Menace)

by Marie Johnston

  “So,” she began, “thanks for breakfast.”

  He shrugged. “No problem.” He was reclining back in his chair, arms crossed over his big chest, his long legs kicked out and crossed in front of him.

  She leaned her hip against the counter, trying to figure out what else to say. He mentioned wanting to talk and she couldn’t imagine about what. She wanted to start with why he was still there. But the thought of him leaving made her gut clench. She liked seeing him in her place, wished she hadn’t missed him rummaging through her cabinets. Bizarre.

  She always knew what to say and her brain wasn’t fuzzy, considering last night’s alcohol and the mountain of pure male relaxing at her kitchen table, her thoughts should be unclear. Yet her thinking was just fine…

  “I don’t know where to begin—” Jace started.

  “Did you do something to my drink?” Cassie blurted.

  A hint of amusement lit his face as he considered his answer. “Yes. I gave you more juice, less vodka. No, I did not roofie you.”

  “Why?” She was slightly confused, a little intrigued, and getting a lot angry that he had the audacity to water down her drinks. She wasn’t an impulsive woman who needed to be protected from herself. “Do you do that with all the women you want to help get home?”

  His eyebrows went up and she hated the hint of jealousy that laced her question.

  Completely serious, he said, “I don’t take any women home, Cassie. At all. The club is my job, not my scene. I’ve wanted you since I first saw you and I didn’t want you drunk, regretting your decision.”

  It was her turn to have her eyebrows shoot up. If he hadn’t shocked her with that last sentence, she’d have embarrassed herself beaming at his proclamation.

  “I’d been pretty dry in the woman department before I first saw you,” he continued, “but after that, I just wanted you.”

  “And now what do you want?”

  Chapter Three

  Jace’s bright eyes took on a predatory look as he sat up, drawing her gaze to the unmistakable bulge in his jeans. Her heart pounded, the beat thrumming down through her pajama pants. He looked like he wanted to devour her, spread her across the table and feast on her until they were both sated. Her body, wet and aching, was clearly ready for him, but her mind was still trying to process the whys of their discussion.

  A faint musical tone caught her attention.

  “My phone!” Cassie followed the sound to her foyer where she found her clothes still scattered where they were tossed last night. She located her purse, dropped right inside by the door, and dug out her phone. It was Kaitlyn calling, probably checking up on her after leaving her at the club.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Cassie asked, breathless, and it wasn’t just from the mad dash from the kitchen. How would she discreetly field Kaitlyn’s questions while Jace was still there—and then field Kaitlyn’s excitement when she found out Jace was still there?

  Cassie heard muffled breathing on the other end. “Cassie?” Kaitlyn squeaked into the phone.

  “Yeah, is something wrong?”

  “Oh God, Cassie, I need your help.” Kaitlyn rushed on in a quiet voice. “We went to an abandoned building outside of town, he had a friend, we partied, then I passed out. I woke up and they were fighting. I… I think they’re dead.” Kaitlyn dissolved into sobs.

  “Kaitlyn, where are you?” Cassie only heard her friend stifling her sobs on the other end. Think, Dr. Stockwell! “Where did you drive to? Did you see any signs or road names? What way out of town? Breathe, Kaitlyn. Tell me what you remember.” She heard Kaitlyn trying to calm herself and breathe. “That’s right, in and out, Kaitlyn. What way did you head out of town?”

  “We kept heading out past the club, on one of the main roads, um… south, I think. Tyson took some off-roads to, like, an industrial place, a quarry or something, kind of abandoned. He said his friend owned the land and he knew a place we could hang. I think they’re both dead, Cassie. I have no way out of here, unless I search his body for keys and I can’t go back in there.”

  Her last words were shuttered. Kaitlyn was about to dissolve into tears again. “Breathe, Kaitlyn. Tell me where you’re at now.”

  Kaitlyn drew in a shaky breath, “I grabbed my shit and ran out of the building. I just ran. I don’t know where I’m at.”

  Before Kaitlyn panicked again, Cassie urged her on, “It’s okay. Tell me what’s around you.”

  “I see piles of rock and dirt. Some buildings. The one I was in was large, like a factory. I ran out, but I’m hiding behind one of the smaller buildings. I have nowhere to go, Cassie.”

  “Okay, Kaitlyn, you need to hang up with me and call 9-1-1, then—”

  “No!”

  “No,” commanded a voice simultaneously from behind her. She spun around, Jace was right behind her, pulling on his boots. “We can get to her faster.”

  “Cassie, my phone’s dying. Please help me.” The phone went dead.

  Cassie turned and sprinted for her room. How’d he hear the conversation?

  In her room, Cassie pulled on a pair of jeans and a pink cotton tee, grabbed a pair of socks and ran to the door where Jace was waiting for her. She grabbed her shoes and purse.

  “Do you still have the keys?” she asked him.

  He held them up and opened the door to the garage. “I’ll drive. You finish getting ready in the car.”

  Even as she rushed past him out the door, she took in his appearance. He was even more imposing in broad daylight. His massive size was expressed by the formfitting black button-up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, while the biker boots gave him an extra inch or two in height.

  “We should call the police,” she said, as she ran around her car to crawl into the passenger seat.

  He folded himself behind the wheel and opened the garage door. “We can get to her first and they won’t be able to help her.”

  As she buckled up, she asked, “Then what happens when we get there?”

  Jace calmly drove through the streets. “You’ll need to trust me. I think I know who owns property in that part of town. The police aren’t going to be able to help your friend.”

  Cassie stared at him, confused. “Why can’t they help? Wait—you know where she’s at?”

  “I have an idea.” Jace dug his phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial while navigating through traffic. They were heading the direction of the club, presumably to follow the route Tyson took Kaitlyn.

  Jace spoke quietly into the phone. Even in these close quarters, she could hardly make out any words. It sounded like he was asking his boss for directions.

  Jace hung up, his attention back on the road. Ironic that here was man she had no idea what to do with less than an hour ago, and now she was extremely grateful to have him with her. How would she have found Kaitlyn otherwise? Calling the police to say her adult friend who partied with a couple of men last night was in trouble south of town didn’t seem like a good start. Driving aimlessly around town wouldn’t have been productive, either. She didn’t have Kaitlyn’s fighting skills. If she somehow happened on her wayward friend and if those men were still alive, then what? Hide behind Kaitlyn to call the police and hope her friend’s black belts could save them both? Introduce herself as “Dr. Stockwell” and offer free psychoanalysis?

  Jace’s silence frayed Cassie’s nerves. Maybe she should do what she did best and ask some questions.

  “Do you know whose land it is?”

  Jace shook his head. “I don’t know him. I’ve heard of him, though.”

  “How bad is he?” she prompted, trying not to shout Tell me everything you know, dammit!

  Jace’s jaw clenched, “He’s involved in some… dealings.”

  “Oh… shit.”

  “Yeah.” They drove in silence a little longer. They were on the outskirts of West Creek, now having passed Pale Moonlight, which sat on the outer edge of town anyway. This part of the city wasn’t as affluent as the rest. It wasn’t say
ing much, probably why the club patrons came from a rougher crowd. The houses were further apart, a little more rundown. More trees popped up and soon the terrain got a hillier and more wooded. Most of West Creek was the stereotypical wrong side of the tracks. It sat across the river from Freemont, a much larger metropolis with a more refined reputation.

  Cassie sat forward, intent on the surroundings, as Jace turned off the highway onto a gravel road. Every once in a while they passed a business—kayak and canoe rentals, small bed trucking company—until soon it was nothing but trees.

  Jace slowed and turned off onto a smaller gravel road that wound down around a hillside in the direction of the river. At one time, the road had been well maintained, but as it was now, Cassie wondered how in the world the small sports car Kaitlyn had rode out in survived the jaunt. Her heart thumped when they passed large mounds of different types of rock. They’d arrived at the quarry.

  Jace slowed the car as the larger building Kaitlyn mentioned came into view. He steered off the road and turned her car facing out, killing the engine.

  He faced her. “I need you to stay here. Get behind the wheel, doors locked, ready to go at the first sign of trouble. I’ll go look for your friend.”

  “I’m not waiting here,” she said flatly.

  “Cassie, I’m not going to ar—”

  “Jace,” she cut him off, “I can’t sit here not knowing what’s going on. I know. I have no guns, laughable self-defense skills, I get it. I’m no Jackie Chan. But I can’t just sit here.”

  Jace stared at her for a heartbeat, two heartbeats, three… then sighed. “All right. If I scent anything that might be a threat to you, we’re gone. Your safety is my main concern.”

  Relieved and more than a bit touched, Cassie nodded and went to open the door. Jace grabbed her arm and pulled her into him. Gently cupping her cheek he brought his mouth down to hers. Cassie instantly melted under him despite the circumstances. The gentleness he expressed through his kiss was completely unlike what his appearance and demeanor represented. Yet with her, she’d only known him to be thoughtful and protective. Meant only to be a one-night stand, here he was helping her help her best friend. No one could know what Kaitlyn meant to her. They were the odd couple. The party girl and the studious one, complete opposites, but each other’s rock.

  Cassie returned the kiss, greedily dancing with his tongue, wishing they were parked in the woods for a completely different reason. Just as quickly as he pulled her in, he pulled away, the look in his eyes told her he was thinking the same thing.

  “Let’s go,” he said gruffly. He shut the door quietly and watched her get out, again having to adjust his large bulge. Images from last night of her mouth wrapped around his impressive size flooded her mind. Involuntarily, her tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip.

  “Woman, you’re killing me.”

  Startled, her eyes snapped up to his. The hunger in their depths made her feel a bit what a fuzzy little mouse must feel like when happening across a cat’s path. But this mouse wouldn’t mind being caught.

  “Kaitlyn,” she said, more to snap her focus back into place than his.

  Instantly, his expression became grim. He lifted his nose into the air as if he was sniffing it. Was he serious about scenting trouble? She thought that was an odd phrase, not a literal one.

  He began walking and held his hand out behind him, like he expected her to grab it. She jogged up, slid her hand into his large warm one, and he gently closed his around hers. Like the kiss, the intimacy of his actions were not what she expected from him.

  Gravel crunched under foot. The only other sounds to be heard were rustling leaves on the trees surrounding the quarry and birds singing. It’d be an absolutely gorgeous spring day if she didn’t fear for Kaitlyn’s life.

  Jace led them around the far side of the rock mounds to a smaller building that looked like a trailer. The head office, perhaps? It sat about a hundred yards from the larger building that must have, or may still, house the heavy equipment used in stripping the hillside.

  There was a clearing between them and the trailer. Jace leaned down and spoke quietly in her ear. “Without yelling, call for Kaitlyn. She’s on the other side of that building.”

  Curious how he’d know that, she called, “Kaitlyn?”

  No answer.

  “Try again,” Jace said. “Only a little louder.”

  “Kaitlyn!”

  “Ca-Cassie?”

  Cassie’s heart surged with relief and she wanted to sprint to her friend. “Are you all right? Stay there, we’ll come to you.”

  “We? Who’s with you?”

  “Jace,” Cassie paused. “The bartender.”

  “No police?”

  Cassie desperately wanted to go to the police, but she’d calm Kaitlyn first. “No just us. We’re coming to you, okay?”

  Jace subtly sniffed the air again and was looking at the larger building. He jogged across the clearing, pulling her with him. They furtively searched their surroundings for any movement, and cautiously peered around the trailer to find Kaitlyn.

  She sat on the ground in the dirt, with her back against the doublewide, her arms wrapped around her knees. Her dress was wrinkled and most of her makeup had worn off. Black smudges magnified the dark circles under her eyes. Dark blood stained her face and arms. Cassie rushed toward her and squatted beside her, Jace close behind.

  As Cassie searched Kaitlyn’s arms for injuries, but Kaitlyn shrugged her off. “It’s not my blood. At least, most of it’s not.”

  Cassie remained squatting next to the dazed girl, her hand on her shoulder. “Tell me what happened.”

  Kaitlyn rested her head on the wall behind her, her arms still wrapped around her knees. Her gaze flickered to Jace.

  “I’ll go check the building. See if, ah,” Jace paused, “they’re still there.”

  His footsteps through the gravel faded. Part of Cassie wanted to run after him and ask him to stay, she hated seeing him leave. She felt safer with him near, though they’d found Kaitlyn. Instead she sat quietly, rubbing the traumatized girl’s shoulder, patiently waiting until she was ready to talk.

  Kaitlyn swallowed and closed her eyes. “He drove me out here. There was this guy waiting for us. He was hot; I wanted to hook up.” She turned her head to face Cassie, her expression one of such inner turmoil. Tears started streaming down her face. “I’ve been doing that, you know? Being with two guys at a time. When you’re not with me, I’ve been going to the club… to The Den.”

  Cassie was stunned. Kaitlyn was a jelly girl? Why would she keep it a secret? She should know Cassie would support her no matter what.

  “Hey,” she said softly, tucking a lock of coppery hair behind Kaitlyn’s ear. “It’s okay. It only bothers me if it bothers you. Tell me what happened after that and don’t be afraid you’ll scare me off. You know I’ve heard worse.”

  A quick flash of relief crossed Kaitlyn’s face, she took a deep breath. “We drank and partied—all night. Toward morning, we just kind of passed out on the bed the other guy had set up in there. He lives there. Lived, I guess.” She fell quiet. Her eyes closed again, as if everything she was going to describe she could see running through her mind.

  “I woke to arguing. I stayed still when I heard it was about me. Tyson was afraid that since he was at the bar with me, they’d come after him when they found my body. The other guy said they wouldn’t find my body. Tyson argued that I had a friend at the club who knew we left together. But he said ‘you know what she is, she needs to be destroyed’ and came for me.

  “I was afraid he’d shoot me before I could do anything so I pretended to stretch and roll over, to face him and see how he intended to kill me. He had a knife, I pretended to panic—so I could take him off guard, right? When we fought and it was obvious I was better, and I got him to drop the knife, Tyson jumped in. He grabbed the knife and the bastard sliced me across the side. Then… then…” Kaitlyn’s faced crumpled, the tears flowed hard
er.

  Cassie murmured comforting words, her heart breaking for Kaitlyn. Her friend’s wild ways had always worried her, feared they’d make her a target. But for someone to actually want her dead? Why would they hate Kaitlyn so badly they felt like they had to destroy her?

  “Then,” she continued after a deep breath, her voice still cracking, “I don’t know what happened. It was like an out of body experience or something. My whole body felt like it was on fire, everything overly sensitive. I heard these animal sounds, like growling and snarling. I could see both of them getting taken down and shredded. But it was like I was too close to see what was killing them. Then I blacked out. I don’t think for long.” Kaitlyn took another deep breath. “When I came to, there was so much blood. They weren’t moving. I grabbed my dress and ran out. They’re dead and I think I killed them.”

  ***

  Jace walked directly to the warehouse. His heightened senses didn’t pick up on anyone else in the vicinity, other than himself and the girls. Cassie would be okay with Kaitlyn, her friend would die before she would hurt her. If he hadn’t seen how close the two women were in the last several months, he may have had reservations given what he recently realized about Kaitlyn.

  He smelled the acrid stench of death coming from the building. He couldn’t see the sports car Kaitlyn said Tyson drove. It must be inside. Walking through the open side door, Jace’s vision didn’t need to adjust to the dark. He saw just as well in the dark as daylight.

  What was spread before him, along with what bits he’d heard from Kaitlyn’s story on the phone, and what he knew her tendencies were at the club, he could make out the story of what had happened.

  The warehouse had no heavy equipment stored inside. It was bare except for a corner that had been turned into sparse living quarters with a fridge, table with a hot plate and microwave, two sturdy chairs, and a bed sided by a couple of beaten down dressers. The Roadster was parked at the far end by the large garage door. Two naked bodies were spread out in between. And by spread out, Jace meant literally. Blood coated the floor and spattered the walls. A trail of organs led to one body. The other body was missing a couple of limbs. A quick scan deeper into the warehouse… oh, there they were.