He glanced at the digital clock on the stove. “Almost three hours—so, not too long.”
Aaris had begun petting the front of Max’s shirt vigorously, like an animal in need of calming. Instead of moving away from her, he appeared to welcome the contact.
And I kissed my chances of seducing him goodbye.
He reminded me of the feral cats that used to come up on the patio at my parent’s house when I still lived at home. At first glance, they were made up of nothing more than aggression and wariness. I knew that if I turned my back on them, I ran the risk of losing whatever food I had on me or ending up with claws embedded in my skin.
As they got more comfortable though, I’d see something that had been previously overlooked. Trust. And once they trusted me, the guard came down, revealing a need to be touched and fussed over.
“How’s the book coming, Hayden?”
I reclaimed my desk chair and pulled the manuscript up with a nod. “I think it’s finally coming together. It just took several rewrites and then scrapping the entire thing in favor of a new main character.”
Max walked Aaris over to the couch. “Why don’t you sit right here?”
She flashed him a blinding grin and patted her thighs through her jeans. “Why don’t you sit right here?”
His eyes went wide, and he looked to me for help. He was probably married… or engaged. There had to be something wrong with him; for one thing, he was about ten to fifteen years younger than the men she normally found attractive.
I just shrugged and turned back to my desk with a muttered, “Not my circus… not my monkeys.”
I resisted the urge to pull up Goodbooks and instead clicked the mail icon. I hadn’t checked in three days and suddenly had this irrational fear that Rachel had written to say that she’d confused me with another Hayden Michaels and I’d missed it.
She’d probably admit that she felt like such a fool when she made the connection. Maybe I’d make her wait a few days for a response, just to make a point.
Or was it better to be gracious and accept right away?
I had to do something. My mind kept drifting back to thoughts of Jake and Kamdyn. I wondered if they had anything in common or if dinner had been a mere formality before jumping into bed together.
The thought of their sweaty bodies coming together made me feel sick because who wanted to see two Vikings bumping uglies?
It had nothing at all to do with jealousy.
There was nothing to be jealous over. Jake wasn’t my boyfriend. He was just some fictional character who showed up and held me hostage before offering to protect me.
Yep. Nothing weird there.
A cursory glance of my inbox proved that, once again, I’d let my imagination take over. There were no emails, begging for a second chance.
There was one from my mother though. And I was going to absolutely avoid reading that one for as long as possible.
Wait a second…
I found an unfamiliar name nestled in between a credit card offer and a coupon from the Bath & More store.
Maybe it was another agent…
Ordered One in the Chamber for a light weekend read.
Little did I know where it would lead.
You have one final shot to bring Jake back from death.
Don’t heed this warning and you’ll take your last breath.
The great jewel must return from whence it came before the next full moon.
If you refuse, you’ll be dead soon.
What happened to your door was just the start.
Believe me when I say that taking you down is an art.
Maybe not…
I choked back a nervous laugh and reread it. I wasn’t sure I would’ve chosen to rhyme the entire thing if I wanted to be taken seriously, but the threat was unmistakable. The sender knew about the door.
“Max?”
He must’ve heard the fear in my voice because he was over to my chair within seconds. “What happened?”
I pointed at the screen. “I don’t know if it’s real or a joke…” My voice trailed off weakly. I was suddenly without words. I’d almost convinced myself that the brick through the glass had been random; completely unrelated to me or my books. This remedied all uncertainty.
Aaris lay with her head resting against the back of the couch, breathing softly. I wasn’t sure if she was asleep, awake, or some weird area in between. Regardless, she didn’t join us.
“Do you think we should call Jake?” I tried to inject as much strength as I could into my voice, but it still came out sounding small.
Max bit the corner of his lower lip and leaned in to study the email. “I don’t think so,” he answered distractedly. “He’s in an interrogation at the moment. So, let’s try to get a trace on the IP address.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Interrogation? Is that what he told you? He’s on a date, Max! A date! He knew you wouldn’t babysit me if he told you what he was really doing. Son-of-a-prick!” I slapped my hand against the side of my desk.
“Marco!” Aaris bolted up on the couch with wide eyes.
Max clicked the mouse, opening several smaller screens. He never once broke eye contact with the information in front of him as he calmly replied, “Polo.”
I sighed. I was going to need an entire pot of coffee.
“Jessa?” He whispered, “Why are you calling?”
Because she’d just watched a man die?
Because she couldn’t get in touch with her brother?
She didn’t know why her lover had become her last resort as she sat shaking in bed. She couldn’t sleep, no matter how hard she tried. Every time she forced her eyes closed, she saw his body falling and heard the sound of him hitting the pavement.
Jessa had been up too high to hear it as it happened, yet her mind had helpfully supplied a soundtrack, forcing her to relive it over and over again.
“I,” she tried. She couldn’t tell him without exposing what she did for a living and where she’d been.
“Are you imagining me there with you?”
She exhaled slowly, knowing by his tone that he’d left his wife sleeping and slipped into another room. His voice would grow bolder and he’d talk about the things they would do when they were together again.
“Chad,” she tried again. She had to tell someone what she’d seen; someone who could just hold her until the shock wore off.
Her phone buzzed against her ear and she pulled it back to see a text from a blocked number.
Don’t tell anyone what you saw tonight. It’s not safe. Meet me at 5AM… same spot.
Fear wrapped around her chest like a vice, squeezing her lungs until each breath became an effort.
Chad softly called out her name several times, but she remained silent, the words taunting her from the back-lit screen. It was why she’d called Jake in the first place—he dealt with death every day. He would’ve known what she was going through.
He also would’ve known how the hell to deal with this, she thought wryly.
“Chad, I—I have to go.”
He let out a soft curse. “Is this because of tonight? I would’ve come, baby. She was just busting my balls about not spending enough time with the kids. Let’s get away for the weekend. Just you and me. I’ll tell her that I have to work.”
There it was.
The elusive target she’d been hunting for eight months, handed to her on a silver platter. And now that it was out there, she felt nothing.
Jessa had gone up that fire escape a disgruntled PI focused on getting the shots and getting paid. She’d done it so she could go home and mope about the fact that her boyfriend was always going to choose his family over her.
Now, she was a witness to a murder and possibly in danger. She hadn’t been afraid in a long time; and she no longer wanted the man on the other end of the line.
It didn’t matter how old she was, she still needed her brother to tell her that everything was going to be okay.
I checked
the clock and leaned back in my chair with a sigh. It was almost one and Jake still wasn’t home—well, not home, but back to my apartment.
Max sat on the couch, watching a football game on mute, while Aaris lay with her head against his shoulder, sleeping off her drunkenness.
It didn’t matter how many times I asked, he refused to tell me what his search turned up. I decided then that he wasn’t as great as I’d previously thought. When he turned my laptop back over to me, I’d immediately pulled up the history, which had been cleared out, leaving me with zero answers into who wanted me dead.
He’d been texting someone on and off since then, but would just shake his head when I looked over at him. He caught me staring again and motioned to Aaris. “Is she always like this?”
I cocked my head to the side, trying to decipher his meaning. If he was referring to her being a magnet for emotionally, and sometimes completely, unavailable men, then yes.
“Do you mean the drinking?” I ventured.
He nodded, doing his best not to wake the drooling mass at his side.
“Um, just lately. Her job is… difficult. Plus, it’s like a proven fact that the alcohol she steals from the bar is tainted. You know, like what they talk about happening at resorts?”
He pressed his lips together and nodded. “So, we’re just going to gloss over the fact that you drank the same vodka that she did and you’re fine?”
Shit.
He had a point.
“Well, that’s because she has antibodies—”
“Are you always this full of shit when you don’t know the answer to something?” he asked with a grin.
I returned his with one of my own. “No… maybe.”
God, maybe I’d been wrong about him. He really was great even if he was keeping things from me.
The captivity was getting to me. I was experiencing that thing that hostages got—Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. I was developing feelings for my captors. At least it wasn’t because I had horrible character judgment.
We both froze as the knob on the front door began to turn. Max shifted Aaris toward the opposite end of the couch and moved silently toward the door. The way he kept a hand on his hip holster reminded me of Jake and I got angry all over again.
Who went on a date when they were supposed to be protecting someone? Kevin Costner never would’ve done that to Whitney Houston.
Max checked the peephole and smirked. “Well, well. It looks like somebody forgot to snag a key before he took off on a date.”
I chewed at the corner of my lower lip and leaned forward in my chair. “Don’t let him in.”
Max shook his head with a smile and unlocked the door.
“You needed me?” he practically sang as he entered.
The glee I’d felt only moments ago was gone, replaced with the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes until they stuck that way. “Oh, no. We’re fine, Jake. Thanks for showing up though.”
He shook hands with Max before pinning me with his sleepy glare. “Hayden, so happy to see that you waited up for me.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, tapping my index and middle fingers against my bicep. “I was working late,” I bit out. “Where the hell have you been?”
Max clapped Jake’s shoulder. “We’ll talk more tomorrow. I’m going to get this one back to her apartment.”
“Wait,” I protested. “You don’t have to leave. Jake can leave. You and Aaris can stay.”
Jake followed him to the couch. “Do you need help? Maybe we should all stay with Aaris and leave the pixie from hell here.”
“What the hell did you just call me? I’ll have you know that I’m still alive, no thanks to you.” I stepped forward until our toes were touching, putting me eye level with his impressive pectoral muscles.
Max ignored our standoff and retrieved Aaris from the couch and tossed her over his shoulder. “C’mon, let’s get you home before the shit hits the fan.”
She made a noise that sounded vaguely like consent.
“Do you know where you’re going?” I paused to ask.
He turned back toward me. “I think I can manage. I hope you two enjoy the rest of your evening.”
The door slammed shut and we resumed our staring contest.
“Do you feel better now?” I asked primly.
“Better?” Jake frowned.
Feeling emboldened, I moved closer, the toes of my ballet flats resting on top of his boots. “Yeah, better. Max said you were in the middle of an ‘interrogation.’ Did you ‘interrogate’ the orgasms right out of her?”
Jesus, I was going to have a rage aneurysm if I envisioned Kamdyn and Jake having sex one more time.
Instead of getting defensive, he smirked down at me. “I’m assuming ‘interrogate’ is innuendo for fucking?”
I shook my head. “Don’t say it like that, but yes.”
“I’m sorry I offended your delicate sensibilities, sweetheart. I meant to say that I assume you’re using interrogate in place of ‘having sex.’ And in response to that, I would like to remind you that I was only gone for five hours.” His hands moved down to his hips.
“And?” I matched his stance, trying to hide my complete confusion.
He pursed his lips, obviously pleased with what he was about to say. “And I find that it takes me most of the night and into the morning to get what I need to ‘complete my investigation,’ if you catch my drift. I follow every lead, relentlessly pursuing every hole I find. I don’t stop until I’ve coaxed every last drop of information from them. You knew that already though, right?”
My breath faltered and I worked to remember how it went. Was it exhale and then inhale? Or the other way around? I wanted to clench my thighs together to alleviate the sudden ache but knew that he would notice and I refused to give him the satisfaction in knowing that he’d gotten under my skin.
“Yes, well, that all sounds disgusting,” I finally managed.
“That’s funny. You say you’re disgusted, but your expression says you want me to demonstrate.” He rocked back on his heels with a full smirk.
“Gross.”
“Two words.” Jake held up his index and middle fingers to emphasize. “Bedroom. Eyes.”
I wrinkled my nose and turned to walk toward my bedroom. “Three words. Barf. Gag. Vomit.”
“I’m glad to see you’re finally putting that thesaurus to use. How many synonyms do you think there are for desire?”
I spun back around to face him. “Desire? Please. This expression is nothing but barely concealed rage. You just want me to have Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, but I won’t.”
Jake scratched at his jaw with a frown. “Munchausen’s?”
I sighed. “Don’t tell me you don’t know what it means. Aren’t you supposed to know everything, Detective? You held me captive, hoping I’d develop feelings for you so that you could exploit me.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “Hayden, I think you’re confusing Munchausen syndrome with Stockholm syndrome.”
My face grew warm. Damn it. He was right. “Regardless,” I tried to recover my composure. “I’m not interested. If I put my hands on you, believe me, it’ll be because I’m strangling you.”
He closed the gap between us and leaned down, his hands resting lightly against his thighs. “You can’t even begin to fathom the things I’d do if I put my hands on you.”
I backed up until my heels came into contact with my door. “Well, as much fun as this has been, I’m going to get some sleep.”
“This conversation is far from over.” He narrowed his eyes in victory as I shut and locked the door behind me before falling face down onto my mattress with a muffled groan.
Instead of feeling safer, I was keyed up and in need of a release. I forced myself up off the bed and into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face.
I wasn’t going to dwell on Jake’s words. He’d just said it to get a rise out of me. I’d just focus on my nightly routine before slid
ing under the covers and into oblivion for a few hours.
I pulled the blankets up around me, working to ignore the way they clung to my damp skin. I was balanced.
I don’t stop until I’ve coaxed every last drop…
I was centered.
It takes me most of the night…
I was… in need of an orgasm.
I kicked the covers off the end of the bed and worked to center myself. I heard Bootsy as she rearranged them into a nest for herself.
If I gave into my urges, then it was like he was winning. That strengthened my resolve until I realized that if I didn’t get myself off, then I was still losing.
I was going to do it and I wasn’t going to think of him or his dirty words the entire time.
With that resolved, I slid my left hand down the front of my pajama pants. My body thrummed in anticipation as I stroked lightly along the folds, working to think of a celebrity to help me ‘get the job done.’
When that failed, I thought of Max.
I pushed myself to the edge as my fingers circled my clit before slowing it back down. My pajama pants migrated somewhere down around my shins, as my hand moved faster, feathering against raw nerve endings.
I imagined that it was Max’s hand rapidly moving between our bodies and let a soft moan escape. My breath came in short bursts as I imagined the way the veins would stand out on his forearms as his hand moved across my skin.
I traced his forearms up to muscular biceps and a chest with a set of familiar tattoos.
No.
I was thinking of Max.
Max.
It was too late. My thighs clamped together, and I watched, horrified, as Jake pushed me over the edge with his smug smirk. My back arched up off the bed and I came, with a soft cry of surprise and some very confused feelings.
Someone sends me another death threat and I decide to masturbate in response.
That seemed like an appropriate solution… for a psychopath.
Twelve
Jessa pulled the edges of her jacket closer to her body in a poor attempt to stay warm. When that failed, she began bouncing on the balls of her feet.
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