The Risk (Page 19)

Obviously we took the classes in another town with another name, but that part isn’t important right now.

“You!” Lawrence shouts, glaring at Jake.

Jake taps his legs. “They work just fine, by the way.”

Tyler is a tangle of limbs, still lying on the ground. “Did you leave anything for me?” I ask Jake as he grabs Tyler’s wrist, dragging him to the chains.

“Who the fuck are you?” Lawrence demands again, as though he has any control.

“There’s plenty left. It’ll just hurt worse when you extract the debt.”

Smirking as Lawrence continues to berate us from his vulnerable position, I help Jake lock Tyler into place. We spread him out like Lawrence, suspending him with the chains. They’re right across from each other now.

“You want to know who I am?” I ask Lawrence as Tyler shakes with fear, his eyes wide and his body trembling.

Tears are feverishly pouring from Tyler’s eyes, causing me to give a quick appraisal to the state of his body.

His legs are definitely broken. Jake must have gotten out a lot of aggression. Good for him. He needed it.

“You’re a crazy bitch!” Lawrence shouts.

I grin, facing him now.

“No. I’m a pissed off crazy bitch. You knew me when I was younger. You knew my brother too.”

A smirk graces my lips as the color starts draining from his eyes. “Those tears won’t save you, whore,” I repeat, though this time I can see him realizing why I’m saying those words. “Beg me to stop.”

He turns as white as the ghost he thinks I am, and I face Tyler again as he tries to piece it all together.

“Play nice, Victoria. It’ll hurt a lot less if you just play nice.”

Don’t cry, Victoria. Don’t let them see they’ve broken you.

But I do break. I break hard. I break to the sounds of my brother’s screams from behind me as he begs and begs and begs… And they just laugh.

As though the sounds are music to their ears.

I want those ears to bleed.

“Play nice, Tyler. It’ll hurt a lot less if you just play nice,” I taunt, watching as the same wave of realization washes over him.

His eyes widen to the point of being painful, and Jake grins as he takes it all in. He always has to miss this part. I may have a new kind of partner if he can stomach the rest. I’d like for him to be a part of it. It’s just as much his revenge as it is mine. We both loved Marcus.

And they took him away.

I move in front of Lawrence, and Jake hands me my favorite knife. It’s dull. It’s brutal. And it hurts like hell when I finally get the skin to tear apart.

“You’re dead,” the prick wheezes, watching me in disbelief. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

I stare up at him, moving the blade over his thigh, feeling his tremble.

“You should have killed me deader,” I say just as the blade digs into the yielding flesh.

He cries out in pain when the flesh finally splits, and I take my time. “I’ll need a sharp one for his ears,” I tell Jake as Tyler vomits to the sounds of Lawrence’s screams.

Then I continue, shifting to Tyler, letting them watch each other slowly be killed.

“Hope you boys aren’t sleepy. I changed my mind about your debt days. It’s going to be a long week.”

Chapter 15

You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.

—Albert Einstein

LOGAN

I glance down at my phone, reading the latest text from Lana.

LANA: I’ll call you tonight if you’re free. Sorry I missed your call earlier. It’s been a crazy few days. <3

“Oh, heart emoji! Shit’s getting real,” Craig says over my shoulder, earning an elbow to his gut.

Rolling my eyes as he grunts and coughs, I text her back.

ME: Tonight should work, as long as no one calls in with any leads. We know who the killer is, and we’ve been blasting his face all over the news. You were right. It’s definitely one of the paid-under-the-table custodial workers. He managed to escape though, so there’s a city-wide manhunt underway.

LANA: Be careful. He’s always been overlooked, and with the new bout of attention, he’s likely to enjoy the thrill of notoriety. He may crave more attention and come after you if the buzz wears off too soon. Killing the lead FBI agent who ran the hunt against him would give him even more attention.

I’ve never wanted to date a profiler, simply because work and sex don’t mix well together in my experience. Lisa, for example, is a thorn in my side since things ended years ago, and now she’s under my command.

It’s awkward. It’s frustrating. And she uses our past against me every chance she gets.

Lana, however, is the perfect woman. Someone who understands what I do without being right at my side while I’m doing it. It’s literally the best of both worlds.

Which is why I’m still worried she’s too good to be true.

ME: It’s a slim chance he’ll come after me. And if he does, it’ll save me the trouble of trying to track him down.

LANA: I’m serious, Logan. Guys like him could fixate on someone like you.

ME: He’s a rapist. A serial rapist. He needs a female to relieve his urges. He’s more than just a serial killer, which makes the likelihood of him coming after me very slim.

LANA: Anyone who has always lived in the shadows and suddenly gets brought into the light is going to get the high. Especially someone like him. Sexual sadists thrive on the power. It gets them off. Power over you could become an easy surrogate for the power he holds over his female victims.

ME: I like that you care so much.

LANA: I like my orgasms. I want more.

That has me laughing, and I put my phone away as Craig comes up, filling me in on the latest information.

It was supposed to be an easy bust, but someone tipped him off. Had to. Or else he has tabs on the police station somehow. But the guy reads like an open book of our profile.

Now finding him is getting harder. He got paid in cash and never had a checking account. His apartment was a cash-weekly sort of arrangement. His entire life is paperless, tied to no electronics or trails. Even his power bill was included in his rent, furthermore concealing any trails he might have.

He left his phone behind.

He took his clothes.

He’s in the wind, and it could be months before he resurfaces if we don’t find him now.

***

Four days later, there are still no leads, and I groan as I load up with my team to come back home. Gerald Plemmons. That’s the name of the Boogeyman. Putting a face on him has helped alleviate the fears of some of the city, but he’s still out there.

One day, he’ll kill again. Unfortunately, until he does, we may not be able to find him.

As soon as I step off the jet, I haul ass to my SUV and drive like hell to Lana’s house. She’s not expecting me, and I can’t reach her on her phone. It keeps going straight to voicemail, so I hope I don’t piss her off by just showing up.

It seems to take forever to get there, but when I finally do, I pound on the door with purpose.

The sound of hurried footsteps puts me at ease. I don’t see her Mustang here, so I’m happy to hear her talking through the door. I’m not so happy to hear what she’s saying.

“You have a key! Use it, Jake! Stop making me walk all through the house—”

Her words die when she swings open the door.

In a towel.

Still mostly wet.

“Logan!” she says, shocked as her eyes widen.

I don’t give her time to think before I’m kissing her, pushing the door shut behind me with my foot. Her hands go to my hair, and I lift her, groaning when I feel her bare ass against my hands.

The towel falls loose and gets stuck between our bodies as I continue to kiss her and carry her back to her room. She kisses me just as fiercely, letting me know she doesn’t mind the fact I’ve shown up unannounced.

It’s been a week. A solid week since I’ve seen her.

My hand slides down the curve of her ass, moving until I find what I really want. My fingers skate across her slick pussy, feeling her wet and ready for me. As much as I love foreplay, it’ll be skipped tonight. Maybe after I get a little bit of this addiction tempered, we can slow things down, and I can give her body the attention it truly deserves.

“I take it you missed me?” she asks against my lips, tightening her legs on my waist as I finally make it to her room.

“Very much.”

I don’t even give her time to think before I drop her to the bed, and start undressing. She watches me, scooting her naked body up on the bed as she tosses the towel away.

When she bites down on that bottom lip, I finish stripping and grab her ankles, jerking her down the bed. A small squeal of surprise escapes her, but I roll on the condom, adjusting myself between her legs on her very high bed.

As soon as I’m lined up, I thrust in, feeling her walls squeeze against the abrupt intrusion. She moans and arches her back, looking like every fantasy I’ve ever had.

Gripping her hips, I set a harsh rhythm, fucking her with abandon, letting her moans and gasps fuel me and guide me. When she goes stiff and her pussy clamps down on me, heat spreads through my spine, and an electric current rolls over me in the form of pleasure.

Her mouth parts as she grips the sheet beneath her, her fists twisting in the soft fabric on the messy bed.