My heart skipped a beat as I followed him outside into the sunshine of a perfect day and squeezed his fingers. “We’re probably on camera here, even if you didn’t spot it,” I said.
“I have his phone and wallet in my bag. I don’t think he’s dumb enough to call the police, especially since he promised me two grand to come back here and let him fuck me. If he’s doing what Donny said he was doing, he won’t want to involve the police.”
“Maybe he’ll show your photo to some killers, and they’ll come after you. Men who make people disappear probably have some nasty friends. You should leave New Gothenburg.”
We’d reached the wall surrounding the property, and he stopped to study me. “That might be fun.”
“Yeah.” I had to laugh. “Why are you doing this again already?”
He shrugged. “I enjoy it. I didn’t want to make your life harder. That’s why I was using the shirt this time.” He stared at me with big eyes, and something strange twisted in my chest—fondness and pleasure. He was handsome, and I loved that even though I knew he wanted to do precisely whatever the fuck popped into his brain—right or wrong—he’d also taken my desires into consideration.
“Thank you.”
His cheeks flushed and he ducked his head, and I couldn’t help it, I leaned down and planted a kiss on his cheek. He froze and glanced up at me from under his eyelashes.
“Come on. We gotta get the fuck out of here. Where am I taking you?”
I gave him a boost onto the wall, then pulled myself up, and for a second, we sat beside each other, kicking our feet against the stones. He snorted. “Back to the shelter. That’s where Donny works.” He gave me a warm expression I didn’t think he was faking, and my cock twitched.
“Don’t blow him again.”
He blinked, and after a few seconds gave me a curt nod. We jumped from the wall together, and when we hit the ground at the same time, I had to laugh. I spent so much of my life restraining my impulses, and this was fun. I loved it... and I didn’t want it to stop.
4
ARI
I couldn’t stop thinkingabout the cop and it was fucking stupid.
I’d been smart enough not to get caught before by keeping my head down and blending in with the crowd. It hadn’t been easy. I was practical, and I knew I was considered attractive, the type of person who caught attention because of my appearance. So, I needed to do something about the way I looked.
After Officer Rogers dropped me off in front of A Home for the Heart, I watched him drive away before I headed down the street, finding a secondhand clothing store I’d noticed once or twice around the area. As soon as I entered a musty smell attacked my nose and I crinkled it in disgust. It wasn’t the kind of store I was used to—it certainly wasn’t a Burberry, with its blinding white displays, or Calvin Klein—but this was my reality now. I’d chosen a step down after I’d taken my parents’ lives and finally run from my grandmother’s house. Who would want to stay with an old bag like her? She was nearly worse than Mother, but she’d never done anything that gave me a reason to end her life, which was a shame. I would’ve liked to see a knife slice across her neck.
Inside the store was nothing amazing—beige walls, high ceilings with slow-turning fans, and racks of clothes. It wasn’t anything to swoon over, but I didn’t expect much. There was only one person working and she was behind the cash register with her back to me, gaze intent on a TV sitting on the opposite wooden counter.
I ignored her as I headed toward the men’s section, more specifically the shirts. They were arranged by colors, then sizes, and I went immediately toward the darker shades, which I preferred. The brighter the colors, the more eye-catching they were, and that wasn’t what I was aiming for. But, evenbeforeI’d killed my parents, I’d liked black.
I picked out a couple of shirts—nothing amazing—and a hoodie, which was what I’d specifically come in to find. I picked out a pair of black jeans, too. Nothing fancy. By the time I got to the register the clerk was still watching the news, and what they were saying on the program made me freeze.
They had video footage of the Aviator Truck Stop crime scene and the crowd that had gathered around it. One of the truckers I’d met briefly was giving an interview, and it took me a moment to focus and understand the words.
“Philip was a good guy,” the trucker said, puffing out a breath and making his thick brown mustache flutter. “Never had a problem with him. I don’t know who’d want to hurt him.”
I snorted and the clerk shot a glance at me over her shoulder, and then she straightened, eyeing me. She reminded me of my grandmother in some ways, with a suspicious gaze, steel-gray hair, and a permanent sneer, as though she hated everyone who got close to her. At least my grandmother had a reason to dislike me.
“That all?” she asked as I dropped the clothes on the counter. She dragged them toward herself and glanced back at the TV again, and I did, too.
Rogers was on the screen, holding his hands up to the cameras as they tried to get a good view of the body bag being rolled into a van. He shook his head at whatever the reporter said, and I couldn’t look away. Everything about him was enigmatic, as though he had strength he was hiding from the world. He didn’t want people to see his true nature, but I did. I’d only just met him, and I alreadyknewhis potential... wanted him.
“That’s all New Gothenburg needs,” the clerk huffed, shoving the clothes into a bag without folding them. “Another murderer.”
“Another?” I asked, curious. Was I not the only one?
She narrowed her eyes on me. “You’re not from around here?”
I thought about my words carefully. People hated strangers, but they hated out-of-towners even more. I didn’t want to give her a reason to be even more distrustful of me. “I am, I just don’t know what you mean.”
Her face softened and she shook her finger at the TV. “I’m talking about those motorcycle clubs. There’s three of them around town.Three. Bet you it was those Kings. Mean bastards, all of them.”
