I growled, angered by the flush of heat spreading down said muscles. He made a pose in the rain, mimicking a bodybuilder and kissing each bulging bicep of his own. I did have more muscle mass than Judas. I was rounded with pounds of hours of training where the asshat mocking me was lean and toned.
Why the fuck do I keep thinking about how he looks? He looks like a criminal and an annoying one at that.
“Laugh while you can, inmate,” I grunted, lunging for him. His steps were light, even though the guy was fucking giant. He practically danced around me now, and I missed his feet with each skip around my half-submerged body. “You won’t be when I catch you.”
He tilted backward, easily dodging my grasp, with his eyes glittering with mischief and menace. “Ooo, promises, promises, Randall. But we both know you’re a notorious cock tease.”
My jaw flexed, and I pulled harder on the branch, pulling myself forward, making progress as the thick mud let go of its hold little by little. Lightning lit the forest in jagged bursts, illuminating him for a heartbeat as he continued that fucking skipping dance around me.
“If you want me to paint that pretty face again, all you have to do is ask, Randy Pandy.”
He met my glower with his sardonic grin and gleaming eyes. His hands were poised like claws, his scars showing through his soaked white shirt. The translucent fabric showed every ridge of his abs and the story of his survival from that damn fall.
He was mocking me, toying with me, and I couldn’t help it.
I burned with both fury and need.
I lunged again, barely catching the hem of his coat, but he twisted away, laughing low and sinister as he slipped past me, gasping in a mock insult.
“Hey! Stop! Don’t touch me there! This is my no-no square.”
I’m gonna kill him. Screw putting him in a cage. Badge be damned.
Judas continued to do some dumb dance and song, and I used the moment of his distraction to my advantage. The branch was still in my grip, and a few more tugs and I’d be out of the thickest part of the mud enough to move again.
“So sneaky, Liebling. Brava. You’re free, but you still can’t catch me.”
“God dammit!” I roared, slipping again in the muck, barely keeping my balance of the newfound freedom. “Stop fucking running!”
“Why?” he called over his shoulder, glancing back at me, while skipping forward and back like a fucking square around me, just out of reach. “It’s more fun this way. I get off watching you try, Baby. Watching you flail around like a grumpy kitten. Ooo, and listening to that growl. Rawr.”
The mud was too thick. My pants were weighed down so badly that it hurt to move my legs forward. Making a decision, I moved my feet forward toward him, but this time, instead of fighting to keep my pants on my hips, I let the pull of the mudjerk them down and off me. I had to catch him. Every instinct screamed at me to reach him.
He zigzagged between trees as I caught up, twisting and laughing at me.
“Yes, baby, take it off! Don’t be offended, I can’t tip well on account of paying to dig up your mommy.”
That made me falter.
He’d paid to exume my mother? Why? What the fuck was the angle? And where did he even find her?
“What are you talking about?” I couldn’t help but ask the jarring question, but Judas didn’t answer.
Instead, he muttered something that I couldn’t catch to voices, imaginary people, maybe even demons. His schizophrenic murmurs were always dark humor or very sinister sexual exploitations. This time, he was singing that damn song again.
Wasn’t that from grade school? I recognized the lyrics, but he warped the tune into his own sexy dance. Leave it to Judas Masters to claim any and everything, even a damn child’s song.
I stumbled for the fifteenth fucking time, slipping hard on the ground. Mud got in my eyes, and rainwater poured into my mouth. I could still feel him ahead of me, even though I couldn’t see him now. He had been waiting for this, waiting for me to make a mistake.
And now I had.
“That one looked like it hurt your beautiful dick! Need me to kiss it better?”
I cursed and rolled over onto my back. My teeth gritted, and my fists were tight. This was fucking hopeless. The sound of his retreat faltered, and I heard him pause for a heartbeat.
“That a no?”
I ignored him, trying to catch my breath.
