Page 11 of Sawyer

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Rumor says with more empathy than he had moments ago. I’m not a fool. He has more on me now than anyone in my past ever has.

“Don’t be.” I laugh through my tears, my eyes falling to my phone peeking out of the sticks and leaves. “She was a bitch.”

“Unexpected,” he remarks.

I’m deflecting and trying to distance myself from the moment, but the fact is, Jenny hurt me. One day, she decided I wasn’t good enough for her friendship. She turned the other dancers against me, even the customers. It took me a long time to get back into their good graces and even longer for us to find a truce. It really only happened after I left that forsaken place.

And then her bullshit started up again. Luckily, I never had to go back.

It doesn’t change the fact that she was a gamma, and one I will still fight for, even after her death. Crouching low, I grab my phone, the recording button still blinking red. My thumb hovers over it far longer than it should as morality wars inside of me.

Guilt churns in my stomach that I’d even dare keep this, but if I’m going to find out what’s happening, then I need to push through. I don’t owe this delta any loyalty, so I let it continue and shove it into my pocket. Damn the consequences.

Blowing out a breath that billows before me in a cloud, I face Rumor again. He remains crouched beside Jenny, his bright blue eyes peering through me. His lips part slightly, and his face adjusts to appear impassive.

Almost.

Curiosity burns in his eyes as though he watches every little emotion and thought that passes my consciousness. He wants to understand what brought each one up.

“Strangulation?” I ask, reverting to a voice I know well. It’s not quite a customer service voice, but a little harder and slightly more seasoned with the hurt and pain of life.

He shakes his head. “It would appear that way, wouldn’t it?” Looking back at Jenny, he brushes the rest of the leaves off her body. He uncovers scars and a few wounds that wept during the last moments of life.

“What the hell is that?”

“Now that, Sawyer, is the right question, isn’t it?” One blue, glove-covered finger traces a long scar just below her belly button. “I suspect they are all naked, all full of these scars, and all from the slums of Central City.”

“Do you think we have a gamma serial killer on our hands?” I ask him. Though that doesn’t quite feel right, and I can’t pinpoint why.

“I’m not sure.” Standing up, Rumor rips off the glove and stuffs it in a pocket. “Do you have plans tonight, Sawyer?”

“Excuse me?” I jerk my gaze away from Jenny to focus on the dangerous delta before me.

“We have two minutes before my men flood this area.” He smirks at me when my jaw drops. I didn’t even hear a twig snap, just as I didn’t hear him when he snuck up on me. “Your choice—stay and probably get arrested, or…” He lifts and drops one shoulder.

“Blackmail.” Not wanting to get caught by any more deltas, I follow the path I took in. “I should have known that vial would eventually come back and bite me in the ass.”

“Oh, baby girl, I haven’t even gotten to what I want from you.” Silky and smooth, his voice wraps around me from behind, and I nearly stumble as I make my way out of the forest.

“Sex?” I spin around and face Rumor, my stomach fluttering with excitement.

I’ve slapped men for less, and I’ve broken relationships for similar reasons.

Yet his scent of booze and leather tickles my nose now that we are farther from Jenny’s rotting corpse, and it hits differently. I don’t know what it is about this delta. Maybe it’s the seasoned way he looks at me, or perhaps it’s because he already knows my secrets, but whatever it is, it has me itching to seduce him.

Which is precisely why I won’t.

“Sex?” He shakes his head and steps into my space. Leaning down, he inhales my scent. “No, baby girl. Not quite.”

All I hear is not yet.

“Then what do you want from me?” I tilt my head so I can see his blue eyes.

“I already asked you if you had plans tonight.”

Gritting my teeth, I snap, “No.”

“Good. You and I are heading to Haven.” Grabbing my hand, he leads me out of the forest. “Let’s go.”

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