Page 23 of Blood & Kisses

“Well,” Blake makes a face, trying not to say the obvious. “Anyway, Gabe clocked Gavin, the ex-cop, and since we didn’t get his location from you, we just did a little digging and discovered he lives near your parents’ place. Is that intentional?”

“Yeah, I think so,” I sigh as the burden peels off my chest, bit by bit. “They threatened to hurt my family if I squealed, so I think he went there to keep an eye on them and wormed his way into my family unit.”

“Are you glad he’s gone?” Blake asks, winking.

“Yes. I would’ve liked to look him in the eye before shooting him, though,” I admit. “And draw out a confession.”

“You can do that with the next man on your list,” Cormac states. “Remind me who he is.”

“Ha ha, good try, but I won’t tell,” I exclaim as he breaks some bread to mop up tomato sauce on his plate. I can’t believe he’s finished eating already.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find out,” Blake says comically.

“How? And why must you steal my thunder?” I hit heatedly.

Blake snorts. “You’re sounding like a real killer now, sweetheart.”

“I don’t want you to get into trouble,” I stress as I have moments where the clouds part and reality hit me hard. I have actually murdered someone in real life, and so have the men before me. This is my new reality now – self-inflicted.

The boys exchange glances again, amusement indenting their handsome faces before Blake cracks up laughing while Cormac, the sullen one of the two, fakes a cough. My cheeks burn, slightly humiliated, as if there’s a secret between them that I’m not privy to.

“Rae, babe,” Blake sniggers with that dimple on his cheek, “we are trouble.”

I look to Cormac to add to this statement since he seems straight as a die with a narrow-minded focus on swim comps and is unlikely to do anything to destroy that. But who is he? “Are you trouble, Cormac?”

He cocks his eyebrow in his usual slightly awkward flirtation that isn’t quite as charming as Blake's. “You know I’m trouble, lady, after banging you against the tree as students walk by.”

My cheeks blush even more when he says that in front of Blake, but the thief tips his head back and laughs, rubbing his hands together in glee. “I can’t wait for my turn to bang you nymph-style.”

“Guys, have you done this before?” I ask as the pieces fall together, although I still can’t imagine Cormac killing anyone.

“Yeah, we’ve fucked chicks in nature before,” Blake answers obnoxiously.

“Blake, I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about…you know, Gavin,” my chest tightens in frustration. Blake’s lousy timing to take the piss out of me is rubbing me up the wrong way. “Why aren’t you taking this seriously? We did terrible things.”

The smile washes from Blake’s gorgeous face; then he gulps down his beer, slaps it on the table, and says, “Do you remember who I work for?”

“Yeah, Smiler,” I answer, wondering where this is going. “The same man I work for sometimes.”

“Terrible people do terrible things,” he replies, and my stomach lurches a little.

“Who is the terrible person in question? You or Smiler? I know Smiler is terrible, but are you suggesting that your heart is just as blackened?” I question the charming, warm man before me.

“Not quite as bad as him, but let’s just say he doesn’t hire me just to steal shit,” he replies, tilting his head to the side, waiting for a reaction.

I swallow as a shadow casts across the room, carrying a sinister perspective. “I guess I’m more naïve than I thought I was,” my voice catches in my throat as I speak, but my message is loud and clear.

“You’re not naïve,” he replies softly, running those eyes over my face, and my body’s response is to get horny. What the fuck is the matter with me? “I’m particularly good at disguising the truth.”

“That’s been made evidently clear,” I reply. Is the charming thief really a cold-blooded killer?”

His tongue pushes the inside of his cheek while those warm brown eyes flick from my lips to my eyes. “One must not divulge the truth. And…ah…we can play the game with you, sweetheart. Beautiful bombshell is a gunslinging slayer.”

Why is talk about blood and death making me so damn horny? This is a side to me that I hadn’t known existed until today after Cormac told me that they killed Gavin. Blake can see it in me. The parting of my lips and change in breath, my eyes running over his lips and hands, hungry for them to touch me in places I long to be touched.

He leans back in his chair and combs his fingers through his dark curls. “Oh, girl, you’re about to get stung.” Sliding his chair back, he rises, still watching me as I remain seated, and steps behind my chair. I glance at Cormac, who watches on with interest, keen to stick around as Blake takes the back of my chair and tips it forward, and my hands slam on the table.

13

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