Page 17 of Creep

A little black book. I wasn’t in the business of retrieving anything, but Briggs was… special.

Our history went beyond anything he could imagine, and I was curious what was so important about this little black book that he didn’t want Luckas Whitlock dead until the book was in his hands.

And where the hell did Lia play into this?

She was obviously close to Briggs if she decided to go to him rather than her father after suspecting a stalker.

My sweet, little innocent Lia.

Briggs wouldn’t have found anything on me. And he would have wanted to put her mind at ease that there was no stalker as soon as possible, considering the fucker had put a tail on my girl as well.

Now just why was he going to such lengths over her?

Was he, like me, obsessed with Lia?

The idea wasn’t far-fetched. There was just something about Lia that brought out the worst in men. But there was a part of me that thought there might be something more to that as well.

What was it?

I walked through the quiet apartment, taking care not to disturb anything.

Her phone call with Briggs seemed to have helped put her mind at ease somewhat, allowing her to sleep.

I smiled at the sight of her, the light from the city just enough for me to make out the outline of her features.

I ran my fingers over the side of her face, watching her nose wiggle a little from the contact, but she didn’t wake.

She was a heavy sleeper.

Shoving off my sweater, I climbed into bed with her under the covers and pulled her close to me, reveling in the warmth of her soft, pliant body against mine.

I kept my arms wrapped around her, ignoring the ache I felt all over, and watched her sleep.

I stayed like that until the first hint of dawn broke through. Then, just as quietly as I had come into her apartment, I left it, taking care to lock the door behind me. I wasn’t scared that some other fucker might come into her apartment and harm her. The security system I had installed would notify me the moment someone came inside her place, along with all the hidden cameras I had around.

No, my girl was completely safe inside.

It was everyone else who got in my path who wasn’t safe.

I made my way over to my car. The body inside hadn’t left my mind. I waited until I got inside before I put in the call to Theo.

He answered on the first ring despite the early morning, like I knew he would, considering he barely slept.

“Yeah?” he answered, his voice clear.

“I need your help,” I said.

* * *

It wasseveral hours later when I watched the last of the body burn to nothing but ashes.

The human body could take a few hours to burn, and I had been here, watching it happen.

Not that I didn’t trust Theo.

Out of everyone in the world, he was the only one I trusted. Perhaps someday, I could add Lia to the list, but right now, I was still nothing more than a stranger to her. Something that was going to change very soon.

“Rough night?” Theo asked, coming up to me with two cups of coffee and handing one to me. I held it up to him in thanks before I took a sip. This was my third cup of the day.

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