Page 32 of Clear Your Mind

Yep, giggling…again.

He grips my hair tight and pulls my head to the side, sniffing my neck then licking it. “I swear if you don’t stop—”

He doesn’t let me finish before plunging his tongue into my mouth. Faintly I hear the bell over the door ring then stop like someone grabbed it. It takes my sex-soaked brain way too long to realize what that means.

By the time I do, it’s too late. I wrench my mouth from Buddy’s. “Shit,” I whisper to him before shouting as politely as I can. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

But we don’t get a minute.

I hear, “Honey, I’m home,” in a voice that shoots fear through my bloodstream a nanosecond before the door to the back area opens and reveals my worst nightmare.

Jeff clicks his tongue in my direction while aiming a gun at Buddy. “Well, well, well, I guess I’m a little late to the party.” I feel every muscle in Buddy’s body go rigid as he shoves me behind him. Leaving his hand at his back between us. I realize he’s reaching for a gun.

That’s a very bad idea. Jeff will shoot him just for fun. Not to mention the big guy behind Jeff with a gun pointed right at me.

“Uh-uh, hero, hands where I can see ’em or Ripper here blows out her kneecaps before I do the same to you. Then I take what’s mine anyway while you watch.”

8

BUDDY

The man, who I assume from the way Krystal trembles at my back, is Jeff, freezes me with his vile words. From what she told me about him, he won’t hesitate to make good on his threat.

From the set of his shoulders, I’m ninety-nine percent positive he’s the one who was following her the other day.

He’s tracked her across state lines and played the long game to get to this moment. The fucker’s not stable. So I’ll comply as much as I need to in order to protect her.

I whisper over my shoulder. “I got you, love.” Those words not only seem wholly inadequate, but they also feel like a lie.

What if I don’t have her? If I reach for my piece, one of the two sets of eyes will catch it. Phone is…somewhere. Fuck, I curse myself for getting lost in the moment and not locking the fucking door. It’s my fault we’re in this position, and I won’t forgive myself if anything happens to her.

I still have a hand on Krystal from when I moved her behind me. It’s only inches from my hand to where my knife sits, but it might as well be a fucking mile.

“Sweetheart,” Jeff drawls with mock disappointment. “You make me chase you for over two fucking years. And when I finally track you down, what do I find? You playing the slut for another club. Tsk, tsk.”

The evenness of his voice sets off alarm bells in my head. I’ve only heard that level of flatness when talking about something so serious once before.

From the mouth of a killer as he described what he did to Jill and Terry in chilling detail…right before I slit his fucking throat.

It’s the sound of a psychopath.

A psychopath with a gun and a friend with a gun.

The fucker in front of me will meet the same fate if I have anything to say about it.

“Laura. Come here and take your punishment like a good girl, and I’ll kill him fast.” For some reason, the name irritates the fuck out of me. She isn’t Laura, not anymore.

“No,” I growl at the same time I feel her shaking her head with vehemence against my back.

The fucker fires off a shot before I realize that was his intention. Lucky for me, he’s a shit shot, and he grazes my arm but takes out the microwave, which was still beeping with the stir-fry that was forgotten. We both hit the floor, and I turn to assess Krystal. “You hit?”

Before she answers, the fucker laughs. “Whoa, that’s a hair trigger right there. Damn, look at that, Ripper. Barely shot him and he’s bleeding like a stuck pig.” He laughs again, then the laughter dies so instantly it’s mind boggling.

Fucking crazy.

“Now, Laura. You know not to make me ask twice. I don’t like repeating myself.”

“Krystal.” I shake her when I realize she’s standing to go to the fucker. “No.”

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