Page 70 of Stalker

Her attention was drawn away by one of her friends, who already had a checkbook out. I ripped off my mask, heading toward one of the two bars in the room. A tall scotch was definitely in order.

I was forced to remind myself that on this night I wasn’t the hunter and she wasn’t my prey. There were too many people watching, too many pairs of eyes paying attention to everything I was doing, more than curious as to the identity of the woman willing to spend fifty grand on a mutt like me.

Well, a mutt with expensive tastes and a bank account to fund my every desire.

People had become a nuisance, including the press determined to obtain their fifteen minutes of fame. As my annoyance grew, so did the dark thoughts in my mind. I could easily end their careers with a snap of my wrist. They’d never know the shadow in the night was prepared to end their miserable lives.

While the mental imagery was delicious, tonight I’d forgo my anger.

My needs were far too significant to be ignored.

I watched as she remained right where she was, drumming her fingers on the table. She was now second guessing her decision. Meanwhile, her lovely friends were pushing her, chatting and laughing. They had no understanding of what their cheering had caused.

Lady Butterfly looked back toward the stage, obviously checking to see if I was still there.

Chuckling, I remained right where I was as she slowly stood and scanned the room. When she found me, she tried to act as if I wasn’t who she was looking for.

But we both knew better.

I could feel her pussy vibrating from where I stood.

She grabbed her clutch, following her friends toward the exit. I polished off my drink, left a twenty as a tip for the bartender, and headed out the second set of doors. She was standing in line, prepared to drop her check off to charity.

What would she do afterwards?

When she headed back into the room after sharing goodbye hugs with her two friends, I took a deep breath before pulling out my cellphone and dialing my brother.

The two women didn’t notice me lurking in the shadows while they walked away. Not that they would.

“Let me guess. You bailed from the charity event,” Xander challenged.

“Not at all. You think so badly of me, brother.”

“I don’t think any worse of you than I do of our beloved Zach.”

“How very brotherly of you.”

He laughed. “Did you call to tell me you’re not as hot as you think you are and not a single woman bid on you?”

“Quite the opposite. The winning bid was cast by the beautiful attorney I mentioned the other day.” I’d shared the moment of learning about Cassandra’s investigation.

“There is no way that’s a coincidence. What is she really attempting to do?”

“I’m not certain yet, but I do plan on finding out. I’m only calling to let you know I doubt I’ll be at the quarterly meeting in the morning.” I grinned and headed for the door leading to the ballroom.

“Well, at least you’ll get your dick wet.”

“One crude bastard.”

“Crude, but truthful. Incidentally, I had a call from a buddy of mine at the police department.”

He had a ‘buddy’ almost everywhere, perfecting the art of using his charming personality to his benefit. I usually used force instead. “And?”

“Drew Monahan is insisting he was only hired to locate the women for the Bondage Killer’s playtime.”

“Bondage killer?”

“Some whacked-out name for a fucking serial killer, at least according to Drew himself. I guess the imaginary friend he has uses bondage to subdue before killing his victims.”

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