Page 50 of Devil Inside: Green

“Finish that sentence and I will eviscerate you,” Green warns Carter, to which Carter only laughs. “You want a woman, find one of your own.”

“I’m using myself as a decoy,” I say, although I really didn’t mean to say it out loud.

“The fuck—we talked about this,” Green says. “You’re not using yourself as a decoy. Get that damn thought out of your head.”

“It’s actually not a bad idea,” Carter jumps in to say.

“Do you hear yourself? It’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. Have you seen up close what this maniac does to his victims?” Green screams that last part. “Because I fucking have. He carved up Jaylene, one of the pussies who hung around the club. He carved up Dela like—fuck. I will never get the sight of her out of my mind for the rest of my life. Dark has to look at those scars every time he fucks his wife. This shit is real.”

I take the few steps to pull Green into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry you have to carry those images with you, but please—just listen. We might not know his face, but we have an idea of hair color. We have height and stature. We set me up with a panic button of some kind. Any man with his description approaches, I’ll press it. Dela didn’t have that and I wish for her and you, she had. But we can end this. We have the upper hand.”

“Forget it.”

“Whatever.” I walk into the bathroom until I hear the door shut and I know that Green’s left. My plan is a good plan. No matter what he says.

It’s time to end this.

But we don’t end it. Not even close.

Since I shared my plan, a long three weeks have passed with us sitting around doing nothing. We have all this information and Green’s being so unreasonable that he won’t let us make moves. I’m at the point where I’m ready to make moves on my own. We’re so close, I can taste it.

During our hunt hiatus, as I like to call it, he moved us into an apartment complex in Bentley. It’s nice. A standard two-bedroom. Living room, kitchen combo, small hallway, bathroom, two bedrooms, and a second bath in the master. My furniture fit from my apartment back in Texas because that was a one-bedroom and smaller than this one. And we have a second bedroom so Misty can stay with us. More stainless steel appliances and the kitchen cupboards have been updated to a sleek, laminate teak. All the walls were painted a light gray instead of white, and the flooring matches the teakwood laminate from the kitchen. I’d be quite content here if it wasn’t for the fact that there’s still a killer roaming the American South murdering women while Green and I play house. And don’t even get me started on Vlad and the Horde. If they’re doing anything, they aren’t filling me in on it. Maybe because Green and I said we were doing our own thing, or maybe it’s because those men are keeping their women in the dark on anything Bible Belt Killer related. I don’t give a damn what they tell their women butdo notwithhold information fromme.

They found the killer's “Envy” victim a week ago. My research put him in upstate Alabama and guess where they found her? Outside Huntsville. It kills me that we’ve been here living our version of domestic bliss rather than hunting him down even though I know we’ve never stopped him from taking a life. It’s an irrational disgust on my part and something that I have to deal with. We know what he looks like for the most part, and we know what he’s driving. For now, it’s up to Carter to do more of his magic.

Did I mention that I hate waiting? Because Ihatewaiting.

I have the frying pan out, getting ready to make myself some lunch when a news article pops up on my phone: “The Bible Belt Killer Strikes Again.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shout at the innocent phone. I’m not trying to hurt its technological feelings, but if I see one more of these notifications pop up, I’m going to lose it in a big way. That makes this newest kill his “Pride” kill. He’ll circle back around to Lust, as the pattern predicts.Again. Again, and again, and again. I squeeze my eyes shut, pressing the palm of my hand to my forehead to try to calm myself down.

His kills are coming closer together and getting even more violent. Lunch forgotten I grab my purse and keys and head for my car. It’s a ten-minute drive up to the compound. Waite’s on the gate again. He smiles as he waves me through. I need to see Sarge to demand he tell me where they’re at in the investigation. Normally, he’d be down at the garage where Green is, or at the grow house, which I’m not supposed to know about, but I’m not stupid and after spending so much time with these men, I’ve figured out they have. But Greer is sick with some stomach bug, so he’s got Ace and Tasha today. Her stomach bug is probably another baby on the way from what I hear about those two.

But as I’m about to turn up the lane to head to Sarge’s house, I see Jack Dunham walking out of the clubhouse. I head over to him to see what he’s got on the killer.

Jack stops short when I climb out of the car. “Hey, Jack,” I call over to him. I’m still a little uncomfortable with him given our last encounter, but he saw us have sex. I have to suck it up. It happened.

“Danni, what can I do for you? Where’s Green?”

“He’s down at the garage. Have you heard that the Bible Belt Killer struck again?”

“Yeah, I saw the notification pop up on my phone. They’re getting closer together.”

“Any leads?”

“Same ones as the rest of you,” I say. Clearly, Carter has stuck to his word. Speaking of, Jack could give me Carter’s number. I could go right to him and avoid the middle man, the middle man being the highly unreasonable Green.

“Hey, could you give me Carter’s number?”

His body startles right before he narrows his assessing eyes on me. “Can’t you get it from Green?”

“I don’t want Green to know. I’m pretty certain he wouldn’t approve.”

“Listen—I’m not about getting in between you and your man.”

“Then don’t. What Green doesn’t know right now doesn’t hurt him. Will you help me out? I kind of think you owe me this after being a peeping Tom.”

His face hardens, but he pulls out his phone and brings up Carter’s contact. He rattles off the number to me, which I type into my phone.

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