Page 50 of Soft Tissue Damage
Three hours later,I strip off my black clothes in the garage, and lock them away in a chest. They feel stiff from dried blood, and I’ll have to incinerate them when I’m alone in the house.
I put on the clothes I left the house in to go to my “poker game”, and check my reflection in the downstairs bathroom. No blood on my face or in my hair.
I meet my gaze in the mirror and smile. I hope it will always feel this good to kill. Adrenaline is sparkling through my veins as I head through to the kitchen, reliving the night’s events. Three kills, silent and deadly. I found a hammer in the victims’ garage, and messy, violent blows to the head subdued them. Ligatures around their necks finished themoff. I instinctively used a constrictor knot for the strangulation in the cut-through, a knot that is easy to tie and difficult to undo, so I used it again. I want there to be a connection between the killings and for the police to know it’s me.
When I enter the kitchen, I stop dead.
Elena is standing on the other side of the kitchen island, lowering a glass from her lips and swallowing a mouthful of water. I didn’t bother turning any lights on when I entered the house, and neither did she when she came downstairs. Her dressing gown isn’t tied, and I can see her nipples through her tiny white camisole.
Neither of us say a word.
Elena licks a droplet of water from the corner of her lips, and then runs her lower lip through her teeth. Her gaze drops to my chest. My forearms. There’s a subtle invitation in her eyes. I place my hand on the counter, and my fingers trail over the marble as I pace slowly around the kitchen island toward her. Her head tilts back so she can meet my eyes. She’s barefoot, and I’m in boots, and I tower over her.
The urge to seize her by the throat and kiss her is almost overwhelming. She can feel me wanting to do it. I can tell from the sparkle in her blue eyes that she’s hoping I will.
This is not how things were supposed to go. I had planned to slowly and sweetly seduce her over a number of weeks until she fell irrevocably in love with me, not grab her and kiss her after coming in from three kills.
My blood is alive with violence, and I won’t have any self-control if I kiss her now. But I can’t walk away from her either.
“You shouldn’t look at me like that, Elena,” I growl.
“Like what?” Her words are innocent, but her eyes are heavy-lidded with desire.
“Like you want me. It’s a bad idea for me to get my hands on you right now.”
A bright, energized look comes into her eyes. This girl wants me as much as I want her. She reaches out and slowly traces her middle finger lightly down my chest. Desire plunges through me, blood rushing straight to my cock as her touch dives down my body.
When her fingers reach the button at the waistband of my jeans, I seize her wrist tightly and snarl in her face, “Go lock yourself in your room, because if I find you anywhere else, I won’t be able to stop myself.”
Still she doesn’t pull away from me, though some of the interest in her eyes is bleeding into boldness. Her other hand moves toward me.
I thrust my face toward her and growl, “I saidrun.”
Elena gasps. As she hightails it toward the stairs, her dressing gown slips from her shoulders and flutters to the ground. I watch her flee from me wearing just those small shorts and camisole that I could rip from her body with one sharp tug. My heart pounds in my chest. This is how a wolf must feel when it sees its prey running away. There’s an irresistible pull in my chest that’s telling me to chaseher. Claim her lips, her cries of desire, and finally her virginity.
I grip the edge of the counter, struggling to control myself.
What if she wants me to chase her?
My self-control shatters, and I bolt after her. The door to her bedroom is standing ajar, and I thrust it open. It’s empty. She’s not hiding under the bed. She’s not cowering in the bathroom. I stare around at her things, my fists clenched in frustration.
What if she ran to my room?
I dart out of her bedroom, run down the hall, and burst into mine. I let out a disappointed breath when I see that it’s empty as well.
The door clicks closed behind me.
I whirl around and see Elena with her back pressed against it, looking up at me with a mixture of fear and desire. The moonlight coming in through the window paints her body pale white and turns her eyes to silver.
“I told you to run from me, and you went straight to my bedroom?”
She nods, her doll-like eyes very big and luminous. Hungry to see what I’m going to do next.
“Don’t look at me that way,” I warn, stalking closer.
“Why?” she breathes. “You look at me this way all the time. You think I don’t notice, but I do.”
I trap her against the door with both hands on either side of her head, my body just a few inches from hers. Her lips this close to mine is torture. “Like what?”
