Page 33 of Hart of Darkness
11
Dillon
The woman sitting next to me in the passenger’s seat was driving me batshit crazy, both emotionally and physically. Sure, my sister was front and center, and my heart broke for Nadine. But Maggie seemed to be overpowering what was most important to me—Grace. When Maggie had unloaded that she had a lead on Grace, my knees had locked as if she’d put a spell on me.
I’d never been so drawn to a woman before in my life. Her light, soapy scent fogged my brain, even more so when she’d been in my arms. Man, the way her cotton slacks hugged her curves sent waves of heat straight to my groin. And her hair—her hair was braided, the tail falling down to the middle of her back, and all I wanted to do was wrap my hand around it while I did things to her I never thought I would do to any woman. Maggie gave me the vibe that she liked her men raw and rough, and that made my dick hard.
When I’d run my finger over her bottom lip, I’d stopped the shudder that was primed to rack my body. More than that, I’d been close to throwing her to the mat in the weight room. I would’ve done it if she hadn’t broken down in tears.
Flicking the blinker, I made a right onto Harrison Avenue. When I did, my blood gelled.
My foot hovered over the brake, tapping it now and again to slow the car. Familiar storefronts with apartments above them, graffitied walls, and run-down buildings decorated the street. My head swiveled sluggishly before the boarded-up apartment building on the corner sent me back to the past.
A horn blared behind me.
Maggie slapped my arm. “Snap to.”
The only thing I was about to snap was my steering wheel. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that Detective Hughes had seen a female who resembled Grace in a tattoo shop on Harrison Avenue. I didn’t believe in coincidences.
My heart beat like the little drummer boy.
If the girl Ted had seen was Grace, that meant Grace was alive a year ago.
My heart was ramming against my ribs.But why hadn’t she contacted my brothers or me?You left her. Maybe she doesn’t want to see you.I refused to believe that my own sister would disown me as though I were someone she hated. Maybe she thought I was still at sea with the merchant marines. It had been hard to communicate with anyone back home when I was on a ship in the middle of the ocean.
My gut twisted.
My head hurt.
My heart was on a collision course with a sharp object. At least I felt as though the dull pain in my heart was intensifying, particularly if Grace didn’t want anything to do with me.
“Did you hear what I said? Skins and Needles is one block up, on the right.” Maggie pointed out the windshield.
I grunted for no other reason than not to scream at the top of my lungs. Confusion, anger, and excitement had a way of tangling together to the point that I was almost seeing stars.
I pulled into a spot in front of a cigar shop.
Maggie gripped my arm. “You're pale.”
I released an audible sigh. “I’ve walked this street up and down for hours, watching that apartment.” I stabbed a finger at a run-down building next to the one that had graffiti painted on the foundation. “When she first left home—ran away, disappeared, who the fuck knows—a friend of hers told me she hung out with a boy who lived there.”
Maggie’s green eyes glistened as she opened them wide.
“It was a dead end. The last time the boy saw Grace was a week before I knocked on his door when she first went missing.” It was more than a dead end now that the building was abandoned.
I climbed out, careful not to swing open my door too wide with the oncoming traffic. The hot August sun was sliding down behind the row of buildings across the street. A handful of pedestrians walked in and out of stores.
I joined Maggie on the sidewalk outside the cigar shop.
She hooked her arm in mine. “You’re still pale. I think you need my help.”
What she deemed help differed from my definition. I might have been in shock at the moment, but I wasn’t immune to her female scents or charms. The woman had some magic juice in her that made me want to fall on my knees and kiss her feet.
Fuck, man. Get your head out of your ass and stop thinking about your dick.
I chuckled at myself.
“Something funny,” she asked as we strolled like two lovers in a park.
