Page 6 of Heart Stopping
They started up again, fourth floor, fifth.
I silently pulled out a knife and waited. If they thought I'd be easy pickings, they were mistaken. I was ready to?—
"What the hell?" I whispered. I knew that stubbled face, the blonde hair. The sounds he made when he came.
The dimple as he grinned and whispered back, "Hello, love. I almost didn't recognize you with your clothes on. Didn't expect to find you in a place like this."
"What are you doing here?" I whispered. "You can't be here." I held the knife against my hip, where he couldn't see it. Obscured by the curve of my ass.
"I was going to say the same to you." He looked past me toward the window. "Friend of yours?"
"No," I said quickly. What the ever-loving fuck was going on right now? "Why are you here?"
"I could sell you a bunch of bullshit," he said in his all-too-attractive English accent, "but since you're crouched out here too, I figure we might be here for the same reason."
"Interesting theory," I said slowly. "You tell me yours first." I reminded my clit sleeping with him the other night was a one time thing. We weren't going to fuck, on this fire escape. For so many reasons.
"I don't believe we've been officially introduced," he said. "My name is Edward Bonegard, but you can call me Boner."
"I'm not calling you Boner," I said, a little more scathing than I intended.
He lowered himself down beside me and crossed his legs. "Suit yourself, love, but that's what everyone calls me."
"By everyone, do you mean you and your reflection?" I asked.
He chuckled. "You should give me more credit. You've seen the evidence. I seem to remember fucking you with it a couple of nights ago. You weren't complaining."
"That was then. You still haven't told me why you're here." If he was trying to get me to let down my guard, he was going to have to work harder than that. Sex was one thing, revealing my secrets was another.
Boner, I guess I was calling him that after all, nodded toward the window.
"That man, and I use that term loosely, inside that apartment likes to assault young girls," he said, not pulling any punches now. "I thoroughly object to him, or anyone else, doing so. With all that in mind, I came to stop him from touching any other girls ever again. As, I think, did you."
"Do I look like someone who'd kill a total stranger?" I asked, trying to sound offended. Pretending he hadn't hit the nail right on the head.
"How do I put this?" he said slowly. "You look like the sort of woman who'd be very good at taking care of herself. And others. Sometimes that calls for…extreme measures."
I looked away, towards the street. I hadn't always managed to take care of the people I cared about. That was a shortcoming of mine I spent the last handful of years trying to make up for. At least, trying to stop things from getting worse.
The guilt hadn't let up, not for a moment.
"How did you know where to find him?" I asked. I wasn't going to deny his accusations, but I wasn't going to confirm them yet either. Honestly, I didn't think I needed to. We both knew what was going on here.
"I have my ways," Boner said. "I feel like I've told you plenty, and you haven't even given me your name."
"You've told me about myself," I pointed out. "Why should I believe you don't already know who I am?" Now I thought about it, he had zeroed in on me in the bar. It was possible he knew exactly who I was and targeted me because of it. Except, as far as I could tell, he hadn't run off to the cops.
Yet.
"This may come as a surprise, but I don't know everything," he said. "If you asked me who I thought I'd see sitting on a fire escape outside a window, you wouldn't have been on my list. But here you are. And here I am. Perhaps we can start over again."
He offered me his hand. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Boner."
Like I had with Cass, I tapped my fist against his. "Harlow. Did you come here to kill this guy? I don't see any weapons on you."
"Would you believe I'm the weapon?" He grinned, white teeth flashing like the cocky prick he was.
"No."
