Hyde, an Urban Fantasy (49 page)

Cursing herself for making a sound, calling Hyde’s attention to her, she ran the only direction she could—toward the cage. He was on her before she got through the door, nails clawing down her back, spinning her underneath him.

“Please, stop!”

His laugh was guttural, base. “Why should I?”

“Because . . .  of Mitch. Mitch wouldn’t want me hurt.”

“Why should I give a fuck about what Mitch wants?” He toyed with her hair, wrapping it around his finger and tugging until she cried out. “Huh?”

She was panting, unable to get a deep-enough breath with his weight pressing down on her chest.

“He puts you in the cage, doesn’t he? I could speak to him, ask him not to tie you down.”

Hyde cocked his head to the side in a very Mitch-sort-of way. It was the first similarity Eden had ever noticed between them. “He’s smarter than that. He knows what I can do.” He grinded his hips into hers, rubbing himself against her pelvis. “Do
you
know what I can do?”

She wanted to press her body through the hardwood floor under her to get away. “I’d rather not. Thanks, though.”

“I could fuck you until you bleed. Or I could fuck you and
then
make you bleed.”

If she could breathe, she would’ve gasped. But at least he was talking, not just tearing her apart. “Are those my only options?” she whispered.

He snagged her bottom lip in between his teeth and yanked so hard tears appeared in Eden’s eyes, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. But she didn’t cry. She didn’t scream.
Yay! Give yourself a pat on the back, Eden. Quick, before he kills you.

“The fact that I’m giving you a choice at all is a big deal. I wouldn’t have given her one.” He flicked his head back to Jolie’s body.

“So I should thank you then.”

“Do or don’t. I don’t give a shit.” His enormous shoulders shrugged, lifting his hands and pressing more of his bulk into her ribcage. “
He
doesn’t either, you know, my little slut. He doesn’t give a shit about you either.” Hyde’s lips tightened.

A faint dimple appeared on his cheek, grabbing Eden’s focus. Her heart fluttered with the tiniest bit of hope.

“Say that again,” she said.

He shoved his hand under her and squeezed her ass, smiling when she yelped. “You talk a lot.”

“True.” She risked a nod. “Tell me he doesn’t give a shit about me. Come on, big boy, say it.”
Why would he do what you want him to?
“You know what? Don’t. It hurts too much.”

His lip lifted in a snarl first, and then turned into a wicked grin. “It hurts you that he hates you? Sorry, bitch, but he does.”

The dimple appeared again. Mitch’s tell. Hyde was lying.

She lifted her head toward him and peered into the monster’s eyes, looking for Mitch’s color or something to recognize him by. “You’re in there, aren’t you?” she said breathlessly.

Hyde growled and pushed her back with a rough palm against her forehead, slamming her head into the floor. “Quit your yakking, or I’ll kill you and
then
fuck you.”

“No, you won’t.” She blinked the stars out of her eyes, praying she didn’t lose consciousness.

He pushed himself off her, brows furrowed, eyes darting up and down her body, confused. “You think you know me, cunt?” He paced around her, the circles tight enough she had to curl her legs under her and sit up to avoid being stepped on.

“No.” She couldn’t try to escape—he’d just tackle her again. But she measured the distance to the cage anyway, trying to figure out how long she’d need to shut and lock the door. “You know me, though, don’t you?”

Same look of confusion, Mitch-like tilt of the head, the dimple. Eden hoped Mitch was just under the surface of this creature, pulling Hyde back from hurting her until he could come back into himself.

“Maybe you recognize what we have in common,” she said.

He let out a long sigh. “I’m bored of you. And he’s going to be back soon, so it’s now or never.”

“Could we go with never? Or maybe a
next time
?”

He grabbed her by her shirt and hauled her to her feet like a momma cat with her young, except much harder, meaner and with a growl instead of a purr. Her clothes were already torn in places. It took only a small yank from Hyde and they were ripped from her body, leaving her exposed, in just her underwear and bra. The bra was the next thing to be taken from her, with one quick tug from Hyde.

She wrapped her arms around herself until, with one look up into his eyes, she understood that her humiliation just excited him. She dropped her arms and stood before him as confidently as she could, forcing herself to take deeper breaths.

He backed her up until the cold metal of the bars pressed grooves into her back. His fingers dug into her waist as he lifted her, setting her against him, her legs dangling a foot off the ground.

She cringed from a pain at her hip, heard the rip of her underwear, and felt the only barrier between them fall away.

He held her with absolutely no effort at all, one-handed, while he adjusted himself to take her.

She turned her head and shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable. Tears she didn’t want him to see squeezed through her clenched eyelids.

“Yes, I know exactly who you are,” he said, his voice breaking slightly in anticipation.

“No, you don’t.”
I don’t even know who I am, but I know who I want to be.
Bolting out of her box of denial back into this moment, she pushed at him, refusing to continue being a victim. She kicked her legs out of his grip and squeezed her thighs together so he couldn’t get in.

Why had she given up? Made it easier for him? She knew who she
wasn’t
. She wasn’t a scared little girl anymore. No, she had to fight. “Mitch! Come back! Come back to me, Mitch, I need you!” she screamed, hammering her fists against Hyde’s chest.

He smiled at her childishness, pressed his body more firmly against hers, capturing her in between himself and the cage.

“Let me go! You have no idea what she’s capable of! What
I’m
capable of!”

He grabbed her jaw and smashed his lips against hers, grinding against her teeth painfully.

She spoke into his mouth, cursing him, threatening him, fighting him. Until she felt his abs tighten severely. He released her jaw to grab onto the bars behind her and rocked against her. His groan was long and low, as if he’d had an orgasm.

Too scared to be disgusted, she pushed against his chest again. Less hair, smoother. Running her hands along his shoulders, she found their strength and size familiar, just like she remembered.

His mouth softened on hers, no longer pushing and greedy, just desperate and needing. He lowered her onto the ground, but held her lips. “Eden,” he whimpered between the brief parting of their lips.

Mitch
. She sighed and opened up to him. Wiping tears from his cheeks as they fell, she absorbed his goodness until the police came.

Mitch would have killed to get in the shower. But it would have to wait. Police officers marched around his house like termites, led by their king—
or queen, wasn’t it? Queen Landon. Yeah, he’d love me to call him that—
after 9-1-1 had received a frantic call from one of Mitch’s neighbors about the violent screaming coming from his place. Landon wandered through the house, leaving the other cops to do their work in Hyde’s room.

Mitch had gone downstairs with Eden and watched them patch up the damage Hyde and Jolie had inflicted on her. He’d barely spoken to her, ashamed of what he’d let happen. All of it. When he could no longer bear the way she stared at him, he went upstairs to see what—if anything—the cops had uncovered. It didn’t matter now. Nothing mattered now. If they hauled his ass off, it would just be to a different prison cell, so who the hell cared anymore.

He stuck his head into Hyde’s room. Jolie’s body was on a gurney being rolled out of the room in a coroner’s bag. Not wanting to look at her, dwell on
her
deceit and
his
stupidity, he kept his eyes on the two cops who remained inside the room.

“We got a timetable here, gentlemen? I need a nap,” he said.

“That’s a nice cage you got there.” Landon’s voice was cordial, calm, unpleasant.

Even knowing approximately where the detective was standing, Mitch was startled when he saw him, no more than two feet away, reclining against the wall. And Mitch hated to be startled. He was also too tired to react with more than a momentary flinch. “Thank you kindly, Officer.”

“It was mentioned in your sister’s report, but the dimensions were off—inches instead of feet. Sounded more like a bird cage than what it actually is.” Rolling his eyes, Landon pushed himself off the wall and crossed to the cage, stepping around the shattered glass. “What exactly do you use that for, Turner?”

“It’s a sexual thing. You swing that way, Nick?”

“Experimented in college, but it didn’t do it for me.” He aimed a sarcastic sneer at Mitch.

Mitch didn’t know if he liked this guy or hated him.
Probably hate. Yeah, almost definitely hate.

“Who makes this? Reiner’s?” He waited until Mitch nodded. “Yeah. Good company. Good customer service.”

Damn it, that startled him again. To Mitch’s knowledge, Reiner’s made only one thing—animal cages. Did they make prison cages as well? “You have them at the station?”

Landon shook his head. “No, they’re too expensive for the state to pay for. Humans don’t need them that strong anyway.” He gave Mitch a pointed glance and then continued his tour around the cage, brushing his hand along it. “I didn’t know they made them with the one-and-a-half-inch pipe though. Is that new?”

Mitch’s eyes bulged. “What did you say?”

The detective brought his gaze to the two police officers and then walked toward Mitch. He stopped about five inches away from Mitch’s face and whispered, “You think I don’t know what you are, Mitch?”

His body tightened. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“No? Hmm . . . We’ll have to chat.” He took a few steps back. “Maybe that bar. Heavenly? You were right about the Martinis. We should meet up there sometime soon.”

Mitch nodded, not knowing how much the cop actually knew, but eager to find out.

“Gentlemen,” Landon called out to the men. “Are we about done for tonight?” He turned to Mitch and lowered his voice. “I got a hot lead on a case I’m working on. Off the clock.”

“What case?” Mitch was suddenly warm, nervous.
What is this bastard up to?

“Of course, we don’t need to tell you that this room is off-limits for the time being, do we?” Landon said nonchalantly, glancing at the other police officers and then flicking his head toward the door.

Mitch followed him downstairs. Eden was still on the couch, gauze and bandages wrapped over so much of her body.

The detective stepped outside, letting the other cops pass him. When they’d all gone, he said, “Oh, and if you see Chastity again, say hello for me.”

Mitch’s stomach dove a foot lower.
Chastity knew this prick . . .
“How do you know Chastity?”

“We met at a club. I love that girl. She sure knows how to have a good time, doesn’t she?”

“You know Chastity.” Not sure why he was repeating himself, but somehow the idea was so surreal, he thought if he kept saying it aloud, eventually it would sound even remotely possible. Yeah, it wasn’t working.

Landon nodded. “Of course, I had no idea she would get into so much trouble or I would’ve stuck around. Know what I mean?”

He wanted to wrap his hands around the cop’s neck and shake him until his brain came loose for touching her.
If he touched her . . .
“You are
done
with Chastity.”

“Is that a statement or a question?”

“Statement.”

“Thought so.” The detective sighed. “Now that I know who she is? Yeah, I’m done. I’m not a frigging rapist.”