Ripped (6 page)

It was enough to make me hard.

I considered doing it. Stroking myself off in the car, watching her, even if it would hurt my pride.

But she was pulling her hair into a tight ponytail and leaving her bedroom.

Was she going to work out? Take a jog?

I waited, and, sure enough, a few minutes later, she emerged out of the front of the building. She started down the sidewalk, but she wasn’t jogging, just walking at a good clip.

She disappeared around the corner.

I started the car and followed her.

But she crossed the street and entered a parking garage.

I debated following her in there.

It was getting dark outside, and I didn’t think I’d be able to tell which car was hers if she came out. Then a car pulled out of the garage, and I saw that an overhead light shone directly into the windshield, illuminating the driver as they waited for the gate to lift.

Good. I wouldn’t need to follow her inside then. I’d simply wait.

Where was she going? Maybe she was driving to a park to take a jog or something. If so, I was going to feel ridiculous.

What are you going to do, Cade?
I taunted myself.
Follow her down the trail and watch her jiggly bits go up and down while she’s running?

My cock throbbed at the visual. The truth was that it had been a day of high adrenaline and tension with very little release. Rubbing one out was probably inevitable at this point. I didn’t see myself managing to go through the ritual of buying a girl drinks and pretending to care about her job and friends just to get into her pants.

If I had any sense, I’d head home and masturbate in bed, in front of my TV, and afterward, maybe I’d pick up some take-out. I was in the mood for Thai, maybe. No, Chinese.

Shell’s car appeared behind the gate.

It opened.

She pulled out.

I waited for a few seconds, putting some distance between us, and then I pulled out behind her.

So, I didn’t have any sense. Since when was that news?

* * *

Shell

I arrived at Kingsley Park, and it was deserted. I’d never been here at this time of night, but I knew it had a bad reputation as a place where gangs dumped bodies or people went to get meth. Not that I knew anyone who did meth or anything. But, you know, I heard things. The text message hadn’t been specific about where I should go or what I should do, so I just got out of my car and peered around me, waiting for someone to say something.

After an agonizingly long five minutes, I decided to text back the number that had gotten in touch with me.

Here
, I typed.
Now what?

I stared at my phone, waiting for it to vibrate and come alive with a response.

Instead, I heard the sounds of sirens in the distance, of cars zooming by on the nearby highway.

I clutched the phone tighter.

I didn’t know if I could handle another five minutes in this place. I was fairly sure that I was going to be assaulted by some gang member who was hiding behind some of the trees, all of which looked pretty scraggly, I had to admit. The gang member would have to be fairly thin.

And then something moved at the periphery of my vision, and I turned, my heart racing.

The man who’d texted me, he was here.

Had to be.

And sure enough, there was a shadowy figure approaching me. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a tapered waist. He moved with liquid grace, like a panther on the hunt in the darkness, and I felt something quicken within me.

Wait a second.

I knew this person.

“Ripper?” I said. “You stole my sister?”

He stepped closer. “Stole your…? What are you doing out here alone? It’s not safe, you know. If you want, I could tell you about at least six other parks that are much better places to take a jog. Not that you seem to be jogging.”

“I can’t believe you took her,” I said. “Why would you want to hurt Starling? Is someone paying you to kill her? And I thought you had some kind of code.” I was feeling furious, and it wiped away any fear that I probably should have been experiencing. Ripper was obviously a pretty dangerous man, but I wasn’t afraid of him. I supposed I had a healthy… respect for him. I realized that he could be violent if he wanted. But I had a certainty, a sort of subconscious knowledge that he wouldn’t hurt me. Still, I found what he’d done utterly repulsive.

“I’m not going to kill your sister.” He was right next to me now, his body towering over me. “What are you going on about?”

“After everything, after you let me go, then you just up and do this. Is it some kind of game for you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He took me by the shoulders.

The touch went through me like a jolt. My body suddenly felt warm and weak. I struggled to gather my thoughts.

“Focus,” he said, but he seemed affected by our touching as well. His voice had gone softer, lower. “What are you doing out here?”

“I got a text,” I said, looking into his eyes. His light blue eyes, blue as the early morning sky. “I…” I bit my lip. What was it about this man? He was so hulking and imposing and raw. I felt myself unraveling every time I was close to him. And we were close now. Oh, so close.

His hands were warm and firm around my shoulders. He cocked his head to one side and his lips parted.

I leaned in, moving nearer to him. My voice was barely audible. “If you didn’t send the text, then who did?”

He shook his head. “What did it say?”

“It said to come alone and not to tell anyone or Starling would… would…” I needed to break away from him. I was getting lost in his eyes and my sister was in danger, and I wasn’t even sure if I could trust that he
wasn’t
the person who had sent me that text.

Of course, he didn’t think that I even had my cell phone, so…

His hand moved to my cheek, just the barest of brushes against my jaw. “It isn’t safe here, love,” he murmured.

I shut my eyes. “I have to save Starling. I can’t let her down. Not again.” But my words sounded far away, breathy and tinged with desire.

His fingers moved higher, to caress my eyebrow.

I parted my lips.

And he kissed me.

I sighed, my hands going to his shoulders, his hulking frame. He was firm and solid. I felt my body start to get loose and pliant.

His mouth was hot, his tongue searing me, claiming me. He made a noise in the back of his throat, something guttural.

I clutched him, molding my body against his.

He moved us, and I stumbled backwards two steps. We collided with my car. He pressed me into the cold metal, his hand threading into my hair, cupping the back of my head.

I ran my hands over his back, over the firmness of him. I let my hands settle on his narrow hips, and I yanked them against me.

He drove his pelvis against mine. His tongue assaulted mine, all the while holding my head in place so that I couldn’t stop him. I was at his mercy as he kissed me senseless.

I didn’t want the kiss to end. It had been so long since I’d been good and kissed like this. Actually, I’d never experienced a kiss quite like this. He was like a force of nature, like the gusting wind, and he was holding it all back behind the thinnest of veneers. I wanted him to let go, to give in and take me hard and hot and harsh. I wanted all of him, all of this bundled-up passion and intensity.

I didn’t think anyone had ever felt that for me before.

His other hand traveled down my shoulder, over my arm.

Shivers went through me in its wake.

He traced my waist, my hip.

I sighed against his mouth.

From somewhere close by, someone cleared his throat.

At first, neither of us reacted. It was too strange, too alien to what we were feeling, and besides, no one else was there but us anyway.

The sound came again, louder and more pointed this time. Someone—a male someone—was clearing his throat.

Slowly, Ripper broke the kiss, but he continued to hold onto me.

We both turned our heads in the direction of the noise.

CHAPTER SIX

Cade

I really didn’t want to be interrupted at that moment. I was about two seconds from getting to second base, for one thing, and my whole body was thrumming with it, with wanting her and touching her and losing myself in her.

It didn’t make sense for me to be making out with her, and I knew that the minute we stopped kissing, we’d both realize that, and that the only way for it to keep happening was not to stop, never to stop, to keep going until the end of time, the both of us tangled up in each other, her hands urging me against her, pressing our bodies tighter and tighter…

But I recognized the voice of the person who was interrupting us, and it all began to fall into place, pieces crashing against each other. I understood it now. “Ice,” I said, through clenched teeth. “Of course they called you.”

Ice winked at me. He was wearing his trademark ski mask. Wore it on every job, so that the only thing anyone ever saw was his eyes. His mouth and nose were covered in black knit material. “Gotta say, I’m a little surprised to find you here.”

I stepped away from Shell, dragging a hand over my face. “You know, when they offered me the job, it was only for one girl.”

“Yeah, I been watching the news,” said Ice. “I convinced them it only made sense to do them both.” He eyed Shell, a hungry look in his eyes.

I didn’t like the look, mostly because I knew what he was feeling. I craved the moment of the kill just as much as Ice did. It was what marked us, made us the same. Not all men in our line of business really liked killing. Some of them did it just for the cash, and they’d had to work hard to make sure that they weren’t bothered by it. Still, I knew that they were troubled by nightmares, by guilt. Not me. If I ever felt guilty, it was only for liking it so damned much.

That was why I had the code. The code kept me in line.

It was simple:

Only kill for money, never for pleasure.

Only kill people with blood on their hands.

Ice, now, he didn’t have any kind of code. He was a mercenary, though, and he liked his cash. I could easily see him negotiating a way to get a chance to kill more than one girl. Ice liked killing girls the best. Young, attractive girls. This job… it was his idea of heaven.

I felt bile rising in the back of my throat.

“Two-for-one special,” he said, and I could hear the satisfaction in his voice.

Shell looked back and forth between us. “You’re the one who texted me?” she said to Ice.

He nodded once.

She turned to me. “And you know each other?”

“We used to know each other,” I said, glaring at Ice. He used to be my best friend. But now, I could only categorize him as an enemy. The worst kind. One who already knew all my secrets.

She looked back at him, and her voice cracked. “And you’re going to kill me?”

Ice chuckled. “I’ll do it fast if you want. I like to stretch it out, but if you ask nice—”

“He’s not going to kill you,” I said darkly.

Ice looked at me. “Oh, excuse me. I realize you weren’t done with her. So, go on, then, have your way with her. And maybe if
you
ask nice, I’ll let you do her instead of me. I do have the sister, after all.”

I looked back at Shell. Ice was being paid for a job, and even if I prevented him from killing Shell’s sister, that wasn’t going to stop Mr. Blue and his lot. Still, I couldn’t very well let her sister get killed, could I? Not if I ever wanted her to kiss me again.

* * *

Shell

I felt out of breath and my lips felt bruised.

Now I could sense Ripper near me, somehow. I could still taste him, and I was hyperaware of every move he made, every breath he took.

I wanted to touch him again.

Even though it was even more obvious that he was a dangerous man. Somehow, though, the danger was exciting me. It was all mixed up in my attraction—my
lust
—for him, and I couldn’t tell where the fear ended and the desire began.

I wanted him.

And the other man, the killer who had Starling, well, everything was getting blunted by Ripper’s presence. Ripper was like the sun, shining so brilliantly that I couldn’t pay attention to anything else. Even though I should have been thinking about it. I should have been frightened.

These two men knew each other, and the Ice man seemed to be under the impression that Ripper wouldn’t mind killing me himself. I knew that wasn’t true. I could feel it, and I didn’t question it, just clung to it with a certainty that seemed right and good.

But if I hadn’t been functioning so much on instinct, then I might have realized that didn’t make any sense. I might not have trusted it.