Very Bad Things (9 page)

“
Yeah.”
The husky, smoker’s voice came through.

“
I need a cleanup.”

“
Where?”
P was the cleaner, the guy that others called when they needed shit
cleaned up after everything got bloody.

Ryker gave P the address to his cabin, and hung up.
Looking at the door Fiona was behind, he wanted to go in there and hold her.
She was alive, safe, and although he wanted to tell her that yes, he had saved
her
life,
she
had saved his, too. She had opened his eyes to these new emotions, that he
wasn’t completely dead inside, and that he could feel alive.

With her.

Ryker turned off the water, walked out of the cabin,
and headed to his other truck, as his primary truck was underground. He needed
a smoke, and although he hadn’t had a cigarette in a long time, nicotine and a
stiff drink would help a long way in getting his shit together.

He opened the driver’s side door, grabbed his months
old pack from the center console, and took out a lighter. After lighting the
tip and inhaling deeply, he slipped the key in the ignition, and turned it
until his radio kicked on. He turned on the music, clicked the stations until
he found something that caught his attention, but the sound of a special news
broadcast stopped him from changing it further. He looked at the kitchen
window, saw that Fiona had come out of the room and was watching him. Was she
contemplating how she could escape again? After all the shit that had been
happening, and with the way he had spoken to her, he wouldn’t have blamed her.
He knew she wanted him, just the same as he wanted her. Fiona was a smart and
cunning woman, but she should already know that he wasn’t a man to give up on
what he wanted. From this moment on he wanted to only worry about his life with
her. The news started playing, and he waited until he heard what was so
important that they had stopped programming on five different stations.

“
Authorities have just released information on a raid
on what is being suspected as a human trafficking ring. Ten women ranging from
the ages of sixteen to thirty have been rescued from an underground basement
beneath the nightclub known as El Norte.”

Although this was breaking news, Ryker wasn’t
surprised that Trick’s little side job had been found out. But those women
weren’t forced to be there, and in fact had searched out Tricks to make money
selling their bodies.

“
The women refuse to speak, or are too afraid to say
anything, as authorities have stated. Although no names have been officially
released, suspicion has fallen on a local petty drug dealer and pimp as a
possible suspect in questioning.”

Ryker leaned against the side of the vehicle, looking
at Fiona again, but she had since moved away from the window. They wouldn’t
name Tricks right-out, but it didn’t matter now anyway because the asshole was
dead.

“
The authorities are still continuing their search for
the man in question, and if anyone has any you are urged to inform authorities
immediately.”

Ryker turned off the radio and took his keys out of
the ignition. After snubbing out his cigarette, he slammed the truck door shut.
He walked up the porch and into the cabin, and instantly trained his gaze on
Fiona. She leaned against the counter, clenched her hands together in front of
her, and stared at him a little nervously.

She watched him with an unreadable expression. He
walked over to her. Ryker grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the cupboard, took
out a couple of glasses, and moved over to stand beside her. Without speaking
he poured the whiskey into both glasses and slid one over to her.

“
Go on. I’m sure you could use a drink as much as I need one right now.”
He didn’t look at her as he drank the whiskey, and when he set the glass on the
counter and refilled it he noticed she had yet to touch hers. “Drink, Fiona,
because I know you need it after the crazy fucking shit that had happened.” He
tossed back his second drink, and watched as she finally picked up her glass
and drank it. After she finished it her face turned red, she gagged and
coughed, and he actually started chuckling.

She eyed him with distaste, set the glass down, and
then went to get water.
“So not funny.”
She guzzled a
glass of water, wiped her mouth, and then shook her head. “Not to mention
totally early in the morning for that.” She glanced at the ground, at the nasty
fucking blood trail that led into the bathroom, and then swallowed.

“
Don’t look at the blood,” he said and grabbed the whisky. Ryker took a
swig right from the bottle.

“
Kind of hard not to,” she said under her breath. “We have to clean this
up, I suppose?” she looked at him, a little disgusted.

“
No, I have someone coming to clean it up, but we need to leave, because
P doesn’t work with others around.”

She didn’t respond to what he said, but he could see
on her face that she knew exactly what he was referring to.

“
You’ll make me go with you.” She stated it without question.

He cupped her cheek, tilted her head up so she was
looking right at him, and said softly, “You’re mine, Fiona. You go where I go,
and if you want to live and be safe you’ll do what I say.” He didn’t say it
coldly, but meant every word that he said because it was the truth. “I saved
your life, and you saved mine.”

Her eyes widened, and then he leaned in and kissed her
hard, possessively, and told her without words that she was his, and he wasn’t
going to give her up.

Chapter Thirteen

Fiona sat beside Ryker as he started to drive away
from the cabin. No one had turned up yet while they were leaving. He’d not
taken anything other than a selected handful of clothes. She wore a pair of his
sweats and a shirt. They were covered in his scent.

“
Should you be driving?” she asked.

“
Why?”

“
You drank.”

“
A couple of shots of whiskey won’t impair my ability to drive.”

“
Okay.” She rubbed her hands down her thighs, wondering what else to talk
about. The silence unnerved her. She didn’t like the silence or how closed off
he’d become around her.

She tapped her leg.

“
What’s bothering you?” he asked, glancing toward her.

“
Nothing.”

“
Talk, Fiona. I don’t mind if you need to talk.”

“
Where are we headed?”

“
To one of my places.”

He was vague. This was her future as much as it was
hers.

“
Do you have a lot of places?”

“
I’m a killer. I need a lot of places.”

Blowing out a breath, she stared out of the window.
“Forget about it.”

She wasn’t in the mood to try to make conversation
with him if he wasn’t interested in talking with her. What else was there to
think about? All she saw in her mind was the disgusting look on
Tricks’s
face as he looked at her. He was a vulgar bastard.
The worst of the worst and she wanted nothing to do with him.

He’s dead.

Great, she was thinking about a dead man.

“
I’m used to being alone,” Ryker said.

She turned to look at the man who’d entered her life
and turned it upside down. “What?” She saw his knuckles were white as he
clenched the steering wheel of the car.

“
I work alone. I didn’t have anyone growing up. I learned to take care of
myself.” He spoke quietly, softly. She didn’t rush him along even though she
wanted to. “You’re the first woman I’ve ever cared about. I can’t let anything
happen to you.”

“
You don’t even know me,” she said.

He jerked the car to a stop at the side of the road.
She looked behind them to see cars moving around them. “Do you think I don’t
know our situation? We’re fucked up. It’s crazy, insane, and fucking stupid,
but I can’t lose you. We’re going somewhere safe and quiet. I’m not going to
let anything happen to you.”

“
Okay.”

“
You can talk to me.”

“
We killed two men.”

“
No, I killed those men. You didn’t do anything.” He cupped her cheek.
“Do not let their deaths hurt you. They do not deserve it. I meant what I said
back in the cabin, they’re not worth your care.”

He turned his attention back to the road.

Fiona thought about what to say to him.

“
What happened to your family?” he asked.

She frowned. “I told you about my family. It wasn’t a
lie.”

“
You’ve not been hurt at a young age or abandoned. When you lost your
family, you were old enough to understand why.”

“
My family died in a plane crash. It wasn’t exactly hard to understand.
They died. I didn’t.” She’d told him this already. Was he only bringing it up
again to distract her?

“
I’m sorry to hear about that.”

“
Don’t be. You weren’t responsible for the weather that they hit.” She
looked out of the window.

“
You’re not crying.”

“
It has been a long time. I’ve cried enough tears for them. Life sucks at
times, but like you said, there are people who are in a far worse state than
me.” She missed her family all the time. There was nothing for her to do to
bring them back.

He stayed silent for the remainder of the drive. Fiona
gave up reading the road signs. She didn’t have a clue where they were, and she
didn’t really care. Her old life was gone. She wouldn’t be waiting tables or
worrying about paying bills. Her life was in Ryker’s hands.

Ryker pulled up outside an apartment block. It didn’t
look upscale or rundown but somewhere between the two. She didn’t question him
as he climbed out of the car. Fiona did the same, following him up to the front
steps. He held a key, opening up the door.

It was now dark and silent outside.

Everything he did seemed
so
natural as she stood with him while he grabbed his mail. Was this the place he
stayed at in between killing people?

“
Come on.” He grabbed her hand, locking their fingers as he made his way
over to the elevator.

“
This seems so normal,” she said.

“
It is normal. I don’t do bad shit all the time.”

She went to open her mouth to say something else.
Ryker pressed her up against the corner of the elevator cart. He pushed her
hands above her head, holding her in place.

“
Stop talking.” His lips were on hers seconds later, silencing all
questions from her. She opened up to his invading tongue, moaning as one of his
thighs slid between hers. All other thought left her mind as pleasure overtook
everything else. She kissed him back, never wanting the pleasure to end.

One of his hands held both of hers as his other
traveled down her body, stroking her nipple, then down to cup her ass.

She gasped, feeling the hard press of his cock.

“
When we get to our apartment I want to fuck you. Do you have a problem
with that?” he asked.

Given the size of his cock pressing against her
stomach, she didn’t have a problem with him wanting her.

“
Do you want me to fuck you?”

“
Yes.”

“
Then we’re in agreement?”

“
Yes.”

Right now she’d sell him her soul providing he didn’t
stop giving her pleasure. She wanted him so damn badly.

“
Good.”

The elevator pinged. He kept hold of her hand. They
made their way past the other apartment doors. Ryker slid the key into the
lock, opening the door. Once the door was closed, he started to tear at her
clothing. She clawed at his clothing. The letters he’d been holding, even as he
held her hands above her head, fell to the floor around them.

“
I need to be inside of your tight cunt. It’s all I’ve been thinking
about all day,” he said.

She cried out as his teeth found her nipple, sucking
and biting at the tip.

His other hand gripped her ass still covered by the
sweats she wore. The way he held her, she knew she would have bruises in the places
he touched. Ryker wasn’t gentle. He was hard and made sure every part of her
was touched.

She sank her fingers in his hair, tugging on the
length. He released her breast with a pop.