Chapter Twenty Six
“I don’t know why you forced me to come back here,” Teegan said as she looked around her living room. “I never thought I’d say this, but this place gives me the creeps now.”
Thomas pulled Teegan against him and kissed her. “Well, that’s good since you’re staying with me. Of course, I’d prefer that you move in with me because you want to, Teegan. Permanently. But there’s no way in hell I’ll ever let you go.”
“I don’t think I have a choice at this point. If I’m going to stay alive…well, like I said, I have no choice.” The thought sent a chill through her that had nothing to do with the temperature of the room. She walked into her bedroom and begin dropping things she couldn’t live without into a large overnight bag.
“Well, if I didn’t know any better I’d say your decision wasn’t based on love. That’s not a very romantic way to voice your opinion, Teegan.” He sounded hurt more than angry even though his gaze pierced her like shards of jagged glass.
How could this man who had made his own way in a brutal world of violence truly need her? Their attraction was beyond anything she’d ever known before, but she couldn’t help but be deeply moved that he would admit his obsession for her. She knew some men would consider it a weakness. She decided in that moment that Thomas must have a good heart deep inside or he wouldn’t be so focused on protecting her.
“Don’t be so sensitive. I’m angry at him, not you.” That seemed to soften his attitude somewhat. She turned away, rolling her eyes.
“What is this?” he asked, looking on the bed at a wadded-up piece of fabric—a blood-stained, crumpled piece of material. Now the angry gaze was back. This man was the most intense person she’d ever met, and every bit of intensity seemed to be directed at her.
She looked at it and cringed. “Well, if I didn’t know any better I’d say it has something to do with this flash drive.” She picked up the small device that peeked out from beneath the edge of the bloody garment. The gory find had clearly been placed there so Teegan would find it.
“I knew it! That son of a bitch came back.”
She tossed what used to be her favorite nightshirt back on the bed. “Well, he could have kept this. You bought me another one anyway.” There had to be something in this crazy situation that was good. In that moment, she realized that Thomas’ obsession was the only reason she was still alive.
“I’m keeping it. It’s evidence. Bloody evidence, damn it.” He went to the kitchen, grabbing a small plastic bag to place it in and dropping the flash drive in the pocket of his tailored pants. “Get everything you need because you’re not coming back. I’ll be damned if you’re staying where you aren’t safe.”
“But I’m safe with you.”
Thomas gave her a slight smile. “Exactly.”
Her stalker had crossed a line and was too damn comfortable coming back to this house. Thomas was beginning to wonder if their nemesis was trying to prove a point to him as well as Teegan. Maybe the piece of shit got off on a little healthy competition. Whatever he was doing, it was a sick fucking way to make a point. The fact that he knew that nightshirt was her favorite and he’d saturated it with a victim’s blood was pretty messed up.
Thomas shook his head in disgust. Other men sent bouquets of flowers but this guy sent bloodstained proof of a kill, like a cat leaving a mouse on the doorstep as some kind of offering. He clearly wasn’t worried about getting caught. In fact, the guy seemed more concerned with terrorizing the woman Thomas now viewed as his. Thomas couldn’t let that stand.
He was going to have to talk to his father about enlisting the help of Agent Turner. Thomas had crossed a lot of lines concerning his father but he wasn’t about to cross that one. His father had a love-hate thing going with the FBI agent so this situation had to be handled delicately or the family could end up in prison.
It was odd to him how the unlikely pair of men had formed a connection. Sometimes it almost seemed inevitable because even though the two men were so different they were also very much alike. Even their women didn’t interfere in that unlikely friendship. Only time would tell just how far both men would be willing to go to keep the unlikely bond intact. It was looking like that day of reckoning might be sooner rather than later.
“Let’s go. We’re out of here.” He roughly grabbed her arm, half-walking, half-dragging her out the front door. The ride home was accomplished in silence. When they arrived at his house, he opened her car door and helped her out. She moved to step into his arms but stopped short when he spoke. His voice was curt. “Upstairs. Now.”
She wasn’t about to argue with him. He was clearly angry and that anger was being directed at her for some reason. She ran up the stairs in an effort to get away from him. He was close on her heels and when she attempted to close the bedroom door, he stuck his foot in it stopping her. He shoved the door open and she staggered slightly before regaining her balance.
He shook his head. “No way. You’ll never get away from me, girl.” He picked her up and tossed her roughly onto the bed. A humorless grin crossed his face as he watched her scramble back up against the headboard. He yanked off his tie, grabbed her hands, and bound them up so quickly that she didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late.
Her eyes got big when he pulled a knife from his pocket and flipped it open with the expertise of a man who was infinitely comfortable handling weapons.
“You’re scaring me, Thomas.”
“I know. I can fucking smell it. Your fear is making me so hard.” He straddled her body, the blade slicing through her shirt like hot butter. She could feel the light brush of his fingertips as he laid the fabric open, giving him a view of her breasts. “So fucking beautiful,” he whispered. “God,” he said, shaking his head. “I fucking love you, woman.” He trailed the tip of the knife across her collarbone. “You know, fear can be a profoundly effective aphrodisiac, my love. If I ran my finger up and down your slit right now, I bet I’d discover that you’re soaking wet.”
As her cheeks heated, she knew she was just as fucked up as he was: a woman who fed off of his crazy bloodlust. She knew he was speaking the truth. She could feel the liquid heat of her arousal pooling between her legs.
“I’m not like my parents, Teegan. I enjoy killing for its own sake. It isn’t about justice for me. It is about the hunt and the takedown, though. So nature or nurture? Who gives a fuck? I’m a killer. Simple.” He tilted her chin toward him. “Can you love a man who enjoys the feel of blood on his hands? Because if you can’t, I have no choice but to make you.”
Without waiting for a response, he slid the knife down and began cutting away her skirt and then her panties. When she was laid bare before him, he pushed her knees apart and began fucking her with the knife handle. Gushing sounds from her soaked pussy mingled with her moans of pleasure as he thrust the weapon in and out of her.
“Oh, God,” she moaned. “Please don’t hurt me, Thomas.”
His only answer was the intensity of his eyes cutting through her. He offered no promise or assurance of safety. She was at the mercy of his will, under his control, and although even a week ago she would have found both circumstances unacceptable, in her heart of hearts she confessed the truth: some part of her was reveling in the attention as if it were a delicacy being fed to her by the hand of a madman.
“Fuck my knife, baby. Come all over it.” It was a command she was more than willing to obey. A forbidden fuck that was so damn delicious she wanted more. Her body bucked in feverish obedience to his demand.
He gave her no time to recover from her shuddering climax before pulling her down to the end of the bed and flipping her over onto her stomach. When she tried to scramble away the sting of his open hand against her ass immobilized her. She could hear him unzipping his pants. Then he was gripping her hips as his cock slammed into her, sending a searing mixture of pain and pleasure through her.
“Take that cock, girl. It’s yours. It’s all yours.” His hand smoothed over her reddened ass before he used her hips to hold her still as he pumped furiously in and out of her body, every movement a desperate effort to fill her with the anger and jealousy that was slowly consuming him.
“You’re mine. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to get close enough to you to do you any harm. This shit with him going in and out of your house is going to stop, right now.” Another smack. The stinging contact sent her hurtling over the edge of pleasure. She came with a force that made her feel like her heart would stop.
She was getting to know him and understood that this rough fuck was necessary for him to rid himself of the intense emotions that had been building within him all day. Being out of control was a distraction he did not need.