Epilogue

Thomas worked his fingertips across Teegan’s scalp, as much to let the shampoo do its job as to soothe his wife’s frayed nerves. He paused in his ministrations and frowned. She hadn’t said a word on the way home. He assumed she was still reeling from the ordeal at the shack earlier that night. He stepped aside and gently repositioned her to let the shower spray pulse along her neck and shoulders.

“Lean back, baby, I’ve got you,” he murmured. After he rinsed the shampoo from her hair, he applied conditioner to the long strands, working in silence. They were both exhausted so his plan was simple: shower first, then sleep.

Teegan felt nothing; no remorse, no triumph, not even relief. She was vaguely aware of Thomas gently cleaning the remaining traces of blood from her face. Brian’s blood.

Even though she knew it hadn’t been her hand wielding that icepick, it might as well have been. Somehow, she had known what made Brian Reed tick; what would break him. She had played him perfectly, using his obsession with her to orchestrate his own suicide.

Somehow, she had just known. With every step she’d taken toward Brian, she had sensed that her rejection would be too much for him to bear—and in her mind’s eye she had seen flashes of what was about to happen. If she could see it, could she have somehow stopped it? She decided it didn’t matter. The world needed to be rid of him and the evil that had oozed from his pores.

She had known what he would do; what she hadn’t expected was the exhilarating power that had surged through her veins as she watched him take his own life. She only wished her manipulations could have somehow granted him the same agonizing experience he had so cavalierly inflicted on his victims.

Maybe next time.

As Thomas dried her off and carried her to the bed, she gasped for breath as hysterical laughter bubbled up in her throat. Maybe she was a sociopath after all. Psychopaths didn’t form emotional connections to others, but sociopaths could…when it served their purpose. That didn’t feel right either. Maybe it didn’t even matter.

Maybe she had always been so fascinated by serial killers because, deep down inside, she was one too.

The criminal mind. Psychopaths. Sociopaths. Tomato. To-mah-to. What was the difference anyway?

As Thomas towel-dried her hair and slipped one of his t-shirts over her head, Teegan pondered how profoundly her perspective on life had changed since she’d met him. No longer confined by polite society’s constraints, she had embraced risk-taking and could see the merits of his ‘the ends justify the means’ approach to life and death. Hell, she’d married a serial killer she barely knew, and he’d been raised by the best—or the worst, depending on how you looked at it.

Ironically, in the moments before his death she had felt an odd connection to Brian. Not an emotional connection, but more like an unfiltered view into his intentions. Somehow, she had known what he was going to do before he did it. In fact, if she didn’t know better she’d think she had somehow guided him to off himself. But how could that be?! She cringed at the direction of her thoughts. She still felt adrift and devoid of any real emotion.

Thomas stepped toward the bathroom and tossed the towel into the laundry hamper in the corner of the room. He strode slowly back to the bed, watching Teegan carefully. Her eyes observed his approach with a cool, flat expression. He was beautiful in his nakedness. Perfectly formed. She knew his skin would be warm and supple under her hands, but still she felt numb. Cold. Disconnected.

“Baby? You okay?” he asked quietly as he took a step forward and reached out to pull the covers back and join her in bed. The emotional and physical toll of the events of the evening had come barreling down on him, leaving him exhausted and yearning to sleep next to his wife for, oh, about a week.

In the next instant, Teegan was on her knees by the bed. She wrapped her arms around his hips and brought her mouth down on his cock until the broad head was pressing against the back of her throat. Her lips pressed around his shaft as she sucked his length tight between the roof of her mouth and her tongue. His cock lengthened and hardened inside her mouth as a stream of epithets poured from his lips and a fresh rush of sweat dotted his forehead.

“Baby, what are you doing? You need to rest but, fuck, your mouth feels so good.”

With her mouth sealed tight around him, she sucked up and down his considerable length before releasing him with a pop. She didn’t worry about making a mess as a glistening strand of saliva quivered and hung between her lips and the now taut, swollen hood of his cock.

“Fuck, baby. That’s hot,” he groaned as he cradled the back of her head, encouraging her to continue. She laved his rigid length with broad, greedy strokes of her tongue. Then she went back for more, tracing the path of the thick, angry looking veins that coursed along his cock from root to tip. Fluttering her tongue along the hood, she tasted the creamy pre-cum that had gathered at his slit.

Thomas laid both hands on her head and pulled her toward him. It was like he’d flipped a switch as she proceeded to devour him. Up and down his length, she pressed in and pulled back, sucking him hard and steady. There was nothing gentle about how she was working him over.

She just wanted to feel. She wanted to feel everything. Anything.

Without warning, Teegan gripped his ass and tugged his hips hard toward her. She gurgled briefly when his cock pressed against the back of her throat, but when he tried to pull her head away to let her catch her breath, she pushed his hands away and continued.

Thomas could barely stand as he watched his wife give him the single best blowjob he’d ever had. She sucked him off like a she-devil. He’d never seen this insatiable side of her before—and he fucking loved it.

His eyes widened and he could barely breathe when she dug her nails into his ass and pushed forward on a harsh, sucking pull until her nose pressed against his abs. With the head of his cock tucked in tight inside the slim column of her throat, he leaned his head back and bellowed with pleasure.

Thomas struggled to string together a coherent thought. All he knew was that he had never felt so good—and that his wife could deepthroat like a champ. “Fuck, I’m gonna come so hard,” he groaned as his hips met her fierce rhythm. “If you don’t want it, pull off now. I can’t fucking stop.”

He frowned when her face became flushed from lack of air, even as she pressed forward and nuzzled his neatly trimmed thatch of pubic hair. He wondered if she might have drawn blood when she abruptly dug her nails deeper into his ass. When she used her throat muscles to swallow around his length, the base of his spine began to tingle and burn with the delicious heat of impending release.

With his last shred of coherent thought he managed to grunt, “Baby, you don’t have to take it so deep. Fuck, fuck, fuck…” His balls drew up tight and his abs clenched almost painfully when Thomas finally let go, groaning as the orgasm sent hot spurts of cum down Teegan’s throat.

He collapsed onto the bed and pulled her down next to him. With his chest heaving in the aftermath of the most powerful orgasm of his life, he managed to grab the corner of the comforter and pull it over their limp bodies.

“Fuck, that was good. What the hell was that?” he asked between ragged breaths.

“I just needed to.”

“Baby, I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever figure you out. I love you, Teegan,” Thomas whispered against her skin as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

She curled up against his side, letting the warmth of his skin against hers help her slowly reconnect with the world around her. “I love you, too, husband.”

“Mmm, I do like the sound of that.”

“You should. You’re pretty much stuck with me now.”

She shifted up onto an elbow and rested her chin in her hand. Her breasts were soft against his chest and his cock took note as it thickened and strained toward her.

Thomas slid a hand under the covers, letting his fingertips roam over her silky skin until they came to rest on the curve of her ass. As he stroked and caressed her firm flesh, he frowned up at her solemn expression. “What is it, baby?”

“Mummy Man’s gone and Louisville’s a little safer now. But this will never end, will it? There will always be another case. Another killing. Another victim to avenge.”

Thomas gripped her bottom with both hands and pulled her on top of him, using his knees to part her legs. “Well,” he murmured silkily as he notched the broad head of his cock at her slick entrance and brought her down onto his length in a single, smooth stroke, “then it’s a good thing I married you.”

He worked her clit with his thumb as he rolled his hips in small, slow circles. “I’m still not sure what happened at that shack tonight, but the bad guys in this world won’t stand a chance with you by my side. I’m pretty sure you’ll know what they’re going to do before they do.”

“Mmm… You think so?” she whispered, feeling her body coming back to life as every inch of her skin clamored for his touch.

He pulled back and slammed into her with a particularly well-placed thrust. “Fuck, yeah, I do. You’re one of us now. Hell, I’m starting to think you always were. Welcome home, Teegan.”

The end…for now.