Traffic was bad.  They were down to eighteen miles an hour.  It was giving Dex plenty of time to think.

Why would Buddy and Kenna both be targets over that fucking dating site, if Buddy didn’t have a profile, or did he? It all begins and ends with that stupid fucking site!

He called Clint.

Before Dex even asked a question, Clint started talking.  “I haven’t found any e-mails coming into Buddy’s accounts from the Starbuck’s IP address.  Now I’m going through his less than stellar fan mail.  It’s the usual bullshit crap in business.  He’s made a couple of special fans.”

“You’re kidding, right?  Buddy seems so likeable.”

“There’s this one guy that swears he stole his company out from under him.  He’s fucking pissed.  Or he was,” Clint said.

“Gates!  I know him.  Buddy mentioned him at a barbecue.”

“Gale.  Lyle Gale.  Yeah, there have been a few back thirteen months ago.  They’ve tapered down.”

“That’s our guy!”

“What the fuck are you talking about?  Are you sure, Dex?”

“It all makes sense.  The killing centers around the site but started when Buddy ripped the company out of this guy’s hands.  Let me guess, the e-mails from Lyle were over the top.”

“Yeah, they were,” Clint conceded.

“This guy had to have figured out that Buddy was doing this to check-up on Kenna, so Kenna became a focus.  He’s been e-mailing her since the takeover.”

“Why kill the other women?”

“I don’t know about the first, but Jean was clearly a message to Kenna, so was this last one where he sent video.  My bet is that we’ll find a connection between the first and Kenna if we look.  But we don’t have time right now.  Find Lyle’s properties.”

“Stay on the line, I’m doing it right now.”

“At last.  We’re finally getting off this fucking freeway.”

He followed Hunter down the exit ramp, past the gas station, and took a left through the light.  They got lucky, and there was a break in traffic.  He could hear the tapping of Clint’s computer keys as they drove fast through the sparsely populated area leading to Wildcat Canyon. 

It was killing him driving there, but where else did they have to go at the moment?  It was still possible he was wrong, and Buddy was the killer.  If Lyle’s properties were in La Jolla, then Dalton and Griff were there if it was San Diego, then Clint and Aiden were there. 

“You have got to be shitting me.”

“What?” Dex asked Clint.

“The one house of Rosalie’s that’s being rented in Wildcat Canyon?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s got Lyle Gale’s name on the lease,” Clint said.

Hunter was already going twice the legal limit on the road.  Dex stomped on the accelerator and roared past him.

***

She’d thought he’d strip her.  But she was still wearing her blouse and jeans.  He’d used rope, not zip ties, to tie her to the chair.  When she tried to tip it over, she realized it was bolted to the cement floor.

“Ah Kenna, this is a pro operation.  If the chair fell over, I couldn’t have my fun.”

She watched as he went over to a table near one of the plastic tarps.  Now that she wasn’t fighting him, the smell was even worse.  Or maybe she was just imagining her body being under one of the tarps, and that’s what made her gag.  Lyle picked up something up.  He turned back to her, and she watched as he put on a mask.

“Thank you.”  She smiled.

His step faltered as he walked back to her.  She ignored the whip in his hand.

“What are you thanking me for?”

“I couldn’t stand seeing your ugly face anymore, so thanks for covering it up.”

She might not be able to fight with her body, but nothing was going to stop her from fighting with her words.

“Stop it, Kenna.” Buddy’s voice was a tortured whisper.

Lyle slowly uncoiled the whip.  He held it over his head before she braced she had to get in one last dig.

“Why should I stop speaking the truth?  He’s an ugly man.”

He threw the whip down on the ground.

“You bitch.  I have just the thing to shut you up.”

He whirled back to the table and came back holding a dog collar, but it looked weird, it had something connected to it.  He unhooked it and slapped it around her neck, tightening it to the point she thought she might choke.  “There.  That should do it.”

“You can’t even do that right.  I can still talk, you pussy.”

Through the leather mask, she saw his gray eyes, and his thick lips smile.  He held up walkie talky device.  “Did you just call me a pussy?”

“I call them like I see them.”  Her voice was hoarse because of the collar, but she forced her own smile.

His thumb hit the button on the device.

A charge of electricity shot through the collar.  In horror, she watched as he continued to hold down the button and red anguish took over her mind.

Was that wail of pain coming from her?

“So beautiful.”

She couldn’t see. 

Open your eyes.

She tried to swallow, but her mouth felt like it was full of cotton.  She spoke anyway.  “Sure, since you can’t get it up.  I suppose you have to shock me.  Have at it.”

Everything went red, then white.

She needed him to untie her.  If he tried to rape her, he’d untie her.  It was the only thought going through her brain besides the pain.

She heard a grunt and a thump.  She forced her head up.  It hurt to move, but she looked and saw Buddy grappling with Lyle on the floor.

Her head dropped.  The pain was excruciating.  Even if he did untie her, could she do anything to help herself?

Ewww.  Drool.

***

The houses didn’t have house numbers on them.  All three were clustered together at the end of a desolate cul-de-sac and looked damn near identical.  It didn’t matter, there was a green Monte Carlo parked in front of the middle one.

Dex parked down the street, Hunter pulled in behind him.  He took his Sig Sauer handgun from his glove box. 

“Front or back?” Hunter asked.  He was holding a gun as well.

“I’ll take the back,” Dex said.

Hunter nodded.

They took off.

It was a small house, only one-bedroom window to look in, and it was empty, so was the kitchen, dining room and living room.  He could see Hunter peering in through the plate glass window at the front of the house.  When Dex tried to open the sliding glass door, it was locked.  The only place left was the garage.  He could see the door to the garage from where he stood.  He didn’t want to break any glass because he was afraid they’d be heard. 

He looked up to see Hunter striding across the living room towards him.  He’d gotten the front door open.  Probably picked the lock.  He’d forgotten Hunter’s wayward past.  When they were both inside the house, they went to the door leading to the garage and listened.  They heard a muffled noise.

Dex nodded as his hand turned the knob.

In an instant, he took in the scene.  It was the same room where the woman had been whipped to death.  Kenna was slumped forward in the same chair.  A man in a mask was kicking another man on the floor.  He looked up at Hunter and Dex.

“Stop right there.”  He held up the remote control device for a shock collar.  He could see it connected around Kenna’s neck.  “I’ve got it ramped up to the highest level.  I’ll kill her.”

Dex looked at him and looked at Kenna.  Her eyes were looking up at him.  She was pissed.  He loved her.  He turned back to Lyle and shot him between the eyes.

His eyes quickly swept the big room, there was no one else.  Just the victim on the floor, the killer, and Kenna.  He was at the chair in an instant.  She was trying to look up.

“Hold on, Baby,” he crooned gently as he cupped her jaw and tilted her head so he could see how the collar was attached.  It was so goddamned tight.  His fingers went to work to get it undone, and she whimpered.

“I know it hurts, I’m so sorry.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she croaked.  “Buddy?”  He looked over his head and saw Hunter attending to him.

“He’s going to be fine.”  Dex hoped he wasn’t lying.

“Is Austin okay?”

She squeaked with pain as he pressed in to unclasp the collar.  “It’s off.”

“How’s Austin?” she asked, undeterred.  She couldn’t even lift her head on her own, and she was in mama bear mode.

“He’s fine, Kenna.  He’s at the base.”

She slumped forward in the ropes.  Dex was horrified by what he saw on her neck. 

“Did you call an ambulance?” he shouted to Hunter.

“They’re on their way, so are the cops.”

“Let me see to Buddy.  Get these ropes off me.”  She struggled.

“Kenna, stop!  You’re making it worse.”  He had his knife out and was cutting the ropes off her feet.  “If you keep trying to kick, I might cut you.”

“You’d never cut me.  Now hurry up.”  Her voice sounded like a frog’s, but she was giving him shit.

He got the last rope off her body, and she slid into his arms, she was too weak to do anything else but rest. 

“I’m a nurse, I need to get to Buddy.  He saved me.”  Her voice was filled with tears.

“You saved me,” Buddy whispered from across the room.

She shuddered in his arms.

See he’s talking.  He’s going to be all right,” Dex assured her.

Dex heard the sirens.

***

She hung up the hospital room phone.  She’d finally gotten Rosalie to laugh.  It had taken a lot.  Now she was exhausted.  Dex was glowering at her. 

“What?”

“Stop trying to make everybody else feel better.”

“Now that she knows Buddy is doing well, Rosalie is intent on doing as much as she can for Lyle’s victims.  She’s sure it is all her fault for forcing Buddy to buy Lyle’s company, and she’s paying for the funeral services and―”

Dex drove his fists on either side of her waist, and his face stopped inches from hers.  “The only victim I give a shit about is you.”

“She’s a victim too.  Buddy almost died.  Her grandson almost died.  She feels terrible.”

“He was a whackjob, Kenna.  You can’t predict crazy.”  Dex kissed her forehead.  “You’re going to be here two more days, and instead of recovering I’ve seen you do nothing but try to make your mom, your son, Rosalie, and your co-workers feel better.  You can worry about Austin, but nobody else.  Especially me.”

“What are you talking about?” She scowled.  “I’ve been a basket case around you.”

He slid his big hand under her back and hugged her close.  “Do you know how scared I was at the thought of losing you? And now all you’ve tried to reassure me that you’re all right, instead of giving yourself the greenlight to have a meltdown.”

“Well, I am all right!” She pushed against him.  “I survived.”

He pressed the softest kiss she’d ever felt against her neck.  Tears pricked her eyes.  “Of course, you survived, Kenna.  You’re a survivor.  Now lean on me.  Can you do that?”

A tear trickled down her face.  Could she?  What happened if she leaned and then he went away, she would never stop falling.  That she couldn’t survive.

Stop that.  Those are old tapes, Kenna Leigh!  This man is your own personal hero! 

He moved his head so he could look into her eyes.  “My life almost ended two days ago. You’re my everything.  I want to be here for you.”

She looked into those diamond bright brown eyes and saw a new truth and the start of a new life for herself.  She had somebody who loved her, somebody she could trust to take care of her heart.

“I’ll lean on you until the day I die,” she promised.

“Thank God.”