"Come in," I yelled at the knock at my door. I figured it was probably Barbara, I had just texted her and told her that Colin and Landen were on their way back to Colin's house and I knew she would want to come up and talk.

"So, today's the day, huh?"

"Yeah, Colin's coming home. I guess he's doing a lot better and Landen thinks that he'll be fine on his own until he heals completely."

Joey ran over to where I was sitting on the window seat and put his paws on my leg.

"Hey there, Joey-Jo-Jo," I said as I grabbed his little face with both hands.

"So what's your plan? Are you going to see him?" Barbara asked as she flopped down on my bed.

"Yeah, of course. I mean, I know how you feel. I know you still don't trust him, but I've never felt this way about anybody in my life. I want to help him in any way that I can."

"Help him? You mean like help him stop killing people?"

"Well, that wasn't exactly what I had in mind," I said with a laugh. "I was thinking a little smaller scale at first. I mean, I really just want to help him settle in and get better. Then, after that, I'll see how everything goes. I want him to know that I'm there for him and that I'm not expecting anything from him. And if things work out that will be great, but if they don't, they don't."

I looked out at the window of Colin's room. The curtains were parted and the window were wide open and I felt like maybe things could work out, that we could start over.

"I went over there and cleaned up his place quite a bit ..."

"I know, you've been gone almost all day for the last two days. Did you find anything weird?"

"Well, I wasn't looking for anything, I was just there to clean his bedroom and the kitchen and bathrooms and the room that I was in. The rest of the house really does need a lot of work and I got the feeling that he has wanted to get rid of stuff and clean that house for a long time but something's always been holding him back."

"Like what?"

"Well, mostly his past. Pretty much like everyone else. I think that's what holds a lot of people back from doing things they really want to do. I know I've spent a lot of time being afraid and I didn't even know what I was afraid of. And I'm starting to realize that it was just thoughts I had in my head. Some beliefs that started with events in my past that had been long overwith and weren't even real anymore.

I think maybe he's been afraid that, no matter how much he wants things to be different, that they will always be like they were when he was a kid. That he doesn't have the power to change the future cause he can't change the past."

"Wow, that's some heavy shit. So his friend is coming with him?"

I looked at Barbara and I couldn't hold back the smile that spread across my face.

"You mean Landen? Yeah, he's coming here. So ... what do you think about him? You haven't said a thing about him since I got back."

"What do I think of him? You mean other than the fact that he's a serial killer?"

"Well, in the first place, we don't even know for sure that he's a serial killer."

"Ok, then, other than the fact that he's a freelance surgeon," she said as she made quotes in the air. "Whatever he is it sure sounds to me like he has something pretty shifty going on in that big mansion."

"I don't know, I thought he was nice. And he really did seem to like you. Didn't you get that vibe?"

"I wasn't trying to absorb any vibes while I was there, Avery. I was just trying to make it out of that place alive."

"Did he really freak you out that bad? He seemed nice, and funny, and he was a really good cook. And I thought he was pretty hot for an older guy. In fact, I thought he was hot for any age."

"Ok, what's the story? Why do you care so much what I think about that guy?"

"Well, I like him, and he actually asked me about you a few times since I've gotten home."

"What? How? You talked to him?"

"Well, we've been texting back and forth and he's asked me a couple questions about you?"

"Like what? What my favorite color is? You can tell him it's not blood red."

"No, just if you had said anything about him ... if I thought you were interested in him at all. You know, things like that."

"I don't know, Avery. I mean, if I really tried to think back past all of the feelings of anxiety and terror that were clawing at my gut while I was at his house, then yeah, I was kinda thinking he might be attractive. But, I'm not like you. I don't know if I can overlook what he does. I mean, you're right, we don't know exactly what that is, but even if he was some sort of serial killer lite that still would be way too heavy-duty for me. I mean, the fact that I want to call the cops on a guy that likes me doesn't bode well for any kind of relationship."

"Well, the fact that you haven't called the cops on him yet kinda does, if you ask me," I said with a sly smile. "Why don't you just come out with me when they get here. Landen said that he was going to text me when they drive up, and then I was gonna go help Colin up into his house. You could just come out and say hi. It would be in broad daylight. That wouldn't be too scary, would it?"

Just then my phone vibrated in my back pocket and I pulled it out.

"Well, it looks like they're downstairs. Are you coming with me?"

"All right, I'll go down there and say hi. Come on, Joey, let's go."

"Yay!" I said as I watched her roll her eyeballs at me. Even though I knew this was all really weird and foreign to both of us I thought they were really cute together. If anyone ever told me that I would be trying to hook my best friend up with a serial killer before last week I would have thought they were crazy, but now I'm not so sure.

* * *

"Hey, how you two girls doing?" Landen said as he got out of his vintage Jaguar. "You look like you've got a little more color in your face than the last time I saw you, Barbara," he said with a smile as he walked around the car. Colin had just opened his car door and was about to get out.

"Hey, man, let me help you get out of there."

"I can do it myself."

"No way, I don't want you pulling out any stitches and ruining all of my beautiful work," he said as he grabbed onto Colin's forearm and pulled him up and out of the car.

I was so excited to see Colin I could barely contain myself. I felt like a giddy little girl at Christmas, but I also wasn't sure how this was all going to work out. We had spent a lot of time together while he was recovering, but there had just been that one kiss and I had left before we really talked about how we felt about each other.

But just seeing him get out of the car made me so happy. He immediately turned and looked over at me and the sweetest smile spread across his face, and he didn't take his eyes off of me as he walked around the car and up to the driveway where Barbara and I were waiting. I didn't feel like I should run up to him and give him a big hug so I just waited until he got to where I was, then I reached out and ran my fingers down his arm until my hand rested in his.

"Hey, how's it going?" he said with the cutest shy smile I had ever seen. I had never seen him like this before. All the time I was in his house with him he was so serious. There were a couple of times where I saw a hint of a smile, but nothing like this. And when he was recovering at Landen's he seemed a lot more relaxed, but he was asleep the majority of the time. But the person standing in front of me right now was so much brighter and seemed so much happier, and I wondered how much of that had to do with me.

"I'm good, how's your back?"

"Ok. I'm pretty sure it's doing a little better than Dr. Strange over here thinks." he said as he looked over at Landen.

"Hey, I'm just doing my job," Landen said with a big smile that then shifted over to Barbara and Joey. "So this must be Joey," he said as he bent down and ruffled the fur on his head. "I've heard a lot about this little guy."

He stood back up and kept smiling at Barbara and she just stood there with the funniest look on her face, like she was trying to picture him doing anything but slicing someone up in a dungeon.

"Yeah, he's a great dog," she croaked as she looked at me for a split second.

"Well, I'm gonna head inside and lay down," Colin said as he continued to look into my eyes. "Do you want to come up with me?"

"Yes, of course," I said with a big smile. I didn't want to invite myself over and I was hoping he would ask me to come up.

"Do you two need any help? There's a lot of stairs in that place," Landen said as Colin and I started walking up the driveway."

"No, we'll be fine," Colin said as he slipped his arm around my back. I looked up at him and smiled as I put my arm around him as well, but a little higher so I didn't touch his injury.

"Is this ok? Does it hurt?"

"No, not at all."

"Don't worry Landen, I'll make sure that he gets everything he needs," I said as I continued to look up into Colin's eyes.

"Ok, gotcha. So what about you?"

"What about me?" Barbara asked. I could hear her voice shake a bit so I turned around to see if she was ok.

"You want to maybe go for a drive or something? You could bring Joey and we could head up to one of the parks that overlooks the city. Come on, it'll be fun. It's a beautiful day!"

"I don't know, I've got some errands to run..."

"I could help you out with those after. We could make a day of it. A picnic and a walk, errands, etcetera...."

"Well," she said as she stood there, staring at Joey and making her decision. "I don't know about the etcetera part, but..."

Barbara looked back at me like she wanted to make sure I thought it was a good idea and I nodded my head and mouthed go."

"Ok," she said as she made a silent scream face back at me, then turned and walked with Landen to the other side of his Jaguar. He put his hand on the small of her back as he walked behind her, then opened her car door. As she ducked down and got into the car he looked up at Colin and me and gave us a big smile.

"Well, that was unexpected," Colin said with a silly grin on his face. "Did you know there was something going on between those two?"

"Landen asked me about Barbara a few times, and I had a feeling about them, but I wasn't sure. I think they're really cute together."

Colin furrowed his brow and smiled down at me like he thought what I had said was funny, then opened the gate and waited for me to go ahead of him. He didn't need any help on the stairs like I thought he might and he noticed right away when we got inside the back door that I had cleaned up a bit.

"Landen told me you were going to come over here and clean up before I got home, but I didn't expect it to look so different. Thank you."

"Don't worry about it, it was my pleasure. Just wait till you get upstairs though," I said with a smile, hoping that he would be happy with what I had done. I didn't want to disturb any of his stuff, but I wanted to really get everything clean so I had to move a few things around.

We walked up the stairs to the second floor and he was completely silent as he went into his bedroom and sat down on the bed. He looked down at the floor and kicked his shoes off and I was worried that something was wrong because he still hadn't looked up at me.

"Is everything ok? I didn't go through your stuff or anything, I just moved it around a little so I could clean."

He looked up at me with a big smile on his face, but his eyes were sparkling like he had tears welling up in them.

"Everything's perfect. Just the way I imagined it would be," he said as he looked back down.

"I'm really glad, Colin. I wanted everything to be nice for you. Do you need anything? Something to drink, some broth maybe?" I asked with a smile.

"No, I'm fine. I don't think I'll be wanting to drink any broth for a long time. I'm kinda tired though. I think I'm just gonna lay down."

"Ok, well, I can stay for a while if you'd like," I said as I moved a little closer to where he was on the bed. "I can help you with anything you need ..."

"Well, what I'd really like, is for you to lay down in bed with me for a while ... that is, if you want to."

I couldn't get over to Colin fast enough after he said that and as I approached him I squeezed my way in between his legs. He looked up at me like he was a little bit surprised and then a big smile spread across his face again and he put his hands on my hips.

"I definitely want to," I said as I held his face in both of my hands, then leaned down and kissed his lips. With every movement of my mouth against his, a surge of feelings inside me grew in intensity. I felt like my heart was about to explode and every cell of my body was melting as I felt the heat and warmth and energy from him pass through me.

I pushed him down on the bed and ran my hands down his t-shirt covered chest, then slowly started to undo his belt buckle. My gaze moved up and down his chest every time I looked up into his eyes, then back down at his jeans, that I was now unzipping, and I was thrilled when he started to take off his t-shirt. I watched as the fabric slowly revealed his muscular abs and his perfectly shaped pecks, but my favorite part were his shoulders and arms.

I bent forward over him and kissed my way up his stomach as my hands moved ahead, gently touching his slightly hairy chest and nipples. He was moaning and his breath was heavy and when I made my way up to his neck he said my name.

"I can't believe this is happening. I can't believe you're really here with me, Avery," he said as I looked into his beautiful dark eyes.

"I'm here. I want to be here with you, Colin. I love you," I said as a single tear fell from my eye onto the corner of his mouth. I smiled then leaned in and covered his mouth with mine, tasting the salt of my own tear as my tongue met his.

"I love you," he said as I moved my head back and looked into his eyes again.

I moved my hands back down his chest and continued to remove his jeans, and as I did he slowly moved himself further back onto the bed. I could tell he was still in pain and I didn't want to do anything that would cause his injury to get worse.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm more than ok," he said with a big grin. "Now get over here."

I kicked my shoes off and pulled off my clothes, then crawled on to the bed and under the covers with him. And as soon as I did his arms circled me and he flipped me over so that he was on top. His hips ground into mine as he pushed himself in between my legs and he held my head with both of his hands while his lips devoured mine.

Tingles pulsated throughout my entire body as Colin licked and kissed his way down to my stomach and when he reached down and spread my legs I gasped. I looked down into his eyes as he kissed my thigh, moving his mouth closer and closer to the space between my legs and then all at once he was there, his lips and tongue and face were buried in me.

His entire face moved against me, licking and sucking and stroking my clit and then his tongue was plunging deep inside of me.

I called out his name as I came, his soft hair in both of my hands as I held him up to me, then as my body twisted and the climax was coming to an end I clamped my thighs around him and he slowly moved his head up to my stomach.

Before I knew it his hips were pushing in between my thighs again and he slid the head of his cock back and forth over my wetness as he looked into my eyes. Then all at once he was inside and I exploded again. I had never felt anything like him before in my life. It was as if we were connected by something other than our flesh and I could feel not only him, but his energy, the very essence of him, deep inside me.

His body became rigid and I knew that he was close to coming and so I buried my lips in the space between his neck and shoulder and he let out the longest, deepest, sexiest moan I had ever heard in my life. His body was convulsing and curling up against mine and as I felt his movements slow down I grabbed his head and kissed his jaw and cheeks and lips until he was laying down next to me with his eyes closed.

I touched his face gently with my fingers and he opened up his eyes and smiled sleepily at me, then he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him.

"That was amazing, Avery. I don't even have any words to describe how I feel right now. How you make me feel."

"You don't have to say anything, I think I know exactly how you feel," I said as I closed my eyes and felt the warmth of his arms around me. I had never felt as safe in anyone's arms in my entire life and that thought made me smile.