“This murderous intent of yours really is one of the sexiest things I’ve ever witnessed. I’ll let you have this later on. You can ride me and keep it aimed at my head.”
He gave the gun a small tug and I surrendered it to him. “I think you need psychological help.”
“Don’t pretend you hate the idea.”
“Alright, lovebirds. Let’s see the damage done before you start tearing each other’s clothes off,” Owen interrupted.
He walked around us and approached the first crate I’d hit. He reached along the side and flipped a metal latch to open it up. As soon as the front swung open the body of a mangled blonde fell out.
I jumped as it made an impact with the sawdust. “W-what the hell? There are people inside of those?”
“No,” Judas replied nonchalantly, “That person is clearly dead so we can consider it a corpse.”
“Because of me!” Fresh blood slowly pooled in the areas I’d managed to hit with a bullet.
“Not entirely. She’s been in there for three or four days without food or water. If you get closer, you can smell dried piss.”
“I don’t understand. Why wasn’t she screaming for help or anything?”
“The crates are soundproof for that exact reason,” Bri replied.
“So, you can keep people inside of them?” I questioned with awe and mortification.
“We keep lots of things in them.”
I studied the woman lying motionless on the ground less than a foot away.
She was in what looked like club attire, a soiled pink dress, and one matching heel.
Old bruises on her body backed up Judas’ claims that she’d been in that crate for more than a few hours. Her arms were bound and so were her ankles but even in her sad state, I could tell she was beautiful. Or had been.
“Where did she come from?”
“She was the girlfriend of an associate. He missed his payment deadline on the order he was fronted, so she was taken as interest.”
“And what’s going to happen when he pays up and decides he wants her back?”
Bri giggled and went to join Owen in opening a second crate.
“You don’t get a return on interest, principessa.”
“But why would he pay now that she’s dead?”
He looked semi-amused by my question. “She was his girlfriend. If he values his wife, he’ll have the money by tomorrow night.”
“That’s…” I slowly exhaled as what he was saying sunk in. “That’s really messed up.”
Judas cupped the side of my face. “You don’t have to worry about anything like that ever happening.”
“Well, no shit. If I end up in a giant wooden box because of you don’t even bother coming to get me because you’re dead.”
“I was referring to me having a mistress. You being taken away isn’t remotely a possibility.”
“Oh…” I trailed off not having even thought about that. Now that he’d brought this up, I realized I did trust this man in some capacity. Judas would never betray me with another woman.
Besides purposely trying to piss me off one time, he never even looked at another girl. When it came to my safety, he’d do whatever was necessary to keep me out of harm’s way. It wasn’t until this very moment that clicked.
In a twisted sense that’s exactly what he’d done back then. It was at the expense of my heart and mental state, but he had protected me and given me a freedom I never would’ve known without him.
I simply didn’t understand why he went about it the way he had. That part I found inexcusable. I never asked him to pick me over his family, but I didn’t deserve to be thrown to the wolves either.
A low groan stopped me from saying anything.
Shit.
I turned around and looked at the man that was propped against an interior wall of the crate Owen had just opened.
Someone had done a number on his face but even with it swollen like a balloon and sporting dried blood from facial wounds, I knew who he was. I turned back to Judas with a hard stare.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. He did by being a fucking idiot and disrespecting you.”
I threw my hands in the air. “He didn’t disrespect me!”
“There were messages on his cellphone to a friend of his, that will be arriving shortly by the way, about your perfect ass and beautiful smile.”
“And? You think he’s the first person to notice?”
“Oh, I know he isn’t. Locking you inside the house is becoming more appealing with each passing minute.”
I didn’t take that statement at face value. He was possessive enough to do something that unbelievable.
“Then should I start offing every woman that talks about your giant dick and bedroom eyes?”
“If it makes you feel better, sure. I’ll supply the ammo and alibi.”
I ran a hand through my hair frustratedly. “I don’t know why I bother. I can never win.”
He grasped my chin and tilted my head back so that I was looking up at him. “You won the day you helped me bury a body in the woods.”