“Killing teenage girls and raping them isn’t right either, yet someone keeps doing it, and we think you know who.” Sitting across from the man as Dorian stands in the corner, I challenge him with a raised brow.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” For the next eight hours, we get more of the same denials, more lies, more demands to be let go, but oddly, he doesn’t ask for a lawyer.
I’m undecided if that means he’s innocent or not, but he’s lying about something. I don’t think he killed any of the girls, but he knows who sells them. All he has to do is tell us the truth, a name, so we can make an arrest and save some of these girls, but he keeps on denying it.
We have another sixty hours before we’re required to release him, and I hope to use as much of that time as possible to get the information we need. Because once he’s let go, he’ll either run or the man killing these girls will think he talked and take him out. Either way, the man is on borrowed time. Which means neither Dorian nor I will be going home any time soon. Though we do make a quick food run and drop a bag in the room with the suspect, then we head outside to sit and wait on Jesse to show up with my parents.
“Dad!” Seeing my boy come running down the street gives me a hit of dopamine I didn’t know I needed. The love I have for my son is incomparable. There isn’t a damn thing I wouldn’t do for him.
“Hey, kid.” Catching him in my arms, I’m fucking glad he doesn’t think he’s too old to still show his old man some love. “You being good for Gramps and Nan?” He bobs his head with a huge grin on his face, which means one thing. “You knocked one out of the park.”
“Yeah, I did!” Giving him a high five, I see my parents coming up the block with a box of pizza. “We brought you dinner.”
“Sorry I missed it, Jess. I’m so damn proud of you, though.” I hate the amount of time I spend away from my son.
He doesn’t miss a beat. “Someone’s gotta catch the bad guys, Dad, and no one’s better than you.” I hope to hell he doesn’t resent me for it in the future. “Besides, I met her.” My eyes widen at his confession. Everyone knows about my obsession, and this kid of mine is a sleuth of epic proportions. He picks up on everything.
“Oh yeah?” Pops winks when I spear him with a look. I knew they wouldn’t be able to stay away from her for long.
“She’s pretty and nice and makes the best hot chocolate.”
“That so?” His little head nods up and down. Hearing him say he likes Laken so much brings me the relief I didn’t know I was worried about. I need Jesse to like her as much as I do, but I wasn’t sure if he would or not. His own mother is so absent that I was almost certain he would resent a female presence in our lives.
“Alright, son, it’s time to go. Dad has got lots of work to do.” Mom reaches for him, and Jesse throws himself into my arms, wrapping his arms tight around my neck.
“I’m okay, Dad,” he responds before I can ask what’s wrong. “I just needed a big hug.” Standing up to my full height, he wraps himself around me like a monkey, and we stay like that for a few minutes before he loosens up enough to pull back and look me in the eye. “Don’t scare her off.” The demand is full of attitude I’ve never seen in him before, so I acknowledge him. I have no intention of chasing her away.
“I’ll drop by around bedtime to say goodnight, okay?” Putting Jesse on the ground, he gives me a thumbs-up and walks off with my parents, turning to wave before they round the corner.
“Looks like she’s got the boy’s stamp of approval.” Dorian grins.
“You up for a coffee?” Fuck, I hope she’s still there.
Laken
I’m restless, exhausted, and irritated. I spent half the night tossing and turning because of Hale. Dreaming of him was both pleasurable and painful because every time I would reach a climax withhim, I would recall the way Mason used to force himself on me. I haven’t felt so disgusting in months, and now that I feel like I’ve had his hands on me, I can’t wash it off enough.
“You keep scowling like that, and you’re going to scare the customers away.” Hale’s voice sends butterflies flitting through my stomach as I feel one of his hands wrap around me from behind.
“You’re not supposed to be back here.” Spinning, I face him, and he looks as tired as me. Being so late in the day, though, I’m betting it’s for entirely different reasons. “Are you okay?”
Reaching up, my instinct is to touch him, but I wind up closing my fingers into my palm and drawing back. “Touch me, and everything will be okay.” His eyes close, and I palm his cheek, rubbing my thumb across his stubble. I shiver. Pressing his head to mine, we breathe the same air. “Tell me something.”
“What?”
“Do your panties match your shirt?” Gasping at the bold question, I narrow my eyes on him as he grins. “Lucky guess.”
“They do,” I confirm anyways. The tank top is one of my favorites.
Brushing his nose up the side of my face, I feel him lick across my cheek and moan before he mutters, “The first time I see you in the bedroom, wear them for me, with a red ribbon in your hair and red high heels. Nothing else, just that.”
“W-wh-why?” I’ve never felt so turned on before.
His lips move lower, back down to my neck, where he continues to lick me and suck on my throat. “Because it’s innocent. It screams for me to teach you the ways of pleasure, and I want nothing more than to show you how good it’ll be between us.”
“Oh, okay.” I grow dizzy the more he talks. I’ve never met a man like him.
“What do you wear to bed?” My knees wobble. “Tell me what you’re wearing tonight.”