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“Thanks for that,” I joke.

“No problem.” He swipes his fingers through me, collecting his seed then smearing it across my exposed tits.

“Seriously!?” I whisper-shout, and he laughs quietly. His ruggedly good looks softening as the intensity in his eyes recedes.

Standing, he tucks himself back into his jeans and zips up. I right my bra and shirt, sitting up to pick the twigs and debris out of my hair. He extends his hand, and I slip mine into it. Nox pulls me up, capturing my lips in another searing but quick kiss.

“What am I going to do with you?” he says, gazing into my eyes.

“What do you mean?”

"You need to be more careful, less impulsive.”

“Nox, they were harassing Jessie, they deserved it.”

“I’m not doubting you—and who is Jessie?”

“The bartender… and maybe a new friend.”

“And you just killed two of her customers?”

“Damn it.” There’s no way they paid before I did this. “I’ll pay their tab, and leave her a big fat tip.”

“Yeah…because that’s not suspicious, Mallory.” Shit, he’s right.

“Well, I can’t leave her on the line to pay their tab.”

“You’ll have to. We have to clean this up and get out of here.”

“Fine,” I snip.

“Mallory… I’m serious.”

“Okay. Jeeze. I heard you the first time.”

He assesses me for a long minute before he carries on. “What do you want to do?”

“What?”

“Well, do you want to take the bodies home so you can play doctor some more? Or are you done?”

How sweet.My cheeks heat, the blush creeping across my face quickly. “I’m done,” I quietly reply.

Lennox moves over to the lanky one, hauling him up and over his shoulder like he weighs nothing. “Come on now, baby. I’m not cleaning up both your kills. You made the mess, you can help.” Nox bends down, picking up our masks and the utility knife, stuffing it all into the big pocket of his sweater.

He tosses me my hoodie, then stands next to Dylan. Gesturing towards his head as he bends down, grabbing the corpse by the ankles. I pull on the sweater, leaving it unzipped, then follow suit. Moving through the blood saturated grass, I crouch to retrieve my knife.Well…Randy’s knife.The blade pulls free of Dylan’s vertebrae with a wet squelch. Wiping it clean on my pants before closing it up, and slipping it into my pocket. I wrap my hands around Dylan’s sticky wrists, lifting the upper half of his dead weight.

“What now, Officer smart-ass?” I snip jokingly. Nox lifts the legs, the heavy weight distributing between us.

“That way,” he juts his chin behind me. “Through the trees there’s a ravine where the river’s deepest. The water moves fastest there and it’ll wash away all the evidence you left behind.” My eyes narrow to slits as I scowl at him.All my evidence, like he didn’t snap that twiggy motherfucker with his bare hands. “Plus, it’ll give the fishies something to eat before winter sets in.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes. By the time the bodies are discovered, if they ever are, they’ll be decomposed. It’s not my jurisdiction but I’m sure I’d still hear about it. There’s a lot more drug related homicides in Corpsewood than you think. This will just get lumped in with that most likely.”

“Okay.” I start walking backwards, guiding our way through the thickening trees as my shoulders burn from over exertion. I risk a quick glance over at Nox, who doesn’t even appear to have broken a sweat. I, on the other hand, could wring out my clothes and create a puddle of it. My back hurts, I’ve rolled my ankle twice,and tripped on a root. Jessie’s lucky I like her or else I would’ve burned these bodies along with that shit-hole of a pub.

The sound of rushing water invades the near silent night, only disturbed by the sound of our crunching footfalls, and my mumbled curses under my breath.