Page 21 of Bleed for You (Bloody Desires #6)

C raig pushed past Jinx and jumped down the steps, landing on the broken path that led to the front of the cabin. He spun around and held a hand up, his wide eyes as he stared up at Jinx. Shaking his head, he said, “That’s not funny. Just admit that you’ve been cheating on me. I can accept that.”

“I have never cheated on you and I never will.” Jinx walked down the steps.

Every step closer he took to Craig, Craig took a step back and it hurt.

He would never cause pain to Craig. Never hurt him.

Not intentionally. He loved him far too much.

“Afraid of me?” Craig stopped moving, his head lifting to stare Jinx in the eyes.

This was why he never wanted Craig to find out what he did.

The look of fear that flashed across Craig’s face had Jinx realizing their relationship was more than likely over.

Another slash of pain that cut deep, but Jinx didn’t let it show on his face.

“I don’t know if I can believe you after you made that sick joke about killing men. Why would you say something like that to me?” Craig put his hands on his hips, his eyes in constant motion as he avoided looking at Jinx.

“Because I do kill men. I’m hired to do it.

” Jinx shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes tracking every move Craig made, seeing the way he stiffened when he spoke.

“Gonna report me now that you know my dirty secret?” Craig was a good man.

Jinx had no doubt he would report Jinx if he actually believed he was telling him the truth.

“Hired to kill men,” Craig scoffed. “Don’t lie to me.” He said the words, but Jinx had a feeling Craig didn’t believe them. He struggled to look Jinx in the eyes, his own eyes flittering around.

“I have no reason to lie to you. I love you. I have never and will never cheat on you. When I disappear, I’m here with the man I was asked to track down, kidnap, and kill.

” Jinx moved closer, his eyes narrowing.

“I like it, too. I like hearing them beg, hearing them plead. I like hurting them and making them bleed.” If he was going to tell Craig the truth, then it would be the whole truth and nothing else.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Craig shook his head, glanced to where he’d parked his car, then back at Jinx.

Jinx watched Craig’s body sway toward his car and waited for him to make the move he clearly wanted to.

“Why would you say that to me?” he asked as he took a step toward his car, just as Jinx had anticipated.

Jinx watched him, seeing the way Craig’s body leaned away from him and closer to the car he’d just taken a step toward. “Because I don’t lie to you. As I keep saying, I have never lied to you.”

“If you’ve been doing this, then you have been lying to me,” Craig snapped. “Not telling me about this is you lying to me.”

“No, I haven’t. I never told you and you never asked. It was something I chose not to share with you. A part of my life I kept separate from us.”

Craig didn’t say anything. All he did was shake his head. He opened his mouth, then closed it, glanced at the ground, then back to Jinx. “Why? If you’re really telling me the truth, then why?”

“I only go after one type of man.” Jinx took another step closer to Craig, saw his eyes widen in response, his body straighten. “One type. Those who hurt children.”

“Jinx,” Craig whispered, shaking his head.

He opened his mouth, then closed it, licked his lips.

“What happened to me…” Craig turned and walked over to his car, then stopped.

“Men who hurt children?” Looking at Jinx, Craig said, “Regardless of the reasons why, if you’re telling me the truth, then that’s murder. ”

“Are you going to report me to the police?” Jinx walked over to Craig and noticed the way he tensed. “I’m not wired the same as you. I have no problem disposing of these kinds of people. They don’t deserve to live. They only deserve to suffer, then die. Like their victims.”

“By you? You’re the one who gets to decide who lives and who dies? You have evidence that they did what you were told they did?”

“I always have evidence, and I track them to make sure what I’ve been provided is accurate.

” Jinx stood toe to toe with Craig, impressed when Craig stayed still and didn’t back away.

“I wasn’t ill. I was torturing a man who had been let off being punished for abusing children because of a technicality.

I followed him, Craig. Watched him in the play areas, in the parks.

Saw the way he watched the kids as they played.

When I took him, he was trying to break into a family home to take a child he’d been watching that day in the park. ”

“You kidnapped and tortured a man until you murdered him.” Craig swallowed, his breathing quickening. “I…” he shook his head. “I thought I knew you,” he murmured. “I guess I never really did. How much was true, Jinx? Is Jinx your real name?”

What he had anticipated happening was playing out in front of him. He was losing the man he loved. “I never lied to you. I love you.”

“You told me you were ill, and you weren’t, so you did lie to me.

” Craig moved away, his eyes fixed on Jinx.

“Don’t come near me. Ever. We’re finished.

I don’t want to ever see you again.” Jinx reached out to him and Craig knocked his hand away.

“Don’t touch me. You just told me you murdered someone and now you want to touch me? ”

Jinx grimaced, ran a hand over his face.

“Craig. Please don’t be like this. This,” Jinx waved his hand around them, “doesn’t change anything between us.

I love you. We can work this out. Let’s go home and talk.

” Jinx could feel his heart race in his chest and when Craig shook his head, he somehow held back his urge to grab hold of him so he couldn’t walk away.

His stomach dropped when Craig walked over to the driver’s side of the car. “Craig, don’t go.”

“How can I stay here with you, knowing what you are? There’s something wrong with you. There has to be for you to do the things you do and show no remorse. You’re not sorry, are you?”

“No.” He would be lying if he said he did, and he didn’t want to lie to the man he loved. “I enjoy it.”

“You like hearing them beg for mercy?” Craig looked incredulously at Jinx. “You get off on it?”

“Not like that, no. Not sexually. It doesn’t excite me sexually at all, but I’m not sad they’re dead when I’ve finished with them. I hurt them, Craig, and they deserve to be hurt.”

“And you enjoy it.” Craig opened the door to his car. “You’re sick, Jinx. You need help.”

“Are you going to report me to the police?” Craig didn’t answer but got in his car.

The engine didn’t start, and Jinx went to open the passenger door but found it locked.

Craig looked at him through the window and shook his head.

Jinx could see his lip trembling and put his hand on the glass. “Craig, don’t go like this.”

Jinx heard the engine rev and stepped back when Craig reversed the car.

Before he drove away, he stopped and looked at Jinx, shook his head, then drove away from the cabin.

“That could have gone better.” He tilted his head, watching Craig’s car shrink as the distance between them increased.

Jinx could hear birds in the trees, the leaves rustle in the breeze.

“Guess I need to do some damage control.”

Walking into the cabin, Jinx put his emergency plan into action.

It was a good thing he kept his tools stored elsewhere and had left the cabin as it was.

Opening the door to the basement area, Jinx jogged down the stairs and began to box up all his overalls, gloves, and boots and everything else he wore.

Once that was done, he carried them to his van and stored them in the back.

Next it was the items he used to clean and protect the room, then it was the equipment in the room itself.

Lucky for him, he’d planned for this, and each piece could be easily taken apart.

Once all items had been put in his van. Jinx checked the time and found an hour had passed.

Now he needed to do another clean. He did several in between kills because you could never be too careful, and now, he was glad.

A final sweep over the rooms and up the stairs, then Jinx was sliding the cabinet back into the place.

Checking the floor, he made sure there were no marks to show there might be a hidden room.

Outside, he locked up and set the alarm, then jogged to his van and got in. He drove away, seeing the cabin disappear, and headed toward a storage locker he had. It wasn’t in his name, so he knew it was safe from discovery. Once there, he unloaded his van, then cleaned it before driving home.

It was then, as he sat in his driveway, that he closed his eyes and felt the impact of Craig walking away.

“Fuck.” He knew he wasn’t wired the same as most people, but he loved Craig.

Had loved him from the moment they’d met.

He swallowed several times, trying to force the emotions back.

He wasn’t going to sit in his van, crying.

He knew this would happen if Craig found out about what he did. Craig was one of those good guys. Jinx had known that after the night they’d spent together, and he should have walked before it had progressed, but even then, he knew he wanted Craig in his life.

They fit, him and Craig. Fit with their humor, their sex life, their other life as Daddy and boy.

They just fit, except for Jinx’s need to hurt, and so he’d found an outlet for it and one that was needed.

The type of people he hunted didn’t deserve to be sent to prison.

They deserved to have their lives taken away from them.

They deserved to feel the fear, the pain, the terror that they inflicted on their victims, and Jinx had no issue being the person to do that.

In fact, he loved it. There was nothing better than seeing a man’s crumpled body on the floor in front of him, blood seeping from the numerous wounds Jinx had inflicted.

But when he was with Craig, all of that disappeared and he felt total peace.

He couldn’t lose Craig, but he knew that was more than likely what had happened.

He didn’t see Craig staying with him when he was one of the monsters they saw on the news.

Jinx had heard Craig comment numerous times about how those types of people needed to be sent to prison, not knowing he was in a relationship with one, sleeping with one.

Getting out of his van, Jinx trudged to the front door, opened it and let himself inside.

Walking into the living room, Jinx slumped on the sofa and let his van keys fall from his hands.

He exhaled, blinked, let the tears fall.

He snorted at his own behavior. Crying over a man, but Craig wasn’t any man.

He belonged to Jinx, or he had. He was fairly certain their relationship was over, and Jinx wasn’t sure how to handle that.

He wanted to call Craig, but he didn’t know if he should.

He did know that he had to make sure there was nothing incriminating in his house that the police could use against him.

He knew there wasn’t. He was exceptionally careful, making sure that part of his life didn’t cross into this one, but you could never be too careful.

Standing, Jinx swayed in place, then staggered forward before stopping.

The thought of his life without Craig in it had him lifting a hand and biting his knuckles.

No, he couldn’t see it. He hadn’t lied when he’d told Craig he loved him.

He might not be able to feel emotions for others, but Craig was his, and Jinx needed him.