Page 5

Greyson

With a yell, I finished the heavy deadlift and dropped the bar down on the rubber mats with a thud. Rolling out my shoulders, I swiped my water off the ground and took a swig. The music pounded through my headphones as sweat trailed down my back and stomach from the rigorous workout. Some girls across the room on the ellipticals were watching me in the mirror. They were trying to be discreet, but as soon as I looked over, their faces turned bright red, and they smiled. I was horny as fuck, but had no interest in being approached. Wrapping my towel around my neck, I headed for the showers.

As hard as I tried, I’d only gotten a couple of hours of sleep, and my mood was wavering between toxic and fucking demented. That was a dangerous combo for me. Turning on the shower and stepping in under the hot spray, I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the cool tile. The soft scent of iris and cinnamon filled my mind, and my cock hardened. What the hell was it about that smell?

Sliding my hand down, I fisted my cock and stroked. I’d been holding off for the right prey to fuck, but no one had interested me enough to make the effort. No one except for the faceless woman from the cemetery. Her voice was sweet like a summer spring breeze, but I bet it would sound a whole lot sweeter, choking on my dick as tears poured from her eyes. She’d claw at my legs with her nails, begging me to let her breathe. I might, at least this time.

Reaching out, I hit the soap dispenser and smeared a large dollop of soap on my cock. I teased my balls before taking a firm grip once more and stroking faster to the pictures dancing behind my closed eyes.

Pushing her face down on the coffin, I would tie her spread eagle. I could almost feel her pussy welcoming me as I fucked her hard. Picking up my knife, I could carve her back and lick the blood off her skin, drinking down the metallic taste. Eating up what gave her life as I came in her, claiming her as mine before slitting her throat.

I stroked myself faster, the sound of water and soap making a slapping sound, and if any other guy were in the locker room, he’d know exactly what I was doing. I didn’t care. I would jerk off in front of almost anyone. The more eyes that could possibly see what I was doing, the better. I still loved walking the park paths and jerking off at the pond. I found more than one unsuspecting victim back in the day that way, but now there was only one hooded person I was interested in at the moment.

The thought of her blood running red down the coffin had my body tightening and jerking in time to my hand. She would scream in pleasure as she handed herself over to me. My ass flexed, and I shuddered as the first jet of come shot from my body. Clenching my teeth, my hand moved faster along my shaft until every last drop had been squeezed from the end. My cock was still semi-hard and heavy, but the dangerous edge that I’d been balancing on had eased.

I took a few deep breaths as I pushed down the rest of the urges that plagued me. Before I learned control, I was erratic and killed way too many people. The only reason I didn’t get caught was pure fucking luck. The people I had chosen at random were easy prey and unsuspecting. From boys who pissed me off in class, members of opposing football teams who got too cocky, ex-girlfriends who got a little too close to my secrets, and a teacher who refused to change my grade. Fuck, I’d even killed a hooker who thought it would be fun to go after a seventeen-year-old and then her John when he came looking for her. So much glorious blood had been spilled, but I was careless and had little to no control.

Lennox was the only one who knew what I really was, and he was the only one who had been able to help keep me from getting my ass thrown in jail. He helped me clean up after I’d lost control and left too big of a mess for me to handle on my own.

That all changed when I saw my first newspaper article on The Chameleon. Now, he had skill. From the slick abductions to the artwork that he left behind, the lack of any evidence was god-like. But then he upped the ante and started going after higher-level targets. The FBI announced that they caught him and he was dead, but I knew better. The man who they claimed was The Chameleon was nothing more than a pathetic charlatan, copycatting real perfection. I didn’t know why his prey had changed, but I knew he was still out there killing. What worried me was that he hadn’t been active for over six months. But if I told anyone that I was concerned about a serial killer I’d never met, they would toss me in a loony bin right beside him. There was just something about his kills that had calmed me and showed me what I needed to become if I wanted to live the way I did and remain free. Every day since that moment, I’d been honing my craft and working on getting control of my impulses. It wasn’t easy. There was always a pull to let myself go and kill like I used to again.

Maybe that was why the chip and my hooded doll’s plea called to me. She was struggling with addiction, and I was no better. But where hers was for the taste of alcohol, mine was for something far richer.

I quickly finished up in the shower and tried to focus on anything other than the mysterious woman who had caught my attention. But once my mind was zeroed in, I became obsessed. Finding her and killing her would be the only way to stop it now.

Thankfully, the girls from the elliptical were nowhere in sight when I emerged from the locker room. Throwing my gym bag over my shoulder, I marched for the front door.

“See ya,” the new guy working the counter said, and I gave him my fake smile as I slid my sunglasses on and shouldered the door open.

Stepping outside, I ran right into someone. She swore, and a shiver trickled down my spine.

“Watch where you’re going,” she said, and I stared down into dark blue eyes that almost matched the shade of her hair, but it was the voice….

“Sorry about that. Are you okay?” I reached for her arm, but she stepped away and wrapped her arms around her body. She was wearing a black knit sweater that covered what looked to be a uniform. She eyed me like an animal would before stepping around me.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I watched her march off, and as she hunched her shoulders and looked back at me, the girl with the chip flooded my mind. No way. Could that sexy little thing be her?

My lip curled up, and I jogged after her. “Hey. Sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

She moved away again and turned to make sure that she could see me as she kept walking. Smart and sexy.

“That’s because I didn’t give you one. What do you want?”

“I feel bad for bumping into you. Let me get you a coffee to say sorry.”

“How about you leave me alone.”

Jogging backward, I pulled in front of her and gave her my best drop your panties smile, but she only lifted an eyebrow at me before she stopped moving and glared. This was a new response. I liked it.

“Is that look supposed to work on me?”

“It works on everyone.” I just wanted to keep her talking to be sure it was her. I took a step closer, and she looked around as if analyzing her best escape route. When she didn’t step away, I took another step. Her hair lifted off her shoulders with the breeze, and fuck me, there it was, the succulent scent from the other night. My hands itched to grab her and drag her into an alley as the fantasies roared to life.

“Yeah, well…I’m not everyone,” she said, and as quick as a cat, she stepped to the side and darted through the open door into a busy bakery.

Oh, she wasn’t getting away that easy. I stepped inside, but the line went all the way around the store and back again, and half of the people were wearing black. I looked for her unusual blue hair and caught a glimpse of her pushing her way into the staff-only area. Weaving around the bags of annoying human flesh, I darted between a gap and practically jogged through the door.

My senses were on high alert. I didn’t hunt during the day, but I couldn’t just let her get away again. Five people were working in the back, and they all looked at me as I stepped through the door.

“Sorry, just looking for my girlfriend. She has blue hair and is wearing a black sweater,” I said.

“She said she had a meeting with the boss about a job. The office in the back,” the guy kneading dough said.

“Perfect, thanks.”

Following her trail, I passed the office, positive that I wouldn’t find her inside, and instead went straight for the back door. Bursting out, I looked both ways along the alley and swore. It was empty, but she’d come this way. Her scent lingered, driving me insane. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip and could almost taste her. The corner of my mouth turned up.

Alright, doll, game on. Ready or not, here I come.

Alora

I stayed perfectly still and held my breath. There was no outward reason to avoid the sexy guy offering me a hot beverage, but like Thomas, there was something about him that set off all my alarms. He set off my body as well, but hooking up with a one-night stand for a hot fuck was not on my to-do list. Would it be nice? Sure. So would winning a million dollars and curing cancer and having my sister alive, but none of those were happening either.

The problem with hot guys offering coffee was that they always wanted more than coffee. I knew his type all too well. Fuck, I dated one. The all-American jock, most likely football, who was the stud in school and was looking to relive his glory days. He was the type who got whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. That meant he didn’t understand when people told him no, and that was deadly. Guys like that didn’t know how to take rejection. What was worse was that they didn’t know how to take responsibility either, so what would happen if the moment of fun turned into ‘ Oh shit, I’m pregnant’ ? I was already homeless, with no future to speak of, and more than one demon that gripped my ankles like shackles. The last thing I needed to do was bring an innocent child into the chaos.

But that wasn’t the only reason I didn’t want him near me. He had an energy around him that felt off. It clung to him like a darkness that was as captivating as it was fatal. My stomach tightened, and my heart fluttered like it did whenever I wrapped my hand around a bottle of tequila, and that told me all I needed to know. Stay away. Stay very fucking far away.

I heard the back door to the bakery open and wished myself invisible. He swore under his breath, and the hair stood on the back of my neck, but I didn’t flinch. Long after the sound of his shoes had disappeared down the alley, I remained in my hiding spot. Dusk came and went, and finally, the cover of night arrived. Only then did I move from behind the narrow space of the dumpster. My arms and legs were weak and shaking from holding myself in such an awkward position, and one sniff of my sweater told me that I now smelled like garbage. Great.

Not only did I not find anyone else hiring, but I would have an issue with a bed again tonight. Shaking my head, I picked up a light jog and kept watch for anyone following me. Did everyone live this paranoid? This couldn’t be normal.

I froze as I turned down a street and realized where I was. So lost in thoughts, my feet had a mind of their own, and now here I stood in front of my old home. The light was on inside, and a beat-up shit box of a car was in the driveway, which meant my mother was home. Pulling the sweater tighter around myself, I stared for what felt like days as I replayed memories like an old movie: spraying Evie with a hose when we were supposed to be washing my mom’s car and the two of us walking around the block at night when my mom worked late. It was the only time I ever felt like I could be vulnerable.

Evie’s smile lit up any room we walked into. She was the clear favorite. I never resented her for that, and yet I was the one who sabotaged her entire life. I introduced her to partying and drinking and showed her how to sneak out of the house. It was my fault that Evie didn’t have a future.

It had been three years since my release, and my mother still wouldn’t accept my calls, but it was time. I had to look her in the eyes. Each footstep up the driveway to the front door felt like another life sentence. I could still hear the gavel from the judge bang down as I was sentenced to prison. My mother had sat watching, tears in her eyes, but the tears weren’t for me. They were for the child she had lost.

Raising my hand, I knocked. My heart pounded like a drum inside my chest. Chickening out, I turned to leave just as the door opened.

“Hello, may I help you?”

My heart stopped and started again as my stomach twisted into a giant knot. Slowly turning, I looked up and saw the spark of recognition.

“Hi, Mom,” I said, my voice no more than a croak.

“Alora?”

I held the sweater tighter around my body to hide my shaking hands. “Yeah, it’s me.”

My mother stepped outside. There was no warmth or compassion as her eyes narrowed into a glare a second before her hand connected with my cheek. The slap rocked me sideways, and the sting caused tears to prick my eyes. I grabbed at my face as I stepped back from the shock of the blow.

“How dare you come here. How dare you step one foot on this property. I told you I never wanted to see you, and I meant it. I didn’t lose one daughter when Evie died. I lost two.”

“I know there is nothing I can ever do to make up for what happened, but…don’t you want to know how I am? Even a little bit? I’m still your daughter. I still love you.”

She held up her finger and stepped toward me, but instinct had me stepping back. “There is no but. No, I don’t want to know because I don’t care. I cleaned out your room the day of your sentencing and gave all your shit away or burned it. Just like I tried to burn you from my mind. You’re no longer my daughter. You haven’t been for eight years, and if I never see you again, it will be too soon. Go to hell, Alora, and this time stay there,” she growled before stepping into the house and slamming the door in my face.

It shouldn’t hurt. I knew what was coming and that this would happen, and yet there was no stopping the tears from falling. Covering my mouth, I walked away from the house that I’d spent most of my life growing up in, that I had every good and bad memory in, and that I’d avoided coming to since my release. I was a sucker for punishment. That was the only explanation as to why I thought this was a smart idea. That I’d think maybe time had dulled her hatred.

I’d always felt like an outsider and an outcast, but now I realized I was nothing more than a ghost of my past floating along, waiting for the day that this guilt and pain would be over and I could finally join my sister. Maybe then I’d be at peace.

Fuck, I needed a drink.