Page 66 of Chalk Outline

He is here on a mission.

A contract.

And he wasn’t part of mine.

I yank the gun from its holster, spin around, and just as Jason straightens up from the covered body, I pull the trigger.

Bullets whiz past him, forcing him to drop to the ground in surprise. He kicks back as I walk toward him, pulling the spare magazine from my thigh bag. I let the spent one drop and reload.

“Winona, what the fuck?” he mutters.

Jason remains seated, legs spread out. His palms sink into the mud a few inches behind him. His broad chest expands with a deep inhale as I lower myself to straddle his lap, keeping my eyes on him as I bring the gun below his chin.

He remains silent, staring blanklyor trying to.

“You sound just like my husband.” The pain laces each word. “Your eyes… It’s like I’m looking at him, but you’re nothim.”

His throat bobs with a thick swallow.

I let out an exasperated sigh. “I just want to touch him and feel the heat of his body against my skin.”

Something in his eyes changes, a sparkle comes to life before me, stirring something within. Fuck…those eyes.

“Rule number four,” I whisper.

“What’s rule number four?” he asks, arching his pierced eyebrow.

“My husband is gone, so don’t search for him.”

We stare into each other’s eyes, neither of us moving. His gaze drops to my neck and lingers there for a moment. I’m sure Spider-Web-Face left bruises on my skin when he choked me, and now the rage in Jason’s eyes is equivalent to murder, as if killing me wasn’t enough—he wants to do it all over again.

“Are you going to shoot me?” His eyes flick back to mine.

The tension slices through the thin air. Sharp and unforgiving. I mull the idea in my mind as I run my tongue along the inside of my teeth.

“Not today.”

“I’m not your husband,” he says, his husky voice strained as if trying to reassure himself. His pupils dilate, swallowing the blues, leaving his eyes almost completely dark.

It’s so easy to believe that he is.

I reach my hand up to touch his chest. “Did I break myself? When I killed him.”

His beating heart fuses with the fraction of sanity I have left for tonight. The shattered pieces are just a reflection of my emotional state. A tear rolls down my face, and sadness tightens my chest and my soul like an old friend.

“Only you can answer that, Winona.”

“I don’t know… When the adrenaline rush faded, I felt empty again.” I brush his wet streaks of hair from his forehead, but they refuse to stay pushed back. A grin spreads across my lips.

Always the same stubborn locks.

“Stop,” Jason frowns.

“Why? You can exploit this situation just like you did at the party.”

“I don’t exploit anything. It’s you who’s holding a gun.”

“We both know you can out-muscle me in the blink of an eye, before I finish snapping my fingers. The question is, why don’t you?”