Page 151 of Darling Psycho

Technically, it was day three of their snowed-in saga, but Lawless had driven the Ram down the mountainside early this morning. It was blizzarding by the time he came back with supplies. She’d been waiting on the porch for him when he climbed out of the truck.

“You went out. I’m going out.”

“Your ass is going nowhere; the roads are like glass.”

“So, you can drive, but I can’t?”

“Yep.”

“Climb out of the 19thcentury, grumpy, it doesn’t suit you.” She laughed at his droll stare. That had been this morning, and now it was early evening, and Angela gingerly climbed onto the armchair with him, her knees on either side of his thick thighs.

Because he’d initiated her being on his lap, she leaned forward and knocked his nose with hers, then scratched her nails gently around his spider tattoos before stroking the angel wings on his wrists. It still floored her to know he got a tattoo to remind him of her. Since he’d been home, Ruby had tidied up the ink, shaded it in, and defined each feather until it looked like the wings were standing out of his skin. It was incredible.

“You’re a walking thirst trap, you know that? You and those leg warmers.”

Heat flowed through her, and Angela chuckled when he ran a hand up the length of her leg. “You like my leg warmers?” he’d watched her all morning; she knew he did.

“Then allow me to quench your thirst, Lawless.” Crawling up his body, he grunted, yanking her in place.

He ate her like a man possessed.

When Angela recovered, she signed into her Etsy account and ordered three more pairs of those over-the-knee leg warmers.

That night, wrapped up in five layers, a knitted hat, and a scarf, Angela trampled in the snow with Lawless while doing his nightly perimeter checks of the property. Her mitten hand slipped into his, and she smiled when he squeezed her fingers.

Baby steps. She was going to have him so drunk on affection, he’d go insanely mad if she were ever away from him.

They’d talked some about his childhood over the past few days. Not that Lawless was a chatterbox, but he answered all of her curious questions. And when they were done, she felt murderous about little Penn being neglected, about him not having a first name or enough to eat or someone to love him. If she ever met his mother, she’d shoot her in the fucking face.

More now than ever, she was determined to fill him up with affection, everything he’d never had before.

“Grumpy, if we come across a polar bear out here, I’m sprinting off and leaving you behind.”

He snorted, cocked his head down to look at her. The moon made his eyes shine so deviously, she shivered under his gorgeous scrutiny. “You think you could outrun a bear?”

“I only have to outrun you,” she stated, and then squealed in shock when he bit her on the neck. Loud enough, her voice carried through the woods. “Now you’ve woken up all these Denver-based polar bears, we’ll see how fast you can run.”

He was such an ass.

But they stopped twice to make out, so the threat of polar bears eating her wasn’t all that important.

THIRTY-FOUR

“A Diablo helping hand.” - Lawless

The cold didn’t bother Lawless as he climbed out of the truck.

The snow and ice crunched under his feet as he crossed a deserted parking lot and stepped into an even colder building, his breath fogged out in front of him as he closed the freezer door behind him.

The place was once a meat market, and now it smelled like death and decomposition. No amount of cleaning with bleach could eradicate the stench of a dying man. It clung to the inside of his nose as he advanced further into the frigid temperature.

Three men waited at the other end of the sparse space for him.

Lawless paid no mind to the hanging piece of meat dangling by his wrists by a thick chain. The guy was bleeding from his eyes, nose and had cuts all over his bare torso that oozed in rivulets down his skeletal body. Chunks of skin were barely hanging on, and he reeked of body odor and desperation. If he weren’t dead, he soon would be, and Lawless arched an eyebrow toward Ruin. “Your handy work?” the other man wearing black latex gloves grunted with a sharp nod.

Lawless almost wished he’d brought his fun bag of tools.

Turning his eyes on the other two men, he jutted his chin. “Axel. Gotta love a slaughterhouse for neutral ground. Now what made me leave my woman at home to come to this shithole so early?”