Page 89 of From Hell

It’s a transplant transporter for organs.

What the Hell?

Fuck it. I can’t take his hot and cold mood swings any longer. I’m not afraid of him. I’ve faced the Ripper and lived. I’ve killed. If Jaxon is angry, that’s on him. I’ve done nothing wrong. He’s the one keeping secrets.

The mystical tattoos. The organ box. Hell, the way the body was ripped to shreds…

Dehumanized.

Just like the Ripper.

Jaxon comes back to the car after a good ten minutes. He stuffs the plastic sheeting into the rear end. Then he comes up to the front. The menacing aura around him is gone as he starts the engine. He doesn’t say anything and is silent for a few minutes while we distance ourselves from the body.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” he says, staring straight ahead.

“That wasn’t nothing.”

His eyes flit to me in the darkness. “Trust me. You’re better off not knowing.”

“Actually, I’m better off.”

He cuts a glare at me, muscles ticcing in his jaw. “You really want to know?”

“I need to know. We can’t keep secrets from each other if we’re going to do this.”This.Killing together.

“It’s a ritual.”

“What kind of ritual?”

“One that lets me harvest the organs.”

“That’s what the cold storage box is for?”

“For the heart. We have to make a stop at Victoria University Hospital. In its condition, it’s only viable for six hours. We don’t have long. The recipient is already prepped.”

Victoria University Hospital is where Jaxon trained as a resident. It makes sense that he has ties there, but I’m still surprised. It’s a charity hospital. “Is that why you killed Christian? To donate his heart?”

He shrugs. “I may be a killer, but I also swore the Hippocratic oath.” I scoff at that. When I meet Jaxon’s gaze, he’s still staring at me. “But no, killing Christian was for you. We just so happened to have a match for him.”

We.

Who is he talking about?

My chest warms at his words, saying he killed Christian for me, but I don’t reply, looking out the window instead as we pull up to a back entrance of VUH. Dawn is peeking over the horizon. How has time gone so quickly? Jaxon disappears inside with the heart and comes out empty-handed. He glances my way as he gets into the driver’s seat, eyes dark and swirling with lust.

I can’t help but squeeze my legs together. “What?”

“You didn’t believe me?”

“It’s just… far-fetched.” I’m also ashamed that I didn’t think of it. I’ve been so obsessed with getting revenge that I forgot who I was. What I stand for. And now I know Jaxon has been killing to save lives all this time; I desperately need his body on mine. The slow-burning heat spiking through my core has become a raging inferno.

Not that I would ever admit it.

Thick clouds threaten to piss all over us as we trudge toward Jaxon’s lonely house. On the doorstep, he doesn’t bother asking me to towel off before I step inside. Water drips off us both, leaving pool trails across the granite.

“If you want to take a shower, you can.”