Page 3 of Whips and Chains (Saint View Murder Squad #2)

I stumbled back, instantly recognizing the dead, unseeing eyes. “Oh, Jesus fuck, I know him. It’s Adam Dickson. We were in prison together. He’s one of the guys on the list that Trig and the others were watching. Doc said he went missing a couple days ago. They thought he’d skipped town.”

I didn’t know why he was here or how, but this had to have something to do with Violet. Whip was already a step ahead of me, snapped out of gruesome curiosity with the sick realization something very, very bad had gone down here tonight.

“Violet,” I managed to gasp out, sprinting after Whip and X, who were already running for the warehouse door. I caught up quickly, fueled by a rising panic, and it was me who got to the door handle first.

It was me who yanked it hard, the door creaking open beneath my solid pull.

It was me who stopped dead at the sight of Violet sitting in a pool of blood, Toby’s lifeless body cradled in her arms.

She didn’t look our way. She didn’t say a word. Just sat there, stroking his hair with bloodied fingers, her eyes unseeing.

For once in his life, even X didn’t have a joke or a witty remark.

“Fuck. Violet!” Whip lunged forward.

Violet’s scream was a warning of anger more than one of fear. It stopped Whip in his tracks instantly. His expression filled with desperation, and his body went rigid as he tried to hold himself back.

I took in every detail of her blank expression and repeated movements. “She’s in shock.”

“There’s another body over by the window.

” Whip’s gaze bounced around the room, searching for any possible danger that might still linger, even though he flicked constant little glances at Violet.

“Probably headless and probably Dickson’s, I’m guessing.

” He swore under his breath. “What the fuck happened?”

I had no idea, and I almost didn’t care. All I could see was Violet.

X’s expression, centered solely on Violet, was so full of heartbreak I could barely look at him. I could tell every inch of his body was demanding he make sure she was okay.

Because mine was doing the same.

But X had a hold on himself that was so rigid it seemed painful. He swallowed hard and stared at me. “Please…”

I instantly understood. He couldn’t go to her. After what he’d done, he was terrified of scaring her again. But it was killing him.

“Help Whip check the room. Make sure there’s nobody else here,” I told him.

But my gut already said there wasn’t. I could feel it in the air. The only person who’d been left breathing here tonight was Violet.

I moved toward her at half the pace Whip had. She didn’t glance up, but she didn’t scream either. The only sign she even noticed me at all was the quicker pace she stroked Toby’s hair with.

There was no point checking his pulse. I crouched to touch his skin, and it was still warm, but he was very much dead. Clearly not for long, but there was no living through an injury like the one he’d sustained.

“Vi,” I said so softly it was barely audible.

She didn’t say a word, but her fingers stilled.

So I tried again, my voice cracking. Her pain was written all over her beautiful face, and it was killing me.

Every second she wasn’t in my arms was a burning agony I couldn’t even explain because I’d never cared about another person the way I cared about her.

“Vi.”

I was so fucking in love with her I could barely breathe, and all I wanted to do was tell her that while I wrapped her in my arms and protected her from whatever horrors had lurked within these walls.

But I forced myself to go slowly, putting what she needed above what I did.

“It’s me, Vi. It’s Levi. You’re safe now, okay? X and Whip are here too.”

I could feel their gazes from across the room. Their fear for Violet as thick in the air as the smell of Toby’s blood.

I ignored the pool of blood beneath me, because all I could do was focus on her.

She stared at the wall, barely blinking.

I couldn’t help myself. The desire to touch her was too strong. I cupped the side of her face.

She jerked, another scream ripping from her mouth. “Don’t touch me!”

I clasped her cheeks with both hands and forced her to look at me. “Vi, it’s me.”

She flung her arms up, colliding with mine, breaking the hold I had on her. She scrambled back onto her feet, trying to get away from me, Toby’s head clunking onto the concrete in the process. “Don’t touch me!”

Her eyes were huge. Her chest heaved with too-fast breaths. But her fingers clenched into fists, telling me she still thought she had to fight her way out of this.

“No one is going to touch you,” I assured her, using a gentle, deep voice I would have used to settle a spooked horse. “You’re safe. You’re okay.”

But shock had set in deep. Her gaze strayed to Toby, and her body tensed at every sound, every movement.

“We can’t clean this,” Whip muttered from behind me.

X quickly agreed with him. “Dickson we probably could, but Toby has family and friends who will miss him. We can’t just sweep whatever happened here tonight under the rug. We’ve gotta let the cops find this one.”

But all I could see was that knife sticking out of Toby’s neck.

And Violet the only person left here breathing.

I knew how that was going to look to the police.

Whether she’d done it or not, she’d be the prime suspect.

And I’d bet anything her prints were all over that murder weapon, just from the way she’d been holding Toby as he’d died.

“Agreed. But we need to convince her to come with us first. She can’t be here when the cops find it, and that weapon comes with us.

Get the guys down here to clean her prints off anything she might have touched. ”

I didn’t wait for their confirmation. I knew Whip well enough by now to know he’d handle it.

All I could concentrate on was Violet.

“Vi. Can you look at me?”

I waited, trying to stay patient, even though everything inside me screamed to stride across the room, pick her up, and carry her out of here. And I would if I had to. But that would only cause her more trauma, so it was a last resort.

“Vi.”

Eventually she dragged her gaze to meet mine.

“That’s good. That’s real good, baby. We’re going to take you home, okay? Nobody is going to touch you, but we need to get you out of here. All you have to do is walk. Can you do that?”

She didn’t respond, but her eyes flickered to the door. That was enough for me to know she wanted out. Somewhere deep beneath the shock and anger and fear, she wanted to be home, surrounded by things that were familiar. I could see the yearning in her eyes.

“Whip’s car is just outside,” I promised her.

Her entire body trembled, but she stepped forward.

I cringed, watching her walk right through the puddle of blood like she didn’t even see it, but there was nothing we could do about the footprints we were leaving behind.

We had to trust that Trig and the others would get here in time to clean up any evidence, because all we could do now was get the fuck out.

I held the door for her and led her to where Whip had left his car. He and X moved cautiously behind her, keeping their distance but wearing identical worried expressions to the one I was sure was plastered all over my face.

Whip unlocked his car when we got close enough, and I held the door open for her. X walked around us carefully, keeping an eye on our surroundings, the knife that had been in Toby’s neck now firmly grasped in his hand.

Fucking hell. What a ginormous mess all of this was. My goddamn bike was still sitting here, and I couldn’t risk leaving it, but I wasn’t leaving Violet either.

X held out his hand. “Give me the keys to the bike. You stay with her.”

I could tell it was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to be with her as much as I did, but somebody had to get the bike out of here.

Normally I would have never let anyone else touch my ride, but it was the easiest yes I’d ever said. I dug my hand in my pocket and swapped the key for the knife that X wouldn’t be able to hold, then got in the car with Whip and Violet.

We drove away without a word, X on my bike sticking right behind us.

“We need to get her shoes off.” Whip threw me a glance in the rearview mirror, his mouth pulled into a grim line that made him seem older than he was.

I agreed. She couldn’t track bloody footprints all through her apartment building. It was going to be hard enough to get her upstairs without anyone seeing us.

“Take your shoes off, Vi,” I said gently.

Her eyes remained blank and free of tears. She still stared at the back of Whip’s seat, but as though on autopilot, she removed the bloody shoes and put them aside.

“Good girl,” I mumbled. “That’s real good. We’re nearly there. Just gotta hold on a little longer, okay?”

I was twitchy, being this exposed. The cops patrolled Saint View at night, searching for people up to no good and often finding many who fit the bill.

Tonight we were some of them. If a cop stopped us, there would be no explaining any of this. Not the blood. Not the knife. Not the fact Vi couldn’t even speak.

I breathed a sigh of relief when her building came into view, and another when I realized the party that had been going on earlier had dissipated.

The street was dark, and though I’d been concerned by the broken streetlight in the past, knowing it was a safety hazard for Violet and the other people who shared her building, now I looked at it as a blessing.

It left long, dark shadows for us to slip into.

We moved slowly, no other option but to go at Violet’s wooden pace.

I held my breath, hoping for a reaction out of her when she saw her building, but it didn’t come.

I knew her current state was her body protecting itself from a traumatic event, but the fact she’d barely responded to us at all since we’d found her was starting to scare me.

I guided her up the stairs without touching her. We gave her as much space as we could, the three of us sharing silent but worried glances.

Whip nudged me. “Should we call Doc?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

She barely knew Grayson. She’d already screamed when Whip and I had tried to get close to her. I couldn’t imagine that was going to be any better with a man she didn’t know as well. As far as I could see, she wasn’t physically hurt.

Violet walked like a zombie up the stairs, feet heavy with trudging steps. On her floor, Whip opened the door for her, the lock still busted from where X and I had kicked it in.

“I’ll get that fixed for you in the morning,” I assured her, trying to make normal conversation, even though this was anything but a normal situation.

Violet ignored me.

But the moment she got inside, she took her jacket off, dropping it on the floor at her feet.

With the next step, her shirt followed, exposing the plain white bra beneath.

“I’ll turn the shower on for you.” X hurried ahead and disappeared down the hallway that led to her bedroom.

If Violet heard him, she didn’t say anything.

She just made her way toward the hallway, pulling off socks, and then her pants, leaving them in a trail behind her.

Whip picked up the clothes as she went. “I’ll have to burn these, sweetheart.”

Again, she didn’t respond.

She took another step toward the hallway and froze, her gaze latched on to Toby’s room.

Whip’s arms were full of her bloodied clothes, the shower running in the background. My gaze focused solely on her.

So I saw the buckle in her knees.

Heard the howl of pain rise up her chest.

I caught her as she fell, refusing to let her hit the floor. “I’ve got you, Vi.”

The part of me that was so damn in love with her whispered I always would.