Page 41 of Wicked Lies Grow Wildflowers

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

XANDER

I want nothing but to see the blood of Maeren’s stalker running red at my hands.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so much fucking blood lust. I’ve been doing some sleuthing to see if I can figure out who he is, but nothing’s come up yet.

For a few days I was worried that he could possibly be The Skinner, but the M.O.

still doesn’t fit. Which does fill me with a small amount of relief.

Waking Maeren up with the smell of bacon and eggs, she groggily stumbles into the kitchen in one of my t-shirts and her hair falling out of her messy bun. “Morning, Wildflower,” I smile.

“Morning. This smells amazing, but do you mind if I take a shower first?” She asks, still a bit void of emotion.

“Not at all. I’ll have coffee ready for you when you’re done.”

“You’re a life saver,” she says, rolling up onto her toes to give me a quick kiss.

After breakfast Maeren seems a bit more like herself. I know she is going to need time to process everything, and I’m doing all I can to find the fucker who’s tormenting her. When I do he’s going to be in unimaginable pain for touching what’s mine.

By the afternoon Maeren is still set on going to her mother’s.

I offered to go with her but she insisted it would be better if I didn’t.

I installed a tracker on her phone so I can make sure she gets there and back safely which gives me some peace of mind about her going alone.

I tell her at least five times to call me if she needs anything as she’s leaving.

When she’s safely arrived at her mother’s I decide to spend the next few hours on work. I don’t have any time to waste, not now that I have two cases to work on.

I’m finally going to get him. The Skinner’s about to meet his end, and unfortunately for him I’ll be ruining his final holiday.

I had a contact tip me off to an address in town that he’s been spotted at.

I had to call in some extra help since he’s so elusive, but the fucker still likes to blab and was talking about a bitch he’s been staying with.

I was able to run the description he gave through an illegal database and found a few possible matches for the woman.

I didn’t look too closely, that’s what my team is for, and with Maeren’s silence filling every spare thought I’m not up for the technical shit right now.

I told my guys to go through the list and stop by each address—ten total—to see if anyone could spot a man matching his vaguely known description at any of them and ding ding ding we have a winner.

I open the message with the woman’s name and address, my blood running ice fucking cold, my body going numb.

The name staring back at me is Leanne Butler.

Maeren’s mother. God no. Fuck. No. The wheels are turning rapidly in my mind, I need to act quickly.

I call Maeren’s phone and am sent straight to voicemail three times.

Fuck. I stand up and pace, calling her repeatedly with no answer.

I shoot off a rapid fire of text messages, begging Maeren to pick up and leave her mother’s house.

5:42 pm: Maeren please pick up. It’s an emergency.

5:42 pm: Maeren, it's serious, please answer me.

5:43 pm: Maeren leave your mom’s house NOW.

5:44 pm: Fuck Maeren answer me!

My pulse is pounding in my ears as I get dressed and throw my supplies together. Happy fucking Thanksgiving to me. This is far beyond my worst nightmare and all I can think about is The Skinner hurting Maeren. I can’t go there. I have to keep my shit together in order to keep her safe.

Safe.

She’s safe, or at least she will be.

My Staccato and the silencer are in my bag, a knife strapped in a boot and another under my sleeve. I shove a signal jammer into my back pocket and make for my car, plugging the address into my burner phone so that nothing can be traced back to me.

The drive over takes just twenty minutes and I park down the street to observe.

Normally I’d have scoped the location out myself before getting this far, but I don’t really have the luxury of time for that so I had a spotter give me a detailed description.

The one level suburban home is unassuming, simple.

You’d never know such filth lived inside.

But then again he won’t be living for much longer. What a shame.

I use my burner phone to let Mark know I’ve arrived at the target’s location, sending him the address and letting him know to have a cleanup crew on standby.

He sends me back a confirmation and a little bit of pride blooms in my chest, knowing I’ve properly hunted my prey once again, though unknown to him the stakes are higher than ever.

I can feel the blood rushing in my ears as my heart rate picks up, the moments before the kill are always most exciting for me.

One last stretch of hunting before the real fun begins, and oh how fun this will be.

I’m going to take my fucking time with him for putting my girl in danger.

But even through the excitement an undercurrent of anxiety looms. What if he’s already got her?

What if she gets caught in the crossfire tonight?

No. I won’t let that happen. No one is going to get hurt except for the evil fucker masquerading inside.

Stuffing my gun into the holster at my waistband and the silencer into my coat pocket, I shake loose any thoughts clouding my brain, needing my mind clear and focused for this to go as planned.

I turn the jammer on and make sure it interrupts all home security frequencies.

The last thing I need is someone’s doorbell camera catching something it shouldn’t.

That’s why I prefer to conduct this kind of business out of residential areas but sometimes it’s not feasible.

I throw on a ball cap and put the hood of my jacket over it, cinching it tightly to obscure most of my face before exiting my vehicle.

I use the shadows to hide myself as I walk up to the house, freezing when I see Maeren’s familiar silver car parked in the drive. Shit. Fucking shit. I knew she was here. I’m tracking her for fucks sake, but now it’s undeniably real. I have to play this right, I just hope she picks up on the game.

Shapes move beyond the curtained windows, and it looks like three people are inside. He’s here.

I slowly step out from the cover of shadows, hoping that they don’t have floodlights. Luckily for me not a single light illuminates and I quietly creep up to the front door and knock. Maeren’s mother opens the door, her face dropping when she sees me.

“Who are you?” She asks, confused.

“Oh, hi. I’m Maeren’s boyfriend, Xander. Sorry I’m late, Maeren told me to be here an hour ago but I got held up with some things,” I add my most charming smile.

She cocks her head of short blonde hair at me. “Well, I wasn’t aware we were having an additional guest, very typical of my daughter to not alert me of such things. That’s okay, come on in. I believe Maeren’s just in the kitchen.”

I bite my tongue and nod at her, forcing a smile as I walk inside.

I take a look around, noting the stark white walls and blue furniture, everything pristinely clean.

There are not any family photos framed anywhere I can see.

Not surprising, Leanne isn’t the comforting maternal type from everything I’ve heard.

I spot the dining room off the kitchen, Maeren seated and sipping on a glass of wine. I wonder where that third figure in the window went. I clench my jaw, knowing he’s somewhere in here and far too fucking close to my girl.

“Maeren! You didn’t tell me your boyfriend—Xander was it?—was going to be joining us.” Her voice reeks of fake hospitality and snaps me out of my thoughts.

Maeren chokes on her wine, face paling and eyes blowing wide. She stammers, “Oh, yeah, sorry, I invited him kind of last minute. I should have told you, it just slipped my mind.” She covers for me even though she’s clearly rattled. Good girl . “Hi Xander. Glad you could make it.”

Her eyes dart back to the table, and I can tell she’s trying to not let her confusion show. Like Maeren, I need to don my own facade so I don’t fuck anything up. I slip into my people pleasing kiss ass persona like a second skin.

Smiling I make my way over to the table, seating myself across from Maeren who still won’t meet my gaze.

“Thank you for the invite. Glad I could make it, too.” I give the home another quick glance, noting all possible exits within my eyesight.

“Lovely home, Leanne, was it? Maeren’s told me so much about you.

” My reply has a double meaning and I hope her cunt of a mother picks up on it. Too bad her narcissism clouds her ears.

“Oh thank you! I take a lot of pride in my home. Oh! I almost forgot, silly me, I need to introduce you to Simon. He’s just tending to the turkey.

Simon, honey, come meet Maeren’s boyfriend!

” She says over her glass of wine, leaned back in her dining chair, one leg crossed over the other like the perfect picture of a middle class wine mom.

There’s some rattling in the kitchen before footsteps sound and Simon comes strolling out.

My right hand twitches, wanting to pick up my butter knife and gut him on sight.

Unfortunately I have to feign ignorance of his real identity for a little while longer.

I just need to get Maeren out of here sooner rather than later.

I want to spare her from seeing any of this.

Her mother too, despite the raging bitch she is.

I think I could easily get Simon to come out for a smoke with me later on, once I warm to him, and I can use that time of isolation to my advantage.

“Hello, sir. Thank you for letting me join dinner tonight. I really appreciate it.” My voice is gracious and my smile beaming while Simon sizes me up before cracking a smile of his own.