Page 43 of Wicked Lies Grow Wildflowers

“She’s my daughter and she’s a fucking whore !

You’re a whore, do you hear me Maeren?! You’ve taken everything from me.

Everything! You’re why your father left me.

And now that I’ve found someone, someone good like Simon, you go and ruin it with your seduction.

You’re no daughter of mine,” She rages, her rant enough to temporarily distract The Skinner.

I grab Maeren’s mother in a chokehold, my gun pressed to her temple and make eye contact with Maeren, trying to send her a look that says she’s safe, I’m going to take care of her. She offers the smallest nod, trying not to cut herself on the knife still held at her throat.

“This is what we are gonna do, Simon, or should I call you The Skinner?” His eyes flicker at that, his mask slipping for a moment.

“That is what you’re renowned for, correct?

Skinning your victims? Does she know? You should tell her, and then you’ll release Maeren or I’ll kill you here and now.

” I glance down at Leanne who’s still firmly in my grasp.

“No. She doesn’t know. But I don’t care about that bitch,” Simon tells me. “She was only a pawn in a much larger plan. I never wanted that old bitch, it was never about her. I always wanted Maeren. It was always her.” Maeren’s mom goes slack at that, the confession a shock to her system.

“Simon, Simon no. It’s us . You want me. We were happy together,” she cries out.

“No, Leanne. We weren’t. I was using you to get to her.

From the moment I saw her I wanted her. I watched her running one day, down the street, and I knew I had to have her.

So I followed her, and I watched where she went, and I found out her name, and it led me to you.

I knew if I could get close to you, I would get close to her.

And my plan worked. You were so desperate Leanne.

So unsuspecting of me. The perfect way in.

In the end you were set to end up like the rest of them and Maeren was going to be mine . ”

Maeren’s sobs intensify and I’m surprised she can breathe at all as her desperate eyes refuse to leave mine.

Simon continues on, his face completely deranged.

“I left you gifts you know,” he says to Maeren.

“Notes and flowers. Did you like them? And then I got you a bracelet,” his eyes trail down to her wrist, landing on the tennis bracelet she’s wearing.

“It made it a lot easier for me to follow you. Do you want to know how? Because I put a tracker in it. You were mine. You were meant for me ,” he says with such force that spittle lands on Maeren’s face.

“I just needed to get your little boyfriend out of the picture, but you did that all on your own, didn’t you?

And I was so proud of you for that sweet girl,” he says as he licks a trail of tears along the side of her jaw.

Maeren recoils and sobs harder, choking on each ragged breath.

“But then you had to get scared away from me and go crawling back to him. Why!? I didn’t hurt you. I was only having a little fun. I’m sure you saw the news and heard about the bodies. I wasn’t going to do that to you. No, you were special. I wanted you alive and well, sweet thing.”

I’m done with fucking around, and I don’t know if I can handle hearing another word of this. But I try to remember that Mark wants his own answers too. “Enough!” I seethe. “Let her go, or I’ll shoot here and now, and I don’t bluff.”

Simon laughs at that, an obnoxious cackle that makes me want to puncture my own ear drums. “Oh no! I’m so scared!” he mocks me.

Not the right thing to say. I move my gun from Maeren’s mom to Simon, done with this shit and beyond ready to end it.

Maeren’s mom screams out once more, “Simon, Simon please, come back to me, help me.”

“I don’t fucking want you!” he roars, his face red.

“I never wanted you Leanne, so shut the fuck up already!” His attention is turned back to Maeren and he smells her hair.

“Maeren, honey, I can give you everything you would ever want. I can give you a whole empire, you can be its queen if you only just come with me. Be with me ,” he pleads with her.

He’s so fucking delusional and it takes all my willpower to hold my finger back from the trigger, needing one answer from him first.

“Empire, Simon? Is that why you put a hit out on Liam Marino’s nephew?

A mere teenager?” He loses some of his bravado when he hears those words.

“Ah yes, Mark Marino told me all about it. You see, there are much bigger predators around than you. And I cannot wait to show you all the plans I have in store for us tonight. You were only supposed to be a quick hit, but since you decided to touch what is mine, my plans have changed.” My smile is full predator.

Simon smirks. “Oh no, I’m so scared of a nameless nobody!

Whatever will I do?!” he mocks. “Unlike you, I don’t need to kill people for a living, I do it for fun.

And what fun will it be to skin you alive after I fuck your girl in front of you.

I bet you won’t want her anymore after that, will you?

” The hand holding the knife presses more firmly against Maeren’s neck as he drags his tongue along her temple.

She cringes and starts to shake even more.

The sight and threat against her has me ready to tear him limb from limb, but I have to get Maeren safe first. Then I can play.

“Xander, please ,” she quietly begs. Her movement causes the knife to nick her skin, and beads of blood well up beneath the blade.

“You don’t need him sweetie, you need me. I’ll give you this whole city soon. You and me, together,” he promises, shifting to the side of her so he can look into her eyes, giving me the opening I need.

The sight of Maeren bleeding becomes too much and I shoot without warning, one clean shot straight through the side of Simon’s skull.

His blood splatters across Maeren’s face as the knife still held against her throat clatters to the ground.

She sobs and runs for me as Simon’s body falls away from her.

I release her mother at once, tossing her aside before embracing Maeren’s shaking frame.

“I’m so sorry baby. I’m so fucking sorry,” my voice breaks on the last word as my face buries in her hair.

“Xander!” She cries as she’s yanked away from me. Leanne has a fist in her hair and is holding the knife to Maeren’s stomach.

“You stupid filthy fucking whore ! You took him from me! I’ve lost everything because of you! I’m going to make you pay you stupid bitch, something I should have done long ago!” Leanne drags the knife back in an arch, gaining momentum to plunge it into Maeren’s abdomen.

In a split second I take aim and shoot her in the chest. She drops instantly and blood pools around her as Maeren’s wails fill the house.

After Maeren’s sobs quieted, I called Mark to let him know the job was done. “Very good, Paxton. I knew you could do it. I’ll have your funds transferred tonight.”

“Thank you, Mark,” I reply, suddenly a little weary from all the events. Normally I’m riding a high that lasts for hours, but seeing Maeren hurt so badly did something to me, something I’m not used to.

“And I assume it’s what we suspected as far as motive?” Mark asks.

“Yes sir, he had plans of expanding his so-called empire into your territory. He wanted to get to you and Liam and was intending to use Liam’s son as a distraction so he could work deeper into your network.

” Not a lie, but not all of the truth either.

I refrain from mentioning Maeren, not wanting to endanger her in any way.

“Just what we expected from that sorry son of a bitch. I’m glad he’s out of the picture, not so notorious anymore, is he?” Mark muses.

“No Mark, he’s not,” I say as I look down at Simon's dead body, his flesh pulled away from his face. I thought it fitting to have a little fun with skinning The Skinner, just for the poetry and irony of it all. Especially since he was so sure this would be my own end. “Oh, and tell your team they’ll need two body bags, his bitch got in the way and I had to put her down, too.”

Mark lets out a loose laugh, “Good work Paxton, never leaving any loose ends, are you?”

“Never. Goodnight Mark.” I hang up the phone and enter the dining room, finding Maeren sitting at the table, everything still in place from dinner earlier in the night.

I take note of her appearance, the blood, the haunted look in her eyes, the way she trembles, and the bracelet she ripped off, thrown next to her on the floor.

Maeren surprises me by speaking first. “Xander, I—I’m so sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am. I should have listened to you. I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you,” she breaks off.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Maeren. I understand. Fuck, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you better than this.

I’m sorry you had to go through tonight and everything leading up to it.

I wish I could’ve stopped them sooner. God you have no fucking idea how sorry I am.

” My voice cracks and I can feel tears filling my eyes for the first time in many years.

The feeling is foreign, but not unwelcome.

No emotions are unwelcome when it comes to her.

I want to experience everything I can with her, good or bad.

Maeren nods and I approach her, pulling her chair out and kneeling between her legs, holding her blood streaked face in my hands.

“I love you, you know? I really fucking love you Wildflower, and God you’re so beautiful right now.

” I take my hand and wipe at the small cut on her throat with my thumb before bringing it to my mouth and tasting it, the tangy iron running over my tongue.

Her pupils dilate at the action and she whispers my name, the sound husky, before pulling my face to hers for a kiss.

Our tongues meld together as our mouths fuse, and I know with absolute certainty that she’s mine forever. I want to taste her on my tongue until the day I die.