Freed (Bad Boy Hitman Romance) (10 page)

The kiss ended way too quickly for my liking.

“Hey, we should be getting back,” Kyle said as he pulled away from me.

I was slightly disappointed, but he was right. Classes came early. “You’re right. I don’t function very well on less than eight hours of sleep.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for when you stay over.” He stood and extended his hand to me. Taking his hand, I allowed him to help me to my feet.

“Stay over, huh?” I grinned up at him as we began to stroll our way back towards the dorms.

“Maybe this Friday night you could come spend the night at my place.” When I didn’t respond right away, he added, “Just a thought.”

He slipped his hand to mine and our fingers interlaced. I didn’t say anything more. Instead I
 
took the time to enjoy our walk and just being with him. It couldn’t have been a more perfect California night.

We arrived at the dorm room way too quickly for my liking. It had felt nice to walk with him hand in hand back to my room. Like a real couple. Pulling my keys to the room from my jogging pants pocket, I spun, my back to the door.

“Okay, so I’ll be seeing you in class tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you will.” He cupped my chin in his hand and tilted my head up just a little more as he lowered his lips to mine. His kiss was soft and sweet – a simple brush of his lips across mine. “Goodnight, Rebecca,” he said softly releasing my chin and taking a step backwards, and then another.

“Night…”

I didn’t turn and open the door right away. Instead, I stood there watching him with a smile on my lips as he walked to the end of the corridor and then disappeared around the corner. There was a faint flutter in my stomach. Was this what it felt like to fall for someone? It didn’t seem to be the all-consuming emotion I saw with other people, but this was a different feeling for me.

Maybe, just maybe, I wasn’t so abnormal after all. Maybe the suspicions I had about myself had been wrong. I hoped so.

Chapter 10

Kyle

“Yes. I understand.” I tried to keep my temper in check as I spoke with my father on the phone. Yes, I was two days past the deadline he’d given me Monday. And yes, I wasn’t any closer to finding out where Rebecca’s sister was. But, this was a special case that took time to finesse.

Flynn: It’s been nearly two weeks since you met that girl. Two weeks!

“Yes, but she’s not an easy person to crack.”

Flynn: Or maybe you’re not as good as you claim to be? Not as good as I thought you were? Maybe you’re not cut out for this type of work? Maybe you need to get your ass back home here and see about getting yourself a job somewhere more to your speed… McDonald’s perhaps?

My grip tightened on my mobile phone, so tight my knuckles were going white.

“Rebecca isn’t like everyone else. I suspect she’s much like her father.”

Flynn: You mean she’s a serial killer?

I sighed.

“I mean, she may have inherited her father’s psychopathic traits. From what I can tell, she checks many of the boxes. And you know as well as I do, those types of people aren’t easily fooled. They’re smart, they’re suspicious, and they’re unlikely to lower the mask they wear to fool everyone, especially for some guy they just met.”

There was silence for a couple of minutes. I almost thought he’d hung up, at least I’d hoped I was done with this conversation. It seemed like every conversation I had with my father had me wishing for the phone line to go dead or him to be called off to some pressing matter – none of those things ever happened, however.

Flynn: If you truly believe that, then there’s no other way around it. You abduct her, you torture her until you get the information, and then you send her to us. She’ll be a fun challenge for Cain to train.

“We’ll see. You know torture doesn’t work well on those types of people. I’ve gotta go. I’ll check back in with you later.”

Before my father could respond, I disconnected the call. In all honesty, even though I said those type of people, I really meant people like us. Flynn just didn’t like having the label psychopath pinned to his chest. Personally, it didn’t bother me. One thing that did piss me off was when people confused the labels of psychopath and sociopath. They were two different things, but uninformed people seemed to like to lump them both together.

Fuck!

I raked a hand through my hair. I was hardly a good man. In fact, I would be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn’t lock me up and throw away the key – at the very best - if they knew what I’d done in my past. However, I didn’t enjoy torturing people. It was messy and unsophisticated, in my opinion. Not that I was completely opposed to putting a serious hurt on those who deserved it as that surfer douche who tried to get a date with Rebecca found out last week. No one trespassed onto my territory and got away with it.

That being said, mental games were more my speed. Anyone can get information out of most people if there’s enough pain involved, but it takes a special type of intelligence to syphon the required information by simply getting into the opponent’s head.

But regardless of how had I tried, no matter how much I charmed her, Rebecca wasn’t going to spill the truth. In fact, there were times when I looked at her where I was sure she could see through the smoke and mirrors I put up and peg me for who and what I was. And despite looking into the dark abyss of my soul, she didn’t go running. Just the opposite really, it was like she saw who I actually was and instead of running away, she came charging towards the darkness.

But why?

I wasn’t interested in handing her over – at least not yet. She was the first woman in as long as I could remember that kept me interested. No, interested wasn’t the correct word, more like intrigued.

Looking down at my watch, I groaned inwardly. Rebecca was due to arrive in ten minutes. One thing these past two weeks had shown me was that she valued promptness and was never late.

In all honesty, my father had me a little rattled, and it would take me a moment to put the mask back on and be the charismatic, slightly assholic guy she seemed to gravitate to.

Ding-dong.

Shit! She was early. I took a quick look at myself in the mirror above my chest dresser and smiled. The agitation that was in my expression a moment ago was now gone, and I was back to the man she knew me to be.

Ding-dong.

I made my way out of the bedroom, through the living room, and to the door. Before she could ring the doorbell a third time, I flung the door open and smiled widely. Immediately, I was struck by how stunning she was, though in truth, it happened every time I saw her. It wasn’t the Hollywood, high-fashioned, anorexic type of beauty. She had a natural, girl next door beauty, but in addition, there was a sharpness behind those dark eyes. Every moment I spent with her, I found myself wanting her more.

She smiled. “Hey Kyle.” She stepped up to me, and I pulled her into my arms, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. Pulling away, I saw she had a little back pack at her side. This was our first overnight together. Perhaps if I got some drinks in her and got her completely relaxed, she’d give up the information that I was desperately in need of. Then, I could gather my things and go back home.

But a part of me wasn’t all that anxious to let her go so quickly.

Though I knew I didn’t have a choice.

She was a job, just a job. She was no different that many more before her and those who would no doubt come after her.

~*~
 
TT ~*~

Rebecca
 

“Shit!”

I looked over at Kyle. We were both sitting on the sofa watching a movie. Like some old married couple. But it felt kinda nice – normal even. Maybe this had been my problem all along. It’s not that I was different, it was that I’d been living a life so unorthodox
 
I’d gradually come to suspect there was something wrong with me. While all along, I just hadn’t had a chance to experience what many would call a normal relationship.

Just maybe… But there was still something bugging at me about Kyle. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

“What’s wrong?” I frowned, looking over at his annoyed expression as he peered down at the screen on his phone.

“That was my landlord. I gotta go downstairs for a few minutes. Apparently, someone tried to break into my car, and the alarm is going off down in the garage.” He stood and tossed his phone onto the sofa beside me after sending a reply text.

“Want me to go with you?”

“Nah,” he shook his head. “I’ll only be a minute or so.” He hurried from the living room and slipped into his shoes at the doorway as I picked up the remote and paused the movie. Without another word, he left, closing the door behind him.

I looked down at the phone beside me. It was currently unlocked and sitting open onto his landlord’s message. My hand reached for it, and I snatched my hand back. But who was I kidding? I wanted to know what was on that phone. Maybe the phone would answer a question or two that I had about him. Something about his story and his background just wasn’t adding up to me. And I still had an odd feeling about him. When I factored out my physical and mental connection to him, and allowed reason and commonsense to prevail, I knew there was something more to him I needed to know.

Grabbing the phone, I clicked onto his recent messages. Before I had a chance to even look through them, a message came in, and I clicked on it, cursing myself for doing so. Clicking it meant it would come up as read already.

Damn, damn, and double damn. I’d have to think fast with an excuse.

But all thought left me as I looked down at the message from a guy name Flynn.

Flynn: If you can’t get that little cunt to tell you where her sister and Tanner are hiding by the end of the weekend, I’m ordering you to take her, and we’ll get the information from her by other means. Do I make myself clear?

The fairy tale I was beginning to allow myself to indulge in shattered, and the reality of what was going on began to piece like magic. These people – Kyle – were involved with Tanner. My sister and her boyfriend took off without a word to anyone, not me, and not our mother, shortly after my father’s funeral.

I had always suspected they had something to do with my father’s death, and here it was – proof positive that I had been right. Okay, maybe not proof positive, but a pretty close coincidence. Too close.

My hand holding the phone began to shake as the rage built up within me. I didn’t even register the fact there was more to the message, and they planned on abducting me.

“Son of a bitch!” I roared leaping to my feet, my back to the door. My hand pulled back, and I was about to throw the phone at the wall, when a pair of strong arms wrapped around me from behind.

“I’m sorry it had to come to this,” Kyle said from behind me. Despite his words, I didn’t hear remorse in his voice.

My entire body froze, and I yelped as I felt something pierce my skin at my neck.

“What the…”

I didn’t even get to finish my sentence as darkness began to evade my mind, and I fell into the black abyss.