Scream for Me (21 page)

“Shut the fuck up!”

The bitch wouldn’t stop screaming. He had his radio on, but it wasn’t drowning out her screams. And the cops—

They were everywhere.

She was still screaming.

He’d told her to be quiet.

She hadn’t listened.

Still screaming
.

Another cop car passed him.

Could the guy hear her screams?
No, no…

The patrol car kept going.

He started breathing again. This wasn’t working.

He pulled off the road. Cut his lights. The old diner was closed, had been for at least two years.

He eased in behind the building.

Her screams were even louder now.

He shoved open his door. Hurried to the trunk. Yanked it up.

The bitch sprang at him. Jumped right for him. He grabbed her, trying to choke off the screams.

When his hands pressed on her windpipe, the screams stopped. Silence. That perfect silence of death. Only…the rush wasn’t there.

He didn’t let her go.

She wasn’t what he wanted. Wasn’t good enough.

His head was pounding. His hands shaking. She’d had a car similar to Maria’s. The bright, flashing red. The red that had first caught his eye.

But this one didn’t understand her role. She wasn’t supposed to fight. She was supposed to obey. To follow all of his orders.

He kept squeezing her throat.

She never screamed again.

Sunlight was just cutting across the sky when Kyle opened the door to the motel room. Another cheap motel, complete with faded carpeting and a sagging bed.

One room.

This time, it had been by request.

He shut the door behind Cadence.

“We did it.”

She glanced up at his words.

“We didn’t arrive too late. We
saved
Lily. We saved Christa.”

A faint smile trembled on her lips.

He took two steps and had her in his arms. Held her tight.

Cadence. He’d thought she didn’t have hope. Too late, he was realizing she was
his
hope.

His mouth took hers. He lifted her higher, holding her fully as he carried her weight easily.

Her legs wrapped around his hips.

They wouldn’t have much time. Just a few hours to crash before they reported in at the local police station.

More questions. More searching.

But for that moment, that one moment—

I have her
.

He pulled his mouth from hers. Began to kiss a hot path down the curve of her neck. Her legs tightened around him.

She likes this
.

He licked. Lightly bit her silken skin.

Her hands fumbled, pushing between them, trying to get his shirt out of the way.

He wanted to rip his clothes off, shred hers. Wanted to be
in
her.

Would it be as good as before? Was that even possible? It had to be the adrenaline kick he’d had after surviving the cave-in and finding Lily. No way could the sex have really been that mind-blowing.

No fucking way.

They fell onto the bed. Rolled. Cadence came up above him. Stared down at him with eyes that glowed with an emotion he couldn’t name.

Lust was there, yes, desire, but something more lurked in those golden depths. Something he couldn’t make out.

“This is a mistake,” she whispered.

“Then it’s the best fucking mistake I’ve ever made.”

She smiled then.

His heart stopped.

Her hands went to his zipper, pulled it down with a hiss that seemed to vibrate through him. She shoved the pants away.

Her fingers curled around the aroused flesh that thrust so eagerly toward her.

Her head bent.

“
Cadence
.” If she put that mouth on him—those full red lips—he was gone. “Be careful, I don’t know…”
How long I can last
.

“Let’s see how far I can push.” She didn’t seem afraid. She never did.

She put her mouth on him.

Fuck
.

His eyes wanted to roll back in his head. She licked and sucked and had his hands fisting into the bedcovers.

“Enough.” He couldn’t hold on, not anymore, and when he exploded, he wanted her with him.

Cadence rose above him. Straddled him with the legs that blew his mind. She’d ditched her pants. When? She still had on her shirt. No panties, though, because he felt warm, wet flesh press against him.

He parted her folds. Pushed two fingers into her and enjoyed the flush covering her cheeks.

When they were in bed, it wasn’t about being agents.

It was about—

She’s mine
.

“I’m clean.” His voice was a snarling rumble he should have hated. Hadn’t he sworn he’d give her seduction this time? Gentleness? “No diseases, nothing.” He wanted to thrust into her, to feel that hot flesh all around him. “Are you—”

“I’m protected.” Her breath panted. “No diseases.”

He’d never gone bare. With her, it was all he could think about.

Staring into her eyes, unable to look away, he thrust into her.

So tight
.

He knew he couldn’t last. Not in that sensual heat that was driving him mad. His hands locked on her hips.
Holding her too tightly, go easier, be careful
.

He couldn’t stop.

He lifted her, brought her back down. Thrust in and out. She was rising on the bed in perfect tune with him. A frantic rhythm that
couldn’t
stop. Faster. Harder. Deeper.

The bed was thudding into the wall. Release was seconds away.

Cadence had to come first. He needed to feel—

“Kyle!”

Her delicate inner muscles clenched around him. Pleasure flashed across her face. The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

When his release hit him, he knew he’d been wrong. The first time with her had been good. The second had made him an addict. No one else would ever do.

No one else was Cadence.

He’d made a mistake.

He stared down at the small house, the place sheltering Christa.

A sheriff’s car waited out front. A man in uniform had been stationed at her door.

There was probably another deputy inside.

Mistake
. He’d realized it as dawn came calling.

The agents hadn’t noticed him at the bar, but Christa had seen his face. He’d visited her too many times.
She knows me
.

The agents would have questioned her. They would have asked who she’d talked with that night. Who showed her too much attention.

She would have remembered him. His stupid fucking good tips. He’d given her the tips so she’d feel more comfortable with him. So she’d talk more. Tell him about herself.

He’d learned about Christa.

But in turn, she’d learned about him. Christa knew what he looked like.

The agents would want Christa to work with a sketch artist. He knew the drill. Christa would tell them all she knew.

In a few hours, his picture would be on every television in the Southeast.

He’d worked too hard to lose everything.

“I’m sorry.” Christa wouldn’t hear those words. She’d never have a chance to hear them. Things shouldn’t have ended this way for her. He would’ve taken care of her. Enjoyed her.

Savored sweet Christa.

But she had to die.
Now
.

Before the agents came back for her. Before the sketch artist arrived.

Before everything was destroyed.

The door to her house opened. A man in a sheriff’s uniform came outside. He talked to the deputy.

They hurried down the steps, moving toward the waiting patrol car.

This was it.

Another vehicle pulled up. Sweat trickled down his back. He knew that vehicle. Agent McKenzie was already on the scene. There was no more time to waste.

McKenzie was
there
.

So was Cadence.

His breath whispered out. He didn’t like doing this. It was wrong.

Christa appeared in the doorway. Her shoulders were hunched. Through the scope on his rifle, he realized she was pale.

Christa hadn’t slept well.

Lovely Christa.

This wasn’t the way it should have been.

His finger pulled back the trigger as the sheriff turned and reached for her.

Then he fired.

Blood bloomed on the sheriff’s chest, a thick circle even as the crack of gunfire echoed around them.

Shot
.

Christa screamed and lunged toward the sheriff.

“No!” Cadence yelled.

But it was too late.

Christa was trying to help, but she should have run the other way. Gone back inside. Been safe.

The second shot hit Christa. So did the third.

Cadence could hear Kyle yelling, swearing. His gun was out and he was trying to get to Christa. But Cadence was closer. She’d been just a few feet from the sheriff.

Cadence dove for the other woman. She curled her body around Christa’s and tried to pull her to safety.

Then she saw the wounds.

One hit had been to Christa’s head. A shot that had torn across the right side of Christa’s skull. The second shot had gone in her chest.

“Christa,
stay with me
.” The same words she’d given to Lily, but Christa’s wounds…

She won’t make it
. Cadence knew there would be no saving her.

Christa’s eyes were already closed.

She was already gone.

Cadence heard the thunder of footsteps. She looked up. Kyle was running toward the line of trees on the northwest side. Running without backup.

The sheriff started to wheeze.

“Go after him!” she yelled to the deputy. The guy, fresh faced, ghost white, clutched his gun and nodded.

But he didn’t move.

“Agent McKenzie needs backup!” She eased Christa onto the ground and crawled to the sheriff’s side. Oh, Christ, what a mess. “Go after Agent McKenzie!”

She yanked out her phone and called for backup. Then she put her hands on the sheriff’s chest. Sheriff Henry Coolidge, aged fifty-two. A grandfather of four. His newest grandbaby had been born just three days before. He’d shown her a picture of the little girl last night.

She’d run a check on him, as she did all the folks she brought in on the investigation.

“Henry.” His name whispered from her.

His lips moved. He was trying to talk. Choking.

She knew what the wheezing sound meant. His lungs were filling with blood. If she didn’t work fast, he was dead.

The deputy’s footsteps thundered away.

Finally going to give Kyle the backup he needed.

While Cadence got to work trying to save the man before her.