Better When He's Brave

I felt the bite of her fingernails cut into the skin at the base of my neck. I felt her hips arch up to meet mine when the fullness between my legs lined up perfectly with the softness between hers. It was almost scary how well we meshed together. I wasn’t a small guy and often felt like I had to rein myself in when it came to the opposite sex. I didn’t want to intimidate or come across as threatening, but with Reeve I didn’t have to worry about it. She took everything I was throwing at her and returned it in a way that had me letting the leash I kept on all of my frustration and aggression slip a little. Things deep down inside of me roared and awoke from where they typically slumbered. She didn’t even seem fazed that I still had my gun clipped to my belt, where it felt like it permanently lived. She kept her hands up around my shoulders and let me ravish her like she was my last meal and I was a dead man walking. I had never felt starved for anything in my life until my lips touched hers.

I let my teeth bite into the plush curve of her bottom lip and my hands got really rough in her hair as I jerked her head back farther and dove deeper into the hot and welcoming pull of her mouth. My dick was yelling at me to do something, do anything, and my pulse was thundering in my ears so loud I almost missed the way my cell phone was ringing from where it was shoved in my pocket.

I let go of her and stumbled back like she was on fire. We were both breathing hard and both flushed. Her eyes were almost black and I was sure my own were burning white hot with everything inside of me churning. I don’t think I had ever felt so good and so bad at the exact same time.

I yanked the phone out of my pocket and put it to my ear with a barked, “What?”

I felt like I couldn’t breathe and she just stayed slumped against the door watching me with big eyes. I almost lost it when she darted her tongue out to dab at the moisture and tiny drop of blood I had left on her mouth after my less than gentle kiss. I hadn’t meant to hurt her, to cause her pain like that, but her long lashes dipped down a little when she saw I was watching her and it kicked in that she liked it. She liked the edge. She liked the violence. Of course she would.

“I know you just went off shift but I got a DB out on the docks that you might want to look at.” I couldn’t place which fellow detective the voice belonged to but it was obviously someone that knew that when someone went down for good in the Point, I was the first call that generally went out.

DB was short for “dead body” and I absolutely did not want to go look at it. I had seen plenty of them in the last few days. I shoved my hands through my hair and glowered at Reeve as she finally pushed off the door and wandered back over to sit on the bed. I cringed. It really was too disgusting to touch.

“What makes you think I want to see it?”

“Because she’s just a kid. No more than eighteen or nineteen.”

I swore and started to pace back and forth. “Yeah, that’s shitty but not uncommon.”

“Yeah, well, the reason I called you is because she looks a whole hell of a lot like the bombshell that waltzed into your office yesterday. Long black hair, blue eyes. At first glance it could be her but she’s younger and worked over in a really personal way.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. Get down here, King, and see what this sick bastard did to this poor girl, and while you’re at it find the one that’s still breathing and tell her to watch her back.”

I hung up the phone and squeezed it so hard in my hand I was surprised it didn’t break in half. I looked at Reeve, who was watching me solemnly.

“Grab whatever you brought with you. We’re leaving.” I didn’t ask her.

She blinked at me slowly and her dark eyebrows pulled together. “I already told you I left in a hurry, and that I don’t have anyplace to go.”

“I have a place that will do for now. A body just showed up on the docks and apparently she bears an uncanny resemblance to you. That means Roark already knows you’re here and I think he’s letting us know he’s pissed about it. Some poor girl got murdered just because she had the same hair and eye color as you, Reeve. Doesn’t that tell you how dangerous this is for you? This guy is a sociopath.” And I had zero time to figure out what had triggered him, what had started his rampage and how to stop him.

She climbed to her feet and I saw the way her eyes shifted when I mentioned the dead girl. She was capable of regret and remorse. That was good to know and it made me feel a little less like shit for wanting to push her back up against the wall and continue where we had just left off.

“Where exactly do you want me to go, Detective?”

“When Bax got locked up he was staying at this crappy little studio just outside of the District. I didn’t know he bought a house before he got arrested. When he got out of jail and hooked up with Dovie, he left the place in the city and took her out to the burbs. Well, I paid the rent on the studio in advance for a few years so that he would have someplace guaranteed to go back to when he got out. It’s been empty for a while and it’s only about half a step up from this place, but it’ll do until I can figure out something more secure.” I cut her a hard look. “Besides, everyone knows how Bax feels about you, so no one would ever think you would be anywhere near his place.”

She couldn’t afford to forget that there were enemies around every corner and all of them would be happy if she suddenly stopped breathing.

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