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He flinched at that memory, shaking his head to force it back from his mind as he reached out to touch thick strands of hair that flowed out from his good girl’s head.
He touched the silken strands, rubbing them between his fingers, remembering how soft and sweet she had been. Before she had let herself grow weak. Before she had let another man convince her to be bad.
He stared at the man, a tight smile crossing his lips at the sight of the nude man, laying half on the bed, half on the floor. He wasn’t dead, but he would soon wish he was.
The girl. He sighed wearily as he let himself stare at the blood staining the carpet. She stared back at him sightlessly, her china blue eyes reflecting the horror of her punishment.
Kelly must have somehow convinced this one that she could be bad, too. How, he wasn’t certain. He could have sworn his girls
didn’t know about each other. He had taken pains to be very careful. But Kelly was so bad, so depraved, that she would have found a way to convince the others that they too could escape him.
They belonged to him. They were his good girls. He wouldn’t allow another to touch them, not like his mother had.
He pulled himself to his feet, careful to pick up the knife and clean it of the blood that stained it. Her blood.
“You’ll always be my good girl now,” he whispered as he stepped around the blood and moved for the spare bedroom.
He had hidden there for hours, waiting for her to come home. Waiting to assure himself that she was a good girl. Only to listen in pain and fury as another man touched her.
He fought back his tears again as he entered the dark room and headed for the window he had used to slip inside the apartment. He had bypassed her security. How easy it had been. She had thought she was safe from him. That she could disobey him as his mother had disobeyed his father. She had found out wrong. Just as Kelly would have to learn as well.
TWENTY-TWO
The next morning, Kelly would have preferred to enjoy the awakening caresses Rowdy was bestowing as she swam toward reality rather than the warm, sensual dreams twining around her. Unfortunately, the moment was interrupted by Dawg’s growling message that her mother and Ray were on their way, and they had better get their asses ready before the arrival. His words, not hers.
She had enough time to shower and dress, never realizing the kind of devastating news her parents would bring.
“Her name was Dana Carrington. ” Ray’s voice was low, angry. “She was murdered, and her boyfriend was molested. ”
Kelly sat in shock, listening as Ray recounted the murder that had taken place the night before. She sat at the kitchen table, her hands wrapped around her coffee cup as Rowdy stood behind her, his hands resting on her shoulders as she felt fear tremble through her.
“Kelly. ” Her mother leaned forward in her chair, staring back at her worriedly. “I called your aunt Beth in Montana, she wants you to come stay—”
“No. ” Rowdy’s voice was hard.
Kelly’s gaze flickered to Ray. He glanced at Rowdy in concern, but said nothing more.
“She’s not safe here, Rowdy—” her mother protested.
“She won’t be any safer there,” he argued as Kelly tightened her fingers on the coffee cup. “At least here, Dawg and Natches and I have a chance of catching this bastard. ”
“By letting him think she’s screwing all three of you?” Maria came out of her chair then, her cry filled with fear as she faced Rowdy. “For God’s sake, Douglas, what if using her doesn’t work? What if he gets to her—”
“Enough,” Rowdy growled warningly.
“Kelly, listen to me, whoever this is has killed now. He won’t stop…” Her mother stared back at her, her eyes damp with tears, her lips trembling.
“That’s enough, Maria,” Rowdy protested.
“Let her have her say, Rowdy. ” Ray shook his head regretfully. “She’s her mother. ”
“All of you stop it!” Kelly’s palm cracked on the kitchen table, sending an enveloping silence to fill the kitchen as all eyes turned to her. Ray and her mother, Dawg and Natches, Rowdy, she could feel their gazes boring into her as she lifted her head and stared back at her mother.
Kelly drew in a deep, hard breath. Fear was like a snake coiling in her belly, striking at her chest in an effort to be free.
“Rowdy’s right,” she whispered. “He won’t stop killing now. If I stay here, there’s a chance he can be caught—”
“Oh God, Kelly, listen to yourself,” Maria protested desperately. “That girl last night is dead. He raped her boyfriend while he was unconscious. He’s not sane. ”
