My little bird.
In the light of the day, I thought maybe I’d have some clarity. But, if anything, I felt more unsure than ever. It wasn’t something I was used to feeling. Feelings, in general, weren’t something I was used to dealing with too often.
When I’d woken with Aiden’s body wrapped around me, my first thought was about how I would do anything for him,anything to protect him, anything tokeep him. That he wasmineand I was never going to let him go.
Not again.
And those feelings had only grown and intensified as I’d wandered around his room, looking through his things before I had finally gotten dressed and decided I needed to get out.
I didn’t need to get caught. Not that I didn’t think I could distract him with my dick. But I had other things I needed to take care of before I could focus on Aiden.
The obsession I had with him was unnerving. It tingled along my nerves, setting me on fire. I was used to feeling this way with my victims. It was how they all made me feel.
When I found them, there was something about them that tugged at me. An inner voice that told me they weremineand only they could calm the beast that raged within me. I felt that same obsession with Aiden, to know him, to possess him.
But it was different this time in ways I didn’t understand. He shouldn’t have been different. There was only one way this could end, and that was with me bathing in his blood.
So, why does the idea of killing him make me sick?
With the need to know more driving me, I kept my eyes on him as I moved around the room and made my way to where he’d discarded his clothes. Reaching into his pocket, I pulled out his wallet and flipped through the contents. It was pretty standard. Some business cards, a debit card, a couple credit cards.
His driver’s license slid out of the protective sleeve easily enough and I snapped a picture of the front and back. After I put his wallet back, I searched his other pockets, including his suit jacket, and my heart beat in triple time when I saw his badge. Of course, I’d heard him and Duncan mention it the night before. But I refused to let myself think about it too hard.
There was a slight tremble to my hand that made me frown as I took a picture of the badge as well, just in case.
After I put everything back, I moved over and I stood next to the bed, watching his prone body cling to the pillow I’d shoved in his arms to take my place. I tried to figure out what was wrong with me. I’d never hesitated when I found someone before. I took what I wanted and there was nothing, and no one, to stop me.
My hand reached out and stopped just above him. I wanted to run my hands down his scars, wanted to worship them and revel in their beauty.
He was a work of art. Perfection.
I’d crossed a line with him the night before and I was still surprised he hadn’t kicked me out after he came. When I’d had my arm wrapped around him, holding his life in my hands, nothing could have compared to the rush I’d felt. It had been a high like no other.
Why did I let go?
Anyone else would have been dead. I still couldn’t figure out why I hesitated and left him alive.
I continued to stare at him as I tried to work the puzzle out. There was something about this man that I couldn’t take his life. And it almost pissed me off. I liked things a certain way and I never deviated from how I did things.
Until Aiden Cooper came into my life.
I moved my hand up and softly stroked the messy tendrils of his silky hair. The act had me puzzled. I wasn’t an overly touchy person. I didn’t usually do affection, at all. Yet I could barely resist the urge to touch him.
Before I was able to move back, Aiden stirred under my hand. When his eyes fluttered, I knew I needed to get out of there before I did something stupid—or rather, something even stupider than I already did.
With a quiet sigh, I let my index finger graze over his smooth cheek one last time before I silently slipped out thedoor before he realized how close he had come to death, more than once.
When I reached the elevator at the end of the hall, I pressed the button and waited while I tried to come up with a new game plan. Nothing had gone down the way I had intended the night before.
Duncan was still alive. He was a loose thread I couldn’t risk leaving alive. It was an itch under my skin that I couldn’t scratch. The compulsion and desire I needed to quell while I was in public, until I could find a new way to get to him.
Now that he’d seen me with Aiden, he wouldn’t let me near him to seduce him to be able to get to him that way. I didn’t like when I needed to go to my victims because it made things appear less random. They were harder to explain away. But I would do what I had to do.
But first things first, I needed to get the fuck out of that hotel. I’d already spent too much time there and could be associated with too many people connected to it.
When the doors opened to the elevator, I dashed inside and pressed the button to close the door before anyone could get the idea to come along and try to get in with me. It was the slowest ride down to the lobby. It was a novelty, being so impatient. Usually, I was calm and cool under pressure, but too many things had gone off script.
I needed to find a way to get things back on track.
