8
NATHAN
Ithought with Duncan out of the way, I’d feel more settled, but I was as restless as ever. And it was allhisfault.
Detective Aiden Cooper.
He’d been all I had been able to think about the last week. Even while I was killing Duncan, Aiden had consumed my thoughts. That had never happened before. I thought I had purged my soul of him, but he was there, clinging to me like a scent I couldn’t scrub away.
Unlike my other obsessions, I had to be more careful when I observed him. He was more vigilant and aware of his surroundings. My little bird knew when a predator was near and knew how to defend himself, thanks to his experience on the force.
But I was a monster he didn’t expect to creep out of the shadows of the night. Even if I was the one he craved.
Watching him, I could tell his thoughts were just as consumed with his desire for me as mine were filled with him. Knowing he yearned for me just as badly as I needed him didn’t make it any easier for me. If anything, it made it more difficult.
There were still too many risks I needed to consider.
The scanner had alerted me that morning of the body I’d dumped being discovered. I wasn’t sure what had taken them so long to discover it, but the fact it took until it arrived in the dump made me question the skills of the police force. Then again, I’d been killing in the city for quite some time without being caught, so I already knew they were questionable at best.
Not that I would ever question my little bird. I knew he wasn’t a part of Thomas’ case since he’d only just been discovered. That wasn’t on him.
I sat in my car, down the street from his house, and waited for him to come home. While his house was nowhere near as vast as my own, it let me know he had done quite well for himself, despite a spotty past shrouded in mystery.
My mind wandered. Thoughts of Aiden in my house, laid bare before me in every room. I wondered what he would think of home, if he would be comfortable there or if he’d think it was an obnoxious monstrosity.
Christian was the only man I’d ever slept with who had seen my real home, and he’d been unable to hide his scrutiny of the place before his own mask had taken over his face and he pretended he thought it was nice. Though I didn’t know what he thought was wrong with it.
I didn’t understand the human instinct to lie about how they felt about such mundane things. It was one of the reasons I couldn’t bring myself to date. I couldn’t relate to people. There wasn’t that innate need to bond and form attachments and have a family.
Christian had been the closest I’d come to a relationship and that had ended amicably enough, though it was still awkward between us, considering he still tried to push things in a romantic direction. I should have known not to mix business with pleasure because it left me in the uncomfortable predicament where I might need to kill the person I needed the most in my business.
Because I couldn’t handle people in my life. In my space.
It wasn’t conducive to the serial killer lifestyle.
So, the thought of wanting someone in my home, in my space, was new. But I yearned for him to be there. To greet him after a hard day of work and to take care of him.
Even if he was a cop.
Definitely someone who wasnotconducive to the serial killer lifestyle.
Aiden had me spinning around like a top and I had no idea where I was going to land. It was dangerous, not just for me, but for my little bird as well. He had no idea the inferno he was playing with and how close he was to being burned.
I sat back in my seat, one hand thrumming against the steering wheel to a beat that only played in my head, and wondered how his day had been today. Even though I knew this wouldn’t be even close to the first time he’d have gone to a crime scene, there was an ache in my chest that made me need to see him. Knowing he was coming home from one ofmyvictims, it made all the difference in the world.
Would he know? Could some primal part of his brain sense me there?
However unlikely, a possessive part of me hoped he felt me. The rational part of me, however, not so much.
The small glass figurine in my hands caught the light from the street a few yards down. It glimmered and shone, though nowhere near as bright as Aiden. Its delicate glass structure reminded me of him, though there was a strength he also possessed, even if others around him underestimated it, just like the casual observer would with the little glass figure of the bird in my hand.
When I’d tried to find the perfect gift for him and I’d seen the bird that had been in mid-flight, I knew that was just right for him. It was just like him, ready to spread his wings and take off, but he’d always come back to me.
My nerves tingled as I contemplated whether or not I should actually leave it for him to find. I hoped he would appreciate my gift, especially after his first day back to work without his partner. He’d have to know it was from me.
Would it scare him? Thrill him?
The fabric of my tailored suit pants got tight as my cock thickened at the thought of him working himself open and pleasuring himself until he passed out, crying out my name as he came.
