Page 67 of Outlawed

“Fuck.” I run my hands through my hair, but nod. “I get it. I suppose it doesn’t matter now anyway. Leroy and Fargo are dead. They’re history, and Poppy is the future.”

“Exactly. Besides, everyone has secrets. We like to think relationships mean being open and honest at all times, but that’s impossible. Someone is always going to get hurt unless you can soften the blow or just omit the truth when you know it brings nothing to the table but pain.”

“I guess.” I get to my feet. If I drink any more, I won’t be able to drive. “I’d better head back before she wonders where I’ve been. What about you?”

“She thinks I’ve got a meeting. She’s not expecting me until late. I’m gonna get this place cleaned up first.”

“Alright.” I walk to the door barefoot, glad I have spare boots and a jacket in my cruiser.

“Hey, Shepard?”

I turn at Austin’s voice just in time to catch my badge. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. And I mean that. As far as Calliope is concerned, before she came along, we were nothing but strangers who passed each other on the street occasionally.”

“I guess if I take out the part where I paid you to hunt down two murderers so I could kill them myself, it’s true.”

“All the best lies are wrapped in truths.” He grins.

I roll my eyes at him. “I still hate you.”

“I’ll cry myself to sleep at the knowledge, you know, while my dick is still wet with our woman’s juices.”

I flip him off and head out even as my dick gets hard at the thought of watching him fuck Poppy.

Some moral compass I make. If they knew half the things I fantasized about, it would blow their fucking minds.

Epilogue 4

Austin

I pull the gloves off and toss them in the barrel, watching them burn for a moment before I strip out of my clothes and throw them in.

The cold air makes my overheated skin pebble with goosebumps as I stand there, watching the last of the evidence turn to ash. Once it’s done, I turn to head back inside and take a shower. I don’t rush. There’s no need. Everyone will be asleep when I return.

I wash myself with the same body wash Calliope uses, loving the smell of her on my skin. By the time I’m done and ready to head back, it’s after midnight. I lock up and look back at the house as the moon bathes it in an eerie light. My eyes drop to the for-sale sign, making me grin as I envision the realtor showing a couple around the basement, oblivious to what took place here tonight.

I don’t know why I get a sick kick out of it, but that’s me. I’ve always been a little odd. I can hide it when I need to. Hell, I can be the life and soul of the party if the situation calls for it, but it’s all an act. I don’t feel anything for anyone. Only, that’s not quite true anymore.

I walk to my car and lean against it, my eyes moving over the place that has sat mostly empty since I moved away. I’d sold the house, and now I was living up at the ranch. It was time for this one to go, too.

I catalog the memories made here. None of them matter to me but one. My eyes drop to the living room window. The drapes are closed, so I can’t see inside, but I don’t need to. I can picture the room as clear as day. I’m not picturing how it looks right now, but how it looked fifteen years ago.

Unable to help myself, I pull out my cock and stroke it as I flip back to the memory of Calliope beneath me, her tears soaking my skin, her blood coating my dick. I fuck my fist as her whimpers play over and over in my head and I feel the high rush through me. Nothing had ever tasted as good as Calliope’s innocence or smelled sweeter than her despair. I lean forward and, with a guttural moan, shoot my cum on the ground before tucking my cock away.

An amused grin plays on my lips. It’s funny how things turn out.

When Andy knocked her over that day, and I saw the darkening mark on her wrist, I knew exactly what was happening. I knew her father would take her just so nobody else could. I couldn’t have that. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t turn his little witch against me. The only way to stop that, of course, was to make sure I was immune to her.

It wasn’t a hardship, fucking her. She was beautiful even back then. I know it was fucked-up, but I’m every bit the monster people claimed I was.

I didn’t know the effect it would have on me, though. The shit in the book was woefully understated. After the deed was done, I felt intoxicated. I barely managed to stumble upstairs before I passed out. As I faded in and out of consciousness, I knew I would have to kill her, that I couldn’t afford to let anyone have this kind of power over me. Only she woke up and crawled home, thwarting my plans.

As the days ticked by and nobody came to arrest me, I started to believe that the drugs had messed with her, making her think it was her father that fucked her. And that was fine by me. I’d effectively killed two birds with one stone. Only I hadn’t. If I’d known what the bond would do to me, I’d have snapped her neck in a heartbeat before it could solidify.

Unbeknownst to me, the bond I’d written off clicked into place, like an unbreakable shackle, irrevocably linking us together. She slowly became my obsession, never straying far from my thoughts. I even hired a lawyer to spy on her and report shit back to me, but she was having none of it.

It didn’t take Jen long to figure out there was some darker motive behind my need to protect Calliope. She fired me and kept my girl. If I hadn’t been so amused by the whole situation, I’d have crushed her windpipe.