AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They let their lips do the rest of the talking. He would wait until after he'd made love to her to break the news that he was flying to California that night to join the Jake Davenport investigation.
I know I’m supposed to give her twenty-four hours of punishment for breaking a personal safety rule, but there’s no way I’m leaving her for days without fucking her as hard as I just punished her.
* * *
Dylan – In California
Just after noon, Dylan slid his nondescript rental car into traffic, careful to keep enough distance between him and the piece-of-junk vehicle pulling to a stop at the light three cars ahead. He assumed the air conditioning was broken in her car. What other reason would she have for driving in the eighty-degree midday heat with the windows down?
While they were stopped at the light, he checked his phone for emails and texts, relieved when he found none. He was expecting a flaming message any minute from his partner. He glanced in his rear-view mirror again, triple checking that no one was following them.
Five minutes later, Hannah slowed down to parallel park in a rare free parking spot just a few doors down from her destination.
Dylan drove past Bloomer's Florist, whipping into a nearby automotive shop to turn around, lucky to find another open spot on the opposite side of the street. He parked, turning off the car and scootching down low in his seat. He was close enough to watch her lock her car, constantly whipping her head around to check the surrounding area as if she were expecting the boogieman to jump out and grab her.
Unfortunately for Hannah, Jake Davenport is more like the Devil, Freddie Kruger, and Jeffrey Dahmer rolled into one.
Dylan was frustrated that he still hadn't been able to figure out why Davenport had such a hard-on for the part-time bartender and florist. He was happy that she seemed to take her safety seriously as Hannah scanned her surroundings, briefly pausing her scan on his car, before rushing into the small, but popular, flower shop in downtown Palo Alto. He heaved a sigh of relief when she made it safely inside.
His phone rang seconds later. Glancing down, Dylan wasn't surprised to see his partner calling. He considered pushing 'cancel' to let it roll to voicemail, but decided he'd rather take the ass chewing he was due over the phone than in person when he got to the warehouse.
"Where the fuck are you? I'm here to relieve you, and you're once again MIA. I thought Davenport beat your ass again."
"Aw, Z. It's so nice to know you care." Dylan loved to yank Z's chain every chance he got. He suspected few people were brave enough to take the man on, which was what made it all the more fun.
"Don't give me that shit. You're watching that chick again, aren't you? What is it about her? Are you fucking her, or what?"
"Hey, I've told you, it's not like that," Dylan retorted.
"Well you could have fooled me. You're acting like a damn puppy dog chasing after her. I told you, if you care about her at all, you'll stay as far away from her as possible."
"Listen, the only reason I'm tailing her is because she's our best lead to bring Davenport down. She's an innocent. He has something on her, but I know she has the information we need. I just need to keep her alive long enough to get her to trust me," Dylan argued.
"Fine, I get that, but if I know you're trailing her, you can bet your ass Davenport knows, too. You do realize that you've pretty much put a bull's-eye on her back? Davenport has proven he loves to play with his food. Mark my words. He's gonna go after her hot and heavy, if for no other reason than to mess with you," Z warned.
Dylan had been preparing to argue back, but Z's argument stopped him cold. Could his trying to protect Hannah actually be putting her at more risk?
"All right. You might have a point there. I'll leave her alone for now, but I'm warning you; the first time I see Davenport trying to force her into that warehouse, we're gonna have a major problem."
"We'll deal with that when we need to. Right now, I need you to meet me back at the war room. Lukus wants to run through the newest evidence. He’s flying in later and wants to make sure we’re ready to hit the ground running" The call dropped.
Dylan weaved his way through traffic, trying to get the pictures of the taboo websites he'd spent hours poring over the night before out of his head. Videos of vulnerable, broken women being forced to engage in painful and humiliating sexual acts that turned the stomach of even a hardened war veteran like himself.
There is no way I'm letting any more innocent women set foot into that hell. Jake Davenport's days of terrorizing women are numbered. I'm coming after you, asshole.
