Page 36 of Psycho

That surprised me. I thought everyone missed home. “Really? Didn’t you grow up there?”

“I did, but I didn’t have the best… home life. I left it behind to start fresh down here. Best decision ever.”

“How old are you?” I asked, curious.

“Thirty-two,” he replied. “A little old to be starting over, I know.”

I shook my head. “Not at all.”

“Weather here’s way better anyway,” he said, cutting up the last of his steak.

“Yeah, no snow,” I quipped, picking up my wine glass.

“You got that right. I don’t miss it being colder outside than in my freezer during the winter.”

I shuddered. I’d been born and raised in Florida. I couldn’t imagine enduring that kind of cold and then having to clear away snow just to go somewhere. No thanks.

He leaned forward and grabbed my hand. “You know, I think we got this under control. I’m going to offer again for you to go back home. I feel like we’re keeping you here, and you’ve been kept under duress too long.”

I shook my head. “I want to stay. I’ll go home eventually. Honestly, Shep, I don’t think anyone’s looking too hard for me.”

He furrowed his brow. “What makes you think that?”

I studied him. He looked nice in a fitted black button-down shirt and clean jeans and boots. I had been surprised when he didn’t wear his ‘cut’ out to dinner. I thought they weren’t supposed to take them off or whatever. I’d ask him later.

“Since we’re being honest, I logged into my social media and went to my mom’s page and my brother’s and then a few of my cousins’ pages. There were a few posts about me, asking if anyone had seen me. That was weeks ago when I was first nabbed. I know they contacted Amanda and she told them I’d disappeared from Shark Bait, but that’s it. Nothing since. And again, they could have tried a locator spell on me.”

“Maybe they did?” he offered.

“Then we would have been located. We were in that house for weeks.” I shook my head.

“You know, vamps have relationships with witches. Is it possible they put a spell on it so you couldn’t be located?” He wiggled his fingers. He always made me laugh when he did that.

I shrugged. “It’s possible I guess.”

“More wine?” he asked.

I nodded.

He flagged the server down just as his phone rang.

Chapter 14

The Monster Inside

Psycho

I plucked my phone from my jeans pocket. “Yeah.”

“Psycho, it’s Hawk. Just calling for an update.”

I glanced at Nera, who was watching me curiously. I was grateful for the distraction of the server asking her if she liked the wine and if she wanted more.

“Not much to update. We got sketches but the place was cleared out by the time we tracked down the house where they were holding the girls. I’ve put out some feelers, and I’ve got my guy scouring the dark web for buyers.”

“Good. My guy Duke told me the girl contacted his cousin, she said she was fine, but she hasn’t been sent back to Tampa yet. Why’s that?”

Who the fuck was he to question it? “Because she doesn’t want to.”

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