Page 18 of Out of the Darkness

The emotional crack in her voice helped to sell the lie a little too easily.

“Oh no! That sucks,” Melanie replied. “Are you okay? Do you need anything? You never get sick, so I don’t really know what to do here.”

“You don’t need to do anything, Mel. I’m fine. It’s nothing a little rest won’t fix.”

Though that was probably the biggest lie of them all. There was no way a bit of rest was going to fix whatever was so broken inside of her that it prompted her to sleep with the man who had been stalking her. The same man she had watched kill a guy and whom she believed was not even remotely human.

She was still kicking herself for not asking him about that fun little tidbit too. At the time, she had wanted to believe that it was the hit she took to the head that made her see what she thought she had, but she had seen his glowing eyes and elongated canines again the night before, every time he climaxed. She had spent a good chunk of her time in the shower, trying to figure out what the hell he could possibly be, but she was still coming up blank.

“Alright. Well, I’ll let the captain know what’s going on,” Melanie said, pulling her out of her mind and back into the present. “You feel better, and call me if you need anything, okay?”

“Thanks. Will do.”

Madelyn hung up her phone and headed to her dresser.

Once she was dressed and feeling more like a person, a dirty, lying person but a person nonetheless, she made her way down the stairs to make some coffee. Once she had some caffeine in her, she would be more likely to come up with an explanation for what she had seen since that was the thing that was bothering her the most. Not that he had killed a guy in front of her, not that she had fled the crime scene, making her an accomplice, and not even the fact that she slept with him. What was bugging her was not knowing exactly what he was.

As it were, her mind was coming up with some of the weirdest things to try to rationalize it: alien, cybernetic robot, science experiment gone wrong.

She laughed softly at the ridiculousness of her own mind, but that was all she could come up with. Everything else was just too far-fetched or downright impossible.

Sipping on her coffee, she contemplated just messaging Xavier and demanding the truth. She had a right to know who she was sleeping with. But was she sleeping with him though? Had their weird and twisted relationship gotten to that point, or was it only a one-time thing that happened after a traumatic event?

The guy was dangerous, deranged, and he had been stalking her for crying out loud. Wanting him was wrong and stupid, and it made her just as crazy as he was. Even if the sex was absolutely incredible and she did feel drawn to him. Though, she’d never admit that to him. His ego was large enough as it was, as were some other notable parts of his body.

Her pussy throbbed at the memory, bringing with it the pleasant sting that she had woken up with that morning. He had been larger than he appeared in the video he sent her, and the thought of it made her want him all over again. She wanted to feel that stretch of him entering her roughly, the way his piercing hit all the right spots, and she wanted to feel his hand around her throat again.

Madelyn slammed her coffee cup down on the counter, silencing those thoughts. What the hell was wrong with her?

Sighing heavily, she pinched the bridge of her nose when she heard a knock at the door. She ground her teeth together in irritation, figuring that it was Xavier coming back after fucking her into oblivion and then leaving her last night. She couldn’t seem to get a moment’s peace anymore, but at least, he was knocking this time. She really needed to figure out how he was getting around the security system and the locks. There was too much about him that she just didn’t know, and that bugged her way more than it should. Maybe today would be the day that she finally demanded some answers.

She moved through the kitchen and into the foyer where she disarmed the alarm. Once that was done, she unlocked the door and pulled it open, a snarky remark already prepared. However, it wasn’t Xavier standing on her porch as she had expected. That seemed to be happening a lot lately. She had gotten so used to him being everywhere that she was starting to expect it.

Blinking, she took in the man in front of her. He was wearing a crisp, navy blue suit and had dark blond hair with striking hazel eyes. His skin was tan as if he spent a lot of time in the sun, and he had thin lips, a strong jaw, and a crooked nose that appeared to have been broken and set wrong. He was muscular too, but more so like a surfer and less like an MMA fighter like Xavier was.

“Ms. Hart?” he asked, giving her a dazzling smile.

“Yeah,” she replied hesitantly. “Can I help you?”

Her first thought was that he was a salesman of some kind. But they didn’t usually know people by name. Maybe he was a lawyer or with the nearby church or something. Either way, whatever he was selling, she wasn’t interested.

“I’m actually hoping we can help each other.” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a badge. “I’m Special Agent Colby Marks with the FBI.”

With her stomach churning dangerously, her mind began to go to all the worst possible scenarios. Maybe Xavier didn’t hide the body of the man he killed for her as well as he thought he did. Or maybe they had been seen on a security camera somewhere. She knew the structure didn’t have any, none that worked anyway, but there could have been some around the area that she didn’t know about. Then again, why would the FBI be involved in the murder of a junkie instead of the local police? It seemed a bit extreme.

Forcing herself to relax and to stop jumping to conclusions, she met the man’s eyes and gave him a small smile. “What can I do for you, Agent Marks?”

“If you have a minute, I’d like to talk to you about a man named Xavier St. James,” he told her simply.

Madelyn swallowed hard, the coffee she drank turning sour in her belly as she shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know who?—”

“Ms. Hart, we’ve been tracking Mr. St. James for years now, and we have access to his recent phone records. I know you know who I’m talking about.”

Shifting nervously on the balls of her feet, she reluctantly stepped aside, allowing him into the house. He nodded his thanks as he crossed the threshold into the foyer. Once she closed the door, she began leading him into the living room so that he could say whatever it was he needed to say. If nothing else came of this meeting, at least, she now knew Xavier’s last name. That was one thing she hadn’t known about him yet, one question answered.

After taking a seat on the couch, she motioned for him to take the chair across from her. “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be,” she admitted, leaning back against the cushions and crossing her legs to appear comfortable. “I don’t know him that well.”

Agent Marks cocked an eyebrow. “Do you make it a habit to sleep with guys you don’t know?”

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