Page 44 of Things Get Dark

Human interaction didn’t come naturally to me, but I’d learned to mirror certain behaviors that made my life easier. Especially when it came to the yearly massacres so I could see my men. The rest of the time, I bounced from town to town, taking on odd jobs and keeping a low profile. I’d been institutionalized one too many times to make a career of killing. I was sure my face was in some database in a psychiatric hospital… or maybe an FBI field office, and I didn’t have the patience to clean up my crime scenes.

“Tillie, focus.” Zander’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I found the fat cat staring at me with a furrowed brow.

“Is she touched in the head? I’ll still fuck her, but I want a discount.”

Dalton took an aggressive step forward, but I pressed a hand to his chest to stop him.

“I’m just thinking about riding your cock. It got me distracted,” I said easily, wondering if his tie was in a windsor knot, and how quickly I could get it loose.

“Then stop imagining it and move, you dirty little bitch. I’m paying for your ass, so get in here and show it to me.”

With a warning look at Dalton, I practically skipped to the driver’s side. He put his seat all the way back before opening the door so I could straddle him.

“I’ll pay extra to take this without lube.” He grabbed my ass in a hard grip while I focused on his tie. Aiming for a flirty look, I slowly tugged at the knot.

“Wouldn’t it hurt to go raw?”

“I like some pain with my pleasure, sweetheart. Especially when it’s yours.” His hands worked his belt as I loosened his tie and wrapped it around my fists.

“How funny. I was just thinking the same thing.”

Before he could react, I slid off his lap and into the back seat, wrapping the tie around his throat and hauling back with all my strength. His big body lurched in a panic, throwing me around until I planted my feet against the back of the seat and used my legs to keep myself in place.

“You could make this easier, you know,” I gritted out between my teeth.

“Don’t be greedy. It’s Jeremiah’s turn to use this body.” The flailing continued a while longer, the wet sounds of his struggle to breathe nowhere near as relaxing as Dalton’s host’s had been.

At last, just as I was considering using my trusty knife, the body gave out with a final shudder. Sweat beaded my brow, and I released my grip on the tie to swipe at it, pushing my hair back off my face as I checked out the window to see Zander standing exactly where he had been.

“You didn’t want to give me a hand there?”

With arms crossed over his chest, he gave me a one shoulder shrug.

“And ruin your fun? You had it handled.”

Swoon.

Some girls wanted flowers and chocolates, but I much preferred degradation and sole rights to a kill. I reached into my pocket, ready to see Jeremiah, and felt the bottom drop out of my stomach as I came up with nothing. Where was my coin purse? Where were Jeremiah and Wade? Shuffling around as best I could in the back seat, I checked the footwell on each side, then slid into the front seat and looked around the body. Nothing.

“What’s wrong, Tills?” Zander asked.

“I can’t find them.”

“What—?” He pulled the back passenger door open and stooped. When he straightened, my coin purse dangled from his fingers.

“Good. Gimme.” He dropped the purse into my hand, and I poured the two remaining coins into my hand. Each was subtly different. Not anything that could be seen with the naked eye, but I never doubted which coin belonged to which of my men. Sliding Wade’s coin back into the purse, I jammed it firmly into the bottom of my pocket before straddling the body and sliding Jeremiah’s coin past the lips.

Where the rest of my men often struggled to settle into a freshly vacated body, causing it to shake and shudder as their essence took up residence, Jeremiah never had a problem. The first indication I had of his presence was the eyelids snapping open to reveal the darkness within. Jeremiah always had pitch black eyes, regardless of what the host body had possessed prior. Big hands squeezed my thighs in a now-welcome touch, and something inside me melted.

“Matilda.” His voice was deep and smooth, like a fine whiskey, despite the strangulation. That was another difference between Jeremiah and the rest of my men. The body did his bidding. Not the other way around. If he had ended up in Dalton’s body, speaking wouldn’t have been a challenge at all.

Jeremiah was just built different.

“You’re back,” I breathed.

“We have business to attend to. Be a good girl and hop up. We can play later.”

I wanted to play now. I’d missed him so much, but I knew bratty behavior wouldn’t end well for me. And definitely not in the fun way, like Dalton. So I slid off his lap with a meek “yes, sir.”

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