Page 16 of Fractured Fear

RIO

Fuck me. Zane didn’t tell me Spencer was hot as hell. I’m going to give him shit for that when I get home later, but the joke is on him. I get to spend one hour a day, two days a week with her for three months.

When I walked in, my eyes went straight to her. As if they could venture anywhere else when she’s in the room. Her hair was up in a messy bun with some little pieces framing her face that had escaped. I found myself jealous of those few pieces of fucking hair because they were touching her face while I couldn’t, but I rectified that quickly. Coming up with excuses to get my hands on her is going to be my new favorite hobby.

Then she went pale and the energy around her shifted. Before I could stop myself, I reached out and touched her perfectly smooth bronze skin and it was even better than I imagined. When her beautiful honey eyes connected with mine, I felt a tug. She was scared and I knew in that moment I would do anything to erase her fear. I would take down every enemy to see her smile like she had been a few seconds before.

Her laugh captivated me like no other woman’s ever has. I’ve slept around, but no one compares to her. Absolutely no one. My dick has a new obsession, and her name is Spencer. I’m all for it.

I kept myself composed the whole time. Mostly. I didn’t go all caveman, throw her over my shoulder, and beat my chest yelling “mine.” I mean, I would have never done that. My instincts are more along the lines of knocking her out, dragging her back home, and keeping her there where no man could ever look at her or even touch her again.

Even though beauty like Spencer’s was never meant to be hidden, I’m finding she makes my baser instincts rush to the surface. Fuck. Protect. Fuck some more.

I pull out my phone when I finally get to my car, or rather, Asher’s car that I use when he’s gone. I don’t care that it pisses him off. I tap on the screen a few times and call the fucker who thought these lessons would be the perfect birthday gag gift.

“Hey, man. How did lesson number one go?”

“Shut up,cabrón,” I greet back then dive right in. “Why didn’t you tell me Spencer was a woman?”

“Didn’t think it was important.” His tone is casual. Too casual.

There’s something he’s not telling me. That’s not like him, we tell each other everything. We’ve been best friends since college. We were roommates our freshman year and no matter how much he tried to push me away, I wouldn’t let him. I could tell he needed a friend and I felt like being that friend. Turns out I was right. He needed me, but I needed him too.

I’m surprised he thinks he can keep whatever he’s hiding from me. He knows I see it as a challenge and that I’ll figure it out sooner rather than later.

“Is that all it is?” I push back.

“Have you heard from Asher?”

Nice deflection. I’ll give it to him.

“Not today. You?” We’re men of many words.

“He texted us in our group chat while you were getting in touch with your creative side. By the way, stop changing the name. We’re notThe Devil’s Army.”

“Aw come on,amigo. We need a name.” I’ve been making this argument from day one. If we’re going to do the stuff that we do, we need a name.

“No, we don’t. Stop it,” he barks. Too bad I know he doesn’t bite. That’s all me.

“Whatever you say.De todas formas cambiaré el nombre.”

“I know what you’re saying when you speak Spanish, idiot. I’ve been around you and your family enough to know. Don’t change the name again.” I can practically hear his eyes roll through the phone.

While he continues to nag, I tune him out and pull up the text thread.

Asher: They found another body in LA. I’m hopping on a flight from Oakland to LAX tonight. He’s still on the move. I’ll send more details when I get there. Sorry I wasn’t there for your birthday, Rio.

Asher travels a lot for his job so he’s missed things here and there. We know he feels guilty, but neither Z nor I hold it against him.

“Another body? Damn. How many cities is that for this fucker? Five?”

Asher has been out chasing a serial killer for months. They didn’t make the connection between the bodies for years. The bastard has been killing consecutively for the last three years. He leaves a purple hyacinth with each body and the women are always dressed in a white, silk wedding dress. If law enforcement was more willing to work together, they would have caught onto this guy sooner. At first the killings were about six to eight months apart, but this body in LA is only one month after the one in Oakland, which means he’s escalating and it’s only going to get worse from here.

Sometimes I wish I would have gone to the police academy with Ash and Z, but I chose to stick it out another four years in law school at NYU. I wanted to be part of the final battle making sure fuckers who hurt innocent people are put away for good.

I don’t work in the DA’s office anymore. Fucking politics and all that shit. It corrupts everyone it touches.

When I caught one of the prosecutors taking bribes to make sure cases were half-assed or dropped altogether from “lack of evidence,” let’s just say being out of a job wasn’t the worst that happened to her. She aided a child rapist, with multiple victims, get off with barely a slap on the wrist by helping the defense attorney fabricate alibis for the ass hat. Now she may or may not be the owner of a set of cement shoes which happened to walk her right into the Atlantic.

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