Page 18 of Psycho

Her eyebrows rose, “Three in one night?”

I shrugged, “It could be five or six if Dane didn’t slow me down with his theatrics.”

She snorted and smiled as I turned and walked toward her door. “Hey, Maddox.” Something about hearing my name in her sweet honey voice made me burn for her. I looked back at her, and she rolled over onto her stomach, resting her chin on her hands as she went on, “Be careful, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” I replied, overwhelmed by what her concern made me feel.

“I mean it.” She stared at me as I clicked off the lights and opened her door. “I’d be pretty bummed if you didn’t make it back in the morning.”

I grinned and shook my head, leaving her apartment completely.

Yeah, Storm, I’d be pretty bummed if I didn’t get back to you, too.

“So,” Dane huffed as he threw the body on the floor next to the other two. “What souvenirs are you keeping for Livy this time?”

I rolled my eyes as I finished carving my knife through the chest wall of Isaac Renfield. Gurgles escaped through his mouth as I punctured his lung, “Damnit, you made me miss.”

Dane chuckled and kicked the head of Ramsey Tuft, where he lay lifeless already. “Not me, I was fucking perfection tonight.”

I rolled my eyes and worked through the rib cage and got what I came for. As I pulled it free, I grinned.

“Hearts.” Dane shrugged, “A little over kill if you ask me, but whatever she’s into.”

I put the heart into a plastic bag and added it with the other one I already pulled from Quintin’s chest before Dane joined me. “She threw up from fingers, what makes you think I’d give her bloody hearts?”

“Well, if they’re not for her, who are they for?” He crossed his arms, “Are you a vampire all of a sudden?”

“They’re for Damon.” I wiped Isaac’s blood off my knife and put it away.

“Ooh, I like it.” He grinned, kneeling down to carve the heart out of his kill. “Did you get any info out of Liv today about that?”

“Yeah,” I replied, gathering my supplies up. “Cliff-note version, Damon used blackmail to get her involved with the scheme. Stealing money from these fucks got him in hot water and he blamed Liv. He then tried to trade her to the highest bidder to get himself out of it. That’s why he kidnapped her and kept her alive instead of just taking her out like we thought he would.”

“And then we took his get out of jail free card.” Dane surmised as he pulled the heart free of the chest. “Effectively screwing her.”

“Hence this list.”

“Remove the threats, ensure her safety.” He shrugged, dropping it into a bag. “I like it.”

“I don’t.” I mused, “However, it’s her only chance at a real life again.”

“Well, not her only chance.” He said, wiping his knife off and pocketing it. “She has you, after all. And me.”

“Hmm.” I hummed, trying to avoid whatever he was getting at, but he wasn’t having it.

“She does have you, doesn’t she?” He stood up and walked around the bodies, “Or are you going to pretend you’re not obsessively interested in her?”

“I’d kill you if she asked me to.” I shrugged, “If that says anything.”

He tipped his head back and chuckled, “Says just about everything I need to know.”

“Good, then shut up and help me drag these bodies out onto the front porch.”

He paused mid-laugh as he looked toward the front door. “The street is five feet from the front door.”

“Exactly.”

“Ooh, Maddox The Whisper Renner isn’t fucking around tonight, ladies and gentlemen. He’s showboating.”

---