Page 35 of Bleed for You
“Can you?” Jinx whispered. “Can you really?” Grabbing Craig again, he murmured, “I do bring men back here. Living breathing men, but they don’t leave that way.”
Swallowing, Craig asked, “How do they leave?”
“Dead, because I killed them.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Craig pushed past Jinx and jumped down the steps, landing on the broken path that led to the front of the cabin. He spun around and held a hand up, his wide eyes as he stared up at Jinx. Shaking his head, he said, “That’s not funny. Just admit that you’ve been cheating on me. I can accept that.”
“I have never cheated on you and I never will.” Jinx walked down the steps. Every step closer he took to Craig, Craig took a step back and it hurt. He would never cause pain to Craig. Never hurt him. Not intentionally. He loved him far too much. “Afraid of me?” Craig stopped moving, his head lifting to stare Jinx in the eyes. This was why he never wanted Craig to find out what he did. The look of fear that flashed across Craig’s face had Jinx realizing their relationship was more than likely over. Another slash of pain that cut deep, but Jinx didn’t let it show on his face.
“I don’t know if I can believe you after you made that sick joke about killing men. Why would you say something like that tome?” Craig put his hands on his hips, his eyes in constant motion as he avoided looking at Jinx.
“Because I do kill men. I’m hired to do it.” Jinx shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes tracking every move Craig made, seeing the way he stiffened when he spoke. “Gonna report me now that you know my dirty secret?” Craig was a good man. Jinx had no doubt he would report Jinx if he actually believed he was telling him the truth.
“Hired to kill men,” Craig scoffed. “Don’t lie to me.” He said the words, but Jinx had a feeling Craig didn’t believe them. He struggled to look Jinx in the eyes, his own eyes flittering around.
“I have no reason to lie to you. I love you. I have never and will never cheat on you. When I disappear, I’m here with the man I was asked to track down, kidnap, and kill.” Jinx moved closer, his eyes narrowing. “I like it, too. I like hearing them beg, hearing them plead. I like hurting them and making them bleed.” If he was going to tell Craig the truth, then it would be the whole truth and nothing else.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Craig shook his head, glanced to where he’d parked his car, then back at Jinx. Jinx watched Craig’s body sway toward his car and waited for him to make the move he clearly wanted to. “Why would you say that to me?” he asked as he took a step toward his car, just as Jinx had anticipated.
Jinx watched him, seeing the way Craig’s body leaned away from him and closer to the car he’d just taken a step toward. “Because I don’t lie to you. As I keep saying, I have never lied to you.”
“If you’ve been doing this, then you have been lying to me,” Craig snapped. “Not telling me about this is you lying to me.”
“No, I haven’t. I never told you and you never asked. It was something I chose not to share with you. A part of my life I kept separate from us.”
Craig didn’t say anything. All he did was shake his head. He opened his mouth, then closed it, glanced at the ground, then back to Jinx. “Why? If you’re really telling me the truth, then why?”
“I only go after one type of man.” Jinx took another step closer to Craig, saw his eyes widen in response, his body straighten. “One type. Those who hurt children.”
“Jinx,” Craig whispered, shaking his head. He opened his mouth, then closed it, licked his lips. “What happened to me…” Craig turned and walked over to his car, then stopped. “Men who hurt children?” Looking at Jinx, Craig said, “Regardless of the reasons why, if you’re telling me the truth, then that’s murder.”
“Are you going to report me to the police?” Jinx walked over to Craig and noticed the way he tensed. “I’m not wired the same as you. I have no problem disposing of these kinds of people. They don’t deserve to live. They only deserve to suffer, then die. Like their victims.”
“By you? You’re the one who gets to decide who lives and who dies? You have evidence that they did what you were told they did?”
“I always have evidence, and I track them to make sure what I’ve been provided is accurate.” Jinx stood toe to toe with Craig, impressed when Craig stayed still and didn’t back away. “I wasn’t ill. I was torturing a man who had been let off being punished for abusing children because of a technicality. I followed him, Craig. Watched him in the play areas, in the parks. Saw the way he watched the kids as they played. When I took him, he was trying to break into a family home to take a child he’d been watching that day in the park.”
“You kidnapped and tortured a man until you murdered him.” Craig swallowed, his breathing quickening. “I…” he shook his head. “I thought I knew you,” he murmured. “I guess I never really did. How much was true, Jinx? Is Jinx your real name?”
What he had anticipated happening was playing out in front of him. He was losing the man he loved. “I never lied to you. I love you.”
“You told me you were ill, and you weren’t, so you did lie to me.” Craig moved away, his eyes fixed on Jinx. “Don’t come near me. Ever. We’re finished. I don’t want to ever see you again.” Jinx reached out to him and Craig knocked his hand away. “Don’t touch me. You just told me you murdered someone and now you want to touch me?”
Jinx grimaced, ran a hand over his face. “Craig. Please don’t be like this. This,” Jinx waved his hand around them, “doesn’t change anything between us. I love you. We can work this out. Let’s go home and talk.” Jinx could feel his heart race in his chest and when Craig shook his head, he somehow held back his urge to grab hold of him so he couldn’t walk away. His stomach dropped when Craig walked over to the driver’s side of the car. “Craig, don’t go.”
“How can I stay here with you, knowing what you are? There’s something wrong with you. There has to be for you to do the things you do and show no remorse. You’re not sorry, are you?”
“No.” He would be lying if he said he did, and he didn’t want to lie to the man he loved. “I enjoy it.”
“You like hearing them beg for mercy?” Craig looked incredulously at Jinx. “You get off on it?”
“Not like that, no. Not sexually. It doesn’t excite me sexually at all, but I’m not sad they’re dead when I’ve finished with them. I hurt them, Craig, and they deserve to be hurt.”
“And you enjoy it.” Craig opened the door to his car. “You’re sick, Jinx. You need help.”
“Are you going to report me to the police?” Craig didn’t answer but got in his car. The engine didn’t start, and Jinx went to open the passenger door but found it locked. Craig looked at him through the window and shook his head. Jinx could see his liptrembling and put his hand on the glass. “Craig, don’t go like this.”
