Page 43 of The Grave Between Us
Chains jerked, a taut, sharp chime. He froze—
Ian’s nose and lips pressed against the back of his neck. He inhaled in a wet, hot groan. Ian’s tongue poked out, gliding up Cole’s nape, tickling the short hairs behind his ear. “Oh, yes,” Ian moaned. “That’s it. That’s exactly it. I knew you’d smell so fucking good with his death all over you.” He moaned again. Breathed hard, in short, frantic grunts.
Cole leaped away, his hand falling to his sidearm. He tried to draw, but he was shaking too much, couldn’t get his hand to work. If he pulled his weapon, he’d shoot his own leg. He’d seen it before, freaked-out cops firing before their weapon was clear. His heart was tripping, tumbling like he was in freefall, and as he turned, he froze, wide eyed and wild.
Ian—still chained in the back seat—rubbed his cuffed hands over his crotch. An erection strained his prison jumpsuit, wetness visible on the rough canvas. He dug his palm into his groin and moaned again.
“I knew you’d bring that scent back to me. You’re so good. So, so good.” More stroking. Ian shivered.
“You planned this,” Cole croaked.
“Guilty as charged,” Ian purred. His eyelids fluttered as his nostrils flared, and he sucked down another deep, openmouthed breath. “Do you get it now? I can never fill enough graves, because filling graves with broken men makes me feel alive. I live for this moment, when I can smell their death. Smelling it on you is—” He shuddered, bit his lip. “Are you upset? Are you scared? Contemplating your own mortality? Was that why your voice quavered? Was that why you walked unsteadily back to me? Is that fear I smell on you, Cole?”
Ian smiled, a hungry wolf’s smile. “I love that most, I think. Those little signs of fear, all building and building into that sweet nectar of terror. I drink that down like wine, the finest, most exquisite vintage in the world. Be terrified, and bring me your fear. Come closer and let me taste it on your skin.”
Horror rushed through Cole, waves of ice crashing through him, breaking against his trembling bones. He could hear screaming in his mind, an echo without beginning or end. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t blink, couldn’t move. He was frozen against the truck’s dash, watching a serial killer get off on the stench of a corpse he’d buried that clung to Cole’s skin and hair and clothes.
“You will never understand me. Ilivefor this. This is the sex I lust for, this is the water I crave to drink. My blood doesn’t pump with oxygen and iron, it pumps with hunger for pain and terror. You want to know me. You want to possess me. Possess my mind and my secrets.” His eyes were black, pupils fully dilated, like they had swallowed the world. “You don’t know what it is to possess another man. To own his life and his death. You play in the shadows, thinking you know what I mean when I say what I say. You will never understand me as long as you live.”
Cole shoved open the truck door and flew out, falling to his hands and knees in the dirt. He scrambled forward, crawling, then sliding on his elbows, his belly, his mind shrieking at him toget away get away get away, that there was a predator, that he was in danger. He gasped for breath, inhaled dead leaves. Coughing, he curled into a ball in the dirt, pushing his cheek against the cold ground.
Behind him, he heard Ian’s hoarse voice chanting his name, the jangle of chains, throaty grunts, and then a groan as Ian orgasmed. A moment later, he heard Ian’s laugh roll through the woods.
Chapter Thirteen
Saturday morning,he and Noah and Katie had to be awake and on the road early, heading out to Lake Anita State Park, midway between Des Moines and Omaha, to meet Lilly and drop Katie off for a weekend with her mother. Usually, they would drive Katie out after school on Friday, but because of the dance, they’d pushed the meet to Saturday morning.
Cole drove, holding Noah’s hand where it rested on his thigh. Katie fell asleep in the back seat before they’d even gotten out of their neighborhood. Cole was like a cat skittering on hot metal, scanning the horizon and the muddy cornfields on either side of the road. He eyeballed every tractor trailer like the drivers were known terrorists transporting nuclear warheads. His pulse was faster than a hummingbird’s, and he left his coffee untouched in the center console. He didn’t need any more caffeine.
He pulled off Interstate 80 at Anita and headed south toward town. Stopping at the Casey’s gas station, he ducked into the general store and bought a hot chocolate for Katie and a toffee-flavored latte for Lilly. Noah shook his head when Cole came back with the drinks, but he didn’t say anything.
Lilly was already at the lake, sitting on a picnic bench and reading the paper, bundled up in her jacket, beanie, and gloves. She waved as they pulled up, and she waited as Cole and Noah roused an unwilling Katie from her backseat slumber. Katie grumbled, grabbed her backpack, took the hot chocolate, and shuffled across the parking lot, face-planting in her mother’s arms in a sleepwalking hug. Lilly laughed over Katie’s shoulder as Cole jogged over with her latte.
“Thank you, Cole.” She steered Katie to her Lexus, waiting for her to climb in and shut the door before she said anything more. “Katie seems to be doing better. She sounds all right when we talk on the phone. She doesn’t want to get into details, and I don’t push. Teen girls and their mothers.”
“Katie is doing well. She’s very strong. She gets that from both of you.”
Lilly shook her head, a tired smile pulling on the corners of her lips. “I know she’s worried about her dad. How’s he doing?”
“Noah is all right. He doesn’t remember much of what happened, which is good. I think it’s been harder on Katie, seeing him in the hospital. From Noah’s perspective, he was driving, and then he woke up and we were all very upset.”
“Well, that’s the best scenario for him.” Lilly looked beyond Cole to the SUV with Noah sitting in the passenger seat. “I saw his car when they towed it to Omaha. I can’t believe…” She trailed off. “Bray texted me when he found out. He wanted to know if I wanted to fly out with him to visit Noah in the hospital.”
Sam Bray, the SAC of Omaha and Noah’s boss, also worked closely with Lilly, an assistant United States attorney. The midwestern federal family was small.
“The last thing Noah would want, after something like that, would be to see his ex-wife. No, he has you to worry about him now. I remember what that’s like. It’s more than a full-time job.”
Despite himself, Cole grinned. He looked down, rubbing his lips together. He shouldn’t commiserate with Noah’s ex-wife. “He’s worth it.”
She studied him, biting the inside of her cheek. “He’s a good man. I’m glad he has you. He’s wanted to love someone with everything he is, but I wasn’t that person. He adores Katie, of course, but he’s wanted a soulmate as long as I’ve known him. You unlock him, probably as much to himself as to the world.” She shook her head, her eyes coming back to Cole, away from Noah. “I don’t love him anymore, and I haven’t for a very long time, but I want him to be happy. Especially now, knowing our marriage didn’t fail because…” She shrugged and gazed out over the rippling lake, the gunmetal waves lapping against the muted sky.
“He’s scared to get married again,” Cole blurted out. Worries from before, suddenly screaming in the forefront of his mind again. Before Noah was shot, they’d been trying to plan their wedding. Had it been less than two weeks ago when he thought his biggest worries were what kind of ceremony Noah envisioned for them? When he’d kissed Noah’s hair and told him he was certain that Noah was going to be a good husband? “He thinks he’s going to be a terrible husband. That maybe he doesn’t know how.”
Lilly stared at the horizon. “If there’s anything Noah is guilty of, it’s that he didn’t fight to keep us together. But looking back, why would he have? I used to be so mad about his… indecisiveness. His indifference, as if he didn’t care if the sun rose or fell tomorrow, or if we were still married or not. I’m guessing that’s not what your relationship is like.”
“Not at all,” Cole breathed. “Not even close.”
“You have the best parts of him, Cole. And you and he have nothing to worry about. Your marriage will be very happy. He’s not indifferent toward your future. He wants you, and he wants the life you guys are building.”
