Page 81 of The Grave Between Us
“The only people who have ever known me are the men I’ve killed,” Ian hissed. “You wanted to know me, Cole. Now it’s time.”
Again he plunged Cole into the river, shoving him down, all the way down, until Cole was pressed against the soft silt of the river’s bottom. He thrashed, tried to kick, to fight back, but Ian was too big, too strong, and he was still kneeling on Cole’s chest. He had no air, and his vision was sparking, fireworks exploding around his eyes like it was the Fourth of July. His body was going to drag in a chestful of river water in a moment, reflex kicking in, forcing him to inhale even though there was no air. He bucked, seized—
Oxygen. Gray sky, and Ian’s face, shoved against his own again. His dark eyes swallowing Cole whole. He gasped, dragged in air, Ian finally taking his knee off Cole’s chest and letting him breathe.
Ian rolled Cole over onto his belly. One hand went to Cole’s waist. Ian’s knees landed on either side of Cole’s hips. River water splashed in Cole’s face. Ian’s other hand gripped Cole’s hair, lifting his head just barely out of the water, forcing Cole’s throat to arch.
“I’m going to put you inside me, where you belong,” Ian whispered against Cole’s ear. “I told you before: we’re united. We’re going to be together forever. We’re going to spend eternity together, your soul inside my body. Where you were meant to be.”
Ian’s hand slid down to Cole’s neck. His lips pressed against Cole’s temple, an openmouthed kiss, and he let out a hot, heavy groan. Ian’s erection pressed into the small of Cole’s back as he grasped the waistband of Cole’s soaked jeans and started to tug them down. “Tell me how Noah tastes, Cole,” he purred. “Tell me how he feels when you push your body against his.”
Cole was crying, screaming, trying to thrash against Ian’s hold. He couldn’t move, couldn’t get any leverage, bent backward with Ian straddling him, hand around his throat. “Please,” Cole wailed. “Please,please, leave Noah alone! Do whatever you want to me, Ian, but pleasedon’t hurt Noah.”
He begged. He put his whole self into it, reciting the victim’s lament, the word he’d sworn he’d never say to Ian, like a prayer. “Please…”
“Tell me!” Ian roared. “Tell me about Noah! Imagine him in your place, right now!”
“He’s the love of my life,” Cole shrieked. “He’s my whole world. Don’t touch him,please, Ian,please!”
“This is even better than I imagined,” Ian purred again, pushing his lips against Cole’s jaw. He bit down, sucked on Cole’s skin. “Your terror is sweeter than I dreamed.”
“Please don’t hurt Noah.Please—”
“You’ll never know if I do or don’t,” Ian whispered. “You’ll die in fear, and you’ll never know if I kill him.”
He grasped Cole around the throat and squeezed. Cole tried to drag in a breath, tried to scream. Nothing. No air. No sound. He thrashed, tried to shake his head. Water splashed in his face, mixed with the tears streaming from his eyes.
I failed. I failed, Noah. I’m so sorry. I didn’t keep you safe—
Ian shoved him into the river again, face-first. He held Cole’s head down, pushing him deeper into the water.
Cole reached behind him, trying to grab Ian’s jacket, his hoodie. His fingers caught in soaked fabric. He tried to pull, but his strength was fading and the river was getting darker. He tried to scream, but Ian’s hand was still around his throat, choking him.
Ian shoved him again, grinding his face into the river’s mud. He felt the silt ooze between his eyelids, felt it slide up his nose and into his mouth. He jerked, once, twice, tried to buck against Ian’s hold.
Noah, I love you. I’ll love you forever. I’m sorry. I failed. Noah—
Chapter Twenty-Five
Noah picked through the underbrush,his gun out and up, wrists crossed for stability, flashlight in his lower hand. The woods were thick and dark, choking off the sky and plunging the wildlife refuge into darkness, even at midday. Fog clung to the ground and to the branches overhead, encircling the world in a gauzy funeral shroud. Every breath was like inhaling through wet velvet. He moved forward, his ears open, listening. Ten feet away, Jacob silently mirrored him.
There it was again. Splashing. And something that sounded like a scream.
Ahead, the Raccoon River curved away from the bridge. If they’d been closer to the highway, he’d have thought the sound was traffic, the scream of an engine echoing over water. Sound traveled strangely in the woods.
But they weren’t near the highway.
Noah picked up his pace, leaping over downed trees and tangled brush, tearing through winter vines and what looked like poison ivy. Jacob came up on his side, shadowing him. They could see the river ahead, the muddy water flowing between the trees.
“Please!”
Splashing. A man’s deep grunts. Heavy breathing, like someone was working hard.
Noah came out of the tree line in a blur, weapon up, arms straight. He faced the shoreline and saw a bear of a man holding another man facedown in the shallow water. Blond strands floated in the gently lapping waves, hair that was just long enough to reach a man’s ears or brush his eyebrows at the end of a long day.
Noah took in the drowning man in one microsecond sweep, his gaze cataloging the jeans and shoes and jacket, clothes he knew by heart because he saw them every day. Saw those shoes kicked off on the bedroom floor, saw that jacket slung over the back of his kitchen chair.Cole.
“Ian Ingram!” Noah roared.
