Page 61 of Tell Me Your Desires
Max huffed out a breath. “Fine. It does seem like it’s the motive. But it doesn’t mean I’m going to agree with your fucked up plan to… well, get fucked.”
“It’s someone from the club. It has to be. The best way for me to catch them… to coax them out… is to follow what the victims did. And yeah, that means sleeping with Anya. Lady A.” Jaime blew out a frustrated breath, determined to make this work. “She doesn’t like it either, but Idothink it’s a good idea. This guy can’t help himself. The moment he sees us together, we’ve got him. He has no idea we’re onto him, Max. He can’t know we’ve discovered his motive. We’ve only just figured it out ourselves. So, we go in, set the hook, and catch the fucker before anyone else can get hurt. I didn’t get this chance with Tay, Max.” Jaime scooted closer and placed a hand on Max’s shoulder. “Please let me do this for Anya. And for the others.”
“I’ll…” Max paused, taking his phone out when it pinged. He frowned, pursing his lips together.Come on, Max. We’ve got this, Jaime thought. “…be your backup.”
Jaime hadn’t known how she would feel if Max agreed to jump on board. But in this moment, she felt relief. She also felt as though they were getting somewhere with this case. “He’s good, I’ll give him that. But we’re better.”
“You still suspicious of Frank?”
Jaime was, but it wasn’t necessarily that he was the killer. That guy justlookedsuspicious. “I am. But do we really think fat Frank is capable of all this? The guy doesn’t even know what fucking deodorant is.”
Max choked on the sip of beer he’d just taken, bringing his fist to his mouth as he coughed. “You’re right about that.”
“I know it’s someone at that club. Ithasto be. It’s the only place Lady A meets these women. It’s theonlyplace she sleepswith them. You’ve seen her place, Max, it’s a freakin’ fortress. Whatever is going on, it’s happening because of that club.”
“Then I guess you’d better speak to the other half and tell her the plan is happening. We’ll finalize, and then we’ll put it in motion.”
The other half, Jaime thought with a smile.
“I’m probably going to kick myself for questioning this and risking you changing your mind, but why the change of heart?”
Max wiggled his phone at her. “You’ll get the full report tomorrow, but I followed my gut last night and put out some feelers. Just got the results.”
“You gonna give me a hint, at least?”
“The M.O. got a hit.”
Jaime sat up in her chair. “What? The fucker has done this before?”
Max nodded. “Looks like it. It’s not exactly the same, which is why nothing pinged when we searched in the beginning. But I broadened the search and got a few hits in four different states so far. If this is our guy, this goes far beyond our five and Anya, Jaime. So, we’ll do this your way. I’ll bring in a few officers I trust, and I’ll take the heat if we piss off the brass.”
Jaime shook her head. There was no way she was letting Max do that. “We both take the heat, Max. If they want to fire me for doing whatever is necessary to get a fucking serial killer off the streets, so be it. Now I just need to convince Anya.” Jaime lifted her beer and tipped it towards Max. “We’re going to catch him. I know it.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Derek,can you please keep the litterinthe box? Just like a man,” Anya muttered. “If you’re not peeing on the edge of the box, you’re flinging shit-clumped litter out of it.” She swept the litter into the dustpan and dumped it into the trash. At least it was trash night. She wouldn’t have to deal with this any longer than she had to.
“Meow.”
“Yeah, meow to you, too.” Anya put the broom and dustpan away, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. Then she remembered what she’d just been doing. “Eww.”
She washed her hands with warm water and half a bottle of soap and scrubbed her face before grabbing a wad of paper towels to dry off. She leaned back on the counter and blew out a breath. Today had been a day of deep cleaning. The house didn’t particularly need it, but her brain did. Cleaning helped Anya stay out of her thoughts. Loud music, the scent of cleaning products, and a small amount of annoyance from Derek’s antics had created the perfect equation for distraction.
Anya had no idea why she was so antsy today, but she had woken up this way. Perhaps it was residual loneliness that stemmed from saying goodnight to Jaime instead of inviting herin. Or maybe it was the fact that she hadn’t spoken to Jaime since the date, and she was feeling a bit uncertain about where they were in their… relationship. Is that what they had? Or was Anya merely Jaime’s way of distracting herself? Sex definitely was a potent way of redirecting thoughts of a troubled past.
“Past,” Anya repeated out loud. “Taylor won’t be Jaime’s past until the case is solved.”
“Mew, meow.”
She rolled her eyes at Derek. “I amnotjealous. I’m… concerned that we can’t move forward if Jaime can’t move on. And she has every right to feel the way she feels.” Anya threw up her hands. “Look at me. I locked the world out because of something that happened years ago. Am I any different than Jaime by hiding behind my past? We were probably doomed before we even began.” Anya laughed at herself. “I bet Jaime doesn’t tell all her secrets to a cat named Derek.”
A knock at the front door startled Anya. No one visited her. Well, no one except Jaime these days. However, since Anya hadn’t heard from Jaime since the date, she was wary about who was outside her door. She checked the camera and saw Jaime rocking on her heels, wringing her hands.
“Well, this doesn’t look good,” Anya said to Derek. Jaime’s nervousness was a complete one-eighty from the last time Anya had seen her. While Anya was surprised—and happy—to see Jaime, her demeanor dampened that happiness. Not to mention the fact that Anya looked as though she’d been deep cleaning an already spotless house all day long. She reached up and touched the bandana on her head. “Great.”
Jaime knocked again and then rang the doorbell for good measure. She blew out a breath, trying to calm her nerves as she waited for Anya to answer. Jaime knew Anya was home. She had been sitting in her car for the past forty minutes trying to muster up the courage to walk her ass up to the door andknock.You’re a fucking coward. Jaime winced inwardly when she remembered how she’d avoided Anya for the past two days.Whyhad she avoided her? Because she was too scared to tell her Max had agreed to the plan. A ridiculous move after such a great date night. It had probably ruined her shot at anything more profound with Anya. Jaime frowned suddenly. Was that why Anya wasn’t answering the door for her?
Jaime leaned down and looked into the camera on the doorbell. “Anya, I know you’re justifiably angry with me, but let me explain. Please?”
