Page 34 of Dead Bled Ringer
Hunter glanced over at me, an expression of such hope in his face that it almost took my breath away—his one deep brown eye and multicolored amber eye both gleaming at me.
The thing was. . .the more I knew Hunter. . .the less I saw Henry when I looked at him. . .because my husband had never looked at me like that. . .
"Your husband is a moron,” Jasper said, breaking into my chaotic thoughts. “Look at how easy it is to break into all his shit.”
“Be careful!” I begged. “I don’t want you to do anything to get in trouble!"
He made a rudely dismissive noise. “Poppycock! As if he’s going to turn me into the police with all the illegal things he’s doing with his business.”
Jasper made a few quick little tippity-taps with the keys, and then said, “Done.”
“What do you mean done?” Hunter asked incredulously.
“I mean, I just deleted any video he’s saved for the past 10 years. If he so much as took a video of a motherfucking hummingbird, it’s gone now.”
Hunter’s massive shoulders slumped. “I’ve tried to get those videos foryears,” he said. “I’m sorry, Angel. I should havetold you years ago, I guess. I just—couldn’t bear the thought of hurting you.”
Something flip-flopped inside me again as I saw his mouth tighten in pain.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Besides, this isn’t remotely over. I want revenge. Dark, dirty, nasty revenge.”
“Well, say no more,” Jasper said. “Let’s see what else I can find.”
We were silent for a moment as Jasper’s keys went tippity-tap again. If only Hunter wasn’t so big. It seemed like there was nowhere to look to avoid him.
“Looks like he’s using his business as a front for various illegal activities,” Jasper said. “A little blackmail here. A little tax fraud there. What a naughty boy. Oh, looks like one thing he’s doing is working with a psychiatrist who verifies an ‘insanity defense’ for certain criminals. Then once they go to a psychiatric facility, they are smuggled out and go back to their crimes. A nice little scheme, if you ask me. But not exactly on the up-and-up.”
“What’s the psychiatrist’s name?” I asked.
“Dr. Willoughby-Horton. Looks like Henry’s been paying her out of company funds, too.”
Of course.Our marriage counselor.
Jasper whistled. “That’s a nice packet she’s making out of it.”
I began to pace around the room.
“Fucking bastard. I’m going to go over there and burn down hishouse. I want my shit back and I want out of this marriage.”
Furious, I grabbed my shoes, only to feel Hunter’s hard fingers on my elbow. “Wait a minute, spitfire! Get some rest now. We can figure out what to do tomorrow.”
“Who iswe?”
“He fucked me over too, you know. I’m doing this with you.”
My heart was pounding. Hunter was so close that I could smell him—mouth-watering mixture of cologne and heat and salt and something intensely, disturbingly feral and masculine.
Jasper had miraculously stayed silent during this interchange, and I could feel him simmering with mischief. “Good idea. Let’s sleep on it and think about revenge in the morning. You two can take the spare bedroom,” he added, disappearing down the hallway.
“Don’t you havetwospare bedrooms?” I whisper-yelled after him.
“Nope, the other one is getting renovated. Byeee.”
I did not look at Hunter as I headed in the other direction, flouncing into the spare bedroom and trying to shut the door behind me.
“I’m coming in there with you,” Hunter growled, one big foot in the doorway.
My heart pounding, I tried to shake off the arousal that was growing inside me.
