Page 9 of Marked for Obsession

Heat.

That last one he wasn’t a hundred percent on. Could’ve been a simple case of wishful thinking on his part. But the one thing Jax was certain hehadn’tfound there…

A single, solitary drop of inebriation.

“She wasn’t drunk.”

“You sure about that?” Grady stared back at him. “How long did you speak to her?”

“I didn’t. Not really. But I know drunk when I see it, and I’m telling you, that woman was stone cold sober when she walked through my doors.”

Other than a quick apology for having bumped into him, the woman—Penelope—hadn’t said another word. Not to him, anyway. Her male friend, however…

I wanted to beat his ass to a pulp simply for interrupting us.

Another reflexive reaction that had left Jax lying sleepless in his bed last night.

“If you didn’t talk to her, how can you be so sure she wasn’t drunk?”

Jax put his confusing thoughts on the backburner to answer his brother. “She bumped into me. Said she was sorry. We made eye contact; her gaze was crystal clear, and her words weren’t slurred in the least. She was about to say something else when a guy she’d apparently had plans to meet here approached us. I walked away but saw the two of them talk for a bit.”

“You hear what they discussed?”

Jax shook his head. “The guy handed her a beer, but she only took one gulp before they left.” He shrugged. “That’s all I know.”

“What time was this?”

“Around eight-thirty.”

Eight-thirty-two, to be exact, but he didn’t dare reveal that knowledge.

If he did, he’d have to explain how he knew the precise time the sexy Penelope A. Campbell and that douchebag she was with had left Sin. And if he didthat, he’d have to admit he’d gone back to watch that portion of the previous night’s tape enough times to memorize the numbers on the damn time stamp.

Yeah, ’cause that’s not creepy at all.

“What time did she arrive?”

“I saw the woman for like a minute, Dec. Never said I stalked her.”

Although with those lose-yourself-in-me-eyes and mouthwatering curves, he was rather tempted.

Declan’s pointed expression mirrored his own. “We need to see your tapes.”

“You got a warrant?”

“You really gonna make me get one?”

Interrupting the sibling standoff, Grady jumped back in with an apparent need to play ‘good cop’.

“Listen, Jax.” The other man stared back at him. “We don’t give a shit about anything other than verifying Miss Campbell’s story. You let us do that, and we’ll be out of your hair.”

Momentarily ignoring the other man’s comment, Jax slid his gaze back to his brother’s. “You know, Dec. You really should take a cue from Mr. Clean, here. Bees to honey and all that.”

With an impatient sigh, Declan glanced at his watch. “Dude, just show us the fucking footage, already. Skye and I have dinner reservations tonight, and I’d really like to make them.”

At the mention of the sweet woman, Jax damn near smiled. Skye Lewis was the infamous daughter of Samuel Lewis—A.K.A. Sammy the Strangler. An evenmoreinfamous serial killer.

Somehow, despite Dec’s having used the unsuspecting woman to catch her escaped murderer father a few months back, Dec hadn’t just put Sammy back behind bars.

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