Page 6 of Beast

His eyes bored into me. I shouldn’t have been turned on or even sitting here talking to the guy who back at high school made my life a living hell. I added another pack of sugar to my espresso, stirring it with the tiny plastic spoon, as it wasn’t sweet enough even after two packs.

“But how does the old saying go? Men are afraid of women laughing at them, but women are afraid of men killing them.” I added.

“But that’s not the case with all serial killers.” He rubbed his chin. “Jeffery Dahmer killed only men.”

“And yet, women are fascinated with him and others.” It was dangerous, wasn’t it? The unknown? Everything clicked, the pieces falling together. Ted’s murderous rage had been insatiable. Just like many other serial killers had been.

I shivered.

“You ever witnessed a murder or someone die?”

Shit, he knew. I suspected he, like most in high school, knew the true nature of my family, but he’d confirmed it with a question. He leaned back, stretching out an arm across the back of the booth. “Cause it’s not as glamorous as they make it out in books and on TV. Or is it?”

I flushed as he asked, confirming what I’d already suspected. He knew about my family. I needed to leave. Meeting a stranger was bad enough, but meeting someone who knew my background was even worse. The short time I’d spent talking to him had taken up all my energy. No more was I sipping on my espresso but letting the hot coffee burn my throat as I downed it in one gulp.

“What do you get from our group… about killers?”

I chewed on my lip for a second, not knowing how much to confess to this guy. Sure, we had chatted online, but the intimacy and intensity of sitting across from Tomas, who shared something on an intellectual level with me, had me flashing him a sarcastic smile. “I guess it’s the same reason why people watch horror movies, visit haunted houses, or even jump out of a plane. It’s the thrill of the danger. A morbid curiosity.”

A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. “So should we craft a story about you? She was kidnapped by some crazy guy who loved crime stories and actually planned to kidnap, not an heiress, but a girl in a café?”

Panic hit my chest and his eyes locked with mine, and for a moment I thought he was going to charge across the table after me. He sounded like he was quoting something a news headline had said about my dad. I sucked in a breath. He was going to lift me from my seat and carry me out of here. He’d chain me to the wall in his basement and force me to do all kinds of things with him. I wouldn’t put it past him.

“Great. Well, I’m just glad she wasn’t hurt. That the guy turned out to be joking and a jerk but not a psycho.”

“So you’re not interested in a little abduction?” he asked with a sexy grin.

“I’d have to have more to go on. Like what would motivate him to do such a thing? And in public?”

“What if the sugar you’ve added to your espresso isn’t just sweetener? What if I’ve drugged it?”

I let out a nervous laugh and my gaze darted to the sugar packets lying on the table.

“Not enough to kill you. Not yet.” He rubbed his thumb across his lower lip. “But enough to have you pass out and docile enough for me to take you out of here without any protest.”

3

BEAST

Natalia Mikhailov stared at me with those doe eyes of hers and I laughed on the inside at her naivety. Ever since the sixth grade, she’d looked down on me and thought herself above reproach. Bet she thought she was coming here to meet the man of her dreams. I’d held my tongue, or rather my fingers, from what I really wanted to say to her online.

Pretended to be a wuss. Pretended I cared what she thought.

What had she said in ninth grade when I got up the courage to ask her out? Her words still rang in my ears.

“Why would I go out with a loser like you? I’m not into fat guys.”

I wasn’t bitter. No. Everyone was fucking entitled to their own opinion. I was doing a job. Like this one that Golubev had paid me handsomely to take care of. Kidnap Natalia and hold on to her until they could convince her father to vote how they wanted. Easy. And it gave me time for a little justice against the girl who had turned my life inside out.

Her face paled as she glanced from me back to the sugar packets. She wouldn’t look at me as she licked her lips. “Y-you’re kidding.”

“I never kid,” I growled.

Her mouth opened and a squeak came out. She began to shake as she tried to force herself to get up from the table but couldn’t get her legs to work.

“I can’t be here. I need my medication. Please don’t kill me,” she whimpered, looking across the table at me with her big eyes and trembling lips.

And I knew it took all her strength to get the words out. She shouldn’t have sat down with me. Whatever possessed her to do that?

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