Page 27 of Belle

We toss Dax’s body in the alley behind some trash and get back in the car.

“What now?” I look over at Maddox, lighting up a cigarette.

“Let’s go home.”

Chapter 8

Maddox

I’m in deep with Belle now. I just took part in yet another murder. Any plans I had prior to coming to Deadhorse have been thrown out the window.

“You okay?” I look over at her. She’s staring out the window, smoking. Her hands are shaking.

“Yeah. This might sound insane, but that was a rush.” It does sound insane, but I feel the same way.

“Do you wanna tell me what was going on before I showed up?”

She looks at me and then looks away. I’ve learned now that this is what she does when she doesn’t want to talk about something. I’m not going to let this go that easy though.

She sighs. “I texted Dax and invited him over after you left. I thought you were gonna go fuck someone, and it pissed me off.” She takes a deep breath. She doesn’t want to tell me anymore, because she doesn’t want me to know she’s caught feelings.

“Anyway, he came over and when he got there, I just wasn’t feeling it.” I nod in understanding. The same thing happened to me when I tried to pick a girl up on the side of the road when I left.

I watch her inhale and blow smoke. My dick twitches, and I wonder when it was that I started to be obsessed with her and everything she does.

“I told him I wasn’t in the mood after all, and he kept pushing and pushing. I’ve had guys get rough with me before. I’ve had someone take it way too far. For the most part, I can handle it though. Usually, they’re so fucked up on something I can knee them in the balls or punch them and they get the hint. Dax wasn’t fucked up.” I watch her hand holding the cigarette shake. I want to grab her other hand and hold it, reassure her that everything is going to be okay, but I gather Belle isn’t the kind of girl that likes to be coddled.

I also can’t stop thinking about her saying someone took it too far. I’m going to have to ask her about that.

“That’s when I showed up?” I glance in her direction, then back to the road.

“Yeah. Thank fuck for that.” She blows out a breath.

Neither of us say anything for a while, and there’s a faint sound of the radio coming from the speakers but that’s it.

“I don’t even feel bad,” I hear her whisper.

“You shouldn’t.”

“I don’t think they will look into his death too much. That’s the thing about Deadhorse, people come up missing, but you never get any answers.” I watch her lean her head against the glass of the window.

I pull into the gravel drive leading to our houses and put the car in park. We sit in silence for a long time. I don’t think either one of us knows what to do.

“I think Destiny needs to die.” She breaks the silence. I wasn’t expecting her to say that.

I look over at her, searching her eyes for any hint that she might be joking.

“You serious?

“Yeah. I know you planned to do it. But I’ve been planning to do it for a long time now. I have some ideas.”

I turn in the seat to face her.

“Do you feel like someone’s been watching you?” She changes the subject. That’s something else I’ve learned about Belle. Her randomness is hard to keep up with.

“Yeah, I do. I’ve been feeling that way since I got to town.”

“I could feel someone’s eyes on me one-night last week at the club. I feel eyes on me all the time out here.” She shivers.

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