What has my life become? I’ve been staring at a video of another dude’s dick for over an hour, watching him jerk off repeatedly. No, this isn’t some twisted porn video that I’ve been watching for inspiration or something. It’s the video Montana’s stalker sent her while we were on the plane home yesterday.
I swipe my hand down my face feeling the scruff along my jaw. Fuck, was that only yesterday? I think I’ve aged at least ten years in the last day. Between the flight home, this fucking video, and the lunatic trying to lure her out with the fire alarm last night, I was exhausted.
The only thing keeping me going is pure determination at this point. Montana is my future, and if I have any say whatsoever, I’m not going to let some deranged dickhead take her away from me.
My obsession with her was bad before, but now that we are in this for the long haul, and there’s a distinct possibility she’s carrying my baby? Well, let’s just say before watching this video, I spent half an hour sharpening my machete so it’ll be ready when the time comes.
Make no mistake about it—this motherfucker is a dead man, plain and simple. There’s a reason I’m not a cop anymore. Sometimes jail isn’t sufficient justice. Sometimes a situation calls for something more permanent, and in this case, that includes hacking her stalker into bite-sized pieces before dissolving them in sulfuric acid.
It isn’t like this will be my first time eliminating someone who doesn’t deserve to keep living, only this time, my reasons for wanting him dead and gone run a lot deeper than simply someone on the other side of a battlefield. No, this time, he’s made it personal by first taking my sister from me and then setting his sights on the woman I love.
That’s right. Love.
There will be no mercy when I catch him, only pain followed by death. A small smile flits across my face before it’s gone. I’m practically salivating for the day my knife slices into his flesh, and he realizes the error of picking the two women on the planet most important to me. The more I think about it, the more I wonder whether he’s actually using Montana to fuck with me. He knows I almost had him up in Seattle for what he did to my sister, and now he’s rubbing it in my face.
It seems like the kind of sick, twisted game he likes to play, now that I think about it. If I’m right, he somehow managed to flip the script on me, and now he’s got me on my heels scrambling to track him down before he makes his next move. I fucking hate being at anyone else’s mercy, especially a lunatic like him.
The video doesn’t show his face directly, but when I slow it down and go through the pure horror of what’s on the screen frame by frame, I catch a split second where it looks like he shifts and there might be the ghost of a reflection on a mirror beside him, but it’s gone so fast it’s hard to tell.
If it’s true, if there is an image of his face on this video, I can finally confirm my suspicions that he’s the same man who took my sister, the same one who got away from me in Seattle and the same one who’s threatening Montana now.
There’s only one way to find out, so I check out with Indy and Asher and rush out of Montana’s apartment. She’s in her home office working, so I don’t bother letting her know where I’m going. Hopefully, I’ll be back with some answers before she ever even notices I’m gone.
When the elevator hits the parking garage, my phone’s already out, and I call Sebastian, not wanting to take the time to text. “Go for Sebastian.”
I shake my head at how dorky he is but don’t comment. He’s already well aware of my opinion on the matter, and I don’t want to waste time getting into it with him right now. “I might’ve found something on Montana’s stalker.”
“Go on.” He sounds distracted, and my annoyance level shoots sky-high.
“I’m sorry, am I distracting you from some other life or death situation?”
“Yes, actually.” He sighs. “You’ve got my full attention. What do you think you have?”
“Montana’s stalker sent her a video yesterday, and in it, I think I see a frame where he caught his own reflection, but it’s a little blurry, and I can’t tell for sure. I was going to head into the office and see what you think.”
“You can email it to me, you know.” He sounds put out, but then his two main moods seem to be displeasure or sarcasm, so I’m not too worried about it.
“Won’t it degrade if I do that? Besides, I don’t want to sit on this. I figured if I helped, we could get through it faster.”
“Oh, yes. Just what I’ve always wanted, someone who has no idea what they’re doing to use my equipment.”
I stop and close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose and taking the deepest breath I can manage before I blow it out in an effort not to snap at Sebastian. “Fine, how about I come lean over your shoulder instead and watch you work until you get it done?”
Fuck knows that’s the most annoying thing I can think of someone doing when I want to get shit done, so maybe it’ll drive him crazy enough to put off whatever else he’s working on and rush through the video.
“You do that; I’ll push your shit to the end of the damn line,” he snaps.
“Shit,” I hiss when I come up to my car and see the shape it’s in.
“Shit is right,” Sebastian grumbles.
“No, my car. It’s trashed. Fuck, I guess I’ll send you the video, but I’m gonna need you to come down here.”
“For the love of God, don’t email it to me. Upload it to the cloud. I’ll look at it and then come down with whatever I find. What do you need me for?” He’s suddenly all business, and I appreciate it.
“Bring your scanning equipment; whatever finds GPS trackers, cameras, and listening devices, and anything else you think might find monitoring devices.” I run my hand through my hair and turn my back on my car. She’s my baby, and it’s hard to look at her so fucked up.
The tires are slashed, and there’s either red paint or blood that’s still wet and dripping ominously onto the concrete underneath it. My black car’s been bathed in crimson from front to back, a complete coating of gore.
I finally turn around and, with my phone out, snap pictures of everything. The closer I look, the more I’m sure this isn’t paint. Once I’ve documented everything, I call Asher down. I don’t like leaving only Indy upstairs, but we’re both still in the building technically, so if he needs us, we can be upstairs in a matter of seconds.
It hits me as I’m waiting for Ash how if I would’ve been maybe a few minutes earlier, I could’ve caught the perp in the act. With this guy, there always seems to be a timing issue. He hits right before we’re going to be somewhere, or right as we’re leaving like he knows our schedules or something. Though, that’s not quite right because a lot of times, shit is spontaneous.
It’s why I asked Sebastian to come back down here—for the third fucking time—to check everything over again. Montana’s stalker has an in somewhere that we haven’t found yet. We’ve canvased the buildings that could possibly look into her apartment, and even if he was using one, the angles aren’t right. The pictures almost look like they’re coming from inside the apartment, which is why I’m so hung up on him having a camera inside. It’s the only thing that makes sense, and yet every goddamn search comes up empty.
How the fuck is that possible?
“Damn,” Asher says as he looks over the mess of my car. “That’s just wrong. How’s he going to take out his issues on your ride?”
“I’ve been wondering for a while if he’s not hitting Montana to somehow get to me,” I admit, bending down to swipe my finger through the thick, sticky substance I’m now about ninety-five percent sure is some kind of blood.
“How do you figure?” Asher asks, leaning against the concrete wall beside my car with his arms folded over his chest.
“Right now, it’s only a gut feeling, but when I was watching the video he sent Montana last night-”
“The one of him jerking off into her missing panties.”
I scowl. “That’d be the one. When the sick fuck recorded it, I think he might’ve made a mistake. If I’m right, there’s a frame with at least a partial reflection. I was on my way to go over it with Sebastian when I found this,” I gesture to my destroyed car. “He’s going over it now.”
“So what makes you think he’s doing this to target you? You and Montana weren’t even involved when it started.”
I shake my head. “No, I don’t think initially that was why he picked her. I think he has a type, and she fits it perfectly, but when she got away, he looked closer. That first night, I dropped everything and ran when she called. If he was watching, he’d have noticed, and suddenly this became his new favorite game.”
“Why would he even want to target you? I mean, Jesus. I’ve seen what you’re capable of when someone fucks with you.” He lets out a low chuckle at some memory. To be fair, I’m no stranger to getting my hands dirty—none of us Guardians are, really—so it could be dozens of things he’s thinking of.
“Because I almost had him. I caught him, he went on trial, and a fucking technicality set him free. Now he’s back on the streets doing what he does best—taking women to torture before he kills them. He’s rubbing it in my face, showing me that it doesn’t matter how hard I hunt for him, he’s still doing what he loves right under my goddamn nose. There isn’t any trace of him, either, which makes me think he’s changed up his appearance and ditched any old identities I knew about.”
He steps up and puts a heavy hand on my shoulder. “You know we’re going to get him. We always do. It’s only a matter of time until either he slips up or we catch him in the act. He’s bold as fuck, and every time he seems to get away with something, he pushes even more. I swear we’re going to catch this fucker, and when we do, there won’t be any trial to walk away from. You’ll be judge, jury, and motherfucking executioner on this one with Indy and I at your back.”
It’s hard to do while watching droplets of blood slowly drip off my car, but I take a bit of comfort in his words. He’s right. Guys like this always take it a step too far, but I have to swallow past the tightness suddenly in my throat when I think about how far he might have to go before we’re able to grab him.
“I look forward to that day, and I really fucking hope I don’t have to wait much longer for it. I don’t know how much more I can take of the threats to Montana’s life.” Potentially my baby’s life goes unsaid because until I know for sure, it’s not something I want to bring up with my co-worker, but it’s a big factor in the added urgency I’m feeling.
“We’ll get him. In the meantime, what do you want to do about this?” he asks, lifting his hand and gesturing to the disaster in front of us.
“I’ll have it towed to my mechanic, but I’m going to wait for Sebastian to look it over first. I want him to collect whatever he can to analyze in that fancy-ass lab of his. Whatever he can pull off of this might help.”
“Alright. You want to head back up until he gets here?” Asher juts his chin toward the elevator.
My gut drops straight through my feet because I know the second I step through the door, I’m going to face the Montana inquisition about what happened. My only hope is she’s been so preoccupied in her office the entire time, she didn’t observe my or Asher’s absences. “Fuck, I don’t want to have to tell Montana about this shit. She doesn’t need more stress.”
“So, don’t tell her.”
My gaze cuts in his direction. “If I don’t, and one of you assholes slips up, and she overhears, she’ll freak the fuck out.”
Asher’s lips twist into a smirk. “That could be fun.”
I scoff. “Yeah, the kind of fun that leaves me with blue balls for a month.”
We’re almost to the elevator when he says, “In that case, I should tell her as soon as we get upstairs so Indy and I can get a break from hearing you two going at it constantly.”
I should be pissed off, but instead, I grin. Now that we’ve given in to all the insane sexual chemistry there is between us, it’s like we’re horny teenagers who can’t get enough and will find every opportunity we can to fuck. I can’t even be mad about it at this point.
Maybe I should let him tell her. If he does, no doubt her temper will come out to play, and that’s always an entertaining experience. “No, I’ll tell her. You update Indy.”
He agrees, and the ride up to the apartment is quiet. Asher’s not a very talkative guy, and the conversation we had downstairs might’ve been the longest discussion we’ve ever had. He leaves me alone with my thoughts, and I find the lightness of a couple of minutes ago—well, as light as a conversation about murder and whether or not you should lie to your girlfriend can be—has vanished.
By the time we step back into the apartment, Indy’s tense as hell and looking between Ash and me like he’s ready to jump into the action if we tell him we need him. But it’s the redhead at his side looking not one bit concerned or scared. Oh, no. That would be too much to ask, wouldn’t it? The girl I finally decide to give my heart to has no damn sense of self-preservation where people she cares about are concerned.
I don’t waste time explaining anything to Indy; that’s Asher’s job. No, I immediately cross the room to Montana and encase her up in my arms so that when I tell her what happened with my car, she doesn’t try to do something reckless like run out of the apartment to see for herself.
“What’s going on, Ro? Indy wouldn’t tell me shit,” she says, leveling a glare over my shoulder that can incinerate my friend in a second if he isn’t careful.
“It’s really not a big deal,” I tell her, trying to keep the fury out of my voice. No, I need to stay calm because my temper is like gasoline to hers. If I start ranting about how her stalker wrecked my car, she’ll pile on. Although, now that I think about it, that would probably result in me pinning her down and fucking the anger right out of her. Decisions, decisions…
“What’s not a big deal? Tell me right now what the fuck happened,” she demands, practically stomping her foot, and it’s cute as hell. So cute, in fact, that the corner of my mouth tilts up, and she narrows that menacing glare on me—specifically my mouth.
“The piece of shit stalking you all but destroyed my car,” I growl, deciding to let my outrage and the promise of violence bleed into my voice after all.
Montana sucks in a breath that’s almost a gasp, and there’s a pinkness crawling over her skin from her chest, up her neck, and working its way onto her cheeks. It’s not embarrassment. No, my spitfire is beyond livid on my behalf, as predicted. In her eyes is nothing but pure fire, and when she opens her mouth to say something no doubt in my defense, I cover her lips with the palm of my hand.
If I thought the fire in her eyes was hot before, now it’s sparked into a goddamn inferno. It’s not a good time, but when she gets all scorching like this, my body reacts. Case in point—my hard dick pressed against her stomach. It’s insane how much I want her at all times, even the ones that aren’t at all appropriate.
When she feels how much I want her, there’s a shift in her energy. Her pupils blow out, and she presses closer. My hand slips down from her mouth to her lower back, resting on the curve of her ass. I think we both know where this is headed, but then there’s a knock on the door, and we’re forced to step back.
There’s a promise in Montana’s eyes that we’re not even close to finished, and I’m betting that same promise is reflected back in mine. I clear my throat and adjust myself before turning toward the door. Indy and Asher are both closer, so I assume one of them will deal with it.
Sebastian strolls in the room behind Asher, looking like he’s never done a day of fieldwork in his whole life. His wavy dirty blonde hair is perfectly gelled, and he’s wearing a cardigan over his shirt and tie that’s buttoned nearly all the way up. He pushes his glasses up his nose with his middle finger when he looks at me, and I narrow my eyes. Sometimes I swear that fucker does that on purpose to piss me off.
“So, the video was inconclusive,” he says, wasting no time with pleasantries before sitting down on one of Montana’s couches. He brings the messenger bag slung over his shoulder onto his lap. “You were right—there was a reflection, but it’s degraded. I’ve got my program trying to clean it up, but at first pass, facial recognition didn’t make a match.”
Shit, there went that lead.
Sebastian pulls a bunch of equipment out of his bag and starts piling electronic devices up on the table. “You should know, before I came up I checked over both cars, and Montana’s had a tracker in the back passenger wheel well, but there was nothing on yours.” He sounds so indifferent and clinical; it’s unsettling and makes him come off like a sociopath. “Also, this is going to take me a little while. The thing I want most in the whole entire world is for you all to stand around here watching me work.”
I turn to Montana as she’s rolling her eyes at Sebastian’s sarcasm. “Isn’t there a saying about sarcasm being the lowest form of wit?” she mutters.
“True, but supposedly it’s also a sign of intelligence, and I don’t think anyone would deny the bastard is smart as hell,” I chuckle before getting serious again. “I know you don’t want to run, but even if Sebastian’s search turns up nothing, I think we should stay at my place for a while. Somehow, this guy knows your movements. He knows our movements. Whether he has a camera in here or uses a drone outside the window or some other equally fucked up but inventive way to spy on you to work his game, we haven’t figured it out yet. Until we do, I’d feel a hell of a lot better if we got you out of here.”
Montana bites her lip and looks around uncertainly, which is honestly kind of shocking since she’s always confident about everything she does. “Fuck it. We can stay at your place but only if you promise I’ll have all the ice cream, wine, and bubble baths I want. Oh, and you have to get a rainfall showerhead.”
“No wine,” I grumble, resting my hand on her stomach in case she needs a reminder.
Her eyes widen. “Shit, you’re right. Fine, no wine just in case, but baths, the showerhead, and ice cream are non-negotiable.”
“Deal. Why don’t you go pack a bag? I’ll update the guys.”
She leans up and kisses me far too quickly for my liking before sauntering out of the room, putting extra sway in her hips. I nearly groan. She sure as fuck knows what she’s doing, and I’m entranced. It’s only when she’s finally out of the room I tune back into what’s going on around me.
Sebastian has already started his work, and Indy and Asher are both steering clear of our prickly co-worker. “I don’t care what he finds; I’m done sitting here letting this psychopath call the shots,” I say as I step up beside them and lean against the wall to watch Sebastian work.
“What do you want to do?” Indy asks.
“We’re going to my place. However he’s spying here, if he follows there, it might give us an idea how he’s doing it if he replicates it in a new location. If he doesn’t, then we get a fucking break and maybe can start to hunt him instead of him always being a step ahead.”
“Smart,” Asher comments, his eyes tracking Sebastian’s movements around the living room. “When?”
“As soon as she’s done packing, so do whatever you need to do to get ready, and one of you should go ahead and sweep my place just in case. I want it to be ready for Montana when we get there.”
“I’ll go,” Asher says, moving toward the door. “I don’t have anything here. See you guys in an hour or so?”
“Yeah, that works,” I agree, and Indy nods.
We shoot the shit for a while, but neither one of us seems into it. Indy’s distracted and not at all his usual joking self. I’m sure all this shit has to be weighing on him and Ash like it is me. Maybe not as intensely, but it’s fucking exhausting being on twenty-four-seven. Even when you’re sleeping, you never really get good rest because you have to be aware enough to respond if there’s a problem. The dark circles under his eyes and overgrown scruff on his jaw confirm my suspicions.
“Why don’t you take tonight off? Go blow off some steam. Go home, get some rest. Ash and I can take tonight. Montana doesn’t have anything going on, so we’ll stay in.”
Indy’s eyes brighten marginally. “You sure?”
I nod. “Just stick around until we’re at my place, and then you can bail.”
He blows out a breath and sinks down onto the sofa while Sebastian moves out of the room. “Thanks. I’m just fucking exhausted. Normally, I’m good with these cases, but this one’s dragging, and I need to sleep in my own bed instead of on the couch.”
“Understandable.” Now I feel like a dick for sleeping in Montana’s bed the nights I didn’t have to cover the rotation. At least my sleep wasn’t being impacted like Indy’s and Asher’s.
Montana steps out of the hall, wheeling her suitcase behind her with her laptop bag slung over her shoulder. I jump up and go grab them from her, and Indy stands to go check the hall. Before I follow, I find Sebastian in Montana’s office scanning away.
“Anything yet?”
“Could you be any more impatient?” he sighs.
“Yes,” I snap, really fucking sick of his attitude. Or maybe it’s his personality.
“I haven’t found anything, just like every other time I’ve done this. I don’t expect I will, but I’ll keep looking. I built this equipment myself, and there are no cameras I’ve found that can escape detection when I use it. What will you do when I find nothing?”
Sure, Sebastian comes across as an uncaring dickhead, but he’s the only analyst we have for a reason. He really is the best at what he does.
“We’re moving her now, and in the meantime, if you could get back to the office when you’re done here and focus on the image, that would be helpful.” I keep my voice level, not betraying the irritation he always brings out in me.
“That would be a wise course of action, especially considering if your guy is how I believe him to be, his intelligence might rival my own. If that’s the case, well… Settle in for a long struggle before we catch up to him.”
Sebastian doesn’t say anything else, instead going back to what he was doing, but I’m unsettled.
“Well, that’s something,” Sebastian murmurs from the corner of Montana’s office, and I turn to see he’s looking up at one of the cameras he installed in here.
“What is it?”
“This has been disabled. I wonder why he’d do that.” I can feel his fascination with Montana’s stalker rising the more time he spends working on this case, but I don’t think it’s in a purely I want to catch the bad guy sort of way. It feels more like he wants to study the dude like a lab rat and see what makes him tick.
What he just found, though… it means her stalker has been in here again and recently. My decision to pull Montana out of here and take her home with me feels even more justified now. My only hope is her stalker doesn’t find out where she is, and if he does—unless I figure out how the hell he’s getting his information—I don’t know that there will be anywhere I can hide her away that he won’t track her down.
