Run From Me (Barbed Wire Hearts #2)

11. Xander

ELEVEN

xander

The drive back had been quiet. Not some kind of weird quiet that I wanted to fill with something either.

It was the kind of quiet that maybe I had with my brothers when we were just sitting around trying to be us. Fuck? When was the last time we’d done that, and was this some kind of projection? I was so desperate for their time that I wanted to think she was the answer?

I side glanced her way, the way I had over a hundred times in the short time it took to get back to the side of town where I should be dropping Calliope off and running.

Instead, I found myself chuckling as I watched her.

Calliope held her phone like it was going to bite.

“What are you waiting for? Hot date?”

I could imagine her rolling her eyes, but I couldn’t actually see her in the dark.

“Just waiting for a call that I need to go back and confirm the body you just murdered is really dead. I’ve never had to actually autopsy a body I knew the cause of death for before cracking him open. Fuck, I need another drink.”

We pulled into the morgue parking lot where I could have told her to get her ass out. Instead I turned, wanting to somehow keep her with me a few more minutes.

“Did you enjoy it?” I asked her.

The lights of the parking lot were sad at best, but I could still see something in her eyes that I’d never known in any other woman. Maybe it wasn’t the same demon inside me, but something seemed to hide behind her put-together facade. Fuck. The darkness in this woman was untapped and uncontrolled, if only she would let me see it. I’d gotten a glimpse tonight.

“Is there something wrong with me if I say I did?”

I could normally hide every emotion, but she brought something alive that I didn’t even want to hide. She entertained me.

“Maybe? Then again, the world needs all kinds of people. One more adorable little psychopath? Sign me up.”

I doubt she knew just how serious I was, but the way she smiled? It didn’t matter. I wanted to make her smile like that all the time.

Too bad right now I had other things that needed to be addressed. Like what killed the mayor. Who knows if it would lead to any clues, but we had far too many pieces that weren’t coming together. The lawyer. Now the mayor. I was certain there were plenty of other issues, but nothing was making all that much sense. The cop hated us all the same, but I couldn’t be certain his hatred wasn’t solid jealously about Rylee. Still, none of it sat right.

“Are we going in?”

She looked at the building.

“We?”

I nodded.

“Yeah. It looks like I’ll need to keep you safe in my spare time. That, or are you ready to tell me why you’re branded?”

I reached out and ran my thumb over her bottom lip, stopping her from chewing on it.

“I’m not stupid. Brands are for the unofficial and generally the not willing. Much easier to brand someone trying to run than tattoo them. We don’t have a need for them. If you aren’t with us willingly, you aren’t going to be forced to.”

Her eyes grew wide, but it wasn’t clear to me if it was surprising that we didn’t need to force anyone to be with us or if she understood we disposed of those that were liabilities.

“I can’t.”

I pushed the door open, giving myself a few seconds. My jaw ached and I stopped clenching my teeth. I didn’t like being disobeyed, but she wasn’t really mine to command. Even if it did feel like she was.

I’d kill anyone that touched her, and maybe that was mine enough.

I opened her door.

“If you won’t go home, then let’s go crack open the mayor. I need to know if there are any connections to what’s been happening around here.”

She nodded, but I stepped aside, letting her do what she had to do.

She got out and seemed to hesitate a few moments.

I slammed the door and she flinched.

“I don’t know what has you so nervous,” I said and took a few steps closer. She backed against the car as I gave her little choice.

“If it’s that you want to go to the cops to turn me in for murder, just remember you are just as guilty. But I have no other reason to hurt you. I can’t protect you though, not when I don’t know what you did to make the Vipers brand you. Choice or not.”

I don’t know why, but I let my fingers slip under the scrub top where I knew the brand was. Maybe I liked to see that, regardless of her actions or her words, I affected her like she affected me, even if it was all a horrible idea.

When wasn’t it a bad idea to get attached? Cas fucked up our whole dynamic, but still. Rylee was a known complication. One we knew would never cross us. Calliope?

One step closer, and I was able to bend down, placing my lips next to the shell of her ear.

“If you cross me, I will make the Vipers look like your best friends,” I said and stepped away.

I couldn’t afford to be sucker punched for this woman. I needed to toss her and all the feels that had crept in over the last few hours into the dark chasm where I hide everything that tried to sneak it’s way past the demons that made me everything the Spectors needed.

A moment ago I might have hated the way she glared at me. I might have hated the darkness that was directed toward me. But right now?

“Good girl. Hate me. Now go cut open that bastard so you can be rid of me.”

I thought I’d won. But that was the trouble with this woman. She wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met.

“Oh, yes, my liege. Of course. Your wish is my command.”

She started to walk past me and stopped, but not before I choked on my own spit as she grabbed my crotch.

“I’ll go cut him open, but not because you asked nicely. Because I want you to see exactly how I can remove a man’s a cock with my sharp little knives. Ready for the show, baby?”

She released me and I let out a wheeze. Fucking hell, that girl had a grip.

And did I want to follow her and see exactly how she could try and hurt me? Yes I fucking did.

“Do not talk while I am doing this. I have to record everything.”

I nodded, grabbed a chair, and kicked up my feet on a table not being used.

“Yes, boss lady.”

If looks could kill, I know I’d be dead by now, but really, this was becoming more and more entertaining.

Moreover, I was ready for a Viper to show up. The blood had been cleaned up, leaving no trace of the earlier disagreement. That didn’t mean shit really. I made sure I could see the door just as much as I could see Cali.

Watching her move the body into place was like foreplay. I didn’t actually like the idea of cutting into a body long since dead. The skin just didn’t give the way fresh meat did, but seeing her working? Seeing her curiosity?

It shouldn’t surprise me she was affiliated with a crew, but I still couldn’t figure out why. The Vipers were low-level criminals. Some cheap drugs, small black-market shit. What would they want with Cali? Or, rather, how could they keep someone like Cali?

I watched as her scalpel ran across the mayor and specifically his abdomen. She was so focused, I doubt she noticed me much.

So I sat and watched her work for the next two hours. Luckily, I had the patience of a saint. I sat there watching her and watching that door. I almost hoped someone would march through it. It was curious that she wouldn’t talk about it. We didn’t own Cali, and she was still helping us out. Was this really what they wanted from her?

The idea she might sleep with any of them had me watching the door even more intently. Maybe I would make this a nightly routine. Make sure no one touched her even if I was going to make every effort to not touch her again either.

I wasn’t going to touch her ass ever again. I wasn’t going to wrap my hands around those hips as I let her sink onto my cock. The scrubs left nothing to the imagination. Who knew something so functional could look this hot.

The woman had power over me, and that wasn’t good.

Nope. No. No. No daydreaming. I didn’t get dreams. I need a damn toothpick again, but I was stuck in these damn too-tight scrubs from the hospital, and shit, all my stuff was somewhere in her bag. Had she left it in the car? I was off my game with this one. This one? No, Cali. She was a very specific one.

I cracked my neck and stretched my arms over my head as she finally stopped the recording and turned to me.

“I don’t have the toxicology reports yet. But it wasn’t a heart attack. It really wasn’t anything natural since there are no preexisting conditions that would have caused his organs to seemingly fail.”

She held up something in her hand.

“No one is calling it a homicide yet,” she said. “But I found this in the contents of his stomach, and although it would be the cause of his internal bleeding, it wouldn’t have killed him for a while. It, for sure, isn’t what killed him. The internal injury is pretty new and might just have been a reason he wasn’t out in public the last few days. There are a few poisons that would cause organ failure and are hard to trace.”

I looked down at the shards in her hand.

“Is that glass?”

She nodded.

“I have to go bag this up. Anyway, I don’t have everything you need yet. I’ll try and follow up as soon as I see the toxicology reports. I’ll text you.”

If I wasn’t paying attention before, I was now.

“What do you mean you’ll text me? I’ll be back here tomorrow. When do you work?”

The doors screeched as someone pushed through them, and I didn’t turn around fast enough. Still, I’d been ready and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying, but not before he got one dig on me.

“Fuck,” I let out as the sharp throb of a knife embedded in my leg registered. “Fuck that hurt,” I said again.

The room was bright, and it took me seconds to locate exactly who had come after me and exactly where he was now.

Controlled anger wrapped its tendrils around me like a pet.

“Ripple, my man. Back for more?”

I’d gotten him hard enough that, although the knife was now a literal thorn in my side, or leg, he was sprawled on the floor again.

Maybe I still wore the scrubs, but I wasn't dumb enough to go without my guns. I never left anything to chance, even though it had been hard to hide them under a doctor's coat. I’d ditched the coat before we’d gotten out of that hospital, making it all that much easier to grab the gun now.

“I’m in the mood to play, Viper,” I said and moved seconds quicker than he could. My gun was already kissing his head by the time he realized I was not only not that bothered by the knife, but I was royally pissed off.

“You just stabbed a Spector. And not just any Spector, my good man.”

I pressed the barrel hard into his temple. He whimpered.

“You fucked with the wrong one, that’s for sure, Ripple.”

I didn’t look away, like this was a starring contest and Ripple would fucking lose.

“Fuck you. Stay away from her,” he finally said as he blinked.

I tsked. “You lose.”

The quiet in the room made the sound of the safety being clicked off all the louder. “Is this really all about Sparky?”

I wasn’t even sure where she was at the moment, but I heard her gasp and knew she was alive and well for the moment.

I wasn’t sure what my face actually looked like because I swear I smiled. But his eyes grew wide and I sniffed the air.

“Sweetheart, did you just pee yourself? Shame.” I shifted my weight over him. “Let’s make one thing clear, you gutless little roach. When a woman says no, she means no.”

I grabbed a fistful of his hair, making sure he couldn’t look away. “I’ll thank you though for your little impulsive stunt. Now I have every right to send a message back to the Vipers thanks to your little attack.”

The strong scent of urine mixed with the ripe scent of dead body, and it just made the scent of his impending death all the sweeter in a twisted way.

“Just let me fucking go,” said Ripple.

I didn’t move the gun. I had no intention of moving the gun, but I also had no intention of making Calliope clean up the place again.

“Ripple, do you know how the Spectors got their name?”

His eyes flicked back and forth between me and someone behind me. I assumed Cali.

“I’ll just help you out since you seem to be at a loss for words. I don’t want to overheat that little brain of yours. It’s so much more fun when the brain splatters as the bullet enters right here,” I said and moved the barrel of the gun to his forehead and ran it along his hairline, hitting the floor before I smiled down at him.

“Ripple, let’s take this outside.”

My leg was getting a little more annoying with every movement. I was going to need to remove the damn knife.

“You can’t go outside, Xander. You shouldn’t be walking. Let me call an ambulance,” Cali said, putting her hand on my chest as I stood up.

I stretched my shoulders and stood up straighter and glanced around.

“Just get me some alcohol and duct tape.” I noticed rubbing alcohol before, but tape? Who knew.

She moved around the room with confidence, and when she came back with gauze and actual medical tape, well, it was my turn to roll my eyes.

“How about super glue? That shit won’t do anything,” I said while pointing to the bandages.

She glared at me.

“Super glue? What, my sterile bandages are too good for your knife wound?”

I watched the muscle tick along her jaw.

“Nothing against the bandages, but it won’t stop the bleeding fast enough, and right now,” I glanced back at Ripple, “I need to deal with something. Something that thinks he has any claim on you.”

I was standing now and the second Ripple tried to get up, my boot was on his neck.

“Stay, boy.”

He made a little gagging sound and stilled.

“Here,” said Calliope as she came up next to me. “Your stupid super glue. I should just call for medical help.”

I reached for the knife.

“It’s fine. When I pull it out, it’s gonna bleed. Pour that shit on it, and then super glue it shut. It will hold until I can get to my own doctor. He missed all the important bits anyway.”

I was too busy watching Ripple as I reached down and grabbed the hilt of the blade. I focused on my anger at him thinking that he could even breathe the same air as Calliope.

I took a deep breath and yanked out the knife.

I didn’t scream. But I sure as fuck saw some white spots over my vision for a few seconds. The sting of the rubbing alcohol kept me in the here and now.

Ripple’s fists pounded on my good leg, and I realized that, in all the pain, I’d put a little too much pressure on his neck. He wasn’t going to go anywhere in this state, so I just removed my leg and held the gun in his direction.

“This has to be the most pathetic knife I’ve seen to date. What? The Vipers can’t afford good shit these days?”

“Stop moving, Crash. I’m trying to get the two pieces to stay glued together. Weird, the blood seems to be causing some issues.”

I blinked, and then I winced.

“Woman, what are you doing?”

Calliope had pressed that stupid gauze against my leg.

“It needs to stop bleeding, and then I can glue it shut. So, you giant moron, I’m putting pressure on it.”

I could argue, but instead I was rather focused on the Viper. He wasn’t talking. Wheezing, coughing, eyes tearing, sure. But no talking.

“You are an idiot. This looks bad, Xander. You could get an infection,” Calliope said as I felt the burn of the glue. Fuck, this was going to sting for a bit. It’d been a while since I’d had a good stab wound, and you wouldn’t think one could forget that pain, but I had.

“Fucking hell. It’s like a god damn paper cut on steroids. Glue it up so I can take the trash out.”

She swore under her breath, but after a minute she stood up.

“You’re an idiot,” she said for at least the second time as I cut off her hatred when I grabbed her scrub top and kissed her.