Текст книги "Monster"

Автор книги: Jessica Gadziala

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

There was soreness. A whole lot of it. Between my legs. My inner thighs. But it was a good kind of soreness.

“No,” I said, opening my eyes to his.

To this, he nodded, lowering my feet down onto the ground. “Fuckin' perfect,” he mumbled, one of his hands moving up my belly to cup my breast briefly before settling on my jaw. The sore side. Stroking butterfly soft over the bruise. “Go get some clothes on,” he said, moving away from me.

“Why?” I asked, leaning back against the wall, not fully trusting my legs to hold me yet.

“We're gonna go to your place and get some of your shit,” he said, walking into the bathroom.

At that, my legs seemed to remember their job as they carried me over to my tee. I threw it on before making my way over to the bathroom door.

“What?” I asked through the closed door.

It whipped open and there was Breaker. Still naked. Still blissfully comfortable that way.

“You need some clothes. We'll grab your laptop. Anything else you need. You're gonna be here a while. Might as well have your shit with you.”

With that, he brushed past me and went to get clothes on.

A part of me was hesitant to go anywhere. To leave the relative safety of his home. But he was right. I needed clothes. My laptop would be good too. And my notebooks. The picture of my mom I kept in a box under my bed. I didn't have much. Hell, we would probably carry in our hands everything I owned.

So I went into the bathroom, found my dust-covered yoga pants and slipped them on commando, deciding to keep his tee on rather than put my old dirty one back on. Then I slipped into the boots Breaker bought me and went out to meet him. He was changed into dark wash jeans and a dark gray long sleeve thermal that looked way too good over his broad chest.

“Let's go,” he said, moving to the door and leaving me to follow.

Fourteen

Breaker

I was half-surprised when her place hadn't been ransacked. And when the surprise wore off, worried. It should have been torn apart. Whatever the fuck Lex had planned for Alex, it should have involved going through her shit, figuring her out. The fact that he hadn't done that was yet another thing in a long list of things that just didn't make sense.

Alex didn't seem phased by it as she went right to her closet and dragged out a large black duffel bag and started stuffing clothes into it.

I looked around her place again, this time able to take my time, see it with clearer eyes.

She really didn't have shit. No pictures. No knickknacks. No art or books. Nothing that would let you know who she was underneath it all. I wondered fleetingly if she even knew who that person was.

“How bad is the Chinese below?” I asked, thumbing through one of her coded notebooks.

“Bad. But I've had worse,” she said, grabbing a handful of bras out of her dresser.

“You ain't gonna need those,” I said, nodding to her hand. “I'm gonna go grab some food. Not that your burnt toast wasn't delicious, doll, but I need real food.”

“Ha ha,” she said, taking the bras and stuffing them into her bag regardless of my having no intentions of letting her wear them. “What? You're not even going to ask me what I want?” she asked, sounding genuinely annoyed at the idea as I stood in the doorway.

“Figured I'd get a bunch of shit to share.”

“What if I didn't like what you ordered?” she asked, putting her hands to her hips.

“Are we seriously arguing about fuckin' Chinese food?”

“It's more your presumptuousness that's the issue.”

She could argue about anything. Heatedly. I knew if I didn't give in that we were gonna go a couple rounds. For no good fuckin' reason. That was just how she was. And if it wasn't so fuckin' hot, I would probably find it annoying. “Fine, doll. What do you want to eat?”

At this, she dropped her hands from her hips and shrugged. “I'll eat anything.”

It was so ridiculous and unexpected, I found myself throwing my head back and laughing. “You fuckin' serious?” I asked through it. “You bitch at me about not asking you what you want when you don't give a fuck what I order?”

“Like I said... it was the principle of the thing.”

Jesus Christ.

She was a fuckin' nut.

But I walked down the fire escape smiling.

I was watching the people behind the counter load up the brown bag with soy sauce and mustard packets when my cell rang. The sound immediately filled me with dread. I had no other jobs going on. And while it wasn't uncommon to get a call about a new one, they usually began with a tentative text with a passcode first so they knew it was really me before they got me on the phone.

I reached for it and hit the call button.

“Yo.”

“Breaker,” Lex's slimy voice met my ear and confirmed the churning feeling in my gut.

“Lex,” I said back, sounding bored though the blood was whooshing in my ears.

“How is my girl holding up?”

Fuck. This was shaky ground. There was a chance I was being watched so I couldn't lie. But it also didn't look good that I was parading around with her not cuffed or looking the least bit disheveled. Hell, when we left my place, she looked freshly fucked and contented.

“Pain in my ass. Demanding I take her back to her place to get her a change of clothes.”

“Gotta love a girl with spirit,” he remarked making my lip snarl up. He liked girls with spirit because he enjoyed breaking them. Sick fuck.

“Why you calling Lex?” I asked, handing cash to the girl with the food.

“Keeping an eye on my investment.”

“Investment?” I repeated, taking the bag of food and walking to the door, stepping onto the sidewalk.

“Yes. I have plans for her.”

“Enough with the fuckin' code, man. What do you want?”

“I need you to bring Miss. Miller to my office tomorrow.”

Shit.

“Which office?” I asked, knowing this made a big difference to Alex's fate.

“Oscar Street,” he answered immediately.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

“What time?”

“Eleven.”

“Be there,” I said, hanging up before I could say what I was really thinking.

Namely, that I should take Alex and get the fuck out of dodge.

Lex had a number of offices in a number of locations. There were the ones he called you to to discuss new business deals. Offices with a desk and bookshelves and a sidebar full of nice liquor. Then there were the 'offices' that were cheaply decorated in the front room because the meeting was really taking place in the back and it usually meant a lot of your blood would be washed down the drains in the floor.

Oscar Street was one of the office fronts.

And if he was being smart (which he usually was), there were eyes on me. There would be no running off.

I made my way back up the fire escape with a pit in my stomach, opening the door and freezing.

Alex was standing in front of her desk, piling the notebooks into a cardboard box. She had changed into a pair of light wash skinny jeans and a purple long sleeved t-shirt. And a bra, I noticed with a smirk. But that wasn't what had me pausing.

It was that she was singing.

A slow, somber song that was about smiling when your heart was breaking. I had a vague memory of it playing on some oldies station when I was growing up. But whoever I had heard singing it didn't do it justice. Something about it coming from Alex's lips, her voice a smooth, crooning sound, had the words landing heavy in my chest. She had a great voice. But it wasn't that. It was seeing the Alex behind the walls and fences for a moment– soft and sweet and unprotected– that had my breath getting caught.

“Oh,” she said, turning her head to find my standing there. A blush crept up on her cheeks and she doubled her efforts to get her packing done, pretending it took all of her concentration. “I'm almost ready.”

“Alex...”

“Just need to grab something from under my bed and we can...”

“Alex.”

“What?” she asked, picking up on the edge in my voice.

“Lex called.”

At this, she froze. And her eyes lost the light they had and went dull. Closed off. Walls firmly back into place.

If possible, I hated the fuck all the more.

“What did he want?”

“A meeting at his office.”

“Which one?” she asked, an edge in her voice suggesting she already knew all about his different offices.

“Oscar Street.”

She didn't go pale. Her mouth didn't fall open. She didn't start to freak out. Nope. The Alex from the train car was back. The Alex who was resigned to her fate.

“What time?”

“Eleven.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding once. “Well that gives me some time.”

“Time for what?” I asked, hoping she would come up with something she wanted to do. Something I could do for her. Something to put a smile on her face.

“To transfer all these files in these notebooks and get them online. Someone will come across them eventually. I don't want to die without sharing the dirt I have on him.”

Fuck.

So much for that hope.

And with there being a strong likelihood of the both of us dying in just under twenty-four hours, I couldn't really deny her the one thing she wanted to do with her time left.

“Let's get moving then,” I allowed, going to take the duffel bag from her.

“Don't worry. The Chinese somehow tastes better when it's reheated,” she said, grabbing something under her bed and shoving it into the box of notebooks. She laid her laptop across the top and we made our way back to my truck.

When we got back to my place, I reheated the food. And it was bad. But she was right, I'd had worse. Alex took her laptop into the living room, picking at her plate of food and she manically typed into her keypad, adding pages and pages of information onto the forum on the dark net.

I ate despite a loss of appetite as I sat watching her work. Under other circumstances, I would find her single-minded focus and determination sexy as hell. But right then, watching her type up what was, in her own twisted fuckin' way, her own suicide note... yeah... that shit wasn't hot at all.

And that was what she did all day. Not taking a break to reheat her food when dinnertime rolled around, just eating it cold as she kept flipping through the pages of her notebook.

“Alex,” I said later, the world dark outside the windows.

“Almost done,” she said, not looking over. “A lot of this stuff was filler. Just another page or two.”

So I sat and waited.

Twenty minutes (and ten pages) later, she sighed, flexing her fingers then rubbing her eyes before turning to me.

“Okay. All done,” she said, giving me a bleary-eyed smile.

“Feel better?” I asked.

“Yeah. I don't know why I was sitting on that information for so long. It should have been out there floating around for other people to find.”

“Come over here,” I said, surprised at the softness in my tone.

Her brows drew together but she scooted across the cushions, planting her ass beside me, pulling her knees up toward her chest. I threw an arm around her, hauling her closer, tight to my side, her knees pressed up into my stomach.

“I ain't gonna feed you no platitudes. You're too smart to believe them anyway. You know as much as I do how bad this is. We both know there's a good chance that neither of us will get out of this alive tomorrow. And that fuckin' sucks because I just met you. And what I've seen so far? I like it. And I wanted to get to see more. But that ain't in the cards and there's no use whining over it. But I will say this, Alex Miller,” I said, ducking my chin so I could look at her, making her see I was serious, “It's a fuckin' shame. 'Cause I woulda liked to break down those walls. Seeing you singing today? I liked what I saw when I peeked behind them. I wanted to drag you out and show you what life is like outside that fortress you live in.”

“Breaker...”

“Shh, doll. Fact of the matter is, we don't have time for you to let me in like that. But what we do have time for? Me being inside you in a different way. So, from about two minutes from now until ten in the morning, I plan on fucking you in every position, in every hole, until you can't fuckin' take it anymore. Sound like a plan?”

“Hmm,” she mused, pursing her lips like she was mulling it over. “I could think of worse ways to spend my time.”

At this, I felt myself chuckling, giving her a smile. “You gonna stop bustin' my balls so I can fuck you into tomorrow or what?”

“I think I can manage that.”

“Good. Now stand up,” I said, letting my arm drop from around her. Her eyebrow rose, but she got onto her feet.

“Okay. I'm up,” she said, crossing her hands over her chest.

“Strip.”

Her mouth parted, her eyes going a little wide. “What?”

“Strip.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. I could put on some music,” I teased, reaching for the remote.

To this, she rolled her eyes and made short work of whipping her shirt off and going toward the button on her jeans, giving me a view of the black lace bra she had on. Maybe if we lived, I would rethink my stance on those particular garments.

“Not even gonna try to tease me?”

“You want a striptease, go to a strip club,” she shot back, pushing her pants down her legs.

Call me crazy, but I'd take a surly fuckin' Alex Miller none-too ceremoniously taking off her clothes while shooting daggers at me over some chick doing it slow and sensual grinding around to music any god damn day.

I fought a smile as she reached behind her back to unclasp her bra. “You better make this good,” she warned, letting the bra fall off her arms and hooking her fingers into the waistband of her panties.

“Have I let you down yet?” I shot back, sitting up, elbows to knees, making me almost level with the juncture of her thighs.

I glanced up to see her cheeks heating as she realized what was about to happen just a second before I grabbed her calf, picking it up and arching her leg wide, placing her foot down on the cushion beside me. One of my hands went to her lower back, pressing her forward as I ducked my head and licked her already dripping pussy.

She made a gasping whimper sound, her hand moving to the top of my head, holding me against her as her hips rocked against my mouth.

I wasn't lyin' when I told her she had a sweet fuckin' pussy. She did. I ran my tongue up to her clit, feeling her body shiver as her honeyed taste coated my tongue. I could eat her all night, hearing her breath getting more and more uneven, her moans getting more and more husky. Fuck if it didn't send a white-hot rush of desire to my cock.

“Breaker...” she gasped, her fingers digging into my head and I knew she was close. The first time she was always easy. Like all the years of pent-up sexual frustration kept her constantly half-way to orgasm.

I sucked in my breath, making a wash of cool air hit her clit, then released it, replacing it with the warm. Her body jolted and I sucked hard, her thighs clenching as she groaned through her orgasm.

She was still riding the waves when I got up, grabbing her and pushing her onto the couch on her knees, her hands clutching the back cushions and her knees teetering on the edge of the bottom ones. I spread her thighs and plunged my fingers inside her still spasming pussy.

“Fuck,” she ground out, her fingers curling into the couch as I thrust fast and hard, widening her, getting her ready. With my free hand, I found my wallet, pulling out a condom and tossing the leather carelessly to the ground. She was panting, thrusting backward against my fingers when I pulled them out to slip the condom on. “No,” she objected, reaching behind her to try to grab my hand back.

“Put your fingers in your pussy for me,” I said, working the condom on as I watched her hand slip between her legs and thrust two fingers inside her. Her head fell to her chest on a groan and I felt a slice of desire so strong my legs felt weak. “Fuckin' hot, baby,” I said, my hands going to her ass. “You want my cock?”

Her fingers slid out quickly. “Yes,” she demanded, arching her ass up toward me and I thrust in with a smile.

I fucked her how I liked it, how she was learning she liked it– hard, fast, rough enough to leave some marks to remember it by in the morning. She came hard around me twice before I slid out, pushing my cock back and up a bit.

“I want to fuck your ass,” I told her, my voice a gravel sound. At her hesitation, I leaned forward, resting my chest up her back and wrapping my arms around to tease her tits. “Anyone ever been in there before?”

I already knew the answer, but she told me anyway in a small whisper. “No.”

“You scared of me doin' it?”

“Yes,” she said honestly.

“Think it's gonna hurt?” To this, I got a small nod as I rolled her nipples between my fingers, her head turning so her face was to my neck. “Might a little at first, but I'll make it good. You gonna let me try?”

Her lips pressed into my neck and I closed my eyes for a second, enjoying the feel of her small show of affection. “Okay.”

“You don't like it, you tell me, we stop. Got it?”

“Got it,” she agreed, moving away from me.

My hands slid down her sides, and she squirmed when they skirted her ribs, making me smile. She was ticklish. I fought the urge to play to that weakness as my hand slid down to my cock, guiding it up toward her ass and pressing against it until she stopped flinching away and pushed back. I slid in slowly, gritting my teeth against the urge to thrust hard and fast until I came, making myself take it slow and soft for her.

She flinched, I held still until she adjusted. Then pushed further in. Until I was to the hilt and stayed buried, letting her get over the discomfort and surprise budding of desire.

It wasn't long until her hips started turning in small circles, trying to ease the desire I knew was growing, foreign but strong.

“Feel good, doll?” I asked, my hands rubbing her ass.

“Ye... yeah,” she said, doing another hip roll.

I smiled, reaching around her, pulling her up until her back was to my chest then slowly thrusting up into her. Her head went onto my shoulder, her eyes closed tight, her mouth opened enough for groans to slip out. My hand slid down her belly, moving to her clit and working it in slow circles as my thrusts became more insistent. One of her arms went up behind her and wrapped around my neck, the other reached down and grabbed my wrist as I worked her clit.

“You gonna come?” I asked, knowing she was close.

“Yeah.”

“Let me hear it,” I told her, pressing harder into her clit. “I'm gonna feel it, but I want to hear it.”

She nodded, her nails digging into my skin as she started moving her hips downward as I thrust up, trying to get there faster.

“Breaker...”

“Let me hear it,” I said again, feeling my own orgasm begging for release.

“Oh my... fuck!” she cried, her body convulsing hard through her orgasm. I kept working at her clit as I thrust faster, burying deep and coming hard enough for my legs to give up, my knees hitting the edge of the couch as I held her to my chest.

“Holy shit,” she said a minute later, her chest jumping as she laughed.

“Funny?” I asked, slowly moving away from her and slapping her ass.

She moved to lie down on the couch on her side. “I've been missing out,” she admitted, giving me a big smile.

I felt myself smiling back. “Just think of all the ways I coulda fucked you if I met you earlier.”

“Is it cheesy to say it was worth the wait?” she asked, watching as I walked toward the bathroom.

“Yeah,” I said, washing my hands before I turned to go back out. “But it's still nice to hear. You alright?” I asked, kneeling down next to the couch and pushing the hair out of her face. The bruise on her jaw was still angry looking, yellow and green mixing in with the purple and blue as it started to heal.

“I don't think alright is the right word,” she said, giving me a sleepy smile.

“No?”

“No. I think maybe amazing or phenomenal or holy fucking hell might work better.”

I gave her a small smile, reaching out and slipping my arms under her knees and back, pulling her to my chest, and walking us toward the bedroom.

“Nuh uh mister,” she said, nuzzling her head into my neck.

“No what?”

“Don't even think about fucking me again,” she clarified as I pushed back the covers on the bed.

“No?” I asked, chuckling.

“No,” she said firmly.

“Why not?”

“Because I need a nap first,” she said as I lowered her onto the bed.

I slipped in beside her, hauling her to my side. “I think I can give you that,” I said, feeling sleep pulling at my eyes too.

“You can fuck me in an hour or two,” she conceded a few minutes later, her voice drowsy from sleep.

“Sounds like a plan.”

And that was exactly what happened. I woke up to her kissing her way down my chest. And, well, I let her do that. But before she could make me come with that sweet little mouth of hers, I threw her onto her back and fucked her hard, legs on my shoulders. Then feet on my chest. Then legs on the mattress pressed together but cocked at a ninety-degree angle.

Then we got up and ate. She checked her laptop. I tossed in a movie. We watched it. Then we drifted off to sleep again.

I woke up early, too anxious to get more than a few hours of sleep put together. I went down into the basement and pushed myself through a punishing workout, trying to get my mind to clear so I could focus on how to get us out of such a shit situation. But one hour and a cold shower later, I was no closer to figuring out what to do.

Alex came walking out of the bedroom half an hour later, wearing one of my tees even though she had her own clothes again. Realizing that meant something had a weird swirling feeling moving across my stomach. I pushed it away when she walked up to me and pressed her forehead to my chest, her body disconnected from me. I felt myself chuckle, rubbing a hand up her back.

“Want some coffee?”

“Sure,” she said, moving away. “Lovely day,” she drawled, moving toward the window and watching the rain pour down in sheets as it had been doing since before I woke up.

I walked up behind her, wrapping my arm around her waist as I handed her the coffee with my other hand. My head dipped and I planted a kiss where her shoulder met her neck.

“You ain't shutting down on me already are you?”

I felt her back lean into my chest as she sipped her coffee. “Not yet.”

“Good then I can fuck you one more time before we go.”

“You can't be serious,” she said, shaking her head.

“Why not?”

“Because my legs feel like I ran the New York City marathon last night,” she bitched, but I could hear the smile in her voice.

My hand slid down her belly, moving up her thigh, and finding that while she put on my tee, she hadn't bothered with panties as I slid my hand against her pussy.

“Funny,” I said, nipping into her earlobe. “Your mouth is saying one thing, but your pussy is telling a whole different story.”

“You can't possibly want to...” her voice trailed off as I shifted my hips so my cock was pressing up against her ass, making it clear I very much did want to. “Oh,” she breathed out.

I smiled against her hair as I reached in front of me and pushed my pants down, grabbing the condom I had slipped into my pocket while I was getting dressed for just this reason. If we lived, her ass was going on the damn pill as soon as possible. I stopped stroking her pussy to slip on the condom then tuned her to face me, pressing her back up against the refrigerator.

Her leg lifted, wrapping around my hips and I slid inside her. Her eyes widened, watching me, as I started rocking my hips into her soft and sweet– something I had never really done before, but enjoying watching the surprise and pleasure spread across her features. Making her lips part, her lids get heavy. Her hands slid up my arms and went around the back of my neck, pulling me to her and pressing her lips against mine. Gentle. Silky. My hand went to the side of her face, cradling it as I continued by lazily stoking of our desire.

I had a blinding realization while I slipped inside her, swallowing her whimpers against my mouth. She had laid on my couch the night before after I fucked her and told me she had been missing out. Well, in a way, I had too.

Because soft and sweet had its own kind of merit.

Maybe it was just because it was Alex, but making love to her felt different. It felt like more. Like there was something passing between us other than bodies satisfying bodies.

Alex's lips pulled from mine and her eyes fluttered open, staying on mine as her whimpers became moans and I knew she was getting close.

“Come for me, Alex,” I said quietly, feeling her tighten around me. “That's it, come baby.”

And then she did, her eyes getting wide, her mouth falling open, but no sound came out for a long time as her body rode through the pulsations. Then, finally, “Breaker,” she whispered, her head falling to my chest.

I came a few seconds later, squeezing her to my chest and holding her there for a while after.

Then she sighed, shaking her head. “What's the matter?”

“It's twenty of ten,” she told me, untangling from my body and sliding away from me.

From the thickness of the air around her, I knew my Alex was gone. Alex, the mask, was in place instead– her eyes distant, her shoulders pulled back as she made the way to the bathroom and closed the door quietly.

Fuck.

She didn't even take five minutes to consider that something had just passed between us. Something different. At least for me it was different.

Fucking son of a bitch cocksucker Lex Keith.

I cleaned up, going into the pantry and slipping some weapons into my pants and boots, keeping out an extra pocketknife and a can of mace for Alex to tuck into her boots when she came out.

She did a few minutes later, dressed in black skinny jeans and a black long sleeve tee, looking very much like she was going to a funeral. Which was probably exactly what she was thinking when she slipped into it. She sat down on the couch, swishing her finger across the sensor on her laptop to make it come alive as she slipped into her boots.

“Nothing?”

“Lot of views all of a sudden,” she said, her voice cool. “No bites though.”

“Here,” I said, leaning over the couch and handing her the knife and mace. “Tuck those into your boots too. Just in case.”

She took them, but made no comment, lacing up her shoes loosely, slamming her laptop, and standing. “Let's get this over with,” she said, making her way to the door, avoiding eye contact.

I had no other cards to play so I grabbed my keys and wallet and followed behind. I couldn't begrudge her her sour mood. The closer we drove toward town, the more I felt my own darkening.

I sighed as I swung my truck into a parking space out front of Lex's office. It was in a sketchier side of town than you would usually catch Lex in himself, choosing to send one of his lackeys instead. But he was in there. For whatever sick plan he had rolling around his twisted brain. Beside me, Alex might as well have been stone. Her breathing was slow, even. Her hands relaxed on her thighs. Her face impassive. Her eyes far away, staring out the window at the rain collecting on the windshield.

“Doll...”

She shook her head stiffly. “Let's get this over with.”

I sighed, watching her open her door and step out into the downpour. With little choice, I followed suit.

The door flew open before I could even reach for it, Limp Dick Rick standing there looking bored. But I could see blood staining the pocket of his jeans. I wondered if Alex noticed, but if she did, she wasn't letting on.

“Lex here?” I asked as we stepped into the office area, cheap fake wood desk, old law books on the shelves. I wondered if he did that ironically or just because they all matched. The floor was dusty in the corners and there were just old yellowed blinds on the windows, pulled closed.

He inclined his head to me and knocked on a door to the side of the bookshelf behind the desk.

A few seconds later, it opened and out walked Lex in one of his gray suits, the stain of blood almost invisible on his black dress shoes. But I saw it. And I felt myself tense. Beside me, still no reaction from Alex.

Lex's head tilted to the side, watching Alex. “I see you managed the task.”

“What task?” I asked, trying to make my words come out casual though I felt like I was talking through clenched teeth.

“You broke her.”

My head turned to the side where Alex was still just staring off at the wall. It certainly looked like I had. The smart thing to do would be own the idea. But I couldn't bring myself to so I just shrugged a shoulder.

“You might need to... unbreak her a little,” he said, his eyes coming to my face.

“Unbreak her?” I repeated, raising a brow.

“She's no good to me all catatonic.”

“Might be useful if you told me what exactly she is to be of use to you for then.”

To this, he shrugged. “That's why we're here,” he said, turning and moving back toward the door he had just walked out of. I felt my gut clench up, every instinct telling me that we shouldn't go behind that door. But there wasn't much choice with Limp Dick Rick standing in front of the main door.

Lex stepped into the room and I followed. Alex was a few steps behind me.

I was right.

We didn't want to be in there.

'There' being a room with white tile and a drain in the floor. A hose was hooked up to the bathroom sink in the room to the back. A hose that they used to wash the blood down the drain. The blood like the blood that was everywhere right then.

The blood that had come from the man that had been cuffed to the chair in the center of the room.

Young. A few years older than Alex, a few younger than me. A little pudgy and with a definite nerdy look with his black-rimmed glasses and video game t-shirt. But good looking.

Or at least... he was.

He was dead.

Likely from the sheer amount of blood he had lost.

Arterial spray fuckin' everywhere.

My eyes went immediately to Alex as she stepped through and I saw a flash. It was gone before a blink, shut down behind her wall. I couldn't even get a chance to analyze it. Shock? Horror? It was gone too soon.

“As you can see,” Lex started and my eyes drifted to his, “I have had some issues lately.”

“Who is the stiff?” I asked, nodding at the guy in the chair.

It should have bothered me. It was gory. Horror movie worthy. But I had seen worse. I had done almost as bad. I had no right to be disgusted. But even so, my stomach clenched.

“This, unfortunately, was a man I hired recently.”

“What's he do?”

“He's a hacker,” Lex said easily. “Well, he was.”