Scream for Me (19 page)

So much for the warnings reaching their target audience.

She saw Kyle’s gaze. Realized he was thinking the exact same thing.

“No wonder he has such easy prey,” Kyle muttered. “No one here even knows to be cautious. That’s damn well changing.” A band was playing in the corner. Blasting out lyrics that rolled with a twang. Kyle jumped up on the stage. Grabbed the microphone from the singer. “I want your attention!”

His voice echoed through the room.

“Who the fuck are you?” one man shouted out as he weaved toward Kyle.

Kyle lifted his ID. “I’m the fucking FBI, and I want you to listen!”

More curses. Obviously, the crowd wasn’t impressed with his badge.

“There’s a killer hunting, possibly in this area.” He pointed toward the TV. “We believe he abducted a woman from Maverick before, a woman who left
this
bar, and he might do it again.”

She saw some of the women glance nervously at each other.

“If you’re a female, and you’re traveling alone, do
not
open your car to any strangers. He disables vehicles, isolates his prey, and then he comes in to help them.” Kyle’s gaze took in the women surrounding him. “We think he pretends to be law enforcement so his victims feel secure. It lets him get close enough to take them.”

“Then what?” a man called out, holding tight to a redhead.

“Then they vanish.” His voice was flat. “So pay attention. Stay on your guard—and you might just stay alive.”

The sonofabitch agent had gone to Maverick.
He’s tracking me. Following in my footsteps
.

He eased back into the corner. He’d picked the most shadowed place in the room. A deliberate choice. He always chose the spot that would let him watch others—even while the location helped to keep him concealed.

The agents hadn’t spotted him yet. In the dim interior of that bar, even if they looked his way, they’d just see a man with baseball cap pulled too low over his brow. They wouldn’t get closer to him.

He wouldn’t give them the chance to get closer.

Time to act
.

McKenzie had just jumped down from the stage. The guy was stalking toward Cadence, his face grim.

He caught her arm. Pulled her close.

A little too close for a partner’s hold. A little too intimate. Too possessive.

Interesting
.

Kyle led Cadence to the back of the bar and pushed her inside the staff room.

The agents never glanced his way. But then, the bar was packed. Bodies pressing tightly together. Finding him would have been like finding a damn needle in a haystack.

That’s why I picked this place
. It was always easier to hide in a crowd.

People started talking again, mumbling. Some of the women looked nervous. Hell. But some of them…

Some of them were already heading back onto the dance floor. Already laughing and flirting once more.

That was the thing about fear. Unless the experience had happened to
you
, it was often easy to gloss over it. To think it never
would
happen.

How wrong they were.

“Another drink?” He glanced up and saw the dark-haired waitress, Christa, standing over him. Her smile was hesitant.

She knew he was a good tipper.

“Nah, I think I’ll cut out soon.” He pulled the brim of his hat down a bit lower. “Got to be safe while I’m driving.”

Her smile widened a bit more. Christa didn’t like the drunks. She was just working there to help pay off her mom’s hospital bills.

Christa was good to her mother.

Good
.

When she went to move his empty bottle, his hand slid out and his fingers caught hers. “I want you to be careful tonight, Christa.” He’d been coming to this bar for a long time.

Off and on for ten years.

He liked to visit the places that offered him fond memories.

“I will be.”

“Is your car out back?” He injected a note of concern into his voice. His voice had always been a gift. He could adopt any accent, any pitch, any time he wanted. He’d played around in the drama club back in high school. The girls had loved it when he ditched his twang and used an English accent on them.

He’d always had an easy time with the girls.

“It’s across the street. I have to leave a little early, and I didn’t want to get penned in by the customers.”

He rubbed his thumb over her wrist. So delicate. So perfect for his ropes. “Then I guess I’ll see you next time.”

A little nod. She pulled away from him. Christa never liked to touch the customers too long. She didn’t get too friendly with anyone. She was like Lily in so many ways.

Christa hurried away.

His gaze slid back to the staff door. Just what was Kyle doing in there with his partner?

Maybe he should take a look. If Kyle was following in his steps…
then how about I follow in yours?

He tossed a generous tip down on the table and rose. Kyle had come after him. Now it was his turn to go after the agent.

“They’re making it too easy for him,” Kyle snapped as he paced the small confines of the storage room. Boxes. Booze. “Did you see them? They didn’t even care about what was happening.”

“Some of them did. I noticed one of the waitresses—Christa—she stopped to watch the news. She was listening.” Cadence’s voice was cool. Easy. Always the voice of reason.

He didn’t want her so reasonable.

He didn’t want to be the only one who was so screwed up.

He whirled toward her. “This is one bar. One. He could be in any of a hundred other places just like this. Only we’re not there, telling those people to be on guard.”

She caught his hands. Held them tightly. “You have to let it go.”

His back teeth ground together.
She sees too much
.

“You weren’t there when Maria was taken. You couldn’t tell her to be on guard, I get it. But Kyle, this is destroying you.
Let the past go
.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” The words were an angry growl that he hated, but couldn’t stop. “You never lost someone you cared about, you never saw—”

Her eyelids flickered. She dropped her hold on him and stepped back. “I’ve seen plenty.”

“On the cases, from a distance. It’s never been personal for you.”

She’d turned away. He was a damn asshole. He hurried after her. “Cadence…”

She swung toward him. Her cheeks were flushed. Eyes glittering. “My mother.”

He stilled.

“You want to know why I’m in the FBI? My mother. I became a doctor for her, too, but it wasn’t enough. It was
never
enough.”

Kyle didn’t know what to say.

“I was ten when she died. Ten when the man came into our house. My dad was gone, out on a deployment. Mom and I were having a girls’ night. Painting our toenails. Doing those silly things a girl does with her mother.”

Her words were painful, and he wanted her to stop. He tried to reach for her, but she backed away.

“She knew something was wrong. Glass shattered. I remember the sound so well. It came from downstairs. She told me to get under the bed. To stay quiet.”

Oh, fuck. No wonder she’d gone white when Lily had said…

I didn’t scream
.

“He never knew I was there. He came in, and he hurt her while I was hiding under the bed. When I crawled out and found her”—Cadence’s words came faster. So much faster—“there was blood everywhere, but she was still alive.”

“You tried to save her.” His hands had fisted. How had he been so wrong about her?

“I didn’t know how to save her.”

The puzzle that was Cadence fell into place. “You became a doctor so you would know how.”

“And an agent so I could
stop
the killers.” Her shoulders straightened. Her chin lifted. “So don’t tell me I don’t understand. I do. I
get
it. I also understand that if you don’t let the past go, it will destroy any chance you have for a future. For a life.”

He was staring at life. At the one thing that made him feel.

She spun away from him. Reached for the door.

His palm slammed down against the wood, sealing them inside. He bent his head over her, inhaling her sweet scent. Flowers. “I’m sorry.”

He turned her toward him. Cadence. She’d given him the best damn night he’d had in forever, and what had he done? Not
even talked to her about it all day. Been driven by the killer. “Last night—”

“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about last night.”

“No, we should. That wasn’t some fluke.” Standing there, so close to her, he wanted. Ached. Craved her. “That was the best sex I’ve ever had.” Because it had been with her. “I want more. I want you.”

Whatever kind of chance she’d give to him. He’d been wrong about her. She still didn’t know the real him, but until she found out about the darkness that haunted him so much, he would hold tightly to her.

So tightly.

Maybe then she’d never be able to slip away.

He pressed his lips to hers. He wasn’t sure how she’d respond. Part of him expected Cadence to shove him across the room.

Instead, her tongue licked against his lip.

His cock jerked in reaction.

The kiss deepened. His tongue slid into her mouth. Cadence was the one thing that calmed him, that centered him.

What would I do without her?

The thought, dark, sinister, twisted through him.

I won’t be without her
.

He kept kissing her, tasting her, as his hands and mouth became harder on her. But Cadence liked the rough edge they shared. He knew. He could feel it in the tightness of her nipples. The arch and thrust of her hips against his.

He wanted her naked again. Beneath him, above him, any way he could get her.

Soon
.

Kyle forced his head to lift. His breath came out in a heavy pant. “Cadence.”

He heard the shuffle of footsteps. Coming from just beyond the back door of the bar.
Someone watching…

In an instant, he was at the back door. He yanked it open and ran into the night.

His gaze swept to the left. To the right.

A couple was stumbling away from Dale’s, arm in arm.

He started to call out to them, then saw they were headed for the taxi waiting near the edge of the street.

His heart slammed into his ribs. He should have been watching the bar, not getting so tangled up in Cadence.

But tangled up is where I want to be
.

“We should stay until the bar clears tonight, just in case,” Cadence said as she stepped out into the night.

Yes, just in case.

His gaze slanted to hers. They’d stay. When they were sure these people were safe…

I’ll have my time with you
.

He shuffled back into the bar, making sure to keep his head down. The conversation between the agents had certainly been interesting.

There were far more layers to the agent and his lovely partner than he’d realized.

Far more.

The phone call to Kyle had done exactly as he’d hoped. The agent was unraveling.

A dangerous situation for McKenzie.

But if McKenzie thought the game was finished, he couldn’t be more wrong. Things were just about to get interesting.