Page 16 of Tame Me
Move your ass. This is in the past—no need for dwelling. Find the killer. Do your damn job.
I turned toward the treeline with a growl. Shadows twisted between the rain and the trees, and I knew he was watching me without even seeing him. I could feel him, and that musky citrus scent of his was thick in the air around me.
Why am I hard?
God, I need a cage in Hospital Thirteen. I have no business guarding the monsters inside when I’m no better than them, clearly.
The storm seemed to tighten around me, the trees bending under the wind, while the branches scraped like fingers across my soaked coat as I moved forward. Every instinct screamed at me that he was here, and he was ready for me.
Am I ready for him?
The rain thankfully washed my pants, but the thick coating didn’t dissipate, and neither did my shame.
I’m going to catch you, Little Chip. You’ll pay for that little stunt.
I stuffed the flower and note into my coat and took a deep breath. Rain poured down my face, water running into my mouth, leaving a sharp, cold taste. My boots sank in the mud. It was even thicker here near the wooded area. I had to force myself to pick up my feet, stuck in this shit like concrete.
One step after the other.
I had to keep going.
I had to find him.
“Masters,” I yelled to the woods.
I knew, somehow, he was already moving, waiting to fuck with me. He had time to leave before I got here, but Judas Masters couldn’t resist a good game, and I was his favorite toy.
The sludge at my feet tried to drag me down as I stumbled forward, my heart hammering, waiting to hear anything over the rain. The droplets continued to slice across my face, and I wiped them away with a shaking hand. The storm didn’t care about my efforts, but neither did I. My gaze kept flicking to the treeline and the shadows inside it.
“You aren’t as good at games as you think, Judie,” I said with a laugh when the movement flickered in my peripherals.
A flash of tall, lean limbs glinted in the moonlight. His tattoos were slick with rain, and he was disappearing between the black trunks of the trees ahead. His body turned as he ran, mocking me with the speed of a damn gazelle while I was just a fat hippo trapped in the mud. His hazel eyes caught mine in the dark, so mischievous and predatory. His smile told me he’d been waiting for me to see him.
“Liebling,” he called, his husky voice low and smooth, almost amused, as it sliced through the storm to me. “I wondered when you’d show up.”
I swallowed hard, gripping my flashlight like a weapon, and trying to shake off some of the tar-like mud to get a better vantage of movement. Rain dripped down my neck, falling from my curls as I shuffled closer to him.
“Stop moving, dammit,” I yelled. “I’m serious, Judas. Stop right now or I’ll?—”
His body halted, and he tilted his head, that crooked grin widening, mud streaking his tattoos in black.
“Or you’ll what do what, Rookie? Shoot me?” He laughed, dark and wet, echoing in the trees. “Go ahead, Baby. You’ve got to try, at least. All your little piggy friends wouldn’t let you live that one down, would they?”
I cursed under my breath, slipping on the mud and sinking even deeper.
What the fuck was this shit?
I was nearly up to my knees, and the branches were smacking me in the damn face from the wind. He was fast, too fucking fast.
He ran toward me, a flash in the dark night, but I could see him. I didn’t take my eyes off of him, shining my flashlight toward him. Every lean, wet limb was lit up, and the way his muscles flexed with the water made it look like his tattoos were dancing.
“Geez. Sky daddy really said thunder farts were needed, didn’t he? My name’s Judas, asshole. Not Noah. Can we stop this flood shit?”
I watched him curse the sky, and the glint of that scar across his ribs as his muscle shirt moved with the wind made my stomach go tight.
I tried to take a step forward but slipped again. This time, the mud rounded over my knees, and I growled, reaching to grip a tree branch and haul myself out. Judas didn’t even pause. Just smiled, watching me flail like a beached whale.
“You’re slower than I expected,” he said, nearing closer to me, not at all affected like I was. “Maybe it’s all those fancy muscles you got there, big boy.”
