Page 56 of With Spite

They also didn’t have very much to share, in the end.

They’d let me read everything that they’d found while not raising any red flags in the bureau, and that’s where I’d learned that there’d been several other murders, all of them looking like Bernice.

After sharing that with her, I’d watched her light dim.

I’d also watched her start to shake when she saw me nearing the end of my beer, as if she didn’t want me to finish it. Because finishing it meant that I’d be leaving.

Reading the mood change correctly, I’d told her that I would stay.

And she’d looked overly relieved at the news.

I’m sure that her brother wouldn’t be too happy about me staying over, though.

He’d noticed my interest in her and told me that she didn’t need my brand of crazy the night before I’d left to go visit Wolf and Griffin.

I had let it go at the time, because he was emotional and had just learned that his sister had a serial killer’s attention, but that leeway wouldn’t last for long.

“Damn, it’s cold.”

I looked down to see her rubbing her hands up and down the length of her exposed arms.

“Where’s your sweatshirt?” I asked.

“Forgot to put it on,” she grumbled.

She never forgot to put it on.

But I hadn’t thought to mention it to her, seeing as she hadn’t had a bra on underneath her long-sleeved, skin-tight shirt. I could see the outlines of her nipples, and I’d liked the view.

That, and actually being able to see her body for once, not under a bulky amount of clothes, had momentarily stupefied me.

“You can borrow one of mine,” I said as I put my thumbprint on my door handle and it unlocked.

I pushed the door open, and my cat Benz met me at the door.

She meowed, curling around my feet.

Then hissed when she realized we weren’t alone.

“This is Benz,” I said as I flicked on the lights to the living room. “She’s a bitch. Don’t pet her.”

“She doesn’t look like a bitch,” she said. “She looks all sweet and cuddly. She’s definitely saying that she wants me to pet her.”

“She’s fucking lying to you.” I snorted. “Don’t let that cute little face fool you. She’ll steal the breath right out of your lungs if you let her.”

I closed the door and walked to the couch where the blanket that Bernice had used last lay, then walked toward her where I wrapped it around her shoulders. “Thanks.”

“Welcome,” I said. “Follow me.”

She did, right on my heels.

When we got to the bedroom, I pointed to the end of the bed and said, “Sit.”

She sat, her brows furrowing. “I don’t know why I’m listening to you.”

“You’re scared, and not willing to admit it,” I said. “But he won’t find you here. After talking to Griffin, Wolf, Silas, and Apollo, we’re all in agreement. He has no clue where you went. Plus, you live in a tiny mountain town in the middle of Dixie Wardens MC territory. People are quiet here. Plus, everyone knows everyone. A newcomer to town will be noticed.”

She nodded.