Instead, I keep my focus on tailing Scarlett without being caught. It’s not easy; she’s as good as they come. Luckily, I’m second best, and I know the area and all her tricks. Otherwise, she’d have lost me some time ago.
When she heads for Camp Creek Road, and the McKenzie Highway beyond it, I know that something bad must’ve happened today. Why else would she come out here and skip her meeting with Mr. Grove?
I had him tucked away, nice and safe at one of my warehouses last night.
I have plans for him, but I need to take it slow. He’s jumpy as fuck, twice as arrogant as that, and upset about something. What it is I can only guess, but seeing as he came to me, it must be bad.
Scarlett takes a dirt access road that leads to an abandoned house at the edge of an old cemetery where Prescott kids like to throw parties. I was even considering throwing this year’s Halloween party here. Might still do it.
“What are we doing here, my dark and twisted love?” I murmur, parking a ways away from the cemetery and walking the mile or so to where Scarlett’s parked her pretty red De Tomaso Pantera.
She’s standing in the glow of the headlights with a shovel.
Mm.
Uh-oh.
My baby’s gone and got herself into trouble, now hasn’t she?
My first feeling is that of annoyance. Why didn’t she call me? Why is she dealing with this on her own? And then I remember that she isn’t my woman—in her mind at least—just yet. I’m still a fuckboy, and she doesn’t trust me fully.
But we’ll get there.
I lean my shoulder against a tree and watch in amusement as she takes off a pair of designer heels, strips her shirt, and, dressed in a bikini top and jeans, goes about trying to dig a hole. How long, exactly, she’ll attempt this before she realizes how damn hard it actually is to dig a proper grave, I’m not sure.
I do admire her for her tenacity, even as I wish she would call me and ask for help.
Sophomore year, when that horrible rich boy crashed into her family’s minivan and killed her brother and her two cousins, I was there for her. I was there for her when Prescott High needed to be watched for dissenters, when her newly minted queen bee crown was up for grabs. I was there when she finally broke and took justice into her own hands.
I was there to bury the bodies afterward.
That man, and his parents, were nothing but pond scum. I’d have buried them for free, but I had to charge her something, didn’t I?
Maybe tonight I won’t charge her anything at all? But only if she calls me. Only then.
It takes about an hour for her to make the decision but, at the very least, I get to watch her pretty skin become dappled with sweat, watch her shove her arm across her forehead and let her head fall back in exhaustion, watch her scream in frustration and kick the body with her bare foot.
“You fucker!” she yells at him. “You ruined my night, you piece of shit.”
I grin wildly, and, because I just can’t help myself when it comes to Scarlett Force, I shove my sweatpants down and free my cock. Spitting into my palm, I grasp the throbbing member in tight fingers and yank on it, gritting my teeth as I watch her pace in front of her car, passing in and out of the headlights as she does.
Light and dark, light and dark.
A groan threatens to escape me, but I hold it back, biting my own tongue until it bleeds, twisting my hand in a violent corkscrew motion that almost hurts but which gets me off like nothing else. I love pain. I love pain even more when it’s Scarlett who’s inflicting it on me. I love her nails in my skin making me bleed, her teeth sinking into my lower lip, her pussy clamping down so hard it feels like my cock might just snap right off.
As Scarlett finally raises the phone to her ear, making the call to me that I just know is costing her a heavy dose of pride, I let myself come, defiling the old tree that watches over the ancient cemetery.
Mm.
Excellent.
Cock still in hand but rapidly growing flaccid, I lift my own phone to my ear.
“Yes, darling?” I purr, and I can see her scowling, even from here.
“I need you,” she says and then, because I’m certain she’s just realized the words that came out of her mouth, she adjusts her phrasing. “I need your help.”
With great reluctance, I yank my pants up to cover my dick.
“Oh?” I ask mildly, pretending to be surprised. “With what?”
“Just … meet me at the party house off of McKenzie Highway. Can you do that for me?”