any other collateral damage. Do we understand each other?”
Slade nodded.
“By the way, I heard your sister, Louisa, has a little problem. No worries. I’ll get it taken care of. Remember, you scratch my back, I scratch yours.”
The naked fear in Slade’s eyes made him smile. His problem would be taken care of soon. Slade knew the score and what would happen if he failed.
They pulled back up in front of the group of boys where he’d originally parked. Slade grabbed the door handle, but he stopped Slade before he was able to exit the car.
“Oh, and Slade, the guy has a bad left knee. You can take advantage of that. Just make sure you do it as soon as possible.”
As he drove away, he chuckled to himself. Soon, the neighbor would be out of the way and if for some reason Slade failed at his job, well, Louisa fit the profile for one of his special ones perfectly.
Number nine had been taken care of last night. Just a few more and then all would be right in his and Jocelyn’s world.
Chapter 29
Julie squirmed as daggers of arousal slammed through her core. Whoa, Penelope had written an extremely hot book this time. Not that they were usually anything less than scorching. How Penelope had managed to hide that she was an erotic romance writer all these years when she was writing stuff like this, Julie had no idea. She slammed the notebook shut and flung the covers off her hot body.
After spending most the day sleeping off the lingering sickness, insomnia had struck tonight. She’d thought reading would help her to relax. Instead, now she was even more worked up and awake than she’d been when she crawled into bed.
Chris slept just a room away. It would be so easy to go and slip quietly into his bed and let nature take its course. They still had chemistry going for them. There was no doubt it would be good. Before Chris and that Valentine’s Day weekend, she hadn’t known what she was missing. Now she knew and that made the loss of that ecstasy that much more painful.
Aaron had told her that it was time for her to live. Wouldn’t this qualify as doing that?
Her nipples pebbled and ached. She rubbed across them, trying to ease the incessant need, but her own touch wasn’t going to do it for her tonight. She twisted in her bed, desire pulling at her. It had been so long since anyone else had touched her. Chris had been her last sexual experience and even though it had been amazing, fifteen months was too long to go without sex.
A low moaning, “No,” filtered down the hall.
Julie froze. That sounded like Chris. She scrambled out of her bed and down the hall to his room where his door was cracked slightly open and she could see him thrashing in the covers.
The sweat on his torso glimmered in the moonlight and her gut wrenched. His chest was covered with scars, both small and large. She knew in her mind that he’d been tortured, but seeing the effects made her sick for him. The pain he must have endured. She swallowed hard, unsure what to do. The odds were high he wouldn’t appreciate her intrusion, but she didn’t want to leave him while he was so obviously caught up in a nightmare.
Suddenly, he tensed. Julie held her breath, not knowing if she should stay or if she should go. With a shouted, “Oh Fuck! No!” Chris sat straight up in bed, his chest heaving. She rushed over to his side and lowered herself onto the bed beside him so she could reach her arms around him. His sweat-slickened skin felt chilled under her fingertips and she rubbed his back, pressing her chest into his side, trying to share her warmth. Shudders rolled through him and he continued to gasp for breath.
She curled her fingers into his hair at the nape of his neck as he slowly sank into her embrace. “It was just a dream. It’s okay. You’re safe now,” she whispered into his ear, not sure how awake he was yet. His chest continued to heave, but his arms reached around her to hold onto her as he trembled.
His muscles slowly began to relax into her as she held him, smoothing her hands lightly over the planes of the muscles of his back. She could feel more scarring here, but tried to smooth over the ridges. Her heart