deeply. He nodded and went on:
“I was alone, but when I was almost to Henry’s I ran into Blackheart. He forced me to stop and asked what I was doing out there so late. I hadn’t even realized it was so close to the Jokers clubhouse and he said anyone passing by had to give a good reason. I didn’t want to tell him the truth because I figured he’d try to stop me too…but there’s something about that man’s blue eyes…they like hypnotize you or something. Anyhow, I told him I was going to kill Henry. He laughed at me, which pissed me off, and then had one of his guys take me home. I was fuming and as soon as the Joker left, I started right back out there. This time when I got to Henry’s place…I found him…hanging from a tree in his front yard.”
Kayleigh gasped. “Hanging? Dead?”
Razor nodded. “Yeah. Police ruled it a suicide, and I never found out the truth…but that was a mean old man…” He hesitated, and she said:
“You think Blackheart had something to do with that?”
“I thought he did, yeah. You think it’s bad that I was okay with that, even at fourteen years old?”
She touched him again, this time scooting her body so close that he could smell the shampoo in her hair. His thoughts were barely processing, but he did hear her say, “Remember what I told you earlier? Sometimes adults have to live with the consequences of their choices, no matter how severe they might be.” Razor shuddered again, and then he covered the hand she had on his chest with his own and closed his eyes. Maybe he’d underestimated her. Maybe she was old lady material after all.
9
Razor couldn’t fall asleep. He couldn’t even close his tired eyes. Even though it was dark in the room, they wanted to keep focused on the beautiful woman lying next to him. Kayleigh had fallen asleep almost instantly after he climbed in the bed with her. His body ached from trying to lie still so as not to frighten her or make her uncomfortable. But just before dawn he felt her stir and she turned from her back over onto her side, throwing her arm across his big body as she did. He shivered, and then tried to relax into the unconscious embrace. Her hand felt good on his bare chest. Her hair tickled his arm. The gentle rise and fall of her chest fascinated him, but it was her scent that practically drove him insane.
Razor and Kayleigh had used the exact same soap, and shampoo…but somehow it smelled better on her. At least he hoped he didn’t smell as sweet and feminine as she did. Her pink lips pursed as she breathed in and out and it was all he could do to keep from leaning over and kissing them. The urge to suck her dainty earlobe in between his own lips was strong too. He’d be willing to bet that she tasted as good as she smelled. But he didn’t do anything. He lay on his back, as stiff as a board…everywhere…and just watched her sleep. She’d just lost her boyfriend, in a horrible, violent way. The last thing she needed was some big oaf on top of her, inside of her…Jesus, his body ached for her.
He closed his eyes for a second, trying to think of anything that would help him stop aching, and fall asleep. Instead, what he saw behind his closed eyelids were images of her body, how he imagined she would look without the tank top and panties that she was wearing. Not that he’d been brave enough to lift up the covers and get a glimpse of what she looked like without her shorts on…he told himself he was damned lucky none of his brothers would ever know that, they’d never let him live it down. But Kayleigh wasn’t just some club girl, a call girl, a hooker, or the girls from the swamp that he’d grown up with. She was different. She was a lady. And she was way out of his league.
His thoughts shifted to his problem, and how he might be able to get out of it. Blackheart was working on his end to find some evidence that he hadn’t killed Lisbeth, but he wasn’t confident that his president, or anyone would find any. Not that he didn’t have full faith in Blackheart and his brothers, but he was sure this