Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,175

or what he’d been when I met him. I knew that if I hadn’t possessed him, he’d probably still be happily torturing and killing his way across the world with his old lion pride of mercenaries, but it was still hard to hear him talk so casually about it. I realized that I wasn’t Nicky’s Jiminy Cricket. I was more his road-to-Damascus salvation.

“My videos are what I enjoy,” Olaf said.

“No one would survive that, so no, Anita doesn’t like it rough enough to keep you happy,” Nicky said.

“I would like to try,” Olaf said.

“I’m not sure how we can test your sexual preferences and keep Anita safe,” Nicky said.

“I would be willing to do a vanilla version of what I prefer, if there is such a thing,” Olaf said.

I couldn’t hold on to my peaceful white-noise place.

“Anita is too unhappy with this conversation for me to continue with it,” Nicky said.

“We need to go inside now,” I said. I opened the door and actually got my seat belt unbuckled and a foot outside before Olaf’s deep voice dragged me back.

“I would like your permission to speak with Nicky later in more detail to see if our kinks match.”

“I don’t know what to say to that. The thought of Nicky giving you that many personal details makes me incredibly uncomfortable.”

“But if we are negotiating for actual dating and sex between us, then more shared information is better, isn’t it?”

I glanced back at him and fought to keep the panic from showing on my face.

He smiled then, a wide, happy, predatory one. “Don’t hide your fear from me, Anita. You know I enjoy it.”

And that was it for me. I got out of the car and kept moving. I needed more people around me. I needed not to be the only nonsociopath in the conversation.

55

LEDUC WOULDN’T ALLOW any of the Coalition people, including Nicky, to see the new evidence. It was police evidence, and they weren’t police. None of us could argue with that, so Newman recommended a bed-and-breakfast just up the road. “It’s also the closest and has the most pleasant rooms. There’s a motel just up the way and some Airbnbs, but they aren’t as nice, and I can’t guarantee anything will have rooms.”

Leduc reluctantly agreed and even called the owners of the bed-and-breakfast since he knew them like he seemed to know everybody. They had two rooms available for tonight, and a third would open up tomorrow. Nicky took all three rooms for the time they were available, and Angel called the motel. For security reasons, the SEALs didn’t like splitting the group up.

Olaf asked Nicky, “Why aren’t you worried?”

“I’ll be wherever Anita is tonight, so she’s covered.”

I had a moment of worrying about who would keep the other two women safe. Pierette was one of our guards; she’d put herself up as bait because everyone thought she could take Olaf. The hard feeling in my gut wasn’t so sure. Angel didn’t fit his profile, so I was less worried about her, but once Nicky assured everyone that he’d be by my side when and if I got to sleep, they all stopped arguing about security and just went to check into the rooms at the bed-and-breakfast down the road. There were enough available rooms at the local motel that they didn’t have to call anywhere else. No one kissed me good-bye, because Leduc was there watching for more PDA. Ethan and Angel did make me promise to text or call when the evidence reveal was done.

“We can’t help you with Bobby if we aren’t here,” Angel had said.

“I know and I promise,” I said, and I meant it.

Leduc made us wait until they’d driven away before he’d share the new evidence with us. He punched in a code to unlock a phone and showed us more damning evidence against Bobby: pictures of Jocelyn asleep taken from the angle of someone who was looking down at her or who was next to her. Leduc wouldn’t let the rest of us touch the phone so that the number of extra fingerprints would be lower. I couldn’t argue with his logic, but he was acting as if the proof would actually see a courtroom. Every picture was another nail in Bobby’s coffin, showing he was obsessed with his stepsister. There was even a selfie that Bobby had taken of him smiling up at the camera with Jocelyn obviously asleep beside him. It looked like he’d been sneaking into her room after