Page 19 of Killer Bones

She’ll be dead in two days. That’s a spanner in the mechanism.

8

Adelmo

She makes a small choking noise, then another, and it’s not because of my belt. That’s still hanging loose on her neck. On lifting her shut eyelids, I find her eyes have rolled back, and she isn’t responding when I pinch her.

“Shit.” I go to the door, dragging my chain, and bang on it. “Hey! If you want her to stay alive long enough for that party, get a reversal agent for whatever you shot her full of! And some more antibiotics!”

The door opens. Spiky Hair looks in. “You sure?”

“Yes. She needs to come out of it.”

“Don’t know if there is such a thing. A reversal agent?”

I stare at him until he retreats and shuts the door.

Idiot. Anyone worth their pay would know that…okay, maybe he doesn’t routinely go around sedating people. Still… Just me? Probably just me.

Minutes later, he tosses in a baggie containing two syringes and a swab. “Your stuff. He says you can do whatever you like to her, just don’t kill her yet. Though I guess you’re laughing.” He gestures at his face. “You must need the girls chained up. The scars, yeah?”

I ignore his insults. He has no idea. After the party is done, I’ll deal with him. As for Montez. Fuck him. I don’t need his permission.

The syringes could contain anything, but it’s all I have. The milky stuff is probably antibiotics, so I inject that first. I examine the clear but viscous liquid, squirt out an air bubble. I swab Izzy’s pretty ass and inject her, then sit back to settle into my reading.

By accident, I nudge her with my phone-holding hand, and the skin-on-skin is electric. I feel it when she breathes. I swear the atoms from her presence are drifting upward, expanding like a fog. I’m aware of her presence in this room in an all-embracing way I haven’t felt since, well, forever.

She is a tiny, exquisite vase on the floor in the middle of a vast, empty museum where I am the only visitor.

Okay, seen too many horror movies, I have.

I sigh, purse my lips, and pull out my dick. I stay where I am. I’m already hard, but violating my own rules would be wrong.

I don’t fuck unconscious women.

Besides, she should be more alert soon if she doesn’t choke on her own vomit. I’m proved right. Her breathing pattern alters, she moves, wriggles on the spot. She mutters something that sounds like it could be real words.

Since I’m reading on my phone now, I can turn and face her. Still reading, thumb-scrolling, I toy with her neck then look closer. The tiny hairs on her nape are something I swear I’ve never seen on a woman before…like baby hair or something. I run my tongue down her spine, licking all the way to that bruise before I sit up, shoulder against the wall and re-engage with my phone.

Every so often I touch her, and I begin to wonder what I’m going to do with her. I won’t fuck her when she’s unconscious, but licking is fine? She asked me to save her from Montez. I’m not sure that will be possible. My aim is to eliminate him, and I don’t let random people get in the way of my hits.

People. She’s adorably sexy. I’m getting too close, letting emotions get in the way.

I want to do some more reading about Izabella Fenway. Or rather by her.

Is this girl as freaky as she seems from her writing?

Out of curiosity, I start reading her serial killer story out loud. She should eventually notice and react.

Within minutes, she’s trying to lever herself off the floor, balancing on one arm and almost toppling.

“Let’s get you naked.” I drop the phone in the briefcase and push it away before I roll to my feet.

She turns her head and spots me. “What? No.”

“Yes.” Something makes me want to explain it to her—how it’s hot to strip her while I stay clothed, but I say nothing.

Is it a weakness? It just works for me to make her bare-ass naked when I know she doesn’t want to be.