Blame It on the Moon Page 15

  He left the diner and wandered into the library. Hmm, where had she gone? His supernatural scent should tell him, but maybe she used magic to block it. Well, she hadn’t left, so he’d hang out in the anime section until she reappeared.

  He’d really hoped that Brother would find Angelica attractive. He’d ordered her to be receptive to that, to follow through if he propositioned her, but he’d rebuffed her attentions. Very disappointing.

  The memory enticed him again. It was his favorite fantasy, because it had actually happened. He’d made it happen. He’d bested Aidan for once, confounded him.

  It had started with watching them together. They’d watched movies, boring movies. That part had taken forever while he’d lost the circulation in his legs from his crouched position in the bushes outside. Mosquitoes and spiders had feasted on him, but he’d drawn on his supernatural reserves to remain completely still. When Aidan and Leslie had finally started making out, he’d felt free to move. Aidan’s hands had roamed under Leslie’s shirt, making her giggle at first. Then he’d done something ‑‑ pinched her tits, maybe? ‑‑ and she’d moaned. She’d clutched his shoulders and widened her legs and rubbed against his body. He couldn’t hear the sucking and kissing sounds through the window, but he could imagine them. He grew a pike in his pants as they’d stripped naked, unaware of their watcher.

  Leslie’s breasts had enticed him. They were big, like musk melons, and had tan lines from her bikini. The aureoles were a brownish pink, and the nipples were hot fuchsia. He’d almost licked the window imagining his mouth in place of Aidan’s. Brother suckled her as his fingers trailed down her stomach. His cock, ramrod stiff, rubbed her inner thigh. He’d stared at it, fascinated by it, the thickness, the almost purple color at the head. In the showers after gym class he’d tried to catch glimpses of the other guys’ peckers, just for comparison’s sake, but if they caught him looking, he’d be stuffed in a locker. It wasn’t worth the risk. But that night he’d looked his fill. That had turned him on, too.

  Leslie’s pussy hair was blonde. Aidan had trailed his mouth down over her stomach until he’d reached that mecca of fur. Her thighs had wrapped around his ears, and her feet tapped his back as he tasted her. Whenever he lifted his face to look at her, his jaw glistened from her juices.

  Watching them fuck, he’d found himself undulating against the bush. Not very comfortable or satisfying, so he’d unzipped his pants and grabbed his pecker. Leslie was the hottest woman he’d ever seen in his life, but she only had eyes for Aidan. She’d called him “Richie Rich, the Rich Geek” and told him to go play with girls his own age.

  He’d show her.

  He’d squeezed and stroked, jerking off to the rhythm of Leslie’s moans. He’d imagined them inviting him over to the couch, asking him to join them. He’d imagined Brother offering for him to sample Leslie’s cream. And while he licked her clean, Brother would suck his shaft reverently, deep into his throat.

  That last picture, combined with watching Brother’s hips as he slammed Leslie’s hole, had his hand racing on his rod. Jerking off had never felt this good before. He wanted it to last, but it was too much. The cum spurted all over the branches. And, later, the blood had spurted all over the sheets.

  * * * * *

  “Looks like you’re sprung,” Daniel chirped Monday afternoon.

  “Oh, thank God.” Haden had thought his lawyer was never going to get the details worked out with his bank, especially with the name change issue. The judge had set the bail astronomically high, with a stern warning that Haden was to check in with Daniel or the court weekly until his trial date, which wasn’t scheduled until late June. Then he’d had to leverage the pub and his house, but since he’d already mortgaged the house and had loans on the business, the bank had needed some convincing.

  And that was just for the down payment to the bail bondsman.

  Haden felt sick to his stomach just thinking about his money issues, but that was nothing compared to the fear that he’d be locked up during the full moon. He could feel it, even now in the middle of the day, calling to him. It was almost full.

  Kitty had come by yesterday with theories and a suspect list that had consisted of just about everyone in the town. Her criteria: “anyone who isn’t you.” Then she’d showed up in court this morning. Haden had tried to tell her to go home and run her business, but she’d just smacked him on the shoulder and told him not to be stupid. He wasn’t trying to be stupid; he was trying to be gallant and self-sacrificing, but he was no match for her naïve pigheadedness.

  Daniel escorted him through the gates to the front lobby, and there he found Kitty waiting for him. How’d he get so lucky, anyway? He’d wanted to take over her store, and here she was trying to get him off of a murder charge. He didn’t deserve it, but since she was his ride back to Richmond, he’d take it. Getting back to Richmond so he could lock himself up again ‑‑ God! ‑‑ had to be priority.

  Fifteen minutes later, Haden ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. “What do you mean, we’re not going back to Richmond? We have businesses to run, and I told the court that’s where they could find me.” He stood on the sidewalk in front of the sheriff’s office, facing Kitty. He could smell Daniel’s amusement, though his old buddy kept out of sight, probably peeping out the window. But it was Kitty’s scent that enthralled him, that and her flashing eyes and tempting curves.

  Her right hand perched on her hip, emphasizing her determination. “Going back to Richmond is not going to solve your problem. We have to figure out this whodunit. I told you yesterday that I have a bunch of ideas.”

  He’d had far too much time to daydream in Daniel’s jail cell, and Kitty had starred in every one. He’d held her phantom body in his arms late at night as he’d dozed on the bunk, and he’d relived each and every sex scene from the past month during the day as he’d twiddled his thumbs. His body hummed with unspent sexual tension, increased tenfold by the waxing moon.

  And here she was in front of him in the flesh. All he wanted to do was get her somewhere private and rip off her clothes. Instead, he tried to concentrate on winning the argument.

  “If it was that easy to solve, don’t you think I’d have done it by now? Hell, don’t you think Daniel would have?”

  “But I have something they don’t.” A shy smile appeared, faded.

  “Yeah, what?”

  She frowned. “I can’t tell you here. There’re too many people around.”

  “I don’t see anyone.” But he could smell plenty. This town was full of gossiping busybodies. “Just tell me, dammit, or this discussion is over.”

  “Says he who doesn’t hold the car keys.” She dangled the aforementioned objects in front of him with no idea that he could snatch them from her in the space of a blink. If only he could tell the world his secret, then he could stop feeling so impotent.

  Daniel’s guffaw boomed through the doorway.

  “Told you there were people listening.” Looking smug, Kit tucked the keys into her pocket.

  “Well, there’s not much else to do in this damn town.” His hair had to be standing in straight spikes, considering the number of times he’d raked his fingers through it. It was the only thing keeping him from throwing Kitty over his shoulder and marching her to the car. Someone would probably call the cops, knowing his luck and reputation.

  “Let’s go to my motel room,” Kitty suggested. She smelled excited in a nonsexual way, and her eyes glowed with enthusiasm. Or was that the madness of a conspiracy theorist? Whatever. Giving in to her will seemed the safest option at this juncture. In privacy, he’d convince her to take him back to Richmond in plenty of time before his change. In privacy…he’d never keep his hands off her.

  Millie’s Motel brought back some seriously fond memories for Haden. He and Leslie had lost their virginity in one of these rooms, the one on the far corner facing the woods. And he and Daniel and a couple other guys from his class had partied at the motel on more than one occasion. He’
d also spent a couple of days here trying to figure out what was happening to his body when it had started sprouting fur and fangs.

  Kitty unlocked the door and dragged him inside. She pushed him back onto the bed and stood over him, eyes narrowed. “So you and Leslie came here?”

  Had he said that out loud? No. “Did someone tell you that?” But he knew that wasn’t the answer.

  She turned away and started pacing, of all things. Finally she plopped onto the bed next to him, leaned in, and whispered, “I have a secret to tell you.”

  His gut tightened. He knew how big his own secret was, so he tried to prepare himself for whatever Kit was about to tell him. His insecure mind came up with a million possibilities: she was seeing someone else; she wanted him out of her life; she planned to sell his story to the tabloids.

  Apparently not satisfied by his lack of response, she asked, “Are you ready?”

  “Yup, hit me.”

  She pulled his head down to hers, as if someone had a glass up to the door and might hear her otherwise. “I can read minds.”

  Oh, now that was unexpected.

  But it explained a lot.

  But it was impossible.

  Just like being a werewolf.

  “You can read minds?”

  She nodded.

  “The whole time I’ve known you?”

  She nodded again, biting her lip in that cute way she had when she got nervous. And he could smell her nervousness. She was worried he’d reject her, wasn’t she?

  But then he thought about the wolf, and the seriousness of this revelation hit him. “You can really read my mind?”

  Blame It on the Moon

  Chapter Eleven

  Kitty pinched her lower lip between her thumb and finger, realized what she was doing, and dropped her hand, only to go back to biting her lip again. She jumped up and resumed her pacing. The green, threadbare motel carpet muffled her steps. “Sort of.”

  “What do you mean, sort of?”

  “Okay, it’s like this.” She stopped walking. “With most folks, I hear their thoughts in a monologue and see accompanying pictures or films, Technicolor and all. With you, I don’t get all the information. Sometimes it’s like I’m inside your body seeing what you see. Other times, it’s just flashes of images with a word or two thrown in. In other words, I don’t get the context.” She paused to study his face, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that her eyes were X-rays peering into his soul. “I don’t know why you’re different.”

  Haden knew why, or he guessed, anyway. “That’s how you knew I’d come here with Leslie just now?”

  “Yeah, you were picturing the memory in your head.”

  He blew out his breath. Well, damn, that was embarrassing. No one should have to see his fumbling attempts to make love to Leslie that night, especially not another lover. He hadn’t exactly brought Leslie to orgasm that first time…or the second or the third. His face heated. They’d been so young. Leslie’s breasts had blossomed early, exciting him each time he caught a glimpse when she’d leaned over at her locker. His own body had stayed slim and gawky until his twenties.

  He inhaled, exhaled. “So you saw Leslie dead?”

  Kitty nodded. “In the dream.”

  “In the dream.”

  They stared at each other. Haden knew this was the perfect opportunity to explain the wolf to her. She’d shared, now he should share, get the deep, dark secret out into the open. But that made him vulnerable in a very different way, vulnerable to derision, tabloids, blackmail, scientific experiments.

  “See, like right now you’re picturing being strapped to a table in a government lab. If anything, it’s me they’d strap to a table.” She nibbled her thumbnail and a tinge of fear tainted her scent. She gazed past him, staring at nothing.

  “What is it?”

  “Just a memory.”

  He pulled her into his arms, and the bedsprings creaked, reminding him that they were alone in a hotel room. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  She sighed and laughed a little, shaking herself. “Maybe later. We’ve got more important issues right now. You’re not going to be a very good boyfriend if you’re in jail.”

  He grunted agreement. “I hope it was okay that I said that to my parents. I didn’t quite know how to introduce you.” He should’ve said something else, something that wouldn’t have raised her expectations.

  Throwing her arms around his neck, she pecked his lips. “I certainly don’t mind being called your girlfriend.”

  “Even though I’m a murderer?”

  “Well, I’d prefer we disprove that part, if you don’t mind.”

  He kissed her again, breathing in her vanilla scent. Their lips lingered together, grazing each other, electrifying his nerve endings. When he opened his mouth wider, she mirrored him. He pressed firmly against the O of her lips, felt her warm breath enter his mouth. Pushing his tongue inside, he tasted the mintiness of toothpaste or gum.

  The moment had passed to tell her his secret. Relationships didn’t last forever, while the wolf would never leave. If Kitty became an ex with his secret, his life could be in danger…or so he reasoned. The problem was Kitty’s ability. She might see the wolf in his mind whether he told her or not. She’d already seen glimpses in the dream.

  He should tell her, get it out in the open.

  Fucking chicken shit.

  Thing was, if he didn’t get back to Richmond right away, then he might not have to tell her. He’d show her, and trusting him might be the last mistake she ever made.

  Kitty’s fingers stroked the side of his face, a gentle contrast to her forceful kisses. Her ass pinned his hard-on in place, agonizing but irresistible, while her breasts pressed against his chest. He had to touch her.

  Unfortunately, Kitty remembered her plan.

  She scooted off his lap and leaped to her feet. “We don’t have time for this. We have interviews to do.” She grabbed his hand and started for the door. “There’s a town load of suspects out there. We just need to get close to the right one, and ‑‑ whammo ‑‑ we have him.”

  It was hard to resist such a force of nature, though his body protested. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay right here in bed?” He had one more safe night, but tomorrow he’d leave for Richmond with or without her.

  * * * * *

  “What do you mean he made bail? It’s a murder charge, for chrissake!”

  Daniel scowled at the mayor’s son, The Beefcake Without a Brain. What the hell did this asshole care about Aidan, anyway? Or Leslie for that matter? He didn’t have to explain, but for the sake of peace, he said, “He leveraged his pub, so I guess the judge figured he’d show up for court.”

  “That’s fuckin’ screwed-up logic. He’s facing a capital murder charge. Why the fuck would he care about the pub? He’s going to run. You should arrest him again.”

  Daniel rose slowly from the desk chair, knowing he would tower over this sorry male, even if Richard was twice his breadth. He hoped the mayor’s son would creep away and leave Daniel the hell alone so he could finish his reports. “What does any of this have to do with you?”

  “I care about the safety of the citizens of this town.”

  “You mean your safety? Why don’t you crawl back to Richmond and let me handle my job as I see fit? Don’t you have classes to go to?” If it had been the mayor himself, Daniel would’ve had to show respect and put up with this shit, but the mayor’s son was a sniveling weasel. The town would be better off if he left for good.

  “I’m going to talk to my dad about this!”

  “You do that.”

  “See if you get reelected after you set a murderer free.”

  “See if you have any damn say in the matter.” He patted the butt of his gun and made sure Richard noticed the action. Finally, the psycho started backing away from the desk. As Daniel watched him stalk through the door to the street, he thought about Leslie’s case. Maybe there was a suspect or two they’d overlooked. Tim
e to run a complete background check on the mayor’s son.

  * * * * *

  “Where do we begin?” Haden’s long strides had Kitty struggling to keep up. “I mean, it seems like I’ve covered all the ground before.”

  She hadn’t wanted to stop the make-out session in the hotel room, but too many questions, ideas, and doubts had smothered her enjoyment. Well, she had enjoyed every second Haden’s lips had covered her own, but she had to have priorities. “I’m thinking Leslie’s family, Daniel, schoolmates, and a hypnotist.”

  He stopped dead in the center of the sidewalk, jerking Kit to a stop beside him. “Say what?”

  “Well, Daniel will be able to tell us all the avenues he explored.”

  Haden shook his head, reminding Kit how soft his hair had felt threaded through her fingers. “The hypnotist part. Why the hell would we need a hypnotist?”

  She struggled to recall her logic while her body flushed warm from recent memories. “Supposedly, you don’t remember the murder, right? But supposedly it took place while you were asleep, and not while you were in the shower. I’m thinking a hypnotist might help you recover memories you didn’t know you had.”

  Haden was picturing her with red horns and two heads. Not a good sign.

  “No way in hell am I getting hypnotized!”

  “Is there something you’re afraid of?”

  “Hell, yes! Quacks!”

  Kit tsked, while tugging him along to the diner, careful to touch only his shirt and not the strong, lean muscle underneath. She wanted to talk to Linda, the waitress. Waitresses often knew all the good gossip, plus she’d arranged for Haden’s parents to meet them for dinner. She just hadn’t had a chance to tell him yet.

  Her research at the library had given her the pertinent information. Leslie’s family’s names, where she’d lived, where Haden had lived, statements from kids who knew them at school, coworkers. Everyone had assumed that the couple would marry since they’d been sweethearts since high school. There’d been speculation on what was taking them so long, but no one had the scoop. A flame of jealousy had sprouted as Kitty had read about what a great couple they’d been, but it certainly didn’t make sense to be jealous of someone who’d lost her life so young, so the emotion had changed to pity mixed with anger. The murderer had messed up more than one life.