Purr (Revenge Book 3) Read online

  But still, he buried his head in her neck and let his own moans warm her skin. He clutched her ass and pulled her in as he emptied himself inside her, twitching through every shot. He screamed his love into her neck.

  Because he really did.

  He loved her.

  And even if, somewhere deep down, he knew he didn’t have her as fully as she had him, and that she didn’t love him as desperately as he did her, he believed. He believed that losing his job, his family, and his trust fund hadn’t been in vain.

  He made himself believe it.

  It was the only way he’d survive.

  ——

  Veda welcomed the taste of sour apple the moment the lollipop hit her tongue. The sweet, tangy flavor traveled to her cheeks, making them constrict and expand all at once. The feeling was borderline unbearable, though not as unbearable as the bizarre exchange she’d had with her fiancé that morning.

  Sucking the lollipop so hard she nearly pulled it from the stick, she perused the candy aisle in the grocery store, dreading the idea of going back home to Gage. She filled her cart with enough Blow Pops to get her through the week, trying to ignore the grocery store’s overhead music as her mind ran away with her.

  The way he’d looked at her. The suspicion in his eyes. The hitch to his voice. She thanked God for being born with a vagina because it had just saved her life. Giving Gage the lovemaking of his life had been the only thing to get her out of that exchange alive.

  If the man she loved could believe she was capable of cutting people’s nuts out, surely it wouldn’t be a stretch for Shadow Rock Police to believe it too?

  She’d have to be more careful because, of course, she wasn’t stopping. She’d already taught Todd Lockwood and Eugene Masterson that their bad deed had not gone unpunished. Even if they had no idea what that bad deed was.

  And she still had eight more to go.

  Eight more men who’d raped her ten years ago, one of whom could very well bear the last name Blackwater.

  Her stomach did a pirouette. Even as the sucker in her mouth activated her saliva glands, her mouth still managed to go dry. The bright lights shining down from overhead were no match for the shadows that zoomed down and encased her.

  Could she really marry a man who might share a surname with her tenth attacker?

  Could she marry a man who might very well be her tenth attacker?

  “No.” She disputed her thoughts out loud because she’d already decided that it hadn’t been Gage.

  It couldn’t be.

  Even still, her heart was at her feet. Her hands trembled on the handle of the shopping cart. Her breathing came up short.

  Could he?

  “No,” she spat, responding to her thoughts again.

  She realized how crazy she must look, scolding herself in the grocery store—or to the casual observer, scolding the Blow Pops. She took a cursory glance around her to make sure no one was witnessing her gradual breakdown.

  She looked over her shoulder, down the candy aisle, and caught sight of a man wearing a black hat so low it covered his entire face, with a digital camera pointed right at her.

  Her eyes locked onto him just as that camera’s flash went off.

  Veda looked the opposite way down the aisle. Surely he was taking photos of someone else?

  She was the only one there.

  “The fuck?” She threw her gaze back to the man.

  But he was gone.

  Abandoning her cart, Veda made her way toward the end of the aisle where he’d been taking pictures. She started off on a slow stroll but quickly took up a jog, gasping by the time she made it to the end and looked both ways. The frozen food section, dairy section, and bakery were all empty. No camera-toting man in sight.

  Had she dreamt him up?

  Maybe her breakdown had come earlier than she’d imagined?

  Heart pumping, she made her way through the entire grocery store, checking every aisle for him.

  But he was gone.

  Holding her hand over her chest, willing the storm inside it to cease, Veda tried to relax.

  She was being paranoid.

  If she was going to exact revenge on the rest of her attackers, she’d have to learn to keep a cool head. A steady heart. Most importantly, a steady hand.

  She had no doubt in her mind that Shadow Rock PD would be hot on her trail.

  And she could only pray that man wasn’t one of them.

  ——

  The scent of the ocean seemed to live on the breezy air the following morning, and the black, jagged rocks that Shadow Rock had been named for soared into the blue sky in the distance. Veda breathed in the ocean mist as she climbed out of her car in the hospital parking lot. She waited for the smell to relax her.

  It didn’t.

  Her stomach remained in knots. Her mind busy. Her soul disturbed. Not because, just one night earlier, her own fiancé had nearly asked her, point blank, if she’d cut Eugene’s balls out. Not because, just one night earlier, a strange man had been taking pictures of her in the grocery store. Not even because Shadow Rock PD had doubled their investigation in the search to find her. As evidenced by the sight of Detective Lincoln Hill entering the hospital a few hundred feet away.

  His long brown hair was tied back in its usual bun, and he sported jeans and a black T-shirt. He ignored the inviting eyes of every female doctor and nurse he passed, his bulky arms flexing at the especially desperate ones who purposely jumped into his path, smiling and playing with their hair.

  Veda swallowed thickly, because it wasn’t that six-foot-five, two hundred and twenty-five-pound detective making her stomach turn either.

  No. It was the man she saw hiding in the bushes from the corner of her eye, snapping pictures. The same man who’d been at the store taking pictures of her the day before, with the same baseball hat pulled too low to see his face. This time, Veda had the good sense not to let him know she saw him, even as her entire body went into an all-out panic.

  She smoothed her high bun with one hand and covered her stomach with the other, feeling it rumbling when the courtyard’s rose bushes rustled, making it clear he was following her.

  But why?

  Was he a cop?

  Was he onto her?

  She asked herself those questions, and many more, before realizing none of it mattered. When she’d returned to Shadow Rock all those months ago, she’d promised herself that she would finish what she started by any means necessary.

  Even if she had to die trying.

  She would finish what she started unless the police found her out and finished it for her.

  And she’d already decided she wasn’t going to prison.

  She would never go to prison.

  As she entered the hospital and greeted the head nurse, Nurse Latika, behind the welcome desk, she wondered if that day of reckoning would come sooner than she thought.

  “Good morning, Latika,” Veda said, her hand trembling as she signed in.

  Nurse Latika leaned forward with a deep sigh. Even though she was middle-aged, Latika’s ebony skin was just beginning to show lines. Her plump middle pressed against the edge of the welcome desk as she scooted her chair closer.

  “You okay, sweetness?” Latika asked.

  Veda looked at her with wide eyes, dropping her pen. Was it so obvious that she was bothered? Was it all over her face?

  “I’m good.” Veda fought to remain nonchalant. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Latika made a face, cocking her head back softly. “I just know you’re used to seeing him around here every day, sweetness. That’s all. God knows he spent more time running around behind you than doing any actual work.” She chuckled.

  Realization relaxed Veda’s face. “Gage. Right.” She sighed. “Yeah, he’s pretty upset about losing his job. We both are. But… we’re trying to look at it as an opportunity. An opportunity for him to explore his real dreams. The things he loves. Not the things his parents tell him to love.”


  Latika nodded her understanding. “He deserves it.”

  “He does. I’ll definitely miss him around here, no doubt about it, but I think this all might be a blessing in disguise.”

  “Well, personally? I’m just happy that the door to the on call room won’t be randomly locked at all hours of the day anymore.”

  Veda tried to hide the smirk that played at the edges of her lips. “I have no idea what that has to do with me and Gage—”

  “Mmmmhmmm.”

  Veda pushed away from the desk, knowing that ‘mmmmhmmm’ was Latika’s polite way of saying, ‘Please don’t waste my time with the bullshit.’

  “Have a good morning, Latika.” Veda waved good-bye while making her way down the hospital halls.

  She’d been so worried about herself, and the bizarre man following her, snapping pictures, she’d forgotten all about Gage. She’d forgotten about the knock-down, drag-out fight he’d gotten into with his family. Over her. She’d forgotten about his family threatening to pull his job as hospital CEO, as well as his three hundred million dollar trust fund, if he didn’t end his relationship with her for good.

  She’d forgotten that Gage had told them all to go fuck themselves.

  That he’d lost it all for her.

  A shot of guilt blasted through her for ever believing, even for a moment, that the man who’d lost it all for her could ever be her number ten.

  3

  Veda maintained a mental chant, letting it play on repeat in her mind all the way up to the fourth floor of the hospital, where her first patient of the day awaited her.

  Gage is not your number ten.

  He can’t be.

  The curious and resentful eyes of her co-workers were strong as ever, hitting her from every angle in the bright hallway. The looks were no longer about her being the home-wrecker who’d ended Gage’s engagement to Scarlett Covington, but instead about her being the person who’d cost Gage his job. He’d been a wonderful CEO—approachable, flexible, and kind. God only knew what kind of micromanaging monster would be hired to take his place. Her fellow employees were clearly more than ready to blame her for whatever jerk-off they all got saddled with.

  They also clearly believed she was on a mission to ruin Gage’s life. That she was a mistake he’d regret one day. A jinx. A curse.

  Veda wondered if they’d be wrong, lowering her eyes against the many accusatory glares as she entered her patient’s room.

  “Koooong,” she sang Eugene Masterson’s nickname, eyes still lowered as she yanked two latex gloves out of the box next to the door.

  She looked up just as she was snapping the gloves on, freezing in her tracks.

  She’d been expecting Eugene to be alone. So when she found herself on the receiving end of not just Eugene’s raised eyebrows, but Detective Lincoln Hill’s and his partner, Samantha Gellar’s, the smile fell from her face.

  She couldn’t allow her outward happiness—happiness due to the fact that Eugene was ball-less under those baby blue bedsheets—to shine too brightly.

  “Sorry,” she said bashfully. “I didn’t realize anyone else was in here.”

  A smirk picked up the edges of Linc’s lips, his eyes already shrinking the way they did when he was amused. He licked his lips and lowered his eyes when Veda held his gaze, almost challengingly. His eyes didn’t stay lowered for long, however, slowly lifting back up to watch her as she moved to the corner of the room.

  “Don’t mind me,” she said. “I still have to set up for Eugene’s implantation. Just pretend I’m not here.”

  She began rustling through her work bag, only getting a few supplies out before she peeked over her shoulder.

  Sure enough, Linc’s eyes were riveted to hers. His smirk grew, and he appeared to be completely oblivious to his partner, who’d resumed questioning Eugene.

  Veda snapped her gaze away, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat when she still felt his eyes burning into her back.

  Did Linc know it was her?

  Was he biding his time?

  Was she just a cat chasing after his string, amusing him until he finally got bored and slapped a pair of cuffs on her wrists?

  Veda made a vow not to look back at him again.

  Sam’s voice rang in. “And you don’t remember any physical features? Skin color? Eye color—”

  “How many times do I have to say it?” Eugene’s frustrated voice cut her off. “It was a woman. She was covered from head to toe. Her skin wasn’t showing. Her eyes weren’t showing. In the neighborhood of five foot six. One hundred twenty pounds. Gotta be the millionth time I’ve said it. Does the right hand have no fucking clue what the left hand is doing at Shadow Rock PD? How many of you are going to ask me the same fucking questions before you do something about this? Five foot six! One twenty! A woman!”

  Veda held her breath as Eugene described her measurements within a few pounds and inches. Her heartbeat tripled, making it feel like it was taking a machete straight to her ribcage. She felt her bones going solid, squaring, and prayed that Linc couldn’t see it happening. She knew he was still watching her. He’d almost caught her red-handed several weeks earlier, when he’d checked her nails for cow-print polish. The same cow-print polish that had been found at Eugene’s apartment after her first failed attempt at slicing his nuts out. Was that subconscious suspicion still in the back of Linc’s mind? Was he looking at her and thinking, ‘Wait a minute, this bitch fits the physical description exactly?’

  She was unable to stop herself from sneaking another peek over her shoulder, nostrils flared as she readied herself for Linc’s and Sam’s probing eyes.

  But neither of them was looking at her. Samantha was still frowning down at Eugene, visibly desperate to get to the bottom of this, her pen lingering over the pad in her hand as he continued to berate her.

  Linc was looking at Eugene as well, but nowhere near as rattled as his partner. Judging by the lack of compassion on his face, he could’ve just as well been sipping mimosas at Sunday brunch for all he cared, not questioning a man who’d just been castrated.

  He’d been right next to Veda weeks before when Eugene had proven what kind of man he was by having an innocent kid killed.

  Veda felt her eyes water at the thought of Luke Greer, the addict who’d known too much about Eugene and his seedy ways. The addict who’d been found dead just days after he’d said too much.

  The worry she felt at being caught staring ebbed away, only because she was reminded that Linc hated these people just as much as she did. The rich and entitled people of Shadow Rock. The people who believed they were above the law.

  Linc snuck a glance at her from the corner of his eyes. He saw her looking. His eyebrows jumped.

  Veda turned away. Well, he definitely didn’t suspect her. Better keep her fucking eyes to herself before he began to wonder what the hell she was looking at.

  She kept busy getting her supplies ready, distantly listening to Sam.

  “Why did you follow the suspect into a private room on the second floor if you couldn’t see their face?” Sam asked. “If you had no idea who they were?”

  Eugene sighed. The bed squeaked, indicating he was shifting. “My girl had to miss the ball for work. I was bummed she couldn’t make it, so when a woman came up behind me and grabbed my dick, obviously I believed it was her.”

  “The suspect fondled you?”

  “In front of everyone. But my girl plays like that, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

  Silence. The scratch of pen on paper.

  “Do you remember what the suspect was wearing?”

  “A long black dress. Black shoes. All black. The mask had designs in black glitter.”

  “Walk me through that night. From the time the suspect fondled you to the last thing you remember.”

  “Again, for the hundredth fucking time. She touched me. I followed her through the party and up to the second level, into a private room at the end of the hallway. I stepped inside.
Needle in my neck. Woke up the next morning with—” Eugene’s voice broke before he could finish.

  With a smile, Veda finished for him. Woke up the next morning with no fucking balls! Rejoice! Her smile grew.

  She was so encased with delight at the thought of Eugene’s face when he woke up castrated, she didn’t even realize that Linc was right next to her. When his hand plopped on the counter next to her supplies, she jolted with a sharp gasp, shooting her eyes up to him. When had he approached? How long had he been standing there? Had he seen her naked glee at the thought of Eugene in pain?

  His green eyes leapt from his tan skin as they searched her face. As always, those eyes smiled long before his lips did, and they were smiling right then.

  He took her arm gently, his callused fingers scratching her skin as he nodded toward the hallway. “Can I speak to you outside, please?”

  Veda fell into an all-out panic.

  Why did he need to speak to her outside?

  “Um….” She went to make up some bullshit excuse, but he was already pulling her toward the hallway before she could. “Um… my patient…” She pointed behind her.

  “Is preoccupied. Detective Gellar needs at least another ten minutes with him.”

  Veda stumbled over her feet and out of the room. They crossed the hall to the other side, both ignoring the curious looks from every member of hospital personnel that passed them.

  Veda leaned her arm on the wall, facing him. So did Linc, crossing his legs at the ankles. He clasped his hands in front of him, his bulky arms taking center stage. The vein protruding softly down the middle of his muscled bicep pulsed.

  She didn’t miss that involuntary pulse, and wondered what was making him so uneasy.

  She lifted her eyes to his.

  Was he on to her?

  “How are you?” he asked, his voice considerably softer than it had been in Eugene’s room.

  Veda felt shock soaking her face. She straightened, crossing her arms tight. She’d been expecting a barrage of questions about where the hell she’d been the night of the masquerade ball. Why she always seemed to be in the general vicinity of the men whose balls were coming up missing. Why she’d been taking such delight in Eugene’s pain just minutes earlier.