Bad Boy's Touch (Firemen in Love Book 3) (8 page)

“Not my type, huh?”

“She's a workaholic who takes things way too seriously. You, on the other hand? Sometimes I'm surprised you manage to drag your ass into the station on time.”

I punched his arm. He laughed and got in the truck.

“Maybe we're not soul mates, but so what? She's gorgeous. I want her. That's all that matters.”

“And how are you going to convince her of that?”

I took the wheel and drove us back toward the station. Should have told Jayce about the arsonist's note, but that could wait. Right now, I could think of nothing but her.

“I kissed her last night. Didn't hear any complaints.”

“You kissed her after she tried to
arrest
you? Man, you've got bigger balls than me.”

“And it was awesome, too. That's why I don't understand it – why does she keep pulling my chain?”

“Maybe she's scared by your aggression. Or could be she thinks you're bad news.”

“I
am
bad news, but what does it matter? This is just sex we're talking about.”

“I used to say the same thing, too.”

This was why I generally stuck with the simplest of conquests. Girls like Madison were too smart, too sensible. They asked too much. Wanted me to change.

But I wasn't changing for anybody. The only person whose opinion mattered was me.

“It's not my place to say stuff like this, I guess, but since you asked...” Jayce shrugged. “Women like her, they're not impressed by you showing off and getting into trouble. They appreciate sensitivity. The ability to hold a conversation. Crap like that.”

I punched the gas to avoid stopping at that red light. “Just 'cause you're married now, I guess that makes you the expert on this stuff.”

“Ask Max. He'll tell you the same thing.”

“Yeah, and look what happened to him. He used to be the biggest playboy partier of us all. Probably spent half his paycheck on lap dances, weed, and booze. Now he's living in Bastrop, shacked up with his wife in the country hours away, and we hardly ever see him.”

“He's happier now than he ever was. He grew up.” Jayce stared blankly out the window. “We all have to eventually. Don't you get bored chasing girls?”

“Nope. And if you hadn't fallen head over heels for Elle, I doubt you'd have gotten bored of it either.”

“How do you know the right girl won't have the same effect on you?”

His question made me nervous. The very thought of falling in love terrified me – because that had happened once before, and all I got out of it in the end was heartbreak.

Madison was special, but so what? She was just another woman in a sea of thousands of others. If she didn't want me, then fine. I'd find someone else who did.

But even as I thought it, I already knew it was a lie.

Chapter 6 - Madison

Those words, soulless yet full of hatred, kept replaying in my mind.

This arsonist was sick in the head. Most of them probably were, but this? The note, the covering his tracks... It was almost the same behavior you'd expect out of a serial killer.

It was the day after we'd found the warning letter at Twinkles. I'd showed the paper to the staff, including the manager, Toby, but they all claimed never to have seen it before. I doubted any of them were lying.

I dusted the paper for fingerprints right away, but wasn't surprised when I found none. A guy this clever likely wore gloves. How in the
hell
were we going to catch him?

“Mad, you're getting way too skinny! You work so much, you don't make time to eat.”

Jenna, my roommate and little sister, burst into my office holding a paper sack. The odor of fryer grease and burgers made me kind of queasy.

“Here.” She plopped it onto my desk. “I knew you forgot to pack a lunch again, so I grabbed you some food on the way to school.”

“Thanks, I guess.” I peered into the bag. “But you know I'm trying to cut down on fried foods.”

She scoffed. “You're so uptight. What's the point of life if you don't live it a little?”

“I can live just fine without fast food.” I gobbled a french fry with a sigh. “Besides, I don't have time to eat. I'm trying to figure out a case.”

She got very excited. “Ooh, what is it? Is there a crazed murderer running around town? Jail break? Police chase?”

“That this kind of thing interests you so much is a bit disconcerting, Jen.”

“You're
so
lucky. Your job is much more fun than listening to boring lectures all day – and then serving food to irate asshole customers after that.”

I patted her hand. “I wouldn't call a lot of this 'fun.' And being a waitress sounds like a real adventure.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. I like to compare my shift with walking through hell. My boss is Satan, and the customers are a bunch of soul-sucking demons.”

“You honestly worry me sometimes.”

She pleaded with me again to tell her about the case, but I couldn't be honest with her.

Yes, she was an adult now. Nearly twenty years had passed since our house was destroyed in that blaze. I got over the trauma by shutting my emotions down and sort of acting like it never happened; or that's what the therapist told me, anyway.

But Jenna never quite healed from it. She was four years old when it happened. So young, so innocent. The blaze didn't hurt her physically, but it scarred her in other, more insidious ways.

So great was her fear of the flames, she avoided fireplaces and wouldn't stand near the grill at cookouts. If I told her there was an arsonist in town, she'd be petrified.

No, I would keep my mouth shut for her sake until this guy was caught.

“Come
on,
Mad! Who died? I can totally deal with it.”

“No one died,” I snapped. Not yet. “It's just... related to that gang shootout from the other night.”

She squeezed my arm hard. “Oh, I can't believe you got rescued by Brett Silver. He's so hot, he could be a movie star.”

And yet, for some reason, he chose to pursue me. He
kissed
me.

His pushiness annoyed me, but I would be lying if I didn't admit maybe I wanted more.

“He kind of asked me out,” I confessed. “He's not the kind to take no for an answer.”

She squealed. “Holy crap, tell me you said yes!”

“He's... not good for me.”

“Who cares if he's 'good' for you? I bet he's amazing in the sack.”

“Why am I having this discussion with my little sister?” I shoved her off my desk. “You're going to be late to school.”

“I don't get it. Why do you have to be such a prude?” She threw a bunch of fries into her mouth. “There's nothing wrong with sleeping with a guy just for fun. Hell, if he asked me...”

“That's quite enough, thank you.”

Honestly, I considered myself far from being a prude. I had a bit of a kinky streak, actually. But that wasn't a part of me I'd ever share with a one-night stand.

That side of me was a secret. I'd never actually trusted any man enough to show him who I truly was between the sheets.

Maybe someday, with some luck, I'd meet my match.

Obviously, Brett wasn't him. Yes, he made me tremble with the slightest touch and had me wanting him with just a few words. But he was dangerous, and getting tangled up with him was stupid.

I squirmed, horny again just from thinking about it. Okay,maybe it wouldn't hurt to sleep with him
once
, to get it out of my system.

He
was
gorgeous. I wondered what he looked like under his clothes...

“All right, guess I'd better get moving or Mr. Harrison will bitch at me for being late.” She headed for the door then paused. The cheery smile faded from her face. “Hey, you know Friday is Charlie's birthday.”

“I know. We'll light a candle for him, just like we always do.”

She left my office with tears in her eyes. Charlie was our brother, but the two of them had always been closest. When he ran away from home at age sixteen, after dad tried to have him committed in the psych ward, it devastated her. It hurt me too, but in my usual way, I kept it bottled up inside.

We'd tried looking for Charlie for years, but couldn't find out a lick of information about him. I'd hoped the police databases might yield something; he'd long been a troublemaker, scoffing at laws as though they didn't apply to him.

But no matter how many times I searched, there was nothing.

At this point, all we could do was give him up as dead.

A rapping on my wall woke me from my dreary thoughts. Victor stood there, smiling in his creepy way.

“So I hear you've found something for me. Let's hear it. I'm a busy guy and I haven't got all day.”

I showed him the match Brett found and then the note, now tightly wrapped in a plastic covering. He read it over, brow furrowed.

“We found this at the scene, taped to a table in the employee lounge. It was obviously left for us to find,” I reasoned. “One of the employees also saw a suspicious male exiting the scene upon her arrival. He apparently wore a pig mask to cover his face.”

“Mm-hmm. Any camera footage?” He gave the note back to me. “It's difficult to deduce very much from the testimony of a single eyewitness.”

“No, sir. None. The feed for the cameras where he was had been tampered with. I believe it was his doing.”

“You
believe.
” He sighed. “Madison, I asked you to find me hard evidence. Wild theories are of no use to me.”

Why was he being such a hard ass? I mean, he'd always been a dick, but now there was something especially nasty about him that I couldn't put my finger on.

“What do you think about the note? He seems to be taunting us, almost. It's clear he plans to strike again.”

He was not impressed. “Unfortunately, this is not enough for us to go on. What do you expect me to do – send a squad to every drug den in the city to wait for him in ambush?”

“Well, no, of course not. We don't even know where to begin. He's being vague.”

“A place of sin,” he recited from the note, strolling about the room, hands behind his back. “Hmm. This fellow wants to burn down some druggie's house. I wonder, would that really be such a loss?”

I gaped at him. “What? It's our job to serve and protect, and that means everybody – not just the good guys.”

There was a wicked twinkle in his eye that made me nervous. “Are you so sure about that? We've had troubles with drugs in this city for years now. Violent gangsters, much like Rico himself, peddling crack and heroin to innocent children. You know this is true.”

It was, and it made me sick to think about. Drugs ruined lives, and I was all too happy to arrest anyone involved with them.

“What's your point, sir?”

“If our culprit goes after them, perhaps he is doing us a favor.”

I could hardly believe my ears. Everyone knew Victor would do anything to look good, but this? He was willing to turn a blind eye to a deadly criminal solely because it benefited him?

“Think about it,” he continued. “Think of all the effort, the manpower, the time and money it would cost to bring those scum to justice. Our vigilante friend could accomplish so much more with a lot less.”

“He could
kill
people! That's far worse than throwing them into prison and rehab for a few years.”

“Dear, if you truly think people like that can ever be changed, I fear you're more naive than I thought.”

Had he not been my boss, I would have kicked him in the balls right about now.

“But I thought you wanted to catch the guy. You said it'd make us look good. How good will we look when something like that ends up on the news? People will be wondering what's wrong with us, why we can't stop this psycho from hurting people. We'll look like idiots.”

He raised his hands. “Now, I never said we'd let it continue that long. Let's just... give it some time and see what move he makes next.”

“While he rampages through the city like a madman on the loose.”

Victor came to me and put his hand on my back. His touch made me recoil; his fingers pressed into my flesh hard enough to bruise.

“So we're very clear on the matter, I want you to leave this case alone for now,” he said slowly. “You are to resume your normal duties. Understood?”

No, I didn't understand. The man was scarily smart, probably planning something in his twisted head. I cursed at myself silently for ever finding him attractive.

Maybe the other officers were right. What if I slept with him to rise up the ranks, whether I realized it or not? I thought I cared about him, but maybe I didn't want to admit how desperate for approval I really was.

“Yes, sir. I got it.” That, of course, was the only right answer to him.

He offered me a thin smile. “Good. I'm sure you can find something else to keep you busy, eh? Rico and his goons are still running free, along with hundreds of other shady characters ripe for arresting. Why don't you get out there and make me proud?”