Psycho by Onley James
Lucas was quiet the following morning. He couldn’t stop staring at the small bandages covering August’s wounds as he dressed. Lucas had done that. He’d taken a knife and carved a part of himself into August’s skin. Would it scar? Would it be a permanent reminder of their night together?
He should feel guilty about that, right? August had said he’d liked it, had even come first, but some part of himself couldn’t help but wonder if it made him no better than Kohn. He’d liked August’s pain, his submission; it had brought out some weird animalistic instinct Lucas hadn’t even thought he’d possessed. Worse still, he couldn’t wait to do it again.
The bed sank as August sat beside him. “Stop.”
Lucas’s gaze darted towards him, startled. “What?”
“Stop running last night through your head, second-guessing what we did and dissecting who you are as a person. I can literally see you trying to gear up for a good brood. What we did last night was one hundred percent consensual. It doesn’t make you a bad person if you enjoyed it. There’s a football field size difference between our sex play and Kohn brutalizing women for entertainment. You know that.”
Did he?
“Are you okay?” Lucas asked, changing the subject as he traced the bandages on August’s shoulder.
August frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be? Oh, you mean the scratches on my back? You could have done more damage with your fingernails. Which I’m also fine with, in case you’re wondering. But I’m better than fine. I actually get a little turned on every time one of them twinges. If I could teach class without a shirt on so everybody could see what you’ve done to me, I would. I like wearing your marks. And if you were being honest, you’d admit you liked it, too.”
Lucas turned, slotting their mouths together in a kiss that lingered, then pressed his forehead to August’s. “I just hate waiting. I understand needing a plan of attack to take out some vicious gang of skinheads, but waiting to take Kohn off the street is…frustrating. I just want this over. I want to know these women are safe, and if they’re not, I’d at least like to know there won’t be any other victims.”
August kissed him again. “I know. Just be patient a little bit longer. I promise you it’s almost over.”
“And then what?”
Lucas hadn’t meant to ask the question out loud. It was just one of those things that had been bouncing around in his brain for days. A question that made him feel even more guilty for worrying about his love life when people were dying.
“And then what…what?” August asked.
Lucas started to stand. “Nothing.”
August pulled him back down. “Not nothing. What do you mean ‘and then what?’”
“What about us? What happens when this is over?” Lucas blurted.
August waved a hand. “We move in together, get married, live a life most people could dream of.” August’s face changed, his expression darkening. “Unless you don’t want that.” Lucas’s brain ground to a halt, but August continued talking. “If that’s what you’re saying, I’m going to need you to table that discussion until after we settle this Kohn issue because I cannot go into this thinking I’ll never see you again or I won’t come back out.”
Lucas had known August would say something like that. He’d known, deep down, that August was serious when he’d said he’d never let Lucas go. Ever. And he needed that. In the deepest, darkest part of him—the one August said everybody had—Lucas needed to know August would never stop fighting for him. He needed to hear the words. More than once. Maybe every day. That dark part of him needed to see the desperation in August’s eyes at the thought of losing him, and maybe that made Lucas the sadistic one, but it was like pushing on a bruise or tonguing at a cavity. He needed to know August ached as much as Lucas did.
Lucas swallowed hard. “You know how crazy this is, right? To outsiders, we look insane.”
August shrugged. “To outsiders, you are insane. I am, too. Who cares what the world thinks?”
“I know you’re right. I guess I’m just tired of being stared at, you know? I always feel like a sideshow freak,” Lucas admitted.
Other than his brief time at the FBI—back before everybody knew his secret—he’d always been an outsider, an outcast like his mother. Not even his own grandfather had wanted him. As much as he loved basking in August’s intense obsession, it made him feel like there was a spotlight shining on him all the time.
“Once you’re a Mulvaney, it's not going to be any better. I’ll shield you from it as much as possible, but people are going to dig into your past. They’re going to know about your dismissal from the FBI. They might even find out about your psychometry. People are going to be curious about you because my family is in the public eye.”
“How do you do it? How do you guys do what you do without the rest of the world finding out?” Lucas asked. Surely, there had to have been at least one outsider who asked the right questions.
“We’re not just killers…we’re illusionists. Calliope creates fake social media posts, geotags them and everything. She Photoshops pictures, gets creative if needed. And, in a pinch, we have some very powerful people determined to see my father’s experiment remain successful. Powerful allies create very strong alibis.”
Lucas gave a hesitant nod. “I’m going to need time…to figure this out…to process—” At August’s mutinous look, Lucas cupped his cheek. “Not us. We don’t make sense, but I’m not in a place where I’m going to question my gut, not anymore. I know this works. Crazy or not, whatever we are works for us. But the rest of it, the public eye thing…your family… I just need time to figure that out.”
August’s shoulders sagged. “Yeah, that makes sense. I understand that. What time is your first class?”
“Ten thirty. You?” Lucas asked, leaning in to trail kisses along August’s scruffy jaw.
“Not until one, but I have mentor meetings with my grad students starting at eleven.”
“Good, you have time to feed me,” Lucas said, catching August’s mouth in a lazy kiss.
“You keep kissing me like that and we’re not going to have time for anything but me throwing you on this bed and feeding you my dick.”
Lucas pulled back to look at him, startled by August’s words. They both burst out laughing. “I need coffee and a chocolate chip muffin the size of my face.”
August stood, pulling Lucas up with him. “You just want to stop and check on Cricket, don’t you?”
Lucas smiled. “Part of me hopes she isn’t there. She seemed pretty determined to not come back. But I’d also like to make sure there’s no souped up cars still parked outside my apartment. It worries me that they didn’t follow me to your place.”
“If I had to guess, it's because they already know you’re staying with me and somebody is already here, watching us.”
The thought made goosebumps raise along Lucas’s skin. August tried to rub them away. “Relax. We have an advantage. They don’t know we know about them. They still think you believe Kohn is a serial killer with a partner, not part of a larger conspiracy. By the time they realize what we know, it won’t matter.”
“I know you’re right. I just want to know the world is safe from these heartless pieces of shit.”
August gave him a reassuring kiss on the head, then they both finished dressing. When they were walking out the door, Lucas noticed August wearing an amused expression. “What?”
August’s smile widened. “It is somewhat amusing that these so-called skinheads all drive foreign cars, no?”
Lucas grinned. “Most of their gear is probably made in China, so...”
August locked the door behind them. “Let’s go get breakfast.”
* * *
Lucas was relieved to find there were no tricked out sports cars parked outside the coffee shop. He was less relieved when he realized every single parking spot was taken. It would be ironic if the bad guys couldn’t find parking for their stalker mobiles. But that also meant Lucas and August couldn’t find parking either.
From the outside, everything in the tiny coffee shop seemed calm. The lights were on, the sign in the window was flipped to open. Lucas couldn’t see inside with the tint on the windows, but he felt the knot in his stomach loosen slightly.
“Why don’t you just circle the block a couple of times and I’ll go grab our breakfast?”
August frowned. “I think I should go in with you.”
“I’m just going to grab our food, check on Cricket, and then we’ll be on our way. They’re not going to attack me in broad daylight in a wide open coffee shop.”
August eyed him warily for a solid minute before slowing on the street to let Lucas out. He leaned over the console to smack a kiss on August’s cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
Lucas jogged across the street, avoiding the few cars on the road, grateful their schedules allowed them to miss out on morning traffic. It was odd to be worried about taking down Nazis one minute and the flow of traffic the next, but it was just one more weird thing in Lucas’s life. If he had to make a list, the weird far outweighed the normal at this point.
When he pulled open the door, the bell overhead jingled as usual, but there was no shout of greeting from the back. The seating area was empty, but that was nothing new. Lucas moved forward, listening for any sign of life from the back. It was eerily silent.
“Hello?” Lucas called. “Cricket?”
Lucas crept closer to the counter, brow hooking upward when he saw her phone charging beside the industrial coffee maker. “Cricket?”
When she didn’t answer, he moved behind the counter, no longer worried about etiquette. Cricket’s phone was fully charged. It must have been there for a while. Her purse was tucked away in a small cubby beneath the pastry boxes, alongside her pale blue sweater.
When he stood, his gaze landed on something that made his blood freeze in his veins. A delicate gold hoop, covered in blood. Shock rocketed through him. Cricket’s nose ring. Fuck. He didn’t stop to think, just slapped his hand down on top of it, sucking in a sharp breath as visions assaulted him.
Cricket perched on her usual spot on the counter, listening to music, and a man strode in wearing ripped jeans and a yellow shirt with Don’t Tread on Me in black block letters sitting above a coiled snake. She pulled her headphones free of her ears, eyeing the man warily as he approached the counter. “Can I help you?”
“You know guys don’t like when girls add those crazy colors in their hair or do that weird shit with their makeup, right? In the animal kingdom, creatures who look like you are a warning, telling mates to stay away. Telling them they’re venomous.”
Cricket smirked. “Yet, here you are.”
“I’m just saying, men want a woman who’s modest.”
“What makes you think I’m looking for a man?” Cricket countered.
She never got to hear the man’s answer. A shooting pain racked her body, and then she was collapsing, the man on the other side of the counter coming around to help another man holding a taser. Kohn. He reached down and snatched the ring from Cricket’s nose, tossing it on the counter. “Get her into the van. I’ll meet you back at the yard.”
Lucas yanked his hand away, heart hammering in his chest. They took Cricket. He pulled his phone free from his pocket. He was about to tap his name when a familiar voice said, “Hey there, stranger. Miss me?”
A heavy dread settled over Lucas like a lead weight. He turned slowly, unsurprised to see the gun trained on him or that Kohn held the weapon. “Where is she?”
“Your little pink-haired friend? Or was it blue? Or green?” Kohn asked around a laugh. “She’s safe. For now. The clients have a pretty specific type, but I think, just this once, they’ll make an exception. They love watching me break the tough ones.”
Lucas’s nostrils flared. “I’m going to fucking kill you.”
Kohn seemed decidedly unbothered. “I was hoping you and I could…reconnect. How did you like my gifts?”
Lucas had known, at some point, he’d be this close to Kohn again, but he’d never imagined it would be by surprise. Not since he’d met August. He’d made Lucas feel a little too safe. “I found them unoriginal,” Lucas taunted.
Kohn barked out a surprised laugh. “Nice to see you can still keep your sense of humor. I’ll try to do better in the future.”
Lucas darted his glance to his phone and back. Had he hit send? Was August outside? “How much longer are we going to play this game? What is it you get out of this? Did you think I wouldn’t find out about your little Nazi friends and their red rooms?”
Kohn arched his brow. “I wanted you to know. I gave you all the clues. I just wasn’t sure if you were capable of putting it all together on your own without the power of the FBI behind you.”
A strange lightness overwhelmed him. Kohn had no idea who Lucas had behind him. He had an army of psychopaths and the Mulvaney name. Lucas wasn’t a victim anymore. Lucas tapped his temple. “I have something the FBI doesn’t.”
Kohn’s lips curled up in something resembling a smile. “It doesn’t matter, though, does it? Nobody will ever believe you. But you still have time to just walk away. This has been fun, but it’s growing tedious. Still, I don’t want to kill you. You’re such a marvel. A freak of nature.”
“What about those women? Their lives were worth living.”
Kohn rolled his eyes. “They were junkies. Whores. Sub-humans. Burdens of society. Nobody misses them. Most people didn’t even notice I’d culled them from the herd.”
“So, they’re all dead?” Lucas asked, a sadness he’d never experienced before settling over him.
“All but your colorful little friend. Our clients are getting picky. They’re tired of the broken ones. They want to watch me carve up ones who look like them, who look like the girl who rejected them at prom, the one who thought she was too good for the nerdy guy, too cool for the loser who played Dungeons and Dragons. They want their revenge, and I’m the one who lets them live out their fantasies.”
Lucas forced himself to breathe. Kohn wanted him to lose his shit, wanted him to do something stupid. So, he just stayed silent, hoping the look on his face conveyed the level of hatred he had for the man.
“If you walk away now, nobody needs to know about your past. I’d hate for your nerdy professor boyfriend to learn what a headcase you are. Does he know about your little breakdown? About your time in the nuthouse? I bet his rich family would shut down your romance quick if they knew who you really were. Then you’d be all alone again. Totally helpless. I like helpless. It looks good on you.”
At that moment, August rounded the corner, coming through the back just as Kohn had. He pressed a wand to Kohn’s neck and his whole body jerked comically before he collapsed, the gun slipping from his fingers as he fell. Lucas picked up the fallen weapon, kneeling over Kohn’s still twitching body, noticing the stain at his crotch. He’d wet his pants.
He leaned down to make sure Kohn could hear him. “You look so helpless. It looks good on you.” The man made a low groan, but Lucas stood. “What the hell did you hit him with?”
“A cattle prod.”
“He’s got Cricket.”
“I know. I heard. Looks like the plan’s changed. Time to improvise.”
August handed Lucas his keys. “Go get the truck and pull it into the alley. Open the back. You’ll see a keypad. The code is 1-8-4-2. Inside, you’ll find zip ties. Bring them to me.”
“What are we going to do with him?”
“Exactly what we’d planned on doing to him tomorrow. Torturing him for information.”
Kohn gave a long moan at that, trying and failing to sit up.
August slapped his face. “Hey, can you hear me? Settle down or I’m going to shove this so far up your ass that when I press the button it will bake your organs.”
Part of Lucas wanted August to do it, to just end it then and there. But they still had Cricket. Those maniacs had Cricket. He moved on autopilot, following August’s instructions to the letter. Once Kohn’s wrists were secured behind his back, August sat him up using a handful of his hair. Lucas got a small thrill when the man screamed in pain.
“You don’t know how bad you just fucked up. If they don’t hear from me in the next five hours, they’re just going to start the show without me. Let me go and I’ll tell you where to pick up the pieces of your little friend when we’re done with her. Hell, if you find me a replacement, maybe I’ll even leave her in one piece.”
“August…” Lucas said, not even sure what he wanted to say.
August’s face went blank. It was like a switch had flipped, all of August’s humanity disappearing in a blink. The hollowness in his eyes, the complete lack of emotion on his face, gave even Kohn pause when August got in his face.
“Do you think I’ll need five hours to break you?” he asked.
Lucas couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face. For the first time since Kohn had entered Lucas’s life, the man looked truly horrified. Like he’d looked into August’s eyes and saw the bleak fate that awaited him.
“I’m going to get him in the car. Call Noah and my father and let them know what’s happened.”
Lucas’s gaze darted to Kohn. “Shouldn’t we be worried about using names in front of him?”
“He won’t live long enough for it to matter.” He slapped Kohn’s face. “But how much pain’s involved…that’s up to him.”
Lucas picked up the phone and began making calls.
