Free Jaid Black by One Dark Night Page B

night off to come out here and help. You know you are a respected cop when a bad-ass bastard like that lets you come between him and getting laid.”
    Thomas snorted at that. “Getting laid. Now there’s what I should be doing.”
    “You still seeing Lucy?”
    “Nope.” He slid his gun into the holster, and then turned to James. “Get on the radio and call it off,” he growled, changing the subject. Thomas had never been real big on discussing his dating life. Not even with the man he called partner and best friend. “This is useless.”
    James stared at him for a suspended moment before inclining his head. “Will do.” He turned to walk away.
    “Hey, James,” Thomas said, recalling something he’d forgotten to ask him about. “Remember Vincent Pinoza?”
    James stilled. He cocked his head, glancing back at Thomas. “Yeah. Lisa Pinoza’s husband, right?”
    “Yeah. Something strange . . .”
    James lifted an eyebrow.
    “I can’t find your original paperwork on the interview. Did you file it somewhere?”
    James narrowed his eyes in thought. “It’s hard to say. That’s four years ago now. It should be there, though.”
    Thomas slowly nodded. “I must have missed something. Thanks, buddy. Sleep good tonight.”
    He watched James walk away, the wheels in his mind racing. His partner was right: The paperwork had to be at the station somewhere.
    There was no point in asking him about Lisa Pinoza’s affair until he found it.
     
     
    Black stiletto heels clicked on the pavement as she walked into the alleyway to retrieve her car. She was a bit sad, a lot disappointed, yet somehow not surprised that her dream lover had failed to materialize.
    It was so black out tonight, so dark and eerie. She should have left the café earlier rather than waiting for him to show up clear until closing time . . . .
    She stilled. Something didn’t feel quite right out here tonight, she thought, her heart inexplicably pounding. Something was making the tiny hairs on her arms stand on end.
    She felt watched. Trapped.
    Hunted.
    She picked up her pace, the stiletto heels sounding loud to her ears in an otherwise deserted alleyway. She walked faster and faster— faster! —she was almost to the car. Just a few more steps and—
    “Nikki.”
    She spun around, frightened. Her eyes were wide, her heartbeat thumping. She saw no one.
    This felt like something out of a nightmare.
    “Nikki. My love . . .”
    She backed up slowly, terrified. She couldn’t see him, could only hear him. She’d never heard that voice before, so she knew he was a stranger, and yet his love for her was real, a tangible emotion transmitted in the way he spoke to her that was so thick with need and longing you could cut through it with a knife.
    Oh God! Oh please someone help me! she mentally wailed. She tried to scream, tried so damn hard to scream, but she felt like a deer caught in headlights. Her voice was frozen. Someone help me!
    The attack came swiftly, without notice. She had been expecting him to be in front of her, yet two strong hands seized her from behind, pulling her roughly up against a solid chest.
    She screamed long and loud, a piercing sound that carried into the night. Finally— finally! —she could scream.
    A heavy hand roughly slapped over her mouth, her scream cut off as she struggled with her attacker.
    Him? Her dream lover? Oh please no— no!
    One moment she had been struggling with him in a darkened alley and—she blinked—where was she now? Frightened, she looked around. She felt groggy and disoriented. She was in pain . . . oh God oh God it hurts so much!
    He was going to rape her. Oh no— noooo!
    She was naked, tied up, her body obscenely splayed out. Hemp rope held her outstretched hands bound to two slabs of wood shaped like a cross. He stood before her broken body, his penis stiff, the knife in his hand gleaming.
    “I love you so much, Nikki. Your heart will belong to me. Forever.”
    He rasped out those words as he