Over the years, there were plenty of women he lusted after, but he didn't consider their hookup as anything more than two people pleasuring each other. After it was done, he'd fuck 'em a couple of more times and then move on. Sometimes he was with a couple of women in the same day. It was a lot of fun, but it was no big deal.
Until now.
Hailey was something entirely different. If it was just lust between them, then why couldn't he get her out of his mind? Why couldn't he stop replaying their awesome coupling? Being with her wasn't the same as being with the others; he wanted her all the damn time. Instead of being sated by their fucking, he just wanted more and more.
Liberty waved at him as he entered the tattoo shop, and he gave her a chin lift as he went to his office in the back. He sat down and pulled out his phone. Hailey had texted him but he hadn't heard it. When he opened it, a shot of desire went straight to his dick. A picture of Hailey's pink, round nipple teased him. It was hard to understand what happened to him when he saw her perfect buds, but something deep within him yearned to take them in his mouth, lavishing them with soft attention, and then bite, squeeze, and suck them until she cried out from pain and pleasure.
A loud ping.
Hailey: Is that what u wanted?
Goldie: Ya. Got a damn hard-on. Can u come over & fix it?
Hailey: Shop's too busy. U're the one who wanted the pic. ;)
Goldie: Smartass. That ass of urs needs a spanking.
Hailey: I've never been spanked.
Goldie: I'll fix that.
The buzzer filled the room and Goldie pushed the intercom button. "What's up?"
"We have a walk-in and all the other guys are busy. Can you take him?" Liberty asked.
Glancing at his stiff dick, he said, "Yeah, give me ten minutes." He clicked off and opened Hailey's text.
Hailey: That sounds wicked.
If I keep texting with her, I'll never get rid of my boner.
Goldie: It is. I gotta go. I have a tat to do.
Hailey: K. See u later at Cherry Vale.
Goldie pulled out a technical book from the bookshelf and perused it, concentrating on the sentences and willing himself not to think about the delectable picture Hailey had sent him. After a while, the buzzer sounded again.
"The guy wants to know if you can do this. It's been over fifteen minutes.
"Sure. I lost track of time. I'm coming out."
The technical reading did the trick, and Goldie headed to the lobby to meet the client. Once he got to designing and coloring the tattoo, he'd have laser focus. He walked up to a man in his early twenties and led him to one of the rooms.
* * *
At six o'clock, Goldie went down the hallway to Patty's room in search of Hailey. When he arrived, the only person he saw was Patty sitting by the window staring. He knocked softly on the door. Patty turned around, and he noticed her eyes were puffy and red, wet trails glistening on her cheeks. Tissue was balled up in her hand, and taking a corner of it, she wiped the corners of her eyes.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Shaking her head, she looked down at her hands in her lap. "Do you want me to call anyone?"
"No. I'm just upset over Nadine. I just heard about it a little while ago. Why would anyone do something like that to such a sweet young woman?" The tears spilled down her face before she covered it with her hands.
Goldie shifted in place. "I don't know who Nadine is. What happened to her?"
Patty lifted her head and wiped her cheeks with the palm of her hand. "You don't know her? She's one of the physical therapists here. I loved working with her. She was such a nice girl."
"I may have seen her around. My grandma doesn't do physical therapy. What happened to her?"
"She was brutally raped and murdered in her home last night. Isn't that awful? How can someone do that? I never thought something like this could ever happen in our town. Now I've found out there've been several of these rapes. Another victim worked in the laundry here. It's terrible. Something's going on around here. There've been four deaths of patients and now this. I saw the sheriff and his deputies here last week. Something's not right."
Goldie walked in and sat on a straight-backed chair. "You may have something there. I thought something was fucked when the second person died. Now you're saying it's been four?"
"Yes. And Hailey thinks I'm being paranoid. I mean, she didn't say that, but I could tell she was trying to humor me. And now this latest with the rapes. Nadine's the only one he killed. Why did he have to kill her?"
"Maybe she figured out who he was."
"Are you guys talking about poor Nadine? I read it in the paper an hour ago. How awful," Hailey said as she rushed into the room, going over and giving her aunt a quick kiss on the cheek. She looked at Goldie through her lashes and smiled.
"Hey," he said as his gaze slowly raked over her.
"Hey," she whispered as she ran her fingers over the back of his neck.
"Garth agrees with me that something funny's going on around here," Patty said.
"Like what?"
"Like the patients dying, the rapes, and now Nadine's murder." Patty's voice quivered.
Hailey glanced back at Goldie. "Do you really think they're connected?"
"I'm always suspicious when there are too many coincidences. That's just me and my world."
"Knock, knock," Dan said from the doorway. "I'm here to give you your pain pills, Patty. Do you think you need them?"
"I could use one for my nerves. I'm so upset about Nadine."
"I know. It's terrible. The staff is still in shock. She was so good with the patients. A real nice and sweet woman who loved her job."
"I think everyone loved her," Patty said as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue.
"Pretty much." He held out his hand with a cup of water.
"Who didn't?" Goldie asked.
Startled, Dan shook his head. "I don't know."
"Then why did you say it?"
"I meant sometimes we have run-ins with the doctors because we may not agree with some of their advice. It can be like that sometimes because we spend a lot more time with the patients than the doctors or the administrators do."
"Which doctor are we talking about here?" Goldie narrowed his eyes.
"I don't like talking about the staff."
"I'm not gonna tell anyone what you say. I don't work that way."
Dan stood for several seconds in the middle of the room as if trying to decide whether or not to say anything. Glancing at the door, he lowered his voice. "It's really all of the doctors. They don't like it when we ask questions. I know Nadine had a run-in with Dr. Rudman a couple of times, and Dr. Tyrell and Dr. Daniels can be bad about sharing information with physical therapy. Nadine and Thelma, the woman who works in the laundry who got raped, had run-ins with some of the CNAs, especially Kingsley, Hendricks, and Kevin. Nadine even wrote them up a few times. She found Hendricks smoking pot in one of the patient's bathroom. He tried to disguise the smell with some strong pine air freshener, but it only made it worse."
"Hendricks and Kingsley are usually my grandma's CNAs. Did Hendricks ever smoke in her room?"
Dan chuckled. "No way. Everyone's a bit afraid of you. They know you're a member of the Night Rebels. They don't want any problems."
Goldie stood up. "You tell me if any shit goes down with my grandma. If I find out someone did something and you didn't tell me, I'm gonna make sure you end up as a patient here." He loomed over Dan, who quickly walked to the doorway.
"Enjoy the rest of your visit," he mumbled, then scampered away.
"You love doing that shit, don't you?" Hailey asked.
"What?"
"Scaring the hell out of people." She grazed his fingers with hers.
"Scaring means to frighten someone into doing something or make them worry. I just tell people how it's going to go down. When I say something, it happens." His jaw muscles twitched.
"You always were direct, Garth," Patty said.
Goldie stayed for a while longer in Patty's room, then went down to his grandma's room and sat on the chair watching her as she slept in the bed. An hour later, Hailey came down and said she was taking off. He kissed his grandmother on her soft hair, then walked out with Hailey.
Intertwining his fingers with hers, he breathed the night air in deeply. It'd been so hot for the past week that the coolness of the breeze was a welcomed relief. Above, a carpet of stars glittered against the dark blue background. A sudden chill inched up his spine and he drew Hailey close to him, cocooning her in his arms. Lowering his head, he kissed her silky hair, the tropical scent filling his nostrils.
"You need to take care of yourself. There's a real crazy fuck out there hurting women. I hate that you don't have a garage."
"I'm not going to lie to you and say I'm cool, because I hate that I don't have a garage either. I have the feeling I'm being watched, or at least was being watched. It started when that guy came out of the bushes over a month ago. Then my window was unlocked. Remember?"