Marshall Brown
*****
Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.
Numbers! They were all just a bunch of nonsensical, disorganized digits. I breathed out again, this time making a loud rasp.
"Fucking damn it," I snarled, jumping out of my chair.
My hands dragged through my hair, which was already very tousled. It seemed all I could do today was curse at my desktop and imagine her angelic face and all the expressions I wanted to paint on it. Her lips were so delicate and the cutest shade of pink. I wondered if she normally wore that chapstick. I wondered what it tasted like.
I audibly groaned at how uncomfortably my pants strained around my hardened dick. Clenching my jaw, I strolled over to the window and placed an open palm along its cool surface. I was never this frustrated. I didn't let things bother me. Because why should they? I couldn't give a flying fuck about what people thought or did. If someone else's actions impacted me, I dealt with them and moved on. I didn't get frustrated.
Maybe I should just kill her, I pondered. Then I wouldn't be pacing my office like a wild animal, salivating over her image. I would know she was six feet in the ground or miles down river somewhere. Something about her death unsettled me, though. Not even my parents' deaths triggered such a strong aversion and I had been the one to deliver the fatal blows.
She was just different. I had only met her for a handful of seconds but I could tell. She was oblivious to the eyes that followed her, stalking her like prey. She cared less if anyone noticed her. Her plain clothes did nothing to flatter the curves beneath them. She wore no makeup. She didn't care like most of them I knew and fucked.
Yet, she also cared too much. I watched her open the door for an old woman. Then I watched her help a man count his money. Her hands were gentle, her voice patient. She cared way more about some stranger than anyone else in the store did. The way her eyes slid over me was almost as high-inducing as an orgasm. I felt something in my stomach that I never had before. A fucking flutter or something stupid.
Then she just walked away. I was furious that she didn't want to climb into my truck. Of course, I didn't intend to take her back to wherever she came from. Because then I'd have to get her in my clutches again. Instead, I lost the chance to have her completely. I thought about her ass swaying in her tight jeans as she walked down the sidewalk, innocently oblivious to every male gaze on her.
I'd slice all their ducking throats. She was my angel. Mine from the moment she stepped into that store. She didn't know she signed away her freedom at that moment, but she did. Nothing would change that now. Once I found a fixation, I was as relentless as a pit bull.
Yes, I would have my angel. First, though, I had to find her again. My dumbass let her escape me, let her wander down the street beyond my view.
Not again.
Finally, I pulled myself from the window that overlooked the mountains. The glass was fogged from the warmth of my breath and hand. It made me quiver with greedy pants. The monster beneath this skin burned for her in a way that was never possible before.
It wasn't that I felt for her, per se.
I was incapable of such. These eyes had never shed a tear. These bones had never ached with grief or sadness. This heart never pounded with joy or panic. Every man knows fear but only I know the quiet of nothingness.
Inside me, I knew truly emptiness existed. I was content with that. I didn't need meaning in my life.
Blood and luxury and pleasure were more than enough.
My cock stiffened again. I wondered what my little angel was up to. I wondered if she was thinking of me, knowing she had at least once today. She was rattled by me, I could tell. If only she knew how thrilled that made me.
Her sweet floral perfume lingered my nostrils like a forbidden candy. I could hardly bridle my impatience and stop myself from returning to the place we met. I would track her down, now was not the time though.
I had an important meeting this evening at the airport and a few people who were waiting for my visit. Some would be ready for me, but most would not. The Vampire was known for dropping by at any hour of the night and snatching life from his victims like the grim reaper. They only wished I was the grim reaper while I bled them like animals and danced in their puddles.
Forcing myself to sit at the desk again, I removed a can of coffee from one of the drawers and guzzled the liquid down. My stomach burned, probably from not eating in hours, but I felt the caffeine surge through my bloodstream. I managed to put off most of my tantalizing thoughts and work through the ledgers and client engagement files for my accounting firm.
I turned off my monitor at 6:30 and locked the door to my office. Gliding into the bedroom, I traded my shirt and trousers for my black baseball cap and black long-sleeve coveralls and boots. I slipped a pistol into the inside of the waist and a variety of knives elsewhere. A gun would also be my last resort. There was no rush in shooting something. It was so . . . impersonal.
I needed to see pain and fear in someone's eyes before I tore their world apart. Any other way was like killing a cow without butchering the meat. It ruined the purpose of the kill entirely.
After eating a quick bite of leftover pizza, I headed to the adjoining garage and got into my blacked out Suburban. I turned off my phone and started towards the regional airport in town. The 20 minute drive passed in silence while my thoughts rambled. Everything in me ached to turn around and find my angel. Each passing minute without me in full awareness of her existence made my nerves tighten and my blood pressure spike.
A very thin strand of self-control dragged me to the airport. As soon as I turned onto the tarmac, a Cessna touched down. I parked by my private hangar and called one of my men at the warehouse. While it rang, my eyes followed the small white aircraft roll towards me.
"Nuel," he answered calmly.
"It's me," I said. "Get the gates ready. They're taxiing over."
"Yes, sir."
I stepped out of the car and smoothed a hand through my hair. The plane stopped under the cover of the hangar. After a few moments, the door opened and a wiry white-haired man in a black tracksuit popped out. He waved at me.
"Come on, man! You're gonna love this."
Sighing, I stalked over to the place. Mason was one of the very few people I tolerated on a semi-regular basis. I didn't trust anyone and I certainly didn't like anyone, but he was generally tolerable.
Mason showed me the storage components in the back of the plane. I checked over the inventory for holes or leaks in the cellophane but the boxes looked fine. He knew I would go into a rage if anything was out of place or destroyed. I had little tolerance for error, especially when it came to business.
"Whatcha think?" he asked with a grin. "Notice the extra few ounces?"
I shot him a dark, warning look. "Lower your voice."
Sighing, he nodded and stepped back.
"Load it up," I ordered, stomping off.
While Mason loaded the boxes into coolers in my Suburban's trunk, I stood at the door of the hangar. I dialed Nuel again.
"Ensure everything is ready for my arrival," I said. "I don't have the patience to wait today. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir. Everything is prepared. The trucks are waiting to be loaded."
I hung up, surveyed the tarmac once more, and returned to the plane. Mason closed the trunk door and turned towards me.
"Pleasure, as always," he said, extending a hand.
I nodded and walked to the driver door. Opening my phone, I sent his money into the offshore account he kept under his dead cousin's name. He climbed back into his plane and started the motors.
After Mason was in the air again, I pulled out of the airport and zipped towards the warehouse buildings I owned across town. They were primarily used to store wholesale weaponry sold in markets and stores across the country, but of course I had a special section for private clientele.
The gates to the facility were closed when I turned down the service road. Snarling, I grabbed my phone and dialed Nuel. He was going to regret lying to me. The phone rang several times before going to voicemail.
Voicemail? What the fuck? I used my code to open the gates and sped through, calling the sorry cretin again.
"Marshall! Mr Brown!" he yelled. "One of the shipping trucks drove through the building. It's getting shit on fire!"
"What?" I bellowed.
Gunfire rang in the background. My panicked gaze flew over the buildings. This time I noticed an odd yellow glow barely visible from this side. Gnashing my teeth, I altered course and sped towards the chaos.
When I rounded the building, I was greeted with the sight of cars bolting to and fro. Flames rose through a hole in the metal siding, half of a truck hanging out.
Shit! This was not what I needed right now. Fire would draw the fire department and the cops. Nuel and the guards were so going to fucking die after this.
I parked at the backside of the building and grabbed one of the guards running by, waving an assault rifle around.
"Get these boxes into 356," I snapped. "Stop for no one. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" He slung his gun over his shoulder and scooped up a few boxes.
I opened the backseat and pulled out the rifle I kept on the floorboard. Loading it, I stomped into the warehouse. Even from fifty yards away, I could feel the heat of the fire. It looked contained right now to just the truck. If the flames spread to any ammo, we'd be fucked. Several men were carrying buckets of water to douse the fire, others spraying it with fire extinguishers.
I grabbed one of the men with a bucket. "Where's the driver?"
"He ran for it! A few guys were chasing him but I don't know, boss. That's all I know."
My grip tightened on him. "Did you see it happen?"
A banner of fear crossed his eyes while he quickly shook his head. "No, sir. I was manning the gate."
"So then you let this psychopath into my facility?" I raged with a violent tug on his shirt.
"No!" he yelped. "I mean, yes! But he-he was the same driver we've had for weeks. He passed the security checks to get in!"
My body vibrated with a growl. I threw the man away and started back towards my car, dialing Nuel as I went.
"Where the fuck are you?" I snapped.
"At the south fence," he said. "We caught the driver. He ran all the way, thinking he could climb the fence. We're loading him up to bring back now."
The walls surrounding my warehouses were six-feet of chain link with double barbed, electric wiring. Then there were dozens of cameras monitoring every inch of the perimeter. Not a soul got in or out of these walls without me knowing.
Except somehow, this little asswipe did. This must have been a recent bribery or something because my employees were paid well to keep their mouths shut. He would have attacked earlier had been incentivized too. Someone was out there trying to sabotage me.
My hands clenched into fists. "Don't bring him back here," I said. "Confine him in my basement. The fire department and police will be here soon, so get him out of here. He'll be dealt with later."
I hung up and turned just in time to see red lights flashing around the corner. Pinching my nose, I walked over to my car. The trunk was emptied and the door was shut. I exhaled and propped my hands on the hips of my trousers.
I hated dealing with the authorities, but tonight I didn't have a choice.
Caroline*****I stood at the full-length mirror behind the door and glanced over my outfit. Skinny cut jeans and a black turtleneck sweater and tall leather boots. My hair was tied into a ponytail at the crown of my head and the long blonde strands fell over my shoulder. Sighing, I adjusted my glasses and turned away from the mirror. As I walked down the hall towards the living room, I could almost hear Uncle James talking to me. He'd be sitting in a robe in his recliner with the newspaper on his lap and a mug of black coffee in hand.Peering over a pair of bifocals, he was saying, "Those jeans are awfully tight. Are you trying to get boys to look at your ass? And what is that under your shirt? A push-up? Go change."The memory hit me so strongly that I was startled at the sight of Freya leaning against the kitchen island. She was tapping away on her phone and shot me a quick smile."Coffee's in the pot and there's milk in the fridge," she said.I walked past the brewing machine and
Marshall*****My muscles cramped with exhaustion as I sat outside in my car, struggling to keep my eyes open. It had been a long week. A pain in my ass kind of week, too.We had recovered the damaged goods from the attack and I'd managed to get the local police off my back. Barely. They were persistent fuckers. The driver was still in my basement, though hardly alive at this point.Today, I couldn't give less of a fuck. Not about that guy or anybody else. I sat in my car and occasionally lifted my head to look through the heavily tinted windows. I could tell when classes were changing or lunch was out, since kids would flow out of the red brick monolith. Otherwise, the school was dead from the outside.This wasn't my first day. I knew when to expect my angel. She walked to and from this building every weekday at the same time. Ear buds in, feet at the ground. She never noticed me and I doubted she ever would.This morning, she walked out of the decrepit little house in skinny jeans a
Caroline*****I kept my head down as I hurried home. If he was following me, I didn't want to know. Or did I? He did proclaim himself as my stalker. I mean, I should have been scared, right? There was no soul behind those eyes. They were hollow, dark, abysmal.And yet, looking into them, I didn't feel afraid. The darkness in them couldn't scare me. I had no idea what my stalker's intentions towards me were and even I had to admit that they probably weren't good. He was older than me. Old enough to have a trace of dark stubble along his chiseled cheeks. Old enough to have multiple very nice vehicles.So why? What business did he have stalking me, some nobody high school girl? He had to be a pedophile. Granted, I was technically legal but what else could a guy like him want from me? It's not like I had anything to steal but my virginity.That should scare the shit out of me. I've never been intimate with anyone, much less an older guy. If he wants to hurt me, I should be running for th
Caroline*****And then the door flew open and a pack of wolves emerged. By wolves, I meant half of the cheerleaders and their friends. The tall, leggy redhead, Ally, who'd been Greg's date for every dance and formal for as long as I could remember, threw us a saccharine grin."There you are, Greg!" she cooed. "We've been looking everywhere for you."I glanced at him and was stunned by his discreet eye roll. Taking a deep breath, he turned to face the pack."Hi, Ally." He smiled but it was so clearly forced that I almost laughed. "What's up?""Oh, we were just planning the after party at my house and I wanted your input on some things," she said, her friends bobbing their heads.I didn't miss the suspicious or even downright hostile look some of them sent me. As if I asked for Greg to suddenly befriend me."Okay. What things?" he asked."Well . . ." She looked warily at me.I was already rising to my feet, grabbing my backpack. "I was leaving anyway," I muttered."Caroline—" he starte
Caroline*****Mr. Mysterious didn't make an appearance even once the entire weekend. I constantly was checking the windows or taking walks, watering the bushes or washing Freya's car. I knew she thought I'd lost my mind. Maybe I had. What was I even doing? Waiting for him to come around? Fuck that. I wasn't going to wait for anyone. Not after what I'd been through. By Sunday evening, I was hating myself for wasting the weekend thinking about some creepy stalker. I tramped out to the living room and sunk into the recliner. Valentina and Freya were curled up, surrounded in a cloud of smoke. They'd been like this all weekend, not that I could judge."Wanna order a pizza delivery for dinner?" asked Freya. She was turning down the volume of the Seinfeld episode they'd been absorbed in. Valentina whined and tried to grab the remote, to which my cousin just ignored her."Sure." I sat up. "What do you guys want?""Pepperoni," Valentina moaned."Just get the meat trio or whatever," Freya sai
Marshall*****She almost had me. I felt her, really felt her, for the first time. My angel was the perfect combination of soft and warm. I almost lost my nerve holding her so closely. There was little stopping me from taking her, from sucking on her sweet lips and squeezing her until she moaned for me. She wouldn’t stop me. I knew that much already.I sat rigid straight behind the wheel. Her small figure shuffled up through the dimly lit street, a bit faster than before. She glanced around the street and hurried up towards her house.Good! She should be scared. This was not a safe neighborhood for a girl like her. She was too naive, too attractive, too small. I knew I wasn't the one man who would look at her with intent. Her openness with me was also concerning. Of course, I wanted to believe she was only that way with me, but I wasn't a fool. She was innocent and soft. My breath caught just thinking about her silky golden hair and round cheeks, the fullness of her curves under anyt
Caroline*****Monday was pretty dull, as to be expected. Greg stopped by during lunch to get his sweatshirt but he didn't linger for conversation. I had to study for an exam so I didn't take offense. The only things keeping me going were the thought of my stalker making an appearance and starting my shift at the gas station. That was only exciting because I was ready to make money for myself.I would have gotten a job sooner but I didn't have a car and Uncle James forbade me from working. He said my focus should be on my studies and that he paid for everything, so why should I work?Freya was indifferent about my decision but I could tell she was proud, in some way. I was happy to get out of the house, just in case Valentina popped up, and start saving. Maybe if it was enough someday, I could go to school. I wasn't going to set my hopes too high, though.Once last period was out, I went to my locker to grab the gym bag with my uniform in it. It was actually just a collared shirt in t
Caroline*****My favorite day! Friday. It's literally the best. Just a few hours of torture at school and then freedom for a whole two days. I wondered if I could be named Friday like Wednesday Addams. Probably not, she was way hotter than me.Fuck, why did I smoke before school?Groaning, I dragged my feet as I stared at the sidewalk leading out of the neighborhood. I was just starting it and I had so far to go. Why didn't I take the damn bus?Somehow, I remembered to plug my earbuds in and scrolled through my Spotify to find a decent playlist. There were an embarrassing number of Selena Gomez albums in there. I picked the Mac DeMarco playlist that had been stuck in my head. Each step became slightly more bearable.Honey, the stars keep on calling my nameBut don't worry, I've told you again and againWhen I'm down, you're always the first one to knowSkipping town, I'll take you wherever I goI finally turned onto the Main Street and started towards school. By happenstance, I glanc