presented. “From Ellery?”
My fingers tingled with the urge to sink into Kayden’s thick mix of blond
and brown hair. Damn man should model for some shampoo commercial. I looked away and considered my answer. There was nothing distinctive about the
figure. Hell, I couldn’t even tell if it was male or female. Yet part of me didn’t
think it was Ellery. “I don’t think it was him.”
“Why not?”
“The clothes weren’t the same, and I think whoever it was, was shorter.”
“We have another player?” Tension invaded the man lying in my lap.
I looked down and realized my fingers were buried in his hair, absently
stroking him. I went to pull my fingers free. “It looks that way.”
He stopped me. “Don’t, it helps with the headache.”
Heat rose in my face, but as soon as he let me go, I restarted the soothing motion. Silence descended between us, and those steel blue eyes searched my face. I had no idea what he was looking for, but I refused to look away. Looking
away meant I felt guilty, and I didn’t. Not much, anyway. I kept stroking his hair
and bit-by-bit he relaxed. Between the soothing motion and his reassuring
presence, my thoughts calmed. “Ellery left the bullet after killing Kelsey.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“There were fresh scratches on his wrists.” My fingers stilled for a moment,
then resumed. “Marks Kelsey left behind.”
I waited for the inevitable question of who I thought the K was meant for.
Instead, he proved how much I really didn’t understand the male species.
“That only proves it wasn’t Ellery behind the scope. If he’s serious about taking me out of the equation, he’d never let you spot the sight, nor would he miss.”
His nonchalant comment threw me off guard and I stopped mid-stroke. I
gave his hair a gentle tug. “Don’t, Kayden.”
He blinked up at me.
“Don’t minimize the threat. Just because it wasn’t Ellery’s finger on the trigger, doesn’t mean he’s done playing with us. He’s like a cat with a mouse, bat
it around enough, it’ll never see the end coming.” I hesitated, worried that what I
said next would seem overly paranoid. “What if he considers us both bait and prey?”
He frowned. “How do you figure?”
“If we aren’t the only ones trying to track him down, he could use us to lure
them out, or they could us to bring him out. Either way, we’re screwed.”
He winced, probably from my grip on his hair more than explanation. “If
that’s the case, we either sit here and wait to get played, or we turn the tables. To do that we need to figure out who else has joined the game and why. Knowing
that would give us enough to lure Ellery out of hiding.” He tugged my hand out
of his hair, then held it against his chest. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not
fond of being hunted.”
No, being hunted wasn’t my idea of a good time, either. “You don’t think I’m
reaching?”
“About Ellery?”
I nodded.
“No, because it makes sense.” He let me go and started to sit up. His breath
