When You Were Mine (Stone Lake 2)

Prologue

Gavin

“Why did you leave me, Gavin? I needed you.”

I jerk awake. My heart beating rapidly, and a cold, clammy sweat covering my body. I throw my legs over the side of the bed, bend down almost to my knees, my hands holding my head. I breathe deep, until I get a hold of myself, then I get up and walk into my bathroom. I turn the shower nozzle until it’s definitely more cold than hot and get in.

The icy water runs over my body forcing any urge to sleep out of my system. I grab the body wash and rub it against my face and neck, my eyes closed tightly.

Luna’s face is there waiting.

It never fails. You would think after thirteen years she wouldn’t haunt me. It doesn’t happen all the time, but anytime I have this nightmare, she’s there waiting for me in my mind… torturing me.

Sometimes the craziest things can bring on the nightmare. I’ll see someone on the street that reminds me of Luna. I’ll hear someone laugh and it sounds exactly like her. Other times it’s a sunset that reminds me of one I watched with her on that old dock years ago. Tonight’s nightmare wasn’t because of any of those.

It was because of the orders I got from Quantico.

Another murder.

That’s nothing new. It’s my job and I’ve been doing it long enough to know that there is nothing surprising. People are good and bad, but there are some that are evil to their very core. Those are the people I hunt. That’s what I do.

My hand goes automatically to the scar on my side.

That’s what almost killed me…

No, getting orders from Quantico, is nothing new. Although, it usually revolves around cases in and near Montana, since that’s where I work the majority of time. I work out of the Montana field office, so that’s to be expected.

Today the orders weren’t about Montana. Tonight they want me to go to Maine.

Christ.

I never wanted to step foot back in Maine.

Never.

Turning the shower off, I reach for a towel, and step out. I pat myself dry enough and then hook the soft cotton around my body, exiting the bathroom and going to the phone. The bedside clock says three in the morning. It’s too fucking late to be calling, but I dial.

“This better be good, Kid,” Lawrence says when he answers.

“Don’t pretend you were sleeping.”

“Hell no. I wouldn’t care if I was sleeping. You interrupted my drinking.”

“Did you know?”

“Know what?” he asks.

“Know that Brass was going to order me to go to Maine.”

“Fuck.”

“You can say that again,” I mutter.

I hear him take another drink and slam a glass or maybe a whole damn bottle down.

“What part?”

“Stone fucking Lake,” I answer, the words feeling as if they burn my throat as I say them.

“You could tell them no.”

“You know that won’t work, Dern.”

“Yeah, I know. What are you going to do?”

“Go to Stone Lake. They think it’s the Cremator.”

“They should have never named that son of a bitch,” Lawrence grumbles. “Just gives these sick fucks a taste of fame.”

“Yeah, probably,” I agree.

“You there, Boy?”

“Christ, Lawrence, I don’t want to go back to that shithole.”

“Wrong. At least don’t lie to yourself. You don’t want to see her.”

“She might not be living in Stone Lake anymore.” I cup the back of my neck and part of me is hoping that’s the truth—the other part of me is hoping she’s still there. Always where Luna is concerned… there’s chaos in my head.

“She is.” My chest squeezes at his words.

My brows knit together, and my lips turn down. “How do you know?” My mouth hangs open, and I blink away an image of her that flashes through my mind.

“I might have checked up on her through the years. She’s never left Stone Lake.”

I recover from the initial shock. It’s one thing to think she’d be there but another to know that she truly never left. “That’s not surprising. She sure wouldn’t leave the place for me. It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s been thirteen years. She’s probably married with kids,” I tell him, even if that thought is painful.

“Probably. Women like that kind of thing.”

“What would you know about it?”

“Not a damn thing and that’s how I like it. I thought you were following in my footsteps.”

“I am.”

“Nah. You’re just still stuck in the past.” He’s not entirely right, but he sure as hell isn’t wrong either.

“You want to go to Maine with me? They said I could pick my partner.”

“You don’t need an old has been like me with you, Kid.”

“I trust you and that’s definitely something I need in Stone Lake.”

“There’s a reason I’m on a desk. Take Clayton with you. He’s a good agent, even if he is a little green.”

“I want you.”

“Jesus, you’re a demanding little prick.”

“I’ll be at your house tomorrow night, be packed and make sure you’re sober.”