Mountain Desire (Wild Mountain Men 3)

“Why didn’t she just send in the cavalry? Why is she there alone?”

“Because the video is just of the women. The guy’s hidden.”

What the fuck was he talking about? “Explain.”

He did. I drove as he shared how Eddie had positioned the camera so he was never seen. He had the women on top for all the sex. Nix cut in and added that it appeared the women didn’t know they were filmed.

“It’s like a trophy,” I guessed. “Fucking a woman and keeping the record of it. He’d love the fact that they had no clue it had been done. And the kicker is, he did it in your bed.”

“Exactly,” Shane replied. He went on to explain the clip of Erin threatening Eddie.

“Jesus. He’s a sick fuck. He manipulated a sixteen-year-old girl, and when she finally had enough and got pissed about it, he kills her. Why is Eve all alone?”

“She didn’t want to review the memory cards at the station,” Nix said. “She took them to her house and went through them there.”

“Last night.” Shane’s two words prompted me to remember what we’d done together, in the same bed where all the films had been recorded. If Nix hadn’t known we were a thing before, he was well aware now. “And this morning. Just like the others.”

Just like the others. They’d fucked and she’d been on top. Yeah, Nix had a pretty good idea why Eve had kept the videos out of the station.

“She thought she was one in a long line,” I said, realizing what Eve must have imagined. “Holy fuck. You said hundreds. She thought you had sex with all those women, filming them without their knowledge?”

“Yes.”

“And what happened to Erin… all after what her ex did to her.”

“What did her ex do?” Nix asked, his voice dark.

“Get in line,” Shane replied.

Yeah, if we came across this Chad fucker, Nix could have what was left of him after Shane and I were through. On top of how sick the whole thing was, I could only imagine the betrayal she’d felt at thinking it had been Shane.

“How’d she figure out it wasn’t you?”

He told me about her seeing Eddie’s ring, that ugly fucking thing he never took off. How she put it all together. Erin at sixteen, Erin as the event planner for his local film. The threat she’d made.

“If Eve brought the camera and memory cards to the station, it would be evidence. Hell, it still is regardless,” Nix said. “I’m guessing there might be something in there she doesn’t want shared?”

It was silent for a moment, and I had to assume Shane nodded or gave some nonverbal yes.

“If it’s on there, we’ll get it taken out. You have my word.”

“I don’t give a shit about the recording. I’m proud of how my woman looks when I’m fucking her. But I don’t want it to be the only thing I have left of her. Can’t this fucking SUV go any faster?” Shane shouted at Nix.

“I’m five minutes out,” I said but wondered if it was soon enough.

If Eddie Nickel was fucked up enough to secretly film fucking dozens of women in his own son’s bed and murder one of them in cold blood, then he wouldn’t hesitate to finish the one person who could destroy it all.

EVE

Eddie stood up. “Want some coffee?”

He didn’t wait for an answer and headed for the kitchen. I stood as well but followed at a slower pace. I watched him in his… natural habitat. His huge mansion, his oversize kitchen with sleek appliances, his fancy coffee maker that hissed and had more buttons than the space shuttle. He didn’t look like a murderer. He didn’t look like a rapist. Handsome didn’t describe him. He was charismatic. Confident. Brash, even.

He knew he had power, especially over women, and that came out just shy of cocky. It appeared every single one of those women on the secret video, aside from any that were underage, had consented to sex. They’d wanted to sleep with the famous movie star, Eddie Nickel.

He’d given them what they wanted, but had done so because he’d gotten what he wanted. Video trophies of his conquest. A shrine of sorts to his ability to outwit as many women as he could.

He’d gotten away with it for years. Probably longer than the collection of memory cards. Technology changed. There had to be VCR tapes somewhere of even earlier conquests.