"With moves like these, it makes me think I picked the wrong sister to work at my establishment," Sergei said. "Had I known you wanted to dance so badly, I would've given you an audition.” He pointed at the screen. “Maybe I can have him watch again. He really brings it out of you.”
Tabby watched the recording with growing horror. The dance had ended and now she found herself performing a different kind of dance. It was like watching a stranger bob up and down on Linx. There was no doubt what they were doing. What they had done.
At one point in the video, Linx looked right at the camera and stared for what felt like an eternity. Almost like he 'knew' it was there. Her face flushed and bile rose in her throat. Tabby swallowed repeatedly to keep from throwing up. Had the whole thing been a set up? Had Linx betrayed her? She’d thought for sure there was something developing between them. She’d felt it or at least Tabby had thought she’d felt something special. Had she imagined everything?
You’re a fool, she told herself.
When the recording stopped, Sergei began to clap. The slow methodical sound made her flinch. "That was quite a performance," he said. "Definitely an 'A' for effort. My only advice is that you might want to lose the underwear. White isn’t very attractive onstage unless it has sequins."
Tabby’s body flashed from hot to cold. The one time she’d chosen to shed her inhibitions and just let go had come back to destroy her. "What do you want?"
Sergei’s hard gaze made Tabby tremble. "You know what I want."
"I'm not going to dance for you," Tabby said. She wouldn’t do it. No matter what he threatened to do to her.
Sergei snorted. "Not that.” He tsked. “Though I admit it would bring me a level of satisfaction. No, I want what I've always wanted. I want you to stop causing trouble for my business."
"What about Taylor?" Tabby asked.
"What about her?" Sergei countered. "She's happy with me. Aren't you, dumpling?"
Fresh tears filled her twin's eyes and spilled down her cheeks. "Yes.” She sniffed. “I want to stay."
It was a lie and they both knew it. Did Taylor finally understand why Tabby had been trying so desperately to get her away from Sergei? If she did, then the loss of Tabby’s livelihood would be worth it.
"So what happens now? Are you going to call the police?" Numbness engulfed Tabby until she couldn't feel anything at all. He had her where he’d always wanted her—at his mercy.
Sergei tilted his head and took a deep breath. "I've never cared for the police. I prefer to handle my own business."
Tabby wished he'd just get to the point. They both knew he could do whatever he wanted and there was nothing she could do about it, as long as the video existed. "What now?"
Sergei grinned again. "I'm so glad that you asked. You are going to walk out my club and never come back. If you even think about interfering with my business again, I am going to send this recording to your work and of course post it all over the Internet." He turned to Boris. "How much do you think we could make if we sold this tape?"
Boris scratched his head, giving the question serious thought. "I don't know, boss. At least ten thousand, if we shopped it to the Internet porn sites. Possibly more, if we can clean it up and bring out the details." He glanced at Tabby's small breasts.
If that recording hit the Internet, life as Tabby knew it would be over. There was no doubt the library would fire her. She'd be hard pressed to ever work in a library again. Most of her co-workers would stop speaking to her and she'd lose what few friends that she had.
"I'm sorry, Tab," Taylor said.
Sergei scowled at her. "You did nothing wrong. Your sister is the criminal."
"Can I go now?" Tabby asked, unable to meet Taylor's gaze.
"Da," Sergei said. "You may leave, but remember, one more wrong move and the world gets to see your little dance." He threw his head back and laughed, a big barking sound that sent shards of pain through her.
Tabby’s body shook with barely suppressed anger as she forced herself to leave. What was she going to do now? She'd blown her one chance at getting Sergei and all because she couldn't keep her pants on.
She phoned a taxi to come pick her up. The driver dropped her off at her car and she drove home, seething. She thought of Linx. How he'd encouraged her to dance. How he'd pulled her onto his lap. How he'd stared right at the camera, all but grinning, as she lay splayed beneath him as he drove himself inside of her.
Oh god, how the betrayal hurt. Taylor was right. There was sex and there was ruin. And thanks to last night, Tabby had done a bang-up job of ruining her life.
How many times had she lectured Taylor about dating men that were bad for her? How many times had she told her that she was behaving out of character? That she deserved better? And what does she do the first chance she gets?
Tabby strips and fucks a total stranger. Some example she turned out to be. No wonder Taylor could barely look her in the eye. It wasn’t just fear of Sergei. It was disappointment. But her twin’s disappointment was nothing compared to the disappointment Tabby felt in herself. How could she have been so wrong about Linx?
The thought that he was somehow involved or connected with Sergei ate at her all the way home. Tabby couldn't let it go. She had to find out the truth.
She arrived home and looked around her small house. It had taken years to furnish it and fix it so it was exactly what she wanted. And now with the click of a button, it would all disappear. Tabby wasn't naive enough to believe that Sergei wouldn't send the video out.
He was only toying with her. Making her believe that she was 'safe'. Soon he'd tire of the game and put the video up on the Internet and life, as she knew it, would be over. It was already over. Only the mirage of her old life remained. She scanned the room, not really seeing it anymore.
Tabby wasn't surprised by the knock on the front door. She knew who it was and she was ready to face him. She walked over and looked through the peephole, though she needn’t have bothered, since the door was only hanging by one hinge. Linx stood on her porch with a wide smile on his face.
For a second Tabby's heart stuttered and she forgot all about being angry. But the second passed quickly and the anger returned once more. She opened the door.
Linx brightened when he saw her, then his smile slowly faded. "What's wrong?" he asked.
She stared at him. For the life of her, Tabby couldn't see through the facade. From all outward appearances, he looked concerned. The man deserved accolades for his acting ability. "Come in," she said, not answering him yet. Tabby didn't trust herself to speak.
Linx stepped through the door and grabbed her arm.
"Don't touch me." She jerked away and shut the door behind him.
Linx's sharp blue eyes narrowed, but he didn't try to touch her again. "What happened? I thought that we had a good time last night."
Tabby snorted. Good time was an understatement. Last night had been the best night of her life. She should've known something was up for that reason alone, but she'd been too busy enjoying herself.
"Why did you do it?" Her voice remained strong, without a quaver of emotion to betray her true feelings. “Was it for money? Did you owe a lot and this was how you decided to pay up?”
Linx's brow lowered over his eyes. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."
Unable to contain her fury any longer, Tabby turned on him. "You knew! Last night, you knew that we were being taped and you still let me get on stage and make a fool of myself."
Linx's eyes widened.
Bitterness welled within her. Tabby was angry. Angry at him. Angry at herself. Angry that she'd allowed herself to care for this man. "How much did Sergei pay you?"
"Pay?" His jaw clamped shut and a muscle flexed as he ground his teeth.
“Pay you to sleep with me,” she grit out.
His nostrils flared and white lines bracketed his mouth as his lips thinned over his teeth. "We exchanged no money. I do not charge for sex."
“So
you screwed me for free. Oh that makes it all better.” Tabby curled her hands into fists and glared at him. "How could you? You looked right at the camera. You all but winked at it, when you were..."
"When I was what?" His voice dropped in warning.
Tabby knew she was treading on thin ice, but she didn't care. She wanted someone else to hurt as much as she was hurting. It only seemed fitting that it be the man who’d helped ruin her life. "You know what."
* * * * *
Linx felt the beast inside of him rise. It took every fiber of his being not to shift as Tabby's accusations flayed him. She’d all but accused him of being dishonorable. "Are you implying that I somehow coerced you into laying beneath me?"
That was a charge the Phantom people and the Atlanteans took very seriously. A man found guilty of coercing or forcing a woman to have sex was executed.
He saw the temptation in her eyes to lie. Linx also saw the second she decided to go with the truth.
"No, you didn't force me." She shook her head, sending her long wine-colored hair into her face. "I was the idiot who convinced herself that last night was different. Somehow special."
Linx reached for her again, but she dodged away. "It was different." At first, he'd tried to convince himself that last night was just sex. Amazing sex. But still just sex. By the afternoon, Linx had almost believed it, but seeing Tabby again brought the truth crushing down. He was no longer in denial.
Tabby laughed painfully. “I'm such an idiot. I should've known. The night was too perfect to be real."
This time when Linx reached out, he didn't allow Tabby to escape. She struggled in his arms, until he guided her over to the wall and pinned her back against it. She attempted to squirm away, until he pressed his body into hers. The second hard met soft, Linx felt the tension in her fade. "Tell me what has happened."
Wetness hit his chest and Linx stilled, afraid to move, to breathe. Tabby’s shoulders began to shake and the moisture increased. Oh goddess, he could handle anything, but tears. Linx wasn't sure what to do. Tabby let out a loud sob and something inside of him crumbled.
"How could you?" She sniffed. “I trusted you…with everything.”
"What is it that you think that I've done?" Linx asked. He needed to know so that he could fix whatever it was.
She heaved a shuddering breath. "You let him tape me. Tape us."
"Let who?" Linx rubbed her arms, his thumbs gently caressing her bare skin.
She sobbed again. "Sergei."
"He taped us?" Linx wasn't sure what taping meant, but he knew from the context that it wasn't anything good. "What was taped?"
"Us," Tabby cried. "Me! Everything..." She indicated to her body.
Linx rocked her as his mind raced. He needed to find out exactly what Sergei had done so that he could take away her tears. "He knows about us breaking in last night?"
She looked at him with watery eyes. "He knows about everything. He's seen everything. Sergei plans to release it onto the Internet."
Linx knew that the Internet was used for the spread of information. "How do you know this?" This time when Tabby pulled away, he reluctantly released her.
"He showed me the tape. You looked right at the camera. I saw you," she said. The accusation in her voice was still there, but had lost some of its ferocity.
"I knew of no camera," he said softly.
"But you looked at it," she said.
Had he seen it and not known what he was looking at? It was possible. Linx wasn't familiar with all of the inventions on Earth. Still had he suspected there was something wrong with the situation last night, beyond the obvious, he would've never allowed Tabby to be placed in such a vulnerable position.
Of course, she would never believe him. The only way he’d convince her was if he righted the situation.
When he didn't answer immediately, Tabby said, "I'd like you to leave. I have a lot to think about and I can't do that with you here."
"Tabby, let me explain." His chest tightened at the thought of leaving. It went against every fiber of his being. Warriors didn’t abandon their…mates.
She shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. The damage is already done." Tabby walked over to the door and opened it. "Please, leave."
"I can fix this," he said.
"Don't! You'll only make things worse for me and for Taylor," she said. "Now go."
The emotions he'd kept carefully contained rioted inside of him as Linx stepped out onto Tabby's front porch. He turned back to look at her one last time and found himself staring at her closed door. How had things gone so right and so very wrong in such a short period of time?
Linx pulled out his translation device and looked up 'taped'. He read the definition twice, convinced that there had to be some kind of mistake. But there was no mistake.
Anger boiled in his gut, threatening to explode.
Did she really think so little of him that she'd believe he'd do something so low? The answer Linx got didn't sit well. Tabby had all but accused him of having no honor. He may not take life or this quest very seriously, but he'd given her no reason to question his honor. It was the one area of his life that Linx never joked about. That fact that Tabby did...hurt.
Somehow he’d fix this mess. He had to. His life and future were riding on his success.
* * * * *
Making Linx leave was the hardest thing Tabby had ever done in her life. She'd thought it would be easy. Just push him out the door and forget about him. Trouble was Linx wasn't the type of man that a woman forgot about. He was the type of man that a woman remembered fondly in her twilight years. The kind of man that could still bring a twinkle to her eyes no matter how much time had passed.
And she'd just kicked him to the curb.
"You did it because he betrayed you," she muttered. "He knew about the camera and never said a word."
Except...Linx had looked genuinely confused when she'd accused him. Almost like he didn't understand what she meant, which was impossible. Only a simpleton wouldn't get it. She'd been direct—thanks to a burst of courage prodded by a sharp stick of anger.
Of course now that he was gone, Tabby was still in the same bind she'd been in when she arrived home.
She thought about calling the police to report the abuse she'd noted. But Tabby knew that Taylor would never press charges. And since she hadn't actually 'witnessed' Sergei hit her sister, there wouldn't be much the police could do. Taylor could say she walked into a door and that would be the end of it.
Tabby's thoughts turned to Linx once more. How could she have been so wrong about him? She'd always prided herself on being a good judge of character. Had lust destroyed her brain cells? Probably, but last night hadn’t all been about lust. And that hurt most of all.
Tomorrow she would go into work and give her notice. They would be shocked, but she had no choice. Better that than have them learn the truth. She had a little savings. Enough to live on for a few months. After that, maybe she'd change her name. Dye her hair. She glanced down at her long burgundy hair and fresh tears began to flow. The thought of having to change her hair was too much. She'd already sacrificed enough. How much more did she have to lose?
* * * * *
Chapter Seven
Linx hailed a taxi and returned to the strip club. He may be angry at Tabby’s refusal to believe him, but Linx was furious with Sergei. No way would he let the man get away with threatening her.
He paid the taxi and watched it drive away. He gazed up and down the street, but no one was around. There were no cars parked outside the club yet, which was perfect for what he had in mind. Linx walked up to the front door and turned the knob. It opened. He found Boris inside, sitting on a barstool watching some kind of sporting event.
The beefy wall of a man stood and glared at him. "What do you think you're doing here?"
"I want to speak with Sergei." Linx watched as Boris raised his hand and gave some kind of a signal. Alexei and Viktor slipped out of the shadows. He eyed the men
and grinned to himself. At least now it would be somewhat of a challenge.
Boris glanced over his shoulder. "We have a slow one.” He nodded in Linx’s direction. “He thinks because of his porn debut last night that we’re going to just let him walk in here and talk to the boss."
Viktor laughed and muttered something about a big dick under his breath.
Alexei moved in closer. "We owe you for that little stunt you pulled the other night. Don’t know how you did it, but we had to replace our car."
Linx arched a brow and leaned against the doorway. "And I owe you for taping me and my lady friend in a rather delicate position."
Alexei snorted. "You missed your calling, pretty boy. You could've made some serious money with that dick of yours, but now it's too late because nobody's going to hire you once we get done messing up your handsome face."
“I’ve heard of this. Is this what they call ‘trash talk’ here on Earth?” Linx asked.
“Duratski!” Viktor said.
“You’re right, he is an idiot,” Alexei added.
Bolstered by the other men's nearness, Boris made his move. The big man came in swinging, but Linx was ready. He caught Boris’ massive fist in his hand and squeezed. Bones crunched beneath his fingertips.
Boris howled in pain.
"What..." Viktor reached for his gun, but before he could pull it out of the harness beneath his jacket, Linx was on him.
Alexei rushed forward and barreled into Linx, sending him flying through the air. Linx flipped end over end and landed lightly on his feet, then rushed them. The beast rose inside of him and claws sprang from his fingertips. He felt his teeth lengthening and his vision shift.
Alexei helped Viktor up. Both men faced him.
"What is he?" Viktor asked.
Boris cradled his hand and stared in horror. "He's a Tchort. A demon. The devil himself."
"Kill it!" Alexei shouted.
The men drew their guns and fired wildly. Linx leapt into the air and landed on Viktor, who in turn fell into Alexei. Boris's gun wavered as he tried to get a clear shot. Linx didn't give him the chance. He faded and appeared behind the big man. He grabbed Boris around the neck and slammed his head into the bar. He went down hard and didn’t get back up.
Phantom Warriors Volume 1 Page 23