by Piper Page
“Why would you save her?”
I smiled at Allie’s dumbfounded expression. She didn’t understand how her plan could fail.
“I don’t know what you mean. Why wouldn’t I save her?”
“Because of who you are. It makes no sense.”
“You don’t really know who I am.”
She rested her head against the headboard, cradling a pillow. “She said you were a good man too. And I think she was lying about that. I know you’re not a good man.”
I crossed my arms, crooked an eyebrow. “To her, I was a good man. To many others, a very bad man. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.”
“So you saved her, why? Tell me again?”
“Because she needed help, and I was the only one to save her. I save women, children, and the less fortunate, but if you’re part of our world, then you’re fair game.”
“I wasn’t part of your world,” Allie said.
I turned away. “Yeah, that’s true. Maybe one day I can make it up to you, but for now, I’ve got to be the bad guy.”
That didn’t persuade her. I didn’t blame her.
I saw Krista’s pain, and I wanted to help. The truth spilled out of me then. “I saved Marta because she was a friend of my mother’s.”
My cheeks grew warm, but I continued, noticing her perk up. “She was a prostitute too. My mom was a good woman, trying to provide for us. She was born poor and our father left us before we even knew him. One day our mother didn’t come home, so we sat there and waited for a few hours, because without her we hardly ate. We did odd jobs, anything we could as children, but it never was enough.
“She never came home that night. In the morning, we went looking for her. It wasn’t long because I knew where she worked and as soon as the gangsters saw us, they started to mock us. They started going on about how we were orphans and we were wandering around looking for our mommy.
“Their leader had killed my mother that night in a fit of rage. My brothers and I were devastated. I didn’t sleep for days. I kept wanting to hang that bastard up from his nutsacks on the tallest electrical line.
“My brothers, they were sad, very sad. Me? I was very angry. So angry I vowed to get revenge. I started coming up with plots on how we could do it. We were only teenagers, but my brothers and I, we must’ve had some fucked up genes. Because we were murderers. The next year proved that.
“Slowly, we began taking them out. The lower ranked guys at first. That didn’t worry them too much. It didn’t settle our thirst for justice. So we planned a night where we’d take out all the top guys. When we succeeded, the prostitutes had nowhere to go.
“We let them free. Marta didn’t have a job, so I offered her one. One where she didn’t have to sell her body and soul.”
I expected for her to mockingly clap, but she pushed herself to the edge of the bed and listened intently. Whatever expression she held, I couldn’t read it.
“Now it’s only fair, since I told you a deep dark secret about me, that you tell me one about yourself.” Something bothered me earlier. It’d been gnawing at my gut. “Tell me why you’re unable to take a sexy photo. What happened? What’s scared you?”
Allie shied away. Her cheeks started to flush too.
I wondered if she would back down, but she wriggled her toes, then said softly, “Okay.”
“My story isn’t as crazy as yours, but I guess it was enough to leave lasting damage. My first boyfriend in high school was supposed to be the one. I was a shy bookworm. Chris was a good looking guy and I got along with him well. My parents loved him because his father had a great reputation and they were loaded.
“But he kept pestering me for sex. Just little comments like ‘So when are we finally going to do it?’ Which isn’t the most romantic way to get into a girl’s pants.”
I snorted. I wiped my nose as if I didn’t mean it.
She smiled back at me. It felt like someone had tossed a warm blanket over my shoulders as we shared that moment together. Interesting.
“He didn’t do it all the time, so things were still okay. I thought I would be ready to have sex, but I wasn’t. When he initiated, I turned him down and told him I wasn’t ready. He got really angry, started saying how there must be something wrong with me and then stormed out of my house. “
My fists clenched. My blood boiled inside me as I listened on.
“I thought Chris would cool out. The next day, he didn’t talk to me. Several days later, after trying to talk back, he wouldn’t. Then one of my friends notified me of a post on a classified ad site. He posted my name and told the internet that I wanted to have sex with anonymous strangers, that I was a huge slut that liked anonymous sex.
“Yeah, a few people showed up at our door. My dad scared them off, but even worse, the next day everyone at school had seen it and believed it. Some teased me. Since then, I’ve been kind of frigid and reasonably scared.”
I paced, my anger flaring. I tried to calm down, tried to beat the beast back, but it roared inside me. “I’ll rip his head off. Just tell me where he lives, and I’ll fly there today and bring you back his head.”
Allie cracked up. She hid her mouth to stop from laughing. “Oh, I shouldn’t laugh at that. While I’m sure you’re serious, that’s not necessary. That wouldn’t change anything.”
“He should pay,” I said, gritting my teeth.
How could anyone hurt this beautiful girl? It was a shame that her first experience had been with such a douchebag, because a girl like her should really be treated like royalty. Allie didn’t deserve to be treated that way, and a fierce protectiveness rose inside me to try to guard her from any more harm.
She was a flower that had been stomped on as it had attempted to bloom. By some fucking psychopath that I would have loved to get my hands on.
“Hey Santiago,” she said. She snapped her fingers. “Relax, okay. If I knew you were going to get so worked up, I wouldn’t have told you.”
I rolled my shoulders slowly. I cracked my shoulder blades. “Fine, I’m glad you told me, but the guy really shouldn’t be allowed to live for what he did to you.”
“You believe in more than an eye for an eye? More like take my eye and I take you out and burn your whole house down.”
“There are special circumstances. I can see this really hurt you, and it’s bullshit. Little punk should’ve treated you better. Hell, if it were me, you would be begging to jump on my cock, and if you weren’t, I’d just call you crazy and walk away.”
“Oh, is that what you’d do?” she asked, chuckling now, her cheeks rosy.
Our eyes locked. Hers drifted down. They lingered over the bulge against the towel. Blood might’ve rushed down there when I thought about protecting her.
Better get out of here, I thought. My cock was giving me away.
And my mouth too… What was I doing, telling her about my past?
But it did get me to hear more about hers. And that had been very interesting. It explained a lot about her.
Allie snapped me out of it. “Are you going to let me live?” She barely got the words out.
Wow, things had gotten serious all of a sudden. “I promise if you agree to work with me, I’ll let you go.”
Allie’s brows furrowed. “And what if your friends don’t agree?”
“They’ll agree.” I headed toward the door. “They’ll have to agree.”
She could have my bedroom. I would take the dumpy one down the hall. It made me feel better to know she had the better room.
I might want to keep her forever, but once she did the job, I’d set her free. In the meantime, I’d make her as comfortable as possible.
Chapter 7
Allie
* * *
Sprawled out on Santiago’s bed, I flipped through some magazines he had lying around. They were bodybuilding magazines and cage fighting magazines. Subjects that didn’t interest me, but I had nothing better to do.
I’d thought about getting a workout in
. But the most I’d done was hit the speed bag like I was born without reflexes. It was likely to knock me out as I had gotten too close to it several times.
Reading was much safer. And something that I enjoyed, even if it wasn’t my favorite subject, I would read anything. I devoured books like I devoured chocolate.
“Allie?” Santiago called.
I sprung up from bed. Strangely, we’d gotten pretty close. In a weird way I was closer to him than any other guy in college, so when he entered a mix of emotions washed over me.
It was safe to say I was plenty confused.
He wore a tight grey muscle shirt and jeans, and he held something in his hands. A dress? And my God what a dress it was—all sparkly and a deep red with a cut for only the most adventurous.
Which meant he dropped it next to me. I crossed my brows. “What’s this?”
“This is when you live up to your end of the bargain.”
I sighed. I sat up and placed the dress up to me. “I never asked for this. I never asked for any of this.”
“You’re here. Make the most of it.”
“And how exactly will I do that?”
Santiago dropped down onto his bench press. He clasped his hands and leaned in.
I tried not to look into his eyes, but that silver gaze flashed over me and I had no choice. They were a trap I always found myself wandering into.
“We found a buyer for the diamond, but we need someone to go and negotiate. No one here is really up for the job. A beautiful woman like yourself, we believe, would be the best choice to talk to our target.”
“That sounds a little sexist to me.”
He sprung up. Santiago headed away. I reached out to stop him, but slapped my hands back against my sides.
“Our target is a little sexist,” he said. “Make that a lot sexist. So this will work well.”
Before he left, he turned back around. He tried a smile, but showed no teeth. “Aida will be here to help you get ready.”
Get ready for what? To see who?
I growled at the door. He couldn’t just leave me like this with so many questions.
Not much after he left, did my door bust open and a train of girls strut in. They were dressed less conservatively than the dress Santiago asked me to wear. High heels, big breasts, with tats and a lot of attitude. It sucked to jump to conclusions, but these girls looked like strippers.
“Come on, chica. Up with you and come.”
Aida wore a dress that would make Ru Paul scream. It was red like mine but with a huge red rose on the shoulder and a rose for a knot at her waist.
My feet hit the floor, and I was up and running, chasing after these girls, who breezed down the hall in their high heels like true pros.
They led me down to a second level, then cut right down another hallway. The compound was labyrinthine, if one took a wrong turn they’d go around in circles. We got to our destination, a full service salon hidden in the gangster’s compound.
Did they have a Whole Foods in here too somewhere? I wouldn’t doubt it.
“Sit down, fabulous, and let us make you even more fabulous. I brought my crew and we’re here to work.”
I grinned as I sat down. That grin was wiped off my lips when they crowded about, an army of girls fussing over my hair, my makeup, and my nails. They inspected me first.
“She has no color on her toes,” one girl said. She snapped her finger. “Why would you have no color on you, girl?”
Another brought up how I had no eyelash game, a shame since I had such stunning green eyes.
“She’s rough around the edges,” Aida said after a loud clap. “That’s fine. We’ll work with it. Rough around the edges we can deal with. Rough all around, that is something that we can’t help.”
“Thank you, I guess,” I said.
They wasted no time. One girl took my hair, another took my feet, and the few left gathered to prepare my makeup. They argued over it far longer than I had ever deliberated over myself.
The whirlwind of help distracted me. Getting pampered, I sank back in my seat and smiled. It was impossible not to with the attention they gave me. Except lurking deep inside of me was fear of where this would lead.
Santiago wouldn’t whore me out, would he?
Near the end, I thought about asking them for help, but I knew they would ignore me. These were girls under service to the men in the organization. If they couldn’t get out, they wouldn’t be able to help.
Santiago would do whatever he needed. He held no loyalty to me.
He might not kill me, I realized, but he might give me up, and then explain away his innocence. At least I didn’t kill her, he could say.
My mood absolutely plummeted by the time they left. They told me all sorts of compliments, and I tried to humor them, but they grew tired. They congratulated themselves with a job well done before scurrying away.
Santiago appeared behind me. I’d been lost in thought, and I hadn’t noticed him staring. His face was as solid as a stone.
My virginity, taken by a strange man, forcing himself on me. Given up by Santiago. Was that what I had to look forward to? I couldn’t stand it. I had enough.
I flung myself toward him.
“Please, Santiago, don’t make me go.” I could’ve sworn he wasn’t like this. That Marta hadn’t been lying to me. He’s a good man, she said. I believed it.
“You’ve got to go. We need to do this,” he said heavily.
“I don’t need to.” I grabbed his hands and squeezed them. He pulled them back, but I tugged him closer. “Don’t make me go. Don’t give me up to someone else.”
I threw myself at his chest. My arms wrapped around him, and I hugged him close, his solid body warm and comforting. I imagined us in another time and place where I wasn’t his captive and he wasn’t my captor.
In a different time and place, we might have fallen in love.
I whimpered, “Don’t give me up. Why? Why would you give me away?”
I ran my hands down his shoulders. I raked them down his chest, loving the feel of him, a lightning bolt of energy driving down between my thighs. A strange tingle crossed over my body, and I fought the arousal pooling in me.
A desperate need to get closer, to place myself in his arms, overcame me. I blinked hard, then looked up to see his reaction.
I hoped he wouldn’t be angry.
Instead, he grinned.
“What’s so funny?” My eyes narrowed. “Jerk.”
I began to pull away, but he caught my elbows, and forced me to stay. My breath hitched, and that arousal in my swirled deliciously, stirring me up into a frenzy. His cool blue eyes took me in.
“Is that what you think this is? No, Allie. That’s not what this is.”
“Oh?” My lips parted even more.
If I wasn’t so lost in the moment, I’d say I was inviting him in.
“I wouldn’t give you up to anyone, Allie. I want you all to myself,” Santiago said.
“If that’s what you want,” I breathed. “Then why don’t you keep me for yourself.”
What was I saying? The last resistance of reason slapped me across the face. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t give my heart over to a criminal, a murderer, the man who captured me.
But I did. I handed it over, and I didn’t take it back. I let it hang in the air for him to take.
“I want all of you I can get.”
He pulled me into him. I lifted my toes, and he swept me into his arms, his lips crushing mine. I moaned against him, the kindling of arousal bursting and consuming me, as I let him in and he sank into me.
Our tongues danced frantically. My hands gripped his sides and then ran up to his chest, exploring his hard, perfectly masculine body. I wanted every inch of him in me. I got so hot, so bothered, I imagined us in different positions around the salon. On the chair. Behind the counter. On the floor. All positions sounded sweet to me, as long as he got closer. And gave it to me hard, and deep.
And holy fu
ck, would that be satisfying.
The way Santiago’s tongue moved with mine, I knew he would blow my mind. I had to pull away, though, to catch my breath. Panting against him, I pulled him toward the chair, so his lips could devour my neck and then lower.
He moved with me. I dropped onto the seat.
I might’ve been a little excited, because I went right for his belt. His cock, pressed against his jeans, was right in my face, so you couldn’t blame me too much.
Santiago grabbed my hand. “This isn’t right.”
Oh hell no…I wasn’t going to get any moral lecturing from him, was I?
My brows knitted, and as I waited, my lip curled too.
“I’m sorry, Allie. This isn’t right. You’re my captive. I’d love to do it. Trust me, I want this, more than anything. But you’re my captive.”
I whipped my hand away. “Then let me go,” I said.
I crossed my legs in the seat and leaned back. He had to see the fury in my eyes.
“Sorry, I can’t do that, either.” Santiago took some space away from me.
Hands behind his back, he paced near the exit. I steamed as I was forced to listen. I couldn’t decide whether I was more angry or disappointed.
“The man who you’re going to talk to is an idiosyncratic black-market buyer named Arnaldo Perez.” He held up a finger. “You’re being sent there to negotiate. You are not being sent there to be in danger in any way.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
“I’ll be watching you from outside the building. You’ll be strapped into a video and audio feed, so I can watch you at all times.”
I huffed. “Why do you need me? Why don’t you get another girl to do it?”
“Because we have dirt on you. We know you won’t try to pull a stunt. And we know that Arnaldo likes American redheads.”
“Oh,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Now I see.”
Santiago approached and placed his hand on my shoulder. He meant to comfort me, but his touch gave me a cold shiver.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be watching the whole time. Nothing will happen to you.”