by C. L. Quinn
The thing that did it was when Robert reached out and gently took her hand, his fingers curling around Cheeky’s.
Moisture in her eyes let Margot know that he’d gotten to the young girl. Cheeky’s fingers slipped around Robert’s.
“It’s normal. Isn’t it? I mean, some guys are shitholes, and you run into them. Right? It’s part of the job.”
Robert slid closer. “It isn’t part of the job. You provide pleasure for men. They should be grateful, appreciative, and treat you with respect. If they don’t, you shouldn’t have anything to do with them. And if they hurt you, they should be in jail. That’s all we’re doing. We want to help you stand up for yourself. But we need you to help us do so. It’s up to you, but, Cheeky, if you want to keep doing this job, then this kind of abuse needs to stop.”
“But Sally says no one will care.”
Placing Cheeky’s hand on his chest, Robert smiled.
“I think we’re proving that someone will care. Someone does.”
“I don’t know what I want.”
Suddenly Cheeky sighed. “I don’t want to keep doing guys. Not like this. If feels dirty.”
Robert squeezed Cheeky’s hand in reassurance, then stood suddenly, his agitation apparent. “Then you won’t.”
Margot stood, too, afraid that Robert might blow this now that he’d had such success with the young prostitute. She could see in his stance, in his expression, that he was going to take this too far and likely scare her.
“Robert,” she began, cautiously, but didn’t get to finish.
A bedroom door to the back of the apartment opened and all eyes watched as a tall man strutted out. Margot recognized Rodney right away. While he startled everyone with his abrupt appearance, Margot and Robert’s presence didn’t faze him at all. A heavily made up woman crossed her arms over her bra and panties as she leaned against the door jamb behind him. Margot recognized her from some of the photos.
Watching him continue into the center of the room, Margot thought his eyes sparkled to match a slow grin of delight on his face.
“Looky, looky,” he commented, amused. “I wake to a queen and her court. Hello, beautiful.” When he turned his big kohl-lined eyes on Margot, she felt the full force of his sex-appeal.
The man did strike a chord in her. His sexuality was intense, overt, almost feral. Long hair loose around his head, he wore tight-fitted black leather pants with a button fly…that was not buttoned. Shirtless, Rodney’s heavily furred chest and large biceps showed it was more than the bad boy vibe that made him dangerously fascinating.
Margot did not avert her gaze. She thought that would be construed as weak, but it was a strain not to follow the path of dark hair down to where it disappeared past the low opening of his jeans. It also let him see her appreciation of his body.
“My queen, you have found me and my women as I knew you would. Negotiations must be ensuing.” His eyes moved from Sally to Cheeky. “Any tales to tell, lady? Stories of adventure?”
Sally drew on her cigarette, finally lowering it to burn into the air. “Not here.”
Rodney’s gaze pinned Cheeky’s. “And you, my quiet dove?”
“Um, no, sir, I haven’t said a thing.”
He moved across the room like a wild cat on the prowl, his bare feet soundless, walked up to Margot, his naked chest almost touching hers, then reached around her for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter on the table.
Damn, Margot thought, he smells almost as good as Xavier.
Moving away, Rodney lit a cigarette, pitched the lighter and pack onto a low end table and caught Cheeky’s eye again. “Tell your tale, little newbie. You have my blessing.”
“Sir, I don’t want you to think…”
“Tell these sentries of justice your tale. I want this man gone, and you will comply.” Rodney looked back at Margot. “There, I have delivered your witness. Now, I am not finished with things of more important content.” He looked at the redhead still waiting by the door, then looked back to Margot. “Brenna does women, too, and I would love to watch her with you, lady liberty. How about you thank me properly for my aid?”
Margot had to hurry to Robert’s side to hold him back.
“I am honored. But I have miles to go before I sleep and you have just given me a great task. Perhaps some other time.”
Minutes passed while Rodney stood, still as stone, and drew on the cigarette, his left hand sliding beneath his jeans to caress himself. “A loss for both of us. I hope to change your mind someday. For now, take the girl with you. Keep her until this is over.” He turned and simply said, “Come,” to the woman who waited for him. She did, with a glance at Margot, and closed the door behind them.
Sally coughed, breaking up the tension in the room.
“Cheeky, throw some clothes into a bag and go with this nice lady. I guess things will happen quickly now. Maybe I’ll come and watch the event.”
“But, Sally…”
“Kid, get your shit.” Sally stayed in her chair, but she scooted around to face the sofa. “Cheeks, you might be getting a hell of a break here. Don’t blow it.”
Speechless, Cheeky stomped into a second bedroom and slammed the door.
Sally looked up at Margot. “Take care of her. Don’t let her come back.”
“I’ll try. Sally, why don’t you join us?”
“Too late. Been doin’ this for twenty years, it’s all I know. I’ve got a kid. A little girl. My sister’s raising her. If I keep the money coming, she’ll get to go to college and make something of herself. That’s all I care about now. So if you want to help me get justice, get that creep off the streets so I can keep doing my job.”
“The offer is always open, though, please know that.”
“I appreciate it. You never know. For now, take care of the kid. She never fit in here, even if she does do the best blow job around.”
Wincing, Margot realized why the girl had the nickname of Cheeks. Oh, shit, that was so wrong and so sad for such a young woman.
“Robert, would you mind taking Cheeky back to my apartment until I get there? There’s somewhere I need to go.”
“Not at all.”
Handing her apartment keys to Robert, Margot called for a cab and walked back out into the unfragrant hallway. As she moved down the stairs, she thought that the smells weren’t nearly as bad. God, Robert was right, she was getting used to the vile odors.
Eight
Insistent knocking woke Tamesine. Only one candle still burned, low, flickering in the corner, but it was enough light to make her way off the mattress and to the door. Xavier and Koen were still sound asleep, Xavier half off the mattress and Koen half on.
Daylight had waned enough that in the cloistered apartment, a vampire could safely go into the front room, so Tamesine wandered out, her feet bare, her hair wild, and yawned as she reached the door. Opening it, she smiled into the face of a very pretty human woman. Was this Xavier’s blood meal?
“Hi,” Tamesine said in welcome. “Come on in. But keep your voice low, Xavier is still asleep.”
When the door opened, Margot, ready to jump into Xavier’s arms, stopped instantly when a stunning woman smiled warmly at her, and beckoned her in.
She couldn’t help the uncontrolled jealousy as her eyes moved over the woman whose clothes were undone, barefoot, her hair tousled and sexy, obviously just coming out of bed. Out of bed, in Xavier’s apartment. With Xavier.
“Come on in. But keep your voice low, Xavier is still asleep. He doesn’t like to be disturbed. Well, the Xavier I know wouldn’t. Would you like some coffee?”
The unexpected guest in Xavier’s apartment moved into the shabby kitchenette and reached for an old coffeemaker.
“Ugh,” she commented, as she turned it sideways. “I don’t even know how this works.” She looked up at Margot and laughed softly. “Years ago, I remember throwing one of these out of a window on the tenth story of a building.”
Tamesine shrugged. “I was a litt
le, um, out of control, then. Of course, I also remember when we heated coffee over an open flame, so I shouldn’t complain, right?”
Margot finally worked through her shock enough to speak. “Um, would you like me to do it? I know that machine, my mother had one like it.”
“Bless you, yes.” Tamesine stepped back to watch Margot plug the coffeepot in, check the pot, look for filters, and coffee grounds.
“Here we go. Okay, it shouldn’t be long.”
“Ummm, great. I’ve become accustomed to coffee in the mornings.” Her eyes moved over Margot. “You’re quite lovely. What is your name?”
A friendly discourse with the lover of a man she was falling for was not the evening Margot had planned. It was obvious that she’d read too much into the relationship she had with this man. After all, they’d just had sex a few times, and that didn’t make him hers. This gorgeous woman proved that.
Polite, though, she backed up. “You know, I’m intruding, and I’m just going to go. You guys have a nice evening.”
Just as she reached for the doorknob, she felt the woman’s hand on her shoulder. “You’ve misread my relationship with Xavier. I’m an old friend, but we’re not lovers.”
The comment stopped Margot. How was that possible? She’d arrived to find the sexiest woman she’d ever seen in Xavier’s apartment, who had obviously just come from his bedroom, with Xavier still asleep in his bed, and she wasn’t his lover?
Right now, it was more than she could process. For a woman who hadn’t ever had a close romantic relationship, who had actually avoided that possibility all of her life, it was too much.
“I’m still going to get out of here. I’ll see him around so, please, don’t even tell him I was here.”
Tamesine lifted a hand to stop Margot. “Sweetie, you’re not leaving without letting me explain.”
Prepared to use compulsion on Margot, Tamesine’s head swiveled when the door to the bedroom opened and a shirtless Xavier came through.
He halted when he saw Tamesine near Margot, whose hand was on the doorknob, apparently on her way out. His eyes went straight to Margot’s.
“Lassie,” he said. “Good evenin’.”
Margot wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. She wanted to leave, humiliated that she’d come here uninvited to find him with another woman, and yet she wanted to go to him and demand an explanation. Intellectually, she could reason that they were hardly exclusive, and yet emotionally, she still felt raw and betrayed.
This is why I don’t do relationships, she thought. It was time to get back to her own business.
“Hi. Look, I’m sorry to drop by unannounced. I just wanted to let you know that the address you gave me worked out and I have a witness. So, uh, thanks, and I’ll get out of your hair.” She turned to Tamesine. “Nice to meet you.”
Without delay, Margot opened the door and closed it firmly behind her, forcing herself to keep moving because she really wanted to go back to punch Xavier in the jaw for breaking her heart before she ever really gave it to him.
Reaching the stairwell, she started down.
She didn’t even see him arrive. All she knew was that she’d reached the first landing and found herself suddenly pressed against the wall, Xavier’s hands on her shoulders, his naked chest close to hers.
“Ye didn’t come to tell me that ya found the address,” he whispered near her ear.
Holding her hair back, Xavier nuzzled beneath, his tongue sliding along her neck. “Ya think I had sex with that woman.”
“Um.” Nearly incoherent, Margot could barely breathe. Then she put her hands on his warm chest to shove him away only to curve her fingers into the fur.
“I’d, uh…even I’d have sex with her. She’s irresistible.”
“Aye,” he agreed, his tongue moving lower. “She is. Unless a man is obsessed with a certain aggravatin’, even more irresistible woman who won’t give a guy a chance to explain.”
When the buttons of her blouse slid from their slots, Margot’s head dropped back against the wall as she groaned. “Stop that. You don’t get to…”
Her bra popped open and his tongue swiftly found the full nipple waiting for him and it began a ferocious attack.
“Stop that,” she repeated, as her hand curled into his hair, now holding his head to her breast.
“I let you get too close.” Her voice was soft.
Sorrow? he wondered.
Xavier pulled away to capture her eyes with his. “Lass, not close enough. Not yet.”
Barefoot, his jeans had been unzipped as he followed Margot into the stairwell. So when her fingers snagged the top of the jeans and tugged them down, they slid from his hips with no resistance.
Smiling, Xavier unbuttoned Margot’s pants and let them drop to pool on the ground next to his before she kicked them away, leaving only white lace panties. Xavier tucked his fingers down each side, and, sliding deep on the inside to brush against her slit, he finally brought them off over each high-heeled foot and pitched them away.
Then he lifted her, powerful arms steady, and held her to him as her legs went around his waist and her arms around his neck.
Fully erect, Xavier pushed into her. Margot’s arms tightened at the thrust and began to move.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” she whispered, barely aware she’d spoken aloud.
“I’m yours,” Xavier responded.
Margot couldn’t process the meaning, her body lost in the sensuality of his cock moving inside her. She heard him, though, the words suddenly clear in her mind as she built to orgasm.
I’m yours, he’d said. Her body and heart responded, and although she couldn’t speak, the words formed in her mind. I’m yours, too.
Her orgasm hit just before his. She came down as he pumped into her. From a lifetime of refusing the intimacy of intercourse, at this one moment, wrapped around a man she admitted she might be falling in love with, Margot knew that nothing had ever felt better than when he orgasmed inside her. That moment when his body stiffened and she felt him come…she couldn’t think of words to describe how perfect it felt.
Xavier turned to rest his back against the wall and lowered both of them to the floor, their legs and arms still tangled and locked together.
“There’s somethin’ I want to tell ya. I’ve no memory of ever havin’ loved before, lassie, but I know I’ve never felt this way.”
Margot pulled his head to her and kissed him, her eyes watery.
“You can’t say that. If you have no memory, there could be a sweet girl waiting out there for you to come home to her, and you just don’t know it.”
“Nay, I don’t believe it.”
“That’s nice, but you still can’t say that with real certainty. On that point, if you have no memory of your past, and that woman in your apartment isn’t your lover, then who is she?”
“She says she’s an old friend. From that forgotten life. And there’s a man in me room who claims to be me brother. It’s been a strange night, counselor.”
“Wow. Do you believe them?”
Xavier nodded. “I don’t know them, but I feel an odd connection to them. Don’t ask me to explain that, I haven’t figured it out meself. But they know things about me, things that no one else could. And…” He stopped to let his head drop against the wall and closed his eyes.
Hands caressing his chest, because she still needed to touch him, Margot did the same. “And…?”
“And they’re…different. Like I am.”
“Different how?”
“That is a conversation for another day when I understand it better meself.”
“But, you and the woman…you’re not lovers?”
Pulling her forward, Xavier repositioned himself.
“Margot, lass, I have made love with exactly one woman since I lost me memory.”
She didn’t respond, but joy swelled in her belly.
“Okay,” she finally acknowledged. That he had chosen her over what would have been many op
tions made her heart beat faster.
“I didn’t come here with the intention of sex.” Yes, she had.
“After bein’ separated from ya for two days, I don’t see any other outcome.”
“Be that as it may, I need to get home and you need to get back to your guests.”
“Aye, I do. There’s much we’ve yet to discuss.”
“Will you fill me in later?”
Could he? He already knew that whatever he was, whatever they were, had to be secret.
“Sure, lass.”
They dressed quickly, Margot charmed by the fact that he seemed focused on helping her dress.
“I’m fine, Xavier, thank you. Maybe I’ll see you later tonight at the bar.”
“If ya do come, be careful.”
“I will. Goodnight.”
She could feel his eyes on her as she bounced down the steps.
Shaking his head at the bizarre life he led right now, Xavier went back into his apartment.
The coffee maker made awful coffee.
Xavier walked into his apartment to see Tamesine pouring it down the drain in the sink.
“I could have told ya it wouldn’t suit ya.”
“Yuck. Let’s go get some breakfast. Any suggestions?”
“There’s a place two blocks from here. I think ye’ll be pleased.”
“Good. I’ll go get Koen.”
Dressed, the sun fully gone now, the three vampires walked through the neighborhood that had become Xavier’s home the past few months. The streets and alleys were busy with pedestrians on this warm late-autumn night.
They passed several men and one woman relieving themselves in one of the alleys, oblivious to any audience passing by. Detritus pooled in gutters and some of the smells that wafted up from there were rank enough to defy description.
Koen was unaccustomed to this lifestyle; Xavier, too, before Claude had abducted him, but Tamesine was quite familiar with it. Many years as an insane, psychotic, sociopathic vampire had rarely been conducive to finer living. In spite of all her powers, she’d had times when she literally lived on the streets with the other homeless people. Windowless basements had provided daytime protection.