by M. S. Parker
“Yes. This is the place.”
The driver parked, and before I climbed out, he passed me a business card.
“I won’t be any more than ten minutes away, so call me when you’re done,” he said, smiling.
“Of course.” I slid out of the car and started toward Kaleb, hoping none of my nervousness showed on my face.
My heart thudded against my ribs. Just seeing him again had my belly twisting inside. It hadn’t been long – just a couple of days – but it felt like forever. I wanted to go to him and kiss him and run my hands over him…
He looked up, and my pounding heart tripped a beat or ten.
Forgetting my mental decision not to let him see my emotions, I rushed closer and caught his hand just as he stood up. I placed my other one on his cheek, frowning at the shadow across his eyes.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He gave me a tired smile and nodded toward the skyscraper at his back. “You ready to get inside and get this done? Get you out of the heat. You aren’t used to it.”
I wasn't enjoying the Vegas heat, but instead of saying yes, I cupped his face and asked my question more firmly. “What’s wrong?”
“I…” He sighed, and it was like the energy drained out of him with that expulsion of air.
Sweat beaded on my neck and began to trickle down my spine. “Come on. There’s a coffee shop over there.” I nodded toward it and took his hand. “Let's get something to drink. The meeting isn’t for another half hour.”
“I thought you said…” Kaleb frowned, checking his watch.
“I asked you to meet me here at two. I didn’t tell you when the meeting was.” I flashed him a smile. “I wanted to see you.”
A ghost of his old grin came and went. “Come on.”
Inside the coffee shop, I got both of us iced tea.
Sitting at a booth in the back gave us some semblance of privacy. I took his hand again, not wanting to waste a single moment that I could be touching him.
“Talk to me,” I said. “Please.”
“I met with Camry’s dealer.” He looked away, jaw clenched tight. Everything about him seemed tight, like he might shatter. Or explode.
I wanted to go around the table and sit next to him, but this wasn't about what I wanted, so I stayed where I was.
“I guess things didn’t go as planned.”
“No.” He laughed, and it was a terrible, broken noise. The sort of sound that tore at my heart. “Son of a bitch. Scum-sucking, bottom-feeding son of a bitch.”
“Tell me how you really feel.”
He stared at me, then a faint smile curled his lips. “I’m being polite, actually. Piety, this man…shit, I’m not even sure if he qualifies for the title. I’m not even sure he qualifies as human. He’s cold-blooded…a snake.”
It wasn't that much of a leap to figure out what'd happened. “He’s stringing you along, isn’t he?”
Kaleb closed his eyes, his entire body sagging. I squeezed his hand and he turned his over, threading his fingers between mine. The connection hit me hard, straight down to my soul, and I tightened my grip.
“How did you know?”
Lifting a shoulder, I said, “As angry as you are, as frustrated as you sound. Wasn’t hard to guess. I…ah…” I licked my lips, debating on how to answer. “I know girls who’ve gotten caught up with men like him – or at least men who seem to have things in common with him. He sounds like a predator.”
“He is.” Kaleb clenched his jaw. “We met at a strip joint he owns. There was this girl.” He shook his head, his voice tight and sour. “Piety, I swear, she didn’t look like she’d had a decent meal in weeks. I wanted to put some clothes on her and feed her.” He dragged a hand down his face. “That sounds awful, I guess. I was taking my clothes off for a living just a week ago, and here I am, wanting to help some girl who’s doing the exact same thing.”
“You and I both know that's not the same thing.” Rubbing my thumb across the back of his hand, I willed him to look at me. “There’s a difference between somebody who wants to strip for a living, and someone who is either coerced or forced into it. And it sure sounds like that’s what’s happening here”
“He offered her to me.”
My jaw dropped.
Now he did look at me. “She looked so sad and scared standing up there. There was nothing sexy about it at all, but there were men cat-calling at her, and I was thinking about how pathetic the whole thing was. He saw me looking at her and said I could have her for the night. Free. That she would do anything I wanted.”
Somehow I managed to close my mouth.
“I wanted to beat the shit out of him.”
“Now I do too,” I said. I wasn’t…surprised. Not exactly. The shelter I volunteered at took in a lot of girls who were trying to get out of prostitution, and we had to deal with pissed-off pimps quite a bit. Men who treated women like they were nothing more than just commodities, a product to be sold or traded.
But knowing it and having it happen to the relative of someone I cared about...It made me sick just to think about it.
“You look like you want to make him eat his own face,” Kaleb said.
“Ew.” I blinked at the disgusting mental image, then laughed. “Then again, it would be a nice punishment. Have any suggestions on how to make it happen?”
“No. But I’ll think about it.” He leaned back, his eyes staring off at nothing. “He wants another ten grand. Says the money I paid him only covered Camry’s drug debt, but that he’s entitled to get the money he’ll lose when she leaves him. She’s one of the favorites – like she’s some kind of piece of meat.”
“Kaleb…”
“Look, I’m sorry.” He started to slide out of the booth. “We should head on up to the lawyer’s office, see if they’re ready for us. If not…I don’t need to dump this on you. You’ve already helped me enough.”
I tightened my grip on his hand. “What are you going to do?”
He stared down at me. “I’ll figure it out.”
“You’ve been trying to do that ever since he dumped this on you, haven’t you?”
He didn’t answer, but the dull red flush creeping up his cheeks told me all I needed to know.
“Come on.” As I led Kaleb out of the coffee shop, I used my free hand to send a text to the driver, then turned to meet Kaleb’s eyes. “My driver's on his way back. We’ll get this figured out.”
He frowned, and I could see the wheels turning as he tried to figure out what I was doing. Without giving him an explanation, I called the lawyer’s office next. His gaze grew more intense as I canceled the appointment, explaining that something urgent had come up and I’d get back with them when I needed them – so terribly sorry.
“What are you doing?” he demanded as I ended the call. He gestured toward the entrance doors for the office building, just a few hundred feet away. “It’s right there.”
“You’ve got bigger problems, Kaleb, and I’m going to help.”
“It’s not your problem, Piety,” he argued, pale eyes flashing. “I’ve got to fix this on my own.”
“I’m your friend.” The word felt…funny. We were friends, I thought. But that was such a mild term for what we had. “Friends help each other, right?”
“And what do you propose we do?” He crossed his arms over his chest, staring me down. “Are you going to pay me to stay married to you for another week or two? Give me more money so he can jerk me around again? Is that the solution you have in mind?”
“No.” Then I shrugged. “Actually, I don’t have a solution. But this guy is a user. You’ll never be free of him as long as you play his game, so I don’t think paying him is the answer. But I’m not walking away and leaving you – or your sister – alone to deal with him.”
“My sister isn’t your concern,” he said gently, reaching up to cup my chin.
As he angled my head back, forcing me to meet his gaze, I tried not to let him see how much I loved
having him touch me again.
I’d missed it – missed him – every second.
I’d felt the loss of him every second.
It had been hard enough to convince myself that I needed to come out here and handle the annulment. The only thing that made it even semi-tolerable was knowing I’d see him again. But the thought of walking away now when he was dealing with this was just intolerable.
“She is.” I leaned in and brushed my lips across his. “Because she’s yours, and I’m concerned about you.”
Six
Piety
I’d booked a room at the Bellagio before I'd left Philadelphia.
Now, as my driver came to a stop at the elegant, grand entrance, I tightened my hand around Kaleb’s. He was staring at nothing, and I knew part of him wasn’t here.
He was thinking about his sister.
I wished I could take the worry away, but I was too acutely aware of the sort of trouble she might be in. The first month I’d been at the shelter, I’d worked with a girl who’d tried to get away from her pimp. She’d tried so hard. One day, she left the part-time job at a coffee shop, and he caught up with her, saying that she still owed him.
When she'd stood up to him, he’d beaten her senseless. She had permanent vision damage, and we still had to convince her that it wasn't her fault.
People like this Stefano were bottom-feeders. We had to find out how to help Camry.
“Thanks, Delano,” I said as he helped me out of the back of the car. I passed him a twenty. “Would you be available tomorrow if I need you?”
“You just give me a call, Ms. Van Allan.” He tipped his hat to me and nodded at Kaleb as he climbed out.
Offering my hand to Kaleb, I waited for him to take it before we started inside.
The concierge had seen me coming, and he already had my room key ready and a bellboy was on hand to take the luggage Delano had unpacked from the trunk.
“I still can’t get over that,” Kaleb said abruptly.
I glanced at him, puzzled.
He gestured to the bellhop walking in front of us as we started down the hall. “You didn’t even have to check in. They were just…waiting for you.”
“Ah…” Blood rushed to stain my cheeks red. “Well. Yeah.”
He laughed, and while there was still an edge to it, it was better than what I'd heard earlier. “You’re embarrassed by it. I imagine your dad would be furious if a place like this wasn’t ready to get down on bended knee the moment he walked through the doors.”
“Probably.” I nodded at the bellboy as he held the elevator doors for us, nudging Kaleb in the ribs so he’d stop with his observations.
But he either didn’t get the hint or refused to take it. He met the bellboy’s eyes. “What’s it like? Working at a place like this?”
“It’s a good job, Sir.” He smiled politely.
“I’m not a sir.” Kaleb snorted. “I’m only here because I’m lucky enough to be hooked up with her. Otherwise I’d be…hell, a week ago, I was taking my clothes off for a living.”
“What was that like?” The bellboy smiled again, still polite, but I saw a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Working at a job like that?”
“Good one,” I murmured. Then I winked at the bellboy. “Ignore him. He’s had a rough few days.”
“Of course, Miss.”
Once he had my suitcase in the room, he nodded at us and accepted the bill I extended, then left, closing the door softly behind him. Meeting Kaleb’s eyes, I said, “When I’ve had a bad day, I get a little bratty, just to make myself feel better. It looks like we share that in common.”
“Sorry if I embarrassed you.”
“Oh, it takes more than that to embarrass me.” I sat down and reached for the ankle strap of my shoe. “But questions like that to an employee, in a place like this? The wrong kind of answer, overheard by an asshole sort of manager could get somebody fired. I think that would make you feel like shit if that happened.”
Kaleb hissed out a breath and turned away, shoving both hands through his hair. “That doesn’t make sense. I was the one being an ass.”
“But this hotel is meant to cater to the guests. If a manager thought that the kid had somehow insulted you…” I shrugged. “Things are different here when it comes to that sort of thing. People are more uptight a lot of the time.”
“You’re not.” He looked back at me, eyes darkening with a familiar desire. He came toward me, going to his knees as he reached me.
I’d been in the process of reaching for my other shoe, but at the look on his face, my body started to feel curiously lax and limp, overheated too, like a puddle of hot wax. He leaned down, pressing his lips to one knee, then the other, sending a new ripple of warmth across my skin.
“I missed you,” he murmured. “I didn’t expect that to happen, but it did. It’s like you’re my own addiction, Piety, and I’m not certain I like it.”
He reached for my remaining shoe and sat back on his heels, staring into my eyes as he freed the strap and slowly slid the shoe off, his fingers lighting caressing my skin.
“I wasn’t expecting any of this to happen either,” I said truthfully. “But I’m not exactly unhappy with it.”
It stung that he might be, but I didn't say that.
“I didn’t say I was unhappy with it.” He ran his thumb along my instep.
It sent a shiver through me, and I had to swallow a sigh when he began to dig his fingers into the tight muscles of my left calf. I hadn't truly realized how much I craved his touch until now. His word choice, addiction, was an appropriate one.
“You’re the best damn thing to happen for me in ages, sweetheart. But I don’t have time for this…for you…for all the things I feel for you.” His fingers moved higher. “And damn me if I give a flying fuck.”
My breath caught in my lungs, stuttered, and hitched there.
Then he straightened, coming up in front of me, his hands sliding up over my hips to my waist. He tugged me to the edge of the bed until we were eye to eye, chest to chest, belly to belly, my body burning with the need to feel his skin against mine.
“I get around you, and it’s like nothing else matters. I don’t like that, Piety. I have to think about my sister and you make me not want to care about anything.”
I could see the struggle on his face, and I wanted to tell him that I understood, that I'd be the responsible one and walk away.
Except I couldn't. And not just for me, but for him too.
“You’ve spent most of your life taking care of her.” I traced my finger across his upper lip. “It’s okay to want something for yourself every now and then.”
“She needs me.” His gaze fell away, his hands resting on my hips.
For a moment, I thought he’d walk away, but then he looked back at me.
“But, dammit, Piety, I need you.” He leaned in and kissed me, his mouth hot and demanding.
I didn’t even have time to brace myself, but that was okay because he had me. His fingers dug into my hips until I knew I'd have bruises, but it still wasn't enough. His tongue plundered my mouth, and I could feel the hard length of him pushing against me.
“Tell me you want me,” he said against my lips.
“More than I’ve ever wanted anything.” And it was nothing but the truth. I'd never felt this way about anything or anyone before. It should have scared me, but at the moment, it just felt right.
He tugged me closer, and I thought he just might pull me down onto his lap and take me right there, but he went for the hem of my dress instead, peeling it up and off until I stood naked in front of him. The surplus cut front had let me go without a bra, and I shivered a little, the cool air drawing my nipples into tight, hard buds.
He made a greedy, desperate sound in the back of his throat, and it made things low inside me tighten. Then his mouth closed over my breast, and it was heat and wet that made me shiver, made me cry out.
I shoved my hands into his hair, and he scraped
his teeth over my nipple. I swore, my head falling back. I clung to him, not trusting my legs to hold me as he moved to my other breast. With each pull of his mouth, my pussy throbbed.
When he slid one hand between my thighs, I whimpered and spread them wide, eager for more.
But he didn’t touch me.
Instead, he lifted his head and stared down at me.
Panting, I waited, watching him. If he stopped now, I was going to kill him. “What are you doing?”
He shook his head and caught my shoulders, easing me down to the bed.
When I lay flat, he kissed the underside of my left breast, rubbing his chin back and forth across my flesh so that the faint stubble growing on his chin rasped over my skin. He kissed my belly. My hip. The inside of my thigh
I arched up, whimpering, needing, pleading.
When his breath kissed my damp skin, I whimpered and curled one leg around his upper torso.
Then he licked me, opening me with one long stroke of his tongue and I arched up, screaming, but the sound was breathless and broken.
He did it again, then circled my clit with his tongue.
“Piety…”
Even the touch of air on my skin felt like too much, and I fisted my hands in his hair, trying to draw him closer. “Please,” I moaned.
“Tell me.”
I couldn’t, another moan choking out the words.
He caught my wrists and dragged them from his hair, holding them easily in one hand. “Tell me what you want, baby. Do you want my mouth on you?”
“Yes…please…fuck…yes. Your mouth, your tongue…you.”
He flicked his tongue over me again, raked my clitoris with his teeth.
Then he pushed two fingers inside me and pressed up.
I came in a rush, startled by the suddenness of it, my body shaking. Before it was over, he was inside me, the thickness of his cock stretching me as he filled me in one smooth stroke. I cried out, the sensation pushing my climax even higher. I closed my eyes, spots dancing behind my eyelids as pleasure overwhelmed me.
“Look at me,” he said, tangling his hands in my hair and arching my head back.