Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 64222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 321(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 214(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 321(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 214(@300wpm)
“How did he know I liked this?” I ask more to myself, not expecting an answer.
“He asked me,” Brody replies.
Is this his way of coping with the bad shit he does? Like, here, I’m going to kidnap you, then break into your house when you escape, but it’s okay because I’ll bring you food after!
Honestly, I want to tell Brody to throw it out, but my stomach says otherwise.
Opening my cell, there are several missed calls. I take the pasta and hand Brody the rest as I head to the counter and sit on a stool. Taking the first bite is magnificent, so much so, I almost want to die from happiness just from eating it.
“Lucas isn’t that bad, you know. If you’re not on his bad side.” I look over my shoulder to Brody who’s watching me, and I shake my head at him in disbelief. I guess all it takes is a good payday to make anyone’s moral compass turn gray.
I would know.
I look back down at my cell and call the number that I have missed several times and a deep voice comes over the line.
“Chanel.”
“Umm, yes?” I answer, confused.
“This is Joey. I see he let you go and gave you your cell back.”
How did he know?
“Yes,” is all I can manage to get out.
“Okay. Well, tomorrow, I plan to pick you up at six, so please be ready. We don’t like tardiness.” Then he hangs up without another word from me.
Really?
Shit.
I have missed calls from clients, but I ignore them—I hope to never go back to that life. Not even if Lucas paid me a million dollars do I plan to fuck him. Ever.
“Merci is on her way,” Brody says, standing at the door. Just then, Merci appears and smiles when she sees me. Then she rushes over and hugs me from behind.
“That smells amazing, and it’s expensive. I’ve always wanted to try that restaurant.” I push the bowl toward her so she can sample the food, and she does, moaning as she chews. Then her eyes soften when she looks at me. “I’m sorry we couldn’t help you. We tried.”
“I don’t think anyone can do much against him,” I tell her honestly.
“That’s not the point. You would blow up a house if you thought you could help me.”
Yes, that’s true, I would.
“But you got him out of there, that’s the main thing,” I say, nodding to Brody.
“He said if we followed, he would come back and slice Brody’s throat while he slept. And that he wasn’t going to hurt you, just talk to your arrogant ass.” She shrugs. “So, did he hurt you?” She leans in, her expression is of concern.
“No, he tied me to a bed and left me.” I don’t mention the dead body or the fact I pissed myself. I am mortified enough as it is about that little indiscretion.
“But he didn’t, you know…”
I know what she’s asking.
And again, I don’t tell her about anything else.
Instead, I go back to my food, and she tells me about her day.
Joey is at my door the next morning, and I open it to him checking his watch. When he looks at me, he nods in approval.
“Should I be dressed a certain way?” I ask, not even knowing what he needs me to do. But they offered me work—work that doesn’t involve selling my body—and I’m down with that, even if I’m selling my soul instead.
“What you have on is fine. You’ll find Sailor won’t care much.”
“Is she who I’m working for?” I ask, and he nods.
“She’s Keir’s wife. She needs help, so he said he would find her someone. She asked months ago, and to say she’s getting angry about his lack of willingness to address it would be an understatement.” He smiles, and I can’t help but smile back at him. He makes you want to smile. I like Joey, he is different from the rest of them.
“I’ll just grab my cell,” I state, darting back inside. When I turn around after grabbing the phone from the counter, I find Joey has stepped inside and is looking around.
“When did your parents die? How old were you?” he asks.
“I figured you may already know since you seem to know so much.”
“I’ve done a full check on you. You have no priors, your record is clean. How you managed to stay clean doing what you do is…” he trails off but sounds impressed.
“They died just before I turned eighteen,” I tell him. “We waited, though, until my eighteenth birthday to report their bodies so I could have custody of Brody.” I give him a meaningful look before I ask, “Is that all? Should we go?” He turns and walks out the door, and I give Brody a wave as he sits in his bedroom, then shut the door behind me.