Page 51 of Tyler's Rule
We parked, and I practically ran inside the cabin. Tyler followed, his phone ringing.
“Shade,” he said to me.
He answered. Listened. Rolled his eyes. “My security system would tell me if anyone stepped onto the property, let alone tried to get inside. We’re good.”
We were. So very good.
Besides, the last person hunting me had been him. I felt safer now than ever. I pushed the door closed, and he killed the call.
In the entryway, neither of us moved, just watched each other in the low light.
Then I hugged him. Not just a polite squeeze, but a full-body mapping of mine to his. Warmth and need rushed, the smell of him and the feel of his solid form so good under my touch. He was safety, and protection, and a steel wall between me and the world. For all we’d been out in the wild tonight, I hadn’t panicked. Not like when I was solo fleeing around the country and seeing threats in every man who looked my way.
If he was near, no one could touch me.
Except him, and only as I allowed it.
Same as with the kiss, Tyler froze. Then slowly, one big arm came around me, his hand splaying across my back, his head sinking down beside mine. The way he held me closer nearly broke my brain.
“Don’t thank me,” he asked low.
So I didn’t.
We stayed in that hold for longer than reasonable, then kept close when we made dinner together. Watched a movie on a projector he had hidden in a wall. But half the time, Tyler stared at me. And I didn’t stop myself stealing glimpses back.
Sex moans wailed through an open doorway, and I smiled, comfort settling over me at how homely it felt. Tyler and I had returned to the warehouse this afternoon, as promised, and Mila and I hit the cam girls’ floor, trying the walk-and-talk method of communicating. I liked this better than the feeling of being interviewed.
Tyler had been concerned over where we could wander safely and had scoped the floor before letting me loose on it. A lot of people worked in the massive red-brick building, and he worried about keeping my identity under wraps for as long as possible.
“The minute that changes, people will want a piece of ye,” he’d said.
The cops, reporters, I knew it. Mila and I were taking care over the words we used, and at the end of the corridor, Tyler waited, arms folded, and in the position of guard.
It was hard to keep my gaze off him.
Louder, orgasmic groans stole my attention. In a room to the left, a girl I didn’t know was on all fours on an ornate bed, assto a camera on a tripod. Shelves of toys and equipment lined one wall, out of sight to her client, and a screen showed what he could see. The sex toy shaped like an alien tentacle she was fucking herself with.
It lit up in a burst of lights shooting into her when she faked her climax.
The timer in the corner of the screen showed only four minutes had passed. She should’ve drawn out the alien porn for longer.
Mila’s cheeks flamed red. “When I first got together with Convict, we slept on this floor a few times. That took some getting used to.”
My smile returned. “I always wanted to work these rooms but rarely did. There was easier money downstairs with walk-ins and regulars. Selling livestreams and videos means you have to be techy and know how to run ads. I’m allergic to technology.”
My sister laughed.
We moved on, taking in two women in the next room, posing on their knees together in their opening chat with their client. Both were dolled up so pretty, and my heart swelled for how much I’d missed this. Sex in the air. Women in their power, holding men in the palms of their hands. I loved the warehouse so much.
But I was here for another reason. Mila wanted to know me, and specifically about the relationship we’d shared without knowing.
“How about I start with the first part. How I met our grandparents.”
With Mila hanging on my every word, I began with when I was thirteen and the day Austin and Primrose Marchant turned up on our doorstep when I was about to leave for school. My mother had told me to stay home, and her glee any time they mentioned treating me right and making sure that she wasn’tinconvenienced was barely hidden. They whisked me away to their mansion house the same morning.
A smash-and-grab, done friendly.
Cash had definitely changed hands.
