Page 29 of Wild (Chicago Underground 4)
“I saved her from that life.”
“Saved her? You’ve got half of Chicago trying to arrest her and the other half trying to kill her. If this is how you save someone, I’d hate to see you angry.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Then help me. I know you can.”
“My money. My favors. Mine. I’ve worked damned hard so that no one can tell me what to do, so that everyone owes me something, and I’m not about to give one goddamned inch because you ask me to. Once upon a time, maybe, but not now. Not after you sold me out.”
So it had come to this, finally.
“I’m sorry for that.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “Please, don’t make her pay for my mistakes.”
His voice slid into a seductive murmur. “I’m not going to hurt her. Is that what you’re worried about? I understand she’s new. I’d be gentle. You know I can be.”
The temptation nudged at me, as soft and potent as any caress. I could walk away from this, just like I had done every time at the shelter. It wouldn’t be so bad. The shelter was a sort of prison too, and this one was much prettier. I could even pretend I had saved her still, since Philip was a far kinder master than Henri would have been.
“I won’t let anyone touch her,” I said. “She’s going to get her old life back, and when she does, she’ll be…” Pure. I wanted her to have the life I hadn’t. I wanted her to be worthy of the men I wasn’t. “She’ll be safe.”
“I would keep her safe.”
He would keep her, but would he let her go? And if he touched her, even once, she wouldn’t be the same anymore. Always remembering that her first time was with a man not of her choosing, even if he’d been kind enough to make her come. Forever wondering whether she would have to pay with sex one more time. Offering her body, again and again, because she knew at least that much worked.
“No.”
His face darkened. “You’re not in a position to negotiate, Shelly.”
“You won’t touch her.” That much I was sure of. There was a twisted honor among thieves, or in this case, sexual deviants. According to the rules of the street, by saving her and bringing her here, she was mine. Mine to sell, if I chose, and mine to keep. He wouldn’t touch her without my agreement.
“You’re here under my protection,” he reminded me.
But he could kick us out. He had no obligation to me or to her. Street etiquette was to not get involved, and by our very presence here, he was involved.
“Just give me a few days,” I said, my voice raw, naked. “Let her stay here, and I’ll fix this.”
He looked doubtful. “And if you can’t?”
She was mine to use as a backup plan. I swallowed. “Then we’ll see.”
“Then you’ll give her to me, wrapped up in lace,” he said amiably.
“Yes.” I choked on the word.
“I think we should ink the deal. Something to tide me over.”
I would, I swore silently. I would fix this and free her, the way no one had done for me, not even Luke. Yes, I could ink that deal, with blood, with sex. “I saw the way you talked about her. The way you got hard thinking of her. You’re hard right now with it, aren’t you?” Another roll of my hips; his sharp intake of breath. “What is it you like about her? Her age?”
“It’s… No… She’s not too young.”
Stammering was deliciously out of character for Philip. I worked at the buttons of his shirt. “Not too young. And she’ll learn.” Inside, I ran my hands through the light fur there, touched my mouth
to his heated skin. “Wouldn’t that be fun, directing her? Guiding her?”
He groaned, almost there.
“Show me what you’d do.” I flicked my tongue at the base of his throat. “Teach me a lesson.”
His restraint fell away; he caved in completely, pulling off the rest of his clothes while I took off mine. I fell to my knees, eyes wide and innocent. “I want to please you. Will you show me how?”
It was so wrong. Not only to play the ingénue, but to do it in the guise of Ella. But Philip had always gotten off on the strange, the deviant, and I had been right about his desire for her. The fact that he thought she was too innocent, out-of-bounds, just made the lust sharper. I would play the part in her place, and in doing so, keep her safe.
