He’d have to talk to her tomorrow about how charming the duplicitous Perreaults could be when they were running a psychological offensive on you. First thing in the morning, he’d have to remind his sister that she couldn’t let her guard down with his prisoner. Not even for a moment.
But tonight, he turned to Persy and demanded, “How did you do that?”.
She froze midway to crouching down to get into the cage. “Do what?”
“Make her laugh,” he answered. “She never laughs. Not since our mère…”
He was a big, bad biker. The leader of one of the most dangerous MCs in the states. But he still couldn’t say the words. They clogged in his throat.
“Maybe she just needs a friend. Someone she can talk to about the person she lost.” Persy hesitated, then stood all the way back up. “Maybe you both do. I’ve noticed the nightmares are getting worse. Almost every night now.”
She was right. But he’d be damned if he’d admit it. “I’m fine.”
“If you’re so fine, why don’t you let me help you?” she asked. She tilted her head to the side. “You’re acting like you’re scared of me when it’s the other way around. And you’ve got to be exhausted, keeping the hours you do with such a low quality of sleep.”
She was right again, damn her. A wave of exhaustion passed over him just thinking about all the meetings and negotiations he had scheduled for the week. Could she really help him, or was this a trick?
An unwise curiosity wormed its way into his head.
Maybe that was why, instead of telling her to get back in the cage, he declared, “One chance. You’ve got once chance. And if it doesn’t work, no more Russian Roulette. I’ll put a bullet in all six chambers and make sure your luck doesn’t keep holding out. Otherwise, you need to get back in your cage and never speak of this to me again.”
She visibly swallowed. And Hades waited for her to take back her offer and return to her prison. Like a good little broken dog.
But instead, she glanced to her right and answered, “You’re going to have to send her away.”
He followed her glance to the blonde he’d brought upstairs to fuck. Strange, he’d forgotten she was still standing there. His dick wasn’t even hard anymore.
She glanced between him and Persy quizzically now.
Hades didn’t like to disappoint his lady friends. But, in this case, she’d already heard more than she should.
“Go,” he told her, his voice as hard as Waylon’s when he gave an order.
And perhaps she sensed he’d throw her out if she didn’t obey. She left without protest, under her own steam, calling, “DM me if you change your mind! I’m on Insta!”
Hades didn’t answer the blonde. He’d already forgotten all about her.
He just stared at Persy with his heart vibrating in his chest.
“Alright, Persephone, show me what you got.”
CHAPTER 12
PERSEPHONE
“Alright, Persephone, show me what you got.”
It took me a few blinking moments to realize what was happening—that Hades had actually agreed to let me help him.
For a price, a practical voice reminded me. If this doesn’t work, you die. For real this time. With zero chance of exemption.
Okay, well…I shoved down those not-so-helpful thoughts. I’d managed to stay stoic about my impending death up until now. Tonight wasn’t the time to finally lose my mind—like any rational person who’d been kept in a dog cage for who knows how many months would have a long time ago.
“Great. Just give me a few minutes…”
I rushed away to the bathroom and rummaged around in the cabinets, finding everything I’d need to help him kick his nightmares.
“Alright, come in!” I called out when I was done setting everything up.
