Her gaze snapped up to his. “I don't believe you. You feel too much guilt to ever lay a hand on me.”
All at once his stubbornness seemed to mirror her own as he held her gaze trapped in his. “I'll work through it.”
Another flutter. That deep gravel voice.
She ignored it and drank her tea.
“Why did you take the pills?”
She shrugged.
“We could go back to talking about your needs or we can talk about why you took the pills.”
“Why the fuck do you think I took them? I have nothing. You know I have nothing. You robbed me of a life. You lied to me and...”
He held up a hand. “Stop. I did not lie to you. Everything we promised you was on the menu. And it would have happened.”
“But you knew about Brian!”
This time it was Lindsay who looked away. “Yes. I've treated him. I knew about him. But it was the drugs he was on. Otherwise I don't think...”
“The drugs you gave him. This just keeps being more and more your fault. And you have the nerve to try to bring me back to this world to try to appease your own sense of guilt? You should feel guilty every day for the rest of your life for this. You destroyed me, and now you think you can make it all better? You think you can save me and I'll be oh so grateful? You can fucking forget it. You stay the hell away from me.”
Shannon got up off the stool and started to leave.
But Lindsay was too fast for her, moving around the counter and to the door far more quickly than she could get there. His large frame blocked her exit. “Where do you think you're going?”
“To my room. To bed.”
“No,” he said slowly. “You are going to my room. To bed.”
“I'm not fucking you.”
“Not tonight you aren't.”
“Not ever.”
“We'll see.”
He stared her down, and she stared back. “This house is full of twenty-year-olds,” Shannon said. “I'm thirty-one. Past my sell-by date. Pick a fresher product.”
A shocked expression crossed the doctor's face. “Are you kidding me? I'm forty-nine. You're already too young for me!”
“Bullshit. I'm sure you were that age when we met. Or older. Are you a vampire?”
“Don't be absurd. I started going gray prematurely. It runs in my family. Everybody thinks I'm older than I am. It's been a boon in my profession but annoying everywhere else. Do you need to see a copy of my birth certificate?”
Shannon rolled her eyes. So she'd thought he was a lot older. Still. His age wasn't why she wasn't going there with him.
“Okay so big deal. Men get distinguished. Women just get old. Just focus on the new girls and leave me alone.”
He gave her a long hard look. Finally he spoke, slowly and calmly. “I'm going to clean up the kitchen. When I get finished I expect to find you in my room, in my bed. If you are anywhere else, you're going to force me to have to take you downstairs to the dungeon and work past my guilt. Is that what you want?”
Shannon looked down. “No.”
“No, Sir. Say it.”
She shook her head.
“Is this really the hill you want to die on, Shannon?”
“No. But you decided to rescue me from the hill I wanted to die on.”
“You aren't leaving this kitchen until you say it. We can stand here all night.”
“Fine. No, Sir. Was that everything you'd hoped it would be?”
“We never should have let your training slip. Go upstairs.”
Lindsay watched her leave. He wasn't sure he should leave her alone even for five minutes right now, but he was certain she wouldn't try anything again tonight. And she didn't have access to pills right now. He doubted she'd attempt anything involving knives. And there were no other ready methods.
Besides, despite her bravado, she was shaken. She probably wouldn't try it again for a while. He'd been watching her carefully since she'd regained consciousness.
Most of the pills had come up fully intact. Most of them hadn't had time to break down. A few of them were probably expired and inert. Lucky.
Still it had been a very close call, but she seemed fine. Physically at least.
Lindsay thought back to that day. He'd been sitting in the conference room with the other three owners, Anton, Gabe, and Brian—deciding Shannon's fate.
“I say we kill her,” Brian said as nonchalantly as if they were discussing some mundane thing like weather.
“No,” Gabe said. He didn't shout or make a scene. It was just a quiet, firm vote against taking her life.
“I already told her we wouldn't kill her,” Anton said. “And she has spa experience. We could use her for waxing the girls.”
Brian rolled his eyes. “Please. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to wax a pussy. We can teach the girls how to wax each other. We don't need Shannon. She's a liability.”
“I thought you said you went too far. You said it was the drugs,” Anton said. “Now you want to kill her?”
“I'm not an idiot. I realize nearly killing her over a stupid argument was too much, but I still think it's better to get rid of her and start fresh,” Brian said, seeming more collected and rational but no less sociopathic than normal. “You all know this is the smartest decision. I'm just the only one with the balls to say it out loud.”
When no one jumped in to reaffirm him, Brian sighed and said, “Look we don't have to tell her it's coming, just dose her with a sedative, and I'll take her out clean. Otherwise she's going to scar up bad. If we keep her, it'll cause problems with the other girls. You know I'm right.”
Anton ran a hand through his hair. It seemed he was actually considering this. Finally he said, “Maybe we should kill her. This is a new operation. After Annette acting out today and the others starting a riot, Shannon's damage could be too much for them to handle. We can't afford this first batch of sales to go badly. We don't want to gain a reputation for moving poorly trained merchandise.”
The three of them looked to Lindsay, the only one who hadn't weighed in. He'd remained silent, calculating, observing the rest of the room to decide how best to handle them.
“And you think they would be less upset by us killing her?” Lindsay asked, calmly, betraying nothing.
“Well, we'd fucking lie about it,” Brian said. “Not like we're gonna put out a newsletter announcing her untimely demise.”
“No one is killing anyone,” Lindsay said. He was a few years older than the rest of them, and he used the seniority to his advantage, commanding the room. “I brought her to the house, so I'm responsible for her. And I say no. Killing the girls was never part of this arrangement. If Brian starts killing them, I'm out.”
“Then you'd be the liability, Doc,” Brian said, an evil glint coming to his eyes.
“No one is killing her,” Lindsay said with a growl, rising from his chair and staring Brian down. Then he turned to Anton and Gabe. His voice was hard when he spoke again. “Agreed?”
Gabe nodded, already on board. Anton took a second, but he nodded his agreement as well.