“And if you pay it off?”
The corners of Natalie’s mouth turned down. “I won’t be able to do that any time soon.”
“Play along.”
A little sigh. “If I paid it off, I could go back home.”
There was actual longing in her eyes. Longing for home. If I didn’t want her gone, I’d have asked her about it. I wouldn’t know what it’s like to miss the place you grew up. “Your parents don’t know where you are?”
Laughter burst out of her. “No. I said I was at college. I said I didn’t want to see them anymore.” Natalie straightened her back. Shook her head like it would wake her up from a nightmare. “One of the girls said you made it hurt, but you made it good, so if you wanted to start, we could—”
“No.”
She jumped at the word, her face paling. “But—”
“I’m not going to fuck you tonight. What I’m going to do is settle your debt so you can go home. Go to college. Whatever.” I could feel her watching as I went to the small safe set into a panel next to the TV. One of quite a few I had in the apartment. This one held emergency cash. I pulled out two of the bundles.
Natalie couldn’t take her eyes off it.
“This one is for you.” I handed her the smaller bundle. Five thousand dollars. “For school. Not for fucking around. Do you understand?”
She nodded, cradling it in her hands like it was a fortune.
“And this one is going with my driver. So are you.”
“What?” New fear washed over her face. “Your driver? I thought—”
“You thought you were doing a job. You’re done with this job. You don’t go back to Rex.” I wasn’t having the chauffeur take her anywhere. This was a job for the security team. I took out my phone and tapped out a message. “You give the driver the address. He’ll settle the debt and take you home.”
Natalie took in a steady breath.
And burst out crying.
Fucking great.
She cried like she’d been delivered from the gates of hell back to earth. Her tears landed on the money in her hands. Natalie couldn’t let go of it. Wouldn’t put it down.
Cried and cried and cried.
I patted her on the shoulder.
What the fuck else was I going to do?
She kept crying.
I gave her another cursory pat and went into the bedroom. My clothes were going to be enormous on her, but she couldn’t go home the way she was. I went back out into the living room and put a pair of joggers and a plain sweatshirt on the sofa next to her. Natalie hiccuped. “What are those?”
“Do you want to show up at your parents’ doorstep looking like a whore? They’re clothes. You’re in fucking lingerie.”
“Right.” She scrambled up off the sofa and threw the clothes on. Natalie swam in them. She bent to roll up the ankles of the pants, then did her sleeves. She never let go of the money. Not for a second. “So when—”
The elevator tone sounded, and the door opened. Mark, a guy from my security team, stepped inside.
Natalie froze in place, her mouth working. “Are you—” She glanced up at me. “Would you come with me?”
“Jesus, no.”
Her face fell.
“I’m busy.” I forced the edge out of my voice, but it was fucking difficult. “Mark will drop you off at home. Mark, how much do I pay you?”
“Three hundred thousand a year,” he said.
“Are you going to fuck around and not take Natalie where she needs to go?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “No. I will not fuck around.”
“See?” I put a hand between Natalie’s shoulder blades and took her to the door. Then I put a hand under her chin and tipped her face up. “Do not. Ever. Go back to Rex’s.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
“You can thank me by getting out.”
They went.
And I was alone with my thoughts. No idea who I was, this person who sent whores home to their parents.
I laughed out loud. Elaine Constantine wasn’t going to change me in a single night. No. She was just going to spoil me for everyone else. I shucked off my clothes from the party.
But Elaine’s scent followed me to the master bath.
In the shower I stroked my cock, working myself fast as I thought of Elaine. That young woman had stared up with pretty eyes, blue and wide. But they weren’t the eyes I wanted. Not the ones that kept haunting every one of my black heartbeats.
I gritted my teeth and stroked faster.
Nobody would ever understand me.
Nobody could ever understand my body, so tainted in its strengths, and my mind to match.
Not even Elaine fucking Constantine.
Chapter Five
Elaine
“Are you out of your mind?”
Tristan’s face was a picture, hands in his hair as he paced my lounge.
“He didn’t tell anyone,” I told him. “Even Silas had more sense than that.”
“Yeah, but he could have. He could have gone straight out of there and told the whole ball that Lucian Morelli was in the building. You wouldn’t be standing here, Elaine. There’s no way your mom would let you sleep at night knowing you’d messed around with him.”
“Plenty of things could have happened. Lucian Morelli could have stolen me. But he didn’t.”
“Oh, that’s a comforting thought.” Tristan Fields had been my best friend and most trusted ear in this world since I was twelve years old. He’d seen me do plenty of wild things in the past thirteen years, but nothing had ever made him stare at me like this.
I sipped my wine. “It’s not like I’m ever going to see him again.”
“I’d fucking hope not. Believe me, baby, I’d be telling your mom myself if I thought that was gonna happen. You’d stand more of a chance of making it out alive with her on your case than him. Close call, but I know where I’d put my cash.”
I closed my eyes to ease off my thump of a hangover, but it made no difference. My brain was jammed plenty by Tristan carrying on his speech.
“You do know he was playing you, right? He wants something from you. If he didn’t think he could trick you into giving him what he needs, he’d have hurt you the second he had you alone.”
Something about that offended me. It may not have made any sense that it did, because he was probably right. Tristan’s words made perfect sense. Still, it offended me. Something about that concept twisted my heart and made it hurt.
I was naive to want to believe there was anything other than hate behind Lucian grabbing me at Tinsley’s party…but I wanted there to be. Some twisted part of me wanted there to be.
I shrugged. “Yeah, he was probably playing me.”
“Definitely. He was definitely playing you.”
“Yeah, he was playing me. Like I said, I’m never going to see him again. What does it matter?”
He tipped his head and matched my stare. His eyes were cold, green pools of disapproval, and I hated that. Tristan was always on my side.
“If you see him again, Lainey, you have to scream and run, understand? No matter how slick he is, no matter what he says, you have to scream and run.”