Page 15 of Entangled in Them

I felt sorry for the girl. It was clear she wanted to be here about as much as we wanted her here. She was clearly alone in the world, where at least we had each other.

Taking care of waifs and strays wasn’t the kind of trouble we needed in our life, however. Our motto had always been to keep our heads down and stay out of trouble, and yet Dillon had managed to screw that up. I was disappointed in him. I’d hoped he’d finally put his fighting, gambling, and fucking around ways behind him, but it seemed I was wrong.

“Don’t we get to know why you’re here?” Ryan snapped finally. “Surely we’re allowed to know that since you’re now living in our apartment.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you. It’ll only get you in trouble.”

“Seems to me like we’re already in trouble.”

Her blue eyes filled with tears.

“Just leave it, Ryan,” I said. “This isn’t her fault.”

He stopped pacing and turned to me. “No, it’s Dillon’s. I always warned you that he was going to end up dumping a huge pile of shit on our doorstep, and isn’t that exactly what he’s done.”

“Dillon is good at his job,” I said. “We need him.”

Ryan snorted. “You mean he’s good in bed. Isn’t that really what you need him for?”

The girl’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Watch what you say, Ryan.” There was warning in my tone. We didn’t know what was going to happen to this girl once she left, and the last thing we needed was her going around telling people what kind of setup we had going on. In our world, there was still plenty of prejudice around. I was less worried about losing the business than I was about losing our lives. The type of men like the Capello brothers took our sexuality as a personal affront. It would make them furious that they’d ever had anything to do with us, even though what we did behind closed doors didn’t affect them in any way whatsoever. It was easier and safer just to keep things a secret.

We were full of secrets, all of us. Secretive about our pasts, about our presents, about who we were, and who we loved. But then everyone had their secrets, didn’t they? It wasn’t only us.

“How long do you think Dillon’s going to be with the new clothes?” Ryan asked, clearly realizing he’d been tiptoeing a thin line.

“I don’t know. I guess that’ll depend if he stops off to fuck the store assistant while he’s there.” My tone was laced with sarcasm, but honestly, I wouldn’t put it past Dillon to do exactly that.

Ryan pressed up close to me behind the counter. I didn’t miss the way he wedged the bulge of his cock up against my ass. Even though this girl hadn’t done anything, Ryan still seemed to feel the need to remind me that he was mine.

“I don’t like that she’s wearing your shirt,” he said, keeping his voice low, his lips close to the back of my ear.

I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Would you prefer that she sits there naked?”

“Don’t be an ass, Kodee.”

I sighed. Ryan was going to be insufferable while she was here. I wondered how long it would be for. Days? Weeks? I couldn’t imagine what this place would be like if she was still here weeks from now. But what would happen to her when she left—or at least got taken away again? Would she be handed over to the same people she was being hidden from now? I struggled to imagine the Capello brothers setting her free. And like she said, she had nowhere to go. Would she just live on the streets? That could be a worse situation than being a sold woman. She’d probably end up in a life of prostitution anyway. At least, right now, she had a roof over her head.

“Hey,” I called out to her, and Ryan stepped away from me. “Are you hungry? It’s approaching dinnertime.”

She looked up from her huddled position on the couch and gave me a tentative smile. “Sure.”

Her hair had dried in a silken sheet, much better than the rats’ tails she’d arrived here in. The blue of my shirt brought out the color of her eyes, and her skin was smooth and pale. She clearly hadn’t seen much of the outside world—no sun damage on that one.

“What kind of things do you like to eat?”

She shrugged. “I eat whatever I’m given.”

I pulled open the door to our refrigerator and peered inside. Ryan had propped himself up against the breakfast counter, his arms folded over his chest defensively. If he was going to act like this the entire time she was here, it was going to get annoying pretty quickly.

“How about I rustle up a stir fry?”

“Shouldn’t we wait for Dillon to get back?” Ryan said.

“I’ll put him a portion aside, though considering the mess he’s gotten us in, I’m not sure he deserves a meal cooked for him.” My gaze darted to Rue. “Sorry,” I apologized, realizing she was the mess I’d referred to.

She shrugged again. I had the feeling she was used to being referred to in a derogatory manner. It wasn’t right that she was here, stuck with us as much as we were stuck with her. I didn’t imagine she was overly happy about the situation either. I wished there was some way we could help her, but anything we did would go against the wishes of the Capello brothers, and there were some people in this city you didn’t want to mess with. They could put us out of business within a day, or worse, they could see us behind bars, or even dead. Fucking Dillon. This was exactly the reason we’d told him not to get involved with the Capellos. They had all our balls trapped between a rock and a hard place now, and the Capellos didn’t care one bit if they crushed us.

---