Page 61 of Blood Money

28

LIAM

Icaught Val, staring out the window several more times but I couldn’t see what was attracting his attention. Finally, I dismissed it. Maybe he was just paranoid after what happened to me in the parking lot at Pound. He was ridiculously overprotective, but I couldn’t say I minded. It had been far too long since I’d had anybody to protect me at all.

The food was delicious, and most times when I looked up while I was eating, Val was watching me with a soft smile on his face. It was an expression I felt sure he didn’t show a lot of people.

Did he really feel the same way about me that I did about him? And how had this insanity happened so fast? I’d tried to fight it, tried to tell myself it was crazy, but I wanted him. I wanted to be his. I could only imagine what Ava would say about it. Would she accept it if some miracle occurred and things actually worked out?

I huffed. There weren’t going to be any miracles.

I polished off the last bite of my pancakes and took a sip from my water glass. When I sat back, Val smiled. “Did you have enough?”

“I hope so. I cleaned every bite off my plate.” I’d apparently been wrong about how much I could eat.

“That doesn’t mean?—”

“I seriously couldn’t eat anymore.”

“Do you want me to get you something to go for tomorrow, maybe a biscuit?”

“Val, you don’t need to do that. You told me you weren’t going to give me money because I owe you and that if anyone found out you were paying for?—”

“I’m simply making sure an employee is well fed enough to dance. That’s not against the rules.”

“Are you really thinking of me as an employee right now?”

Val took my hand. “I haven’t ever thought of you like that. I’ve only ever thought of you as a man I wanted to possess.”

“But you said I wasn’t allowed to be on your list of potential possessions.”

He turned my hand over and began stroking the pulse point at my wrist. How did he make that feel so good. “I want you, and I’m going to keep you.”

“How? If your father is so scary that everyone cowers when they hear his name?—”

“I’m going to find a way to make him accept you.”

“And what happens to me if you can’t?”

Val met my gaze. “No matter what, I will not let you come to harm.”

“Why, Val?”

“Because you’re special. When I’m with you I can’t stand the thought of leaving you, and I know you want me too.”

I wasn’t going to try to deny it. I glanced at the clock that hung on the wall of the diner. “Don’t you need to get some sleep? It’s four in the morning.”

Val smiled. “Plenty of nights I don’t go to bed before dawn. Hazard of the profession.”

“I suppose it’s easier to catch people at night when you have the cover of darkness to torture them.”

He shrugged. “Something like that, but I want you to get some sleep. You’ve got work tomorrow.”

I nodded, but I didn’t want to go back the stuffy little storage unit where I was hiding out. I wanted to go home with Val. I wanted to accept his offer of an apartment, but I wasn’t going to. I couldn’t let myself believe all of this would work out. I already knew I had fallen for Val, but if I let myself become even more dependent on him, what would happen if—when—he changed his mind.

When a second week without Val at the club came to an end, the same overpayment showed on my statement. Sunday was my day off from Pound. I tried to get scheduled at Benny’s, but no one would swap their shift with me. That meant I got to sleep in.

It was near noon when I woke covered in sweat. The generator had probably given out a while ago, but my exhausted body still hadn’t stirred. I hadn’t realized quite how tired I was.

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