Page 29 of Repossess My Heart

“I’m supposed to be dancing here tonight. I know I’m late, but I really need this-“

“This one is with you?”

She nods, her voice sounding sweeter than it ever has. “He’s my manager.”

Pimp.

The thought of her having a pimp hazes my vision again. The bouncer regards her, slowly.

Too slowly. Taking her in like he’s trying to commit it to memory.

“Name?”

“Rev.”

He looks away from her just long enough to pretend to scan his list. “You’re not on here.”

I glare at the reflection of light on his weirdly shiny bald head, the only part of him not covered by ink. Gang ink, not surprising at an Ender brothel. Even the worst of vermin sometimes turn their dusty noses up to recruiting men and women to be tortured and killed for pleasure. Some willing… most not. Death and destruction with no ulterior motives, just the pleasure of watching agony. Even now the screams from the basement are barely dampened by the thumping music and padded walls.

I want her nowhere near here. Her agony and pleasure are mine to enjoy.

“Damn… maybe they misheard my name? I promise I’m supposed to be here.” My head snaps to hers. The coy sexy little smile she gives him makes an unfamiliar feeling flood my already twisted stomach. For a moment, I don’t see her pretty face, not at all. I only see all the ways I want to brutalize and dismember her corpse for fucking looking at him like that.

Kill her and him, too. I could clear the building in less than ten minutes and still get everything I need.

Do it. Kill them.

My arm snakes around her waist, jerking her against me inside. So tightly it’s like I’m trying to attach her to me permanently. I consider it for a moment, although it would be terribly annoying. My fingers dig into the damaged flesh on her stomach. Into the number I carved there hours ago.

My number! Have you forgotten Reverie?

The bouncer clears his throat as our eyes meet. I’m not sure what he sees in mine. I assume the same thing they all do… in the end.

Do you have a wife? A sister perhaps, mom even? Someone you love, someone you’d hate to see with a man like me. Oh, the fun we could have, Baldy. You have no clue the amazing things a human body can achieve with the right… motivation.

His Adam’s apple bobs as he steps to the side, waving us in. His sweaty skin pallid. My tech scans his registration chip as we pass, my face pulling up into a sickening smile. One for him. You have a daughter that just turned twenty-two. Her whole life ahead of her… what a shame-

Reverie’s lips brush my chest as she leans in, the honey sweet smell of her taking my focus as her breasts push into me. “I’ll get changed quickly, that should give you enough time to locate him.”

“You’re staying with me.” I growl, digging my fingers into her harder.

You’re staying.

“Stop being an ass and listen for a second! I know how these places work better than you. He’s watching me now. If I’m not on stage in less than ten minutes, they’ll raise the alarm. All exits locked until they find me.”

“Then I still get what I want.”

She fakes a laugh. “Your drone told me he’s a VIP. Which means they lock him down inside until it's safe too.”

My brows pull together, my drone shouldn’t have been able to share information-

My eyes snap to Michael where he sits on the stage of a dancer, kicking his short legs as they dangle off the edge of the platform, “Your drone acts on your wants before you can share them. It’s designed to anticipate everything. You’re… opening up to her now?”

Go away.I shout in my head, and he does. I don’t give myself time to feel guilty about banishing someone who isn’t really here.

“Come on, it’s what I do.” She adds, pulling me back to her.

“All you do now is follow me around, look pretty, and piss me off.”

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