Page 85 of Quinlan

“Why me?” I repeat the question I asked them in the restroom.

“Is that ayes?” Damien’s tongue swipes seductively at the top row of his teeth.

He inches closer. A table separates us, yet I feel him on me anyway. I feel that tongue between my thighs. His lips on my sensitive skin. I shudder. Lean toward him against my better judgment.

Who am I kidding? What better judgment?

I’m attracted to these monsters. I need their comfort to help with the emotional pain they’re inflicting. How fucked-up is that. How wrong.

“Tell me.” Stupid curiosity. Stupid desire. Stupid tremors. “Why me?”

“You won’t be going back to your apartment tonight,” Liam interjects. A done deal, that’s what his decisive voice says. “You’ll be riding with Damien back to our penthouse. Effective immediately.”

“I’m not going.” But I am.

What other choice do I have?

“Liam, you’re forgetting something.” Damien’s smirk changes. His whole expression shifts, the amusement melting from his face while he stares blankly at me. “Before you go, Quinlan, you have a phone call to make.”

A burner phone slides across the table to me. An old black device that Liam pushes my way.

Hope flutters in my heart. Hope that these people aren’t as bad as they pretend to be.

“A call to my parents?”

“Adorable.” The harsh laugh from Damien has me jumping in my seat. He won’t harm me, no. His temper, however, is hanging by a thread. The sharp line of his jaw becomes sharper. Sharp enough to cut diamonds. “No. Not your parents. We told you you’re free to email them once you’re settled. You will email Ray too, so she wouldn’t get any ideas like filing a missing person’s report. This evening, though, you’re calling Rex. You’re telling him you’re being taken against your will. That if he alerts the authorities, we’ll kill you.”

“Rome?” Only darkness and barely contained aggression stare back at me. “Are you trying to get back at him for what happened at the café?”

“Over here, darling.” Damien doesn’t wait for me to look at him. His long body makes it easy for him to reach for my chin. Close his fingers around it and yank it so I’m caught in his fiery gaze, half of my body hovering over the table. “You call him and tell him Damien Black says hello. Understood?”

I haven’t realized what I’ve gotten myself into up until now. I wasn’t chosen at random.

This is personal.

“What did he do to you?”

“I don’t want to hurt you.” A subtle shake of my chin. “But I will if you don’t make the call.”

“Damien,” Liam warns.

“I will,” Damien whispers. He vows. “Call him, little captive.”

Whatever happened between Damien and Rex, it’s bad. Really bad.

I’ll find out. I’ll have time. Plenty of it when I’ll be locked up in their home. Because that’s where I’m headed. Where I’m forced to go.

Until then, I’ll fight back. I won’t let them treat me like shit. Moreover, since they’ve made it clear that they won’t fire me. They need me as much as I need them.

I plant my hands on the table, pushing myself into Damien. To the pain of his fingers on my chin. “Call him yourself.”

His eyebrow cocks at my challenging tone. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Neither of the other two men speaks. No one gives or will give me the answers I deserve.

“What about my parents?”

“As promised, money will be transferred to your account.”Flick. Snap.“We forgot. Tell Rex he’s in charge of them going forth.”

---