Page 25 of Dragon in Boots

“Then why did you show up uninvited if you’re not a threat?” she asked.

“To get my fucking cat.”

“You mean the one that you haven’t even asked about once since you woke up?” He didn’t seem to care that the animal was injured.

“Heebie will be just fine.”

“Yeah,” she argued, “because I just paid three hundred dollars I don’t have to make sure his leg is set and he’s kept comfortable.”

“Money wasted.”

How could he say that?

“So what’s it going to take to let me out of here, huh?” he added.

“I’m not sure yet.”

“You want your bartending job back? Fine. It’s yours. Have it. Are we done now?”

Jac wished. “No, because the second I let you go, you might do something. I need a guarantee.”

“Like?”

She turned to leave, knowing she had some thinking to do. “I’ll be back later with water and a sandwich.”

“You’ll pay for this,” he said in a menacing tone, his eyes holding his promise of death. Oddly, it didn’t scare her anymore.

“So I guess I was right about the cage, then.”

He wrapped his strong hands around the bars. “Do you have any idea who you’re messing with?”

“You’re in my world now, stripper boy. So behave.”

She was almost out the door when he yelled, “What if I have to use the bathroom?”

“There’s a bucket in your cage for a reason.” She exited the building, hearing Dash screaming something weird about her being burnt alive or eating her charred flesh.

Wow.What kind of man said that sort of thing? She never should’ve gotten mixed up with this guy, because now she wasn’t so sure she could unmix this. Her alarm bells had been trying to tell her something earlier tonight, and they’d been right. He was dangerous.

After checking on the p.m. crew and finishing her evening rounds, Jac locked up the reptile building and headed to her cottage. She planned to eat, grab a glass of wine, and then have a long hard think about what to do next. She couldn’t keep Dash locked away forever, nor could she call the police, claiming he was a threat.

How do I get myself into crap like this?It wasn’t so dissimilar to how she’d ended up with over four hundred animals. Many came to her in need of care, but when they were healthy again, she found herself stuck with them.

Well, not stuck. She loved these animals, but she never thought through what came next. With Dash, she’d reacted first too, and now she’d backed herself into a corner.

Maybe she could drug him and take a bunch of illicit blackmail photos so he’d leave her alone.

No. He’s a stripper.He probably wouldn’t care if the entire planet saw his junk.

But maybe if I find out that secret of his…Dash had seemed pretty terrified earlier when he thought she’d discovered something hush-hush. He’d only changed his tune after he realized she’d been talking about a codpiece.

Jac made her way down the walkway, cutting between her large eucalyptus trees. “That’s it. I’ll make a deal with him.” If he disclosed his secret, then she’d let him go. After verifying he’d told the truth, of course. It would be a mutual-destruction kind of deal. She’d ensure his secret got out if anything happened to her.

Jac turned around and began walking toward the infirmary to have a discussion with Dash. As she got closer, she spotted the doors lying on the ground. They’d been torn clean off!

“Oh no.” She ran inside, discovering the bars to Dash’s cage bent apart.

Her eyes nearly popped from her head.How?

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