Page 51 of Protector

Two hookers crossed their arms over their chests and moved shoulder to shoulder as I approached. The blonde one on my left chose to be the spokeswoman. “What the fuck do you think you’re doin’? This is our corner.”

I pulled a wad of cash from my purse. “I’d like to rent it for the night.”

Wolverine had been pushing me to use the money in the bank account he helped me set up; money that I knew came from Jamie.

I finally listened.

She took the cash and quickly counted it before letting out a low whistle. “Holy shit, girl. This is five grand. Why you turnin’ tricks when you got cash like this?”

“Revenge,” I stated flatly. “Are we good?”

They both nodded in awe and took off, presumably before I had a chance to change my mind. I noted that they looked like supermodels strutting a runway as they disappeared from view, leaving me to wonder if there was a class somewhere I’d missed.

A sane person would’ve been nervous when the familiar black car pulled up to the curb. Instead, I was strangely excited.

When he rolled down the window, I stumbled over, knowing from our surveillance that he was going to order me to get in. Despite what I’d learned by watchingPretty Woman, there were no questions regarding price per hour or how much it would cost him for the entire night.

Several of the girls who’d gone with him hadn’t been seen since. It made what I was about to do even more important.

I climbed in, before realizing that he hadn’t said a word. He looked me over for several tense seconds before running his tongue over his lip ring.

“Fuck. You’re a dime piece.”

I had no idea what a dime piece was but given that he hadn’t thrown me out of his car yet, I could only assume it was something positive.

I took my lower lip between my teeth and blinked slowly as I looked up at him, something that had never failed to turn Jamie on.

He reached across and gripped my thigh. “You’re quiet. I like that.” When I stayed silent, he leaned over and whispered in my ear. “I bet I can make you scream, though.”

Scream, Ma. Get those girls awake, and we’ll show them a good time.

My leg muscles tightened under his fingers; as if my body remembered what my brain pleaded for me to forget and was urging me to run.

“It’d be nice if someone could,” I joked softly, hoping he didn’t hear the shakiness in my voice or notice that my fingernails were now embedded in the skin above my knee.

Manny sat back with a wide grin as he mashed the accelerator against the floorboard. “Oh, you’re fuckin’ perfect.”

None of the men loitering in the motel’s parking lot wore leather vests. It didn’t make them any less menacing. In the weeks we’d spent watching, I hadn’t seen Cobra or Hawk once, leading me to believe that they were using Manny as bait to draw Jamie out into the open.

Then, and only then, would they move in.

He pulled around to the front, near a room I’d seen him enter and leave countless times, taking up two parking spots as he straddled the faded white line.

“Upstairs. Room two-twenty. Marcus is gonna check you for weapons.”

How had Molly and I missed that detail?

Ignoring the beads of sweat that trailed down my spine, I shook my head and pushed my lips into a pout, letting my fingers roam over my breasts. “What if I just want your hands on me?”

The mere thought made me want to vomit. My performance had been too over-the-top. I knew there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell he’d buy it.

Manny clenched his jaw, and I waited for the fist that was inevitably coming.

Proving that men like him only thought with what hung between their legs, his eyes followed the movement of my hand, nostrils flaring as he whispered, “I bet you’re already wet for me, aren’t you?”

I giggled and opened the door, sounding like a creepy animatronic bear the girls had growing up when its batteries were low. “Why don’t you take me upstairs and find out?”

With a growl, he jumped out, all but dragging me up to the room. When he reached for the light switch just inside the door, I covered his hand with mine. “Get on the bed.”

---