Page 11 of Of Angels & Absolution

“Easy for you to say,” she sniffles, shivering and huddling against me.

I pull the blankets over us, tangling my legs with hers. I kiss her forehead this time, stroking her damp hair back. “You’ll be okay,” I say. “You just have a few bruises. I’ll hold you while you fall asleep.”

“How can you say that, like nothing just happened?” she asks.

“Trust me, that wasn’t nothing for me, either,” I say, though I can’t say more, can’t admit how much it meant. “But you’re safe with me. I’m not going to fuck you. You can relax.”

I hold her until she stops shivering, until her body melts against mine and she goes still, her breathing deep. I marvel that after all this time, she still trusts me enough to fall asleep on me, even after all we’ve done to her. I’ve violated her with the others, and I haven’t done anything to show her I can be trusted. She’s naïve to even consider it, especially when I can’t help but slide under the blankets and eat her out one more time while she sleeps. I drag my hand over my cock this time, painting her thighs with my release while I suck hers from her slumbering, relaxed pussy. I spit it into her wet panties and pocket them to bring to the others.

Then I tuck her in, settle her teddy bear in her arms, and lock the door on my way out.

four

The Merciful

“I got your files,” Dynamo says, striding into the back room where I’m waiting. “Had to get a paper copy like a caveman so I wouldn’t leave a trace, and they can’t leave this room.”

He flashes me a grin as he closes the door and strides across the room to pull out the chair opposite me. He swings it around backwards and sits astride the seat before opening the folder.

“Now, there’s a lot of legal jargon in here, but it’s all there—stenographer notes, evidence files, judges’ findings, everything. You know how to read all that?”

“No,” I admit, groaning inwardly at the thought of having to find someone who can figure it out without also drawing suspicion.

“Then I’ll just sit here on my phone while you read, and when you find something you don’t understand, holler.”

“You know how to read legal jargon?”

He shrugs and shoots me a grin. “Don’t act so surprised. I know lots of things.”

He knows how to run an underground fight club and illegal street races, how to find fighters and racers and the audience for both, how to avoid being busted for years. But if he knows anything about the legal system, I’d have guessed it was from the other side of the bars.

“How do you know?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.

“You have your secrets, I have mine.”

“Then how do I know I can trust you?” I ask. “You could tell me anything, and I wouldn’t know the difference.”

“Aww, you’re killing me, Red,” he says, giving me a pained look and clutching his chest. “What reason would I have to lie to you?”

“I don’t know, since I don’t know you at all.”

He sighs. “I have a lot of attorneys in the family. I’ve picked up stuff over the years, and then I read through the file and asked everything I wasn’t clear about so I could help you out if you had questions.”

“Sorry,” I mutter, touched that he went to such lengths to help me, and guilty that I didn’t trust him. I should know better. He knows me well—at least the side of me I keep hidden from the rest of the world. I clearly only know one side of him too. I’d never have guessed a guy with tats from fingertip to chin who coordinates multiple illegal activities would have “a lot” of attorneys in the family.

“Sorry enough to make it up to me with that date you keep promising?” he asks with a lazy grin, leaning back and pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossing it onto the table between us.

“I never made any such promise,” I point out. “And do you really want to guilt me into a date?”

“Hey, a guy’s gotta take what he can get.”

“I’m sure you can get more than a pity date.”

“Not with you,” he says, nudging my foot with his. He swipes the pack of cigarettes from the table and nods to the folder. “But we’ll be here all night, so I’ve got plenty of time to charm you into a real date. Go ahead. Get started.”

“Okay,” I say, nervously licking my lips before opening the thick file. Half an hour later, my head is spinning, and I can’t make heads nor tails of half of what I’m reading.

I sit back with a sigh, watching Dynamo tilt his head sideways to light another cigarette, a little frown of concentration between his brows as he pinches the filter between his lips and angles the tip of his cigarette into the flame cupped in his palm.

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