Page 26 of Frank's Felon
DELILAH
Frank had looked at her in anger, horror, and now disgust and disappointment. Delilah wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take. Some women thought nothing of giving a blow job to a guy in exchange for money, concert tickets, or just for the fun of it. She could understand the fun part—with the right guy. With Frank it had been fun, though scary because of how real it had been, how much it had reminded her of the person she used to be, before she had been caught. She wanted to be that person again, but that Delilah was long gone.
The guy at the WSSO hadn’t been handing out concert tickets or money, but a lead on her sister. Delilah had been desperate to find Tess, to save her from whatever the WSSO was doing to her. She’d reached a dead end, and only knew that her baby sister was one of their experiments, another one of the WSSO’sspecimenswho would eventually end up in a crematorium.
There had been no time, only the desperation and driving need to do what needed to be done to find Tess before the WSSO killed her. How could Delilah explain any of that to Frank and make him understand? It was too late now, anyway. He already thought her a whore after she had given in to him so easily in that office.
Frank scrubbed his face. The shifter was clearly exasperated with her, but he stayed calm, too calm in fact. He was looking for an out, as if she had pushed him past his limits. Tess had said the shifter had great resilience, that his past hadn’t been an easy one, that he would sacrifice himself for pack and especially for those he loved. Delilah could see that about him. Frank truly cared about his pack which now included Tess.
More than anything, what drove Frank was his need to ensure the safety of his pack. Seeing that look on his face, his disappointment, was the very reason she didn’t want any of this getting back to Tess. Delilah could afford to lose Frank’s respect, but not Tess’s. Frank was essentially a stranger to her. She’d forget about him soon after she left. Maybe. At least she hoped so.
Delilah let her eyes trail down his well-built body and those hands that had no problem grabbing hold of her when he wanted. Somehow, he always managed to be gentle with her.
She closed her eyes, trying to wipe any thoughts of being with him from her mind. She had to focus on answering his questions and ensuring he didn’t tell Tess anything. Delilah couldn’t afford to lose her baby sister.
“So, you got a picture of Tess from an insider, correct?”
She nodded as she gazed in the distance at a squirrel climbing a tree.
“Look at me, Del.”
The roughness, the command in his voice, made her want to do as he demanded, but she couldn’t stand to see more disappointment in his face. Two rough fingers on her chin guided her to look at him. Amber eyes held her, and for a split second she believed what he had said earlier, that he wasn’t judging her.
“We’re almost done. I just need to understand why there were two men following you in town. Do you know who they were?”
“No,” she said as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
He took another deep breath for some reason, then schooled his features. “Did they follow you from whoever gave you the picture?”
“No.”
“Why do you think they’re following you?”
She shrugged. “My past is rather sketchy. I made my share of enemies along the way.”
“Sketchy how?”
“My alpha gave me a choice when I was sixteen.”
Frank’s eyes narrowed, and she took a deep breath. She had never told anyone this, and she prayed he’d keep his word and not tell Tess. It would destroy her sister to know the truth. “Steal or prostitution.”
“What the fuck!” he roared. The very air around him filled with tension and anger, so much anger. . .
Delilah steeled herself for whatever Frank was going to do next. She had put up with a lot, but getting hit wasn’t one of them. Frank suddenly calmed, his eyes falling to her clenched fists at her side.
He strode away, hands on hips again. “I won’t hurt you. Ever, Lily.”
“Delilah,” she corrected him, trying to keep the tears at bay.
Frank kept his distance, unwilling to approach. That felt like a slap in the face, one she had given herself. The distance between them felt unnatural. Before she lost her courage altogether, she stepped forward.
“Tess calls you Lily. I thought it might put you at ease.”
She couldn’t help but smile. Frank really did care about others, including her apparently.
“She’s family. No one else ever called me Lily, except for him.”
“Who? Your alpha?”
