Page 6 of Hidden By the Convicts
She tilted her head up, stunning green eyes meeting him even though she hesitated answering. Of course she hesitated. She didn’t know any of them. Or what they’d do to her. Harlis, with the way he stood there, one hand on his dick and the other on the shovel, wasn’t helping matters. Fuck, it was hard to not have a hard-on just looking at her, despite the filth in her hair and ground into her skin and clothes. And the smell. Under all the filth, grime, and who knew what else covered her, Gavin picked up on the delicate scent of a woman. Or he was imagining it. It was hard to say for sure, but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t his to touch.
“My name?” she asked. “Why? It won’t change my circumstances, will it?”
“You know our names. It just seems fair.”
She laughed. Not a fun laugh or even a surprised one. Derisive. Served him right for saying something so stupid. He’d never been a charmer like Bowen.
“You don’t have to give your name,” Bowen said softly, as if soothing a caged animal. In some ways, that’s what she was. They all were. Except she’d be hunted, relentlessly. “But it would make things easier.”
“For you or me?” she said, her eyes locking on Bowen.
Oh, the defiance in her and how she levied it at Bowen was a sight to behold. It made Gavin hard as a rock. He turned away before anyone noticed.
“Keep digging,” he said, placing a hand on Harlis’s shoulder as he headed into the bathroom to relieve the tension. “We need that hole before the guards come, or we’ll all suffer.”
* * *
TEAGEN
Teagen couldn’t help herself.She liked Gavin. The man, who looked to be nearly forty, had deferred to Bowen, who couldn’t be more than thirty-one or thirty-two. Gavin had a calmness about him, different from Bowen, who seemed more calculating. Gavin just appeared easy-going, like he wouldn’t judge her. She couldn’t say the same about Bowen. He assessed her every move, and it made her nervous, like he was planning something. Like how to use and then get rid of her.
And he could hurt her. Bowen had rock-hard muscles everywhere, not that Gavin or Harlis weren’t in great shape too. The way Bowen kept his hair cut super short made him look like he had served in the military.
Or been a guard at some point.
She edged away from him.
He raised a brow. “I’m not one for guessing games, woman. So, if you have a problem, tell me. But this. . .” He waved his hand between her and him. “. . . moving away from me when I haven’t done a thing to you, can give a guy the wrong impression.”
“Just like staying too close to him,” she said. “I offered you a deal, and you refused.”
“What deal?” Harlis asked.
“None of your business.” Bowen turned back to her. “Sex isn’t a currency. At least it shouldn’t be. I’ll keep you safe, but you have to do something for me in return.”
Here it was. The condition. She drew a deep breath and asked, “What?”
“Obey me. Completely and unequivocally. I demand loyalty and obedience.”
“You can say that again,” Harlis mumbled, but immediately resumed digging when Bowen glared at him.
Obey him? Obey all of them. These men here, had she met them back home, undernormalcircumstances, she probably wouldn’t have chosen any of them, except maybe Gavin. But it wasn’t like she had much choice. She either had to put her trust in these men and sleep with them as the price for them hiding her, or return to the abusive guards. She shuddered.
A hand landed on her arm and squeezed lightly. “No one will touch you if you don’t want it, but I have to watch out for my unit. Harlis may be a dick, but he’s right. You being here is a risk, and if the guards catch you, we’ll all be punished. And not just in extra years. Hell, Gavin is already past the ten-year limit.”
“Past the limit?” she asked, horrified.
Bowen’s squared-off jaw and sky-blue eyes seemed to soften as he spoke. “Dresden keeps people as long as he needs them. He uses their talents to his advantage. Like Harlis here. He’s a fantastic chemist. He has a talent that will keep him here well past ten years.”
Teagen glanced at the younger man, whose face paled.
“Oh, he can try to hide his talent or screw up his work to make himself seem less valuable, but Dresden has ways of making people do what he wants.”
“You’re getting off track from whatever fucking point you were making,” Gavin said as he returned from the bathroom. His hair was wet, and water dripped down his black t-shirt, making it cling to his very impressive chest. She must have smiled or something, because he grinned at her.
“My point is that we will all suffer. But Harlis and Gavin have specialties that make them valuable.”
“And you don’t?”
