Page 91 of PortCity Killers

“Nothing,” I panted, “Daddy, I have to go.”

Valentina pinched a little harder at the word, making me yipe, but she smoothed it over with a quick lick across the bruised skin. I frowned at her, but she only smiled, white teeth showing like she was about to eat me.

“What, daddy can’t hear you get fucked? Is it because Valentina doesn’t like me?” he laughed.

Valentina plucked the phone from my hands before I had a moment to react, but laughing probably wasn’t the response she wanted from me because her nimble little hand was working its way down my shorts as she spoke to Bryce over the phone.

“Excuse me, Bryce but your precious little baby needs to get ready for tonight. I promise you’ll get to watch the next time I’m inside her though.”

She hung up. Bryce’s groan cut off as she disconnected the call, throwing the phone onto the dresser.

“Does he ever get mad?” she asked, pulling her hand out from my shorts. I lifted myself to my elbows, disappointed but slightly amused.

“Not really.”

“It is unnatural.”

“It’s Bryce,” I shoved myself off the bed, “He’s a pretty tough nut to crack.”

“Well,” she said, condescension dripping from her tone, “I’ll figure it out.”

I laughed, “Good luck with that. I don’t mean to be a type of way, babe, but he’s had worse people try.”

The glimmer in her eyes told me I’d done nothing but fuel her fire, which was fine, I guess. Bryce could dish out whatever she had to give, and he would relish the chance to piss someone off, especially someone he thought was competing with him.

To Bryce there was no competition. He knew his place in my life, and until I said otherwise, he would wear that badge with pride. Nothing and no one could intimidate him away from it or make him feel less than no matter what they tried to do; I was sure of it.

When I told her what time I needed to be back on the ferry she was only mildly incensed about it, but there was nothing to be done. Neither she nor Don trusted Vosco, but as much as I might not like the guy, I didn’t think he was dumb enough to do Bryce dirty and let anything happen to me.

As far as I was concerned, I was as safe with him as I was with either of the twins. Maybe more so if I didn’t have to worry about potential psychotic ex-girlfriends.

With that thought in the forefront of my brain, I let Valentina tug me away to her room where our dresses hung on a rack. Valentina had taken Don’s advice wearing an off white dress made of the same fabric as my vibrant green one. It was the same color as their eyes, bright, dark, and intense, but Valentina smacked my hands when I reached out to touch it.

The evil in her eyes had my hackles up.

“First, you’ll have to get ready.”

I looked at her dubiously.

Her smile grew, “Do you not trust me, muñequita? I have not steered you wrong yet, have I?”

That was subjective, in my opinion. I could count a multitude of times in our very short courtship in which she had steered me wrong, but I chose instead to purse my lips, biting down that very thought before stepping into her embrace. She grasped my shoulders, squeezing them affectionately.

The Valentina Special was something I should have better prepared myself for. I’d been plucked, waxed, and scrubbed down within an inch of my life by a mother-daughter team that Valentina had apparently employed for years.

The daughter also doubled as Valentina’s personal shopper, who had evidently stocked my room with clothing for me the night before. They left shortly after a late lunch allowing us time and space to finish hair and makeup.

I’d insisted on leaving my hair down, knowing that there wasn’t really anything I was willing to do with it that wouldn’t require an exuberant amount of bobby pins. I didn’t want to be constantly checking my reflection, and I certainly didn’t want to deal with the fall out at the end of the night when Bryce has his hands in my hair.

I sighed, squirming as Valentina placed the tiara down, nestling the few pins I had allowed her to use into my hair.

“You look beautiful. A true princess.”

My smile warbled and tears glistened at the corner of my eyes, “I do, don’t I?”

I ate it up. The soft silk of the gown, the slight pinch of the boning for the corset-esque bodice. It all felt so surreal.

Tonight, I would attend one of PortCity’s finest productions. I would have two of my date mates tucked away in Vosco’s home, his library, Bryce had said, and I would absolutely defile his desk no matter what shade of blue it might turn him. He had asked for me to distract them after all, and he hadn’t been specific about how.

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