Page 59 of Jagged Line Paradise

Avalon stops mid-sentence as she reaches the bottom of the staircase and sees me sitting there. But fuck me, if she isn’t the most gorgeous goddamn woman I’ve ever seen. She’s wearing a soft pink silk robe that covers down to her ankles, but her cleavage is ample in the V that’s formed by the fabric down the center of her chest, telling me there’s little to nothing on beneath it.

Her hair is curled in long soft waves, though it was straight and tangled when she arrived, and her face is caked in make-up. Her black-lined eyes and red-painted lips make her look positively sinful, but it’s a foreign look for her.

“Andrés.” She looks at me like I’m a ghost—one of those from her past that haunts her.

“I put it in the bedroom already,” Mack replies and I stand, crossing the room to her. “Andrés just wanted to say hello before leaving. I told him your list was full tonight.”

She doesn’t look at me at all; instead, she stares intently at Mack over my shoulder as I approach. I watch her throat bob as she swallows. “You…you told him that?”

I pull her into what’s meant to look like a friendly hug, but my fist wraps around a strand of ginger-colored hair at the middle of her back and I tug on it as I whisper in her ear, “Please fucking tell me you’re a goddamn masseuse doing legitimate private work here.”

I pull back to look at her, dipping down to put my eyes directly in front of hers. She stares back at me with a look I can’t quite interpret, but when she shakes her head slowly in response to my question, I know deep in my fucking gut what’s going on here.

I let go of her and whip around to face Mack. “What will it take to get her schedule cleared for tonight?”

“Andrés,no.” She grips my arm, but I shake her off.

“Are you serious, kid?”

“Dead serious. I want her for the night. What will it take?”

“I can’t just cancel on my clients like that.”

“I’ll pay double what they’re paying.”

“Stop. It,” Avalon scolds from behind me through gritted teeth. “Leave.Please.”

“Seriously?” Mack replies with lifted brow. “Double?”

“Double.”

“Shit.” He seems to grapple with whether the money is worth his reputation with his regular clients.

Clients.A fun fucking name for the men who are paying to have sex with Avalon.

“Let me call the clients, see if I can set them up with Alissa tonight. Or maybe we could reschedule for Sunday?” He looks past me at Lonnie, casually asking as if she’s just changing shifts at her regular fucking job.

I turn to look at her and her eyes lock onto mine. Her eyebrows twitch in consideration of the situation I’ve brought about. But there’s something strange in her expression—a deep, dark look of something I can only describe as curiosity. There’s something empty within her, something she’s seeking to fulfill. The look is strained, as if her control is waning. I understand it, I feel it. It’s the look of an addict seeking their next fix.

Her eyes still hold the fury and hurt from this afternoon, but that’s only emotion. It’s her physical senses that are seeking. I can see it in her posture, the way she twirls a strand of hair around her finger, the way her eyes dart back and forth between my eyes and my lips.

She gets something out of this. And the question being asked to her now is whether she’s willing to let me fill that need tonight instead of the three clients on her to-do list.

“Yeah. It’s fine,” she says to Mack, and my heart tugs on a string attached to my fucking cock.

When I offered double, my intention was to rescue her from having to bend over for some creepy dickheads for cash tonight. Maybe take her back to the hotel, get her a good meal, and let her sleep in an actual fucking bed that wasn’t designed for children.

But the way she just said, “Yeah. It’s fine,”sounded like it was more than fine. Maybe the beast just hears what it wants to hear, but if she’s willing to show me this part of her world and it keeps some asshole creeps from shoving their nasty dicks inside her, then fine. I’m game.

Bring itthe fuck on.

“Okay. Well, let me make some calls.”

As soon as Mack wanders out of the living room, talking on his cell phone, I whip around to face Lonnie, grab her by the throat, and push her back against the wall.

I keep my voice low. “Tell me what the fuck is going on here, Avalon.”

“I thought you knew what you were paying for.” Her tone is unexpectedly cheeky, goading.

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