Page 46 of Velvet Cruelty

“Not yet. But we can make other arrangements.”

“What kind of arrangements?”

He reaches out a hand to mine. Sparks tingle up my arm and as much as I want to pull away, I don’t.

“JJ.” His soulful brown eyes lock on mine. “You’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”

My heart slams against my chest. “But I don’t know how to do anything. I don’t know what seven times nine is.”

“That doesn’t matter. I waited my whole life to find someone like you.”

My head is pounding. I want so much to ask what he means if he’s saying what I think he is, but this isn’t the Trinity Grammar library. And in a corner of my mind, Kurt is begging for his life as Bobby walks toward him, holding Eli’s gun.

I imagine Zia Teresa smoking under the rangehood of my stepmom’s oven. Wake up, bella. You’re being lied to again.

I look down at my clean, tight shorts. “Did you make it so I could go upstairs and wash and eat?”

“I… yeah.”

“How come you didn’t take me yourself? You got Mr. Gretzky to do it?”

I try to sound sweet, non-threatening, but Bobby’s eyes narrow. “I’m not trying to manipulate you.”

“Of course not,” I say. But I know he is. He wanted me to be clean and comfortable, but he didn’t want to bag my head and steer me around Velvet House like a crash test dummy. He still wants me to see him as a sweet, gentle guy. My math tutor. My high school crush. The thought is more painful than Eli’s threats, Adriano’s gun in my mouth, Doc’s knife against my neck.

“January? What’s wrong?”

I pick up my pillow and hug it to my chest. “Um, like, everything?”

The corner of his mouth kicks up. “Yeah, I guess that’s about right, but we can make things better.”

I look away. Part of me wants to tell him anything is better than being locked in a basement, but I don’t want to waste Bobby’s niceness by making him mad. “Thank you for letting me wash and giving me food.”

“JJ… I’m still the guy who taught you trigonometry.”

I know what he really means. You can still like me. I’m still safe. But one thing might not be true and the other definitely isn’t.

“I know.”

There’s a long painful silence.

“How did you even become my math tutor?” I ask, needing to say something.

“It wasn’t too hard. I’ve got a master’s degree in computer science.”

“Oh.” I assumed he’d blackmailed his way into Trinity Grammar, like Doc posing as the priest or Adriano pretending to be a janitor. But then again Bobby did tutor people with math. People who weren’t me. “Do you… work in computer science?”

“Velvet provides surveillance services. I run our operations. They’re some of the best in the country.”

I hear a note of pride in his voice and my stomach knots. “Surveillance services for criminals?”

He traces his tongue over his lower lip. “Yes. But also, corporations and hotels and families like yours.”

“Like mine?”

“Wealthy people with a lot of assets.” He shifts on his knee. “I know the impression we must have given you, but Velvet House isn’t a gang. It’s a business.”

“I don’t think a lot of businesses kill people on their carpet. Or kidnap brides.”

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