Page 28 of His Puppet

There’s a heavy cloud of tension that lowers around me like fog. My throat constricts, and I stare at Blade, bracing for the moment he snaps. He must be pissed.Furious.

I take a deep breath. “Before you reel into me about what happened, let me just say, I’m sorry. You put me in a position where I had to choose between—”

“Sh.” Blade puts up a hand and doesn’t take his eyes off his phone.

My brow furrows, and I close my mouth and wait. When Blade finishes whatever he’s reading or watching or whatever, he locks his phone and tosses it into the cupholder. He meets my eyes and smirks.

“You ready?” he asks.

I blink, opening and closing my mouth. I’d planned for anger. “Ready for what?”

“For your first job.” He glances past me, rolling my window down just enough for Tattoo to see the nod he gives. Tattoo rolls up the window, and the SUV backs up a moment later.

I take a second to survey my surroundings. We’re parked at a rundown gas station that looks like it’s been closed for a decade. It’s the only thing around, but it’s right off a highway.

“I don’t understand,” I say, giving my head a shake and turning to face Blade. “What job?”

Blade smiles, ignoring my question, and pulls out of the parking lot onto the highway. Following behind the SUV, he floors it, passing a sign that says we’re seventeen miles from Vegas.

“What job?” I ask again, looking around me as the car flies down the road. I search for a cop car as if I’d ever actually wave one down. I wouldn’t. Not at the risk of them finding out my identity.

“It’s a surprise.”

“One I’m not going to like?”

Blade chuckles at that then glances over at me. “One you’re going to need to improvise for. I want to see how you think on your feet.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so I face forward and stare out the windshield. This feels weird, not being blindfolded or tied up or trapped in a mock cell. Sitting next to a man whom I can’t tell if he’s my enemy or my savior.

We sit in what’s uncomfortable silence for me, but probably a quiet bliss for him while I think through all the possibilities and form a plan for every outcome. Or, at least I try. I don’t actually come up with anything because I can’t read the situation, even slightly. Which I guess is probably the point.

Ten minutes go by before I can’t stand to be in my head anymore, so I break the silence. “Are you pissed at me?”

Blade glances over at me then goes back to the road. His face shows nothing. “We’ve already had this conversation.”

“We have?”

“Yeah. About the time you freaked the fuck out on me because I gave you a bath in cold water.” He glances at me again, and this time it looks like he’s the one trying to gaugemyreaction. “You don’t remember?”

A bath? My skin heats thinking about him having me naked, touching me. I should feel disgust, but it’s more like embarrassment.

I shake my head. “No.”

“Hm.”

“Well?” I ask, my patience thinning. “What was the consensus? That you were going to punish me by locking me in a room and forbidding anyone to talk to me for a week?”

Blade chuckles. “What do you mean no one talked to you?”

I don’t respond, and he flashes me his teeth.

“For the record, I didn’t tell Luis not to talk to you. He’s a good boy who does what he’s told, nothing more nothing less, so he probably took that initiative on his own.”

“So you’renotpissed at me?”

“No. If anything, I have an inkling of respect for you. You’re good. I’ll admit, I underestimated you.”

I let out a sigh and let my head fall back against the seat. This really is a job.

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