Page 29 of His Puppet

“But,” Blade says, drawing my eyes to him. “If you ever take a knife to me again, I’ll fucking kill you.”

There’s no humor in his eyes, no sign of teasing. His voice is hard. When he turns to me, he must see the fear in my expression because he smiles and pats my thigh as if to lighten the mood.

I keep my mouth shut for a while, staring out my window at the buildings as Henderson, a town just south of Vegas, comes into view. Blade turns a corner while the SUV drives straight, and he weaves the car through a residential neighborhood.

I should be thinking about the job I’m about to do, but instead I can’t veer my mind away from the bath he supposedly gave me. My memory of him carrying me was real, and I wish I could remember what happened after that. My skin heats more, and I face my window so Blade won’t see my reddening cheeks.

“So,” I say, making my voice as even as possible. “What happened after the bath?”

Blade doesn’t respond right away. I take a peek at his contemplative expression. When he meets my eyes, I look away.

“Are you asking me if I fucked you?”

I clear my throat and wait. When he doesn’t go on, I prod. “Well?”

“You didn’t seem in the mood.”

I pause before responding. “Does that matter?”

He smirks. “You’re a mercurial girl, Emily.”

My eyes narrow at the condescension in his tone. “How so?”

“You had my cock in your mouth hours before that, but you’re worried I might have sealed the deal?”

“Call me old fashioned, but I like to be awake when I have sex.”

“You were awake, just not mentally present.”

I scoff. “That too.”

“Ah, well in that case, no, we didn’t have sex. Believe it or not, I prefer my partners at full mental capacity as well. Plus, you kind of freaked me out. You kept begging me not to put you in a box.”

My spine stiffens as a weight drops into my stomach. I can feel the blood draining from my face.

Blade looks over at me, and I stay as still as I possibly can, as if he’ll forget I’m here and drop it.

The box. That’s what I called the walk-in wine cooler before I knew what it was. I close my eyes, and I’m back there. I shiver.

“You okay?” Blade asks.

I open my eyes and glance at him. His expression suggests he’s curious with a side of concerned.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?” My tone is defensive, and it takes me several seconds to realize the ridiculousness of my question. This is my captor. I’m not in the cooler, I’m in the car with a mafia capo. Not exactly an ideal situation, so of course I shouldn’t be okay.

Blade grants me mercy and doesn’t respond to that, nor does he ask me any more questions. Without warning or hesitation, he veers the car to the curb in a middle-class neighborhood and parks.

He reaches over me, pops open the glove box, and pulls out a tiny device. He slams the glove box closed and holds out a USB toward me. I cautiously grab it like it’s a bomb and study it in my hand.

“What’s this for?” I ask, turning to look at Blade. His eyes are pointed ahead of the car, and I try to follow his gaze to one of the houses on this block.

“White house up ahead with the pillars. There are rose bushes on both sides of the porch and a bird fountain in the front yard. See it?”

I find the house he’s talking about and nod. “Yeah.”

“There’s a man alone in the house right now. He takes a laptop home, so it should be there. I want you to get into that laptop and download a file with a label that contains the name ‘Mathews.’ There are cameras surrounding the property, so you’ll need to be let in by the owner of the house. This is not a snatch and grab, run-away-before-anyone-can-catch-you job. I need you to leave without anyone knowing what you took. Otherwise, I would do it myself.”

I study the house while trying not to think about what is riding on the success of this job.

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