Page 61 of His Puppet

I look her in her eyes, and my head spins.

Iwant this.

“Well,” she says, gesturing behind me and pushing the door shut. “We should get going.” She spins and locks the door before slipping the key into her bra.

“Do you just put everything in there?”

She flashes me her teeth and clicks her heels as she walks and takes the first step down the stairs. I trail behind her.

“In this city?” she says with mock concern. “Of course. Do you know how many degenerates there are here?”

She continues down the steps while she shakes her head and tsks. She looks back at me a moment later with a smile on her face and amusement dancing in her eyes.

I return her smile. “I can only imagine… Fucking criminals.”

She laughs, and when we step onto pavement and start toward my car, I take her hand. Her head snaps my direction, and the amusement vanishes. She faces forward, biting her lip, and intertwines her fingers with mine.

I open the passenger door for her, and she looks almost embarrassed as she climbs inside, her cheeks red. She chuckles and looks up at me. “You really are trying to sell this, huh?” The amusement she tries to display doesn’t show in her eyes. It’s baffling to me, how a woman like her could even question a man wanting her.

I shut the door and walk around to the driver’s side without answering. Mostly because I’m not sure how. This date really would help us to ease police suspicions that she’s one of my victims, but if I’m being honest, it’s more than that.Of courseit is. I told her I would protect her, no matter the cost. Then I fucked her on my father’s couch, in an apartment I’ve never brought a single soul to. To pretend she was some sort of ‘friend’ who meant little to me would be laughable. To pretend she’s nothing but a charity case would be insulting.

I climb behind the wheel then turn to her. “Tell you what.” My lips lift into a smirk. “Why don’t we pretend this is real? We’re two lovers about to have a ‘night on the town’ or whatever you kids call it. If we can convince ourselves, we can convince the police.”

Her face blanches, and her eyes dart away. My brow furrows, but I let her reaction go when she puts her hand on my arm and nods, forcing a smile. It’s enough to make me doubt the signals she’s been putting off.

Doesshe want this?

She clears her throat. “Sounds good.”

Emily

At some point,I’m going to have to tell him what the police know. I wish I could say why I haven’t already.

Maybe I’m scared that he’ll lash out at Ellison? Maybe I’m convinced it wouldn’t matter, that the cops didn’t take my friend seriously anyway, just like he said?

Or maybe,maybe,I don’t want to ruin this night. I need this. I want this. And telling Blade it’s very possible the people following us already know he kidnapped me and is holding me hostage for stealing from him, which yesterday, was fully accurate, wouldn’t do us any good anyway. Not right now. It could spook him, make him distance himself from me just like the Grucos have chosen to do, and then what? I’d be on my own. As much as my independent, tough girl heart wants me to believe otherwise, on my own is the last place I want to be.

This? This is the best illusion of safety I could hope for.

“What are you thinking about?” Blade asks over the blaring music of the night club we arrived at a half hour ago. We’re in one of those VIP sections that married men take women to so that they can not-so-subtly hint at their wealth with a flash of their money and a few choice words, right before they take them home. It’s like purgatory for regrettable one-night-stands.

I blink and force myself to stop unnecessarily stirring my martini with the toothpick. I ate the olive already.

I shrug. “Nothing.”

Just that all your efforts tonight are probably wasted due to the fact the police already know about our ‘arrangement’.

He tilts his head. His arm rests on the booth behind my back, and his fingers idly graze my shoulders. “Nothing?”

I pick up my martini and take a swig instead of answering him. After setting my glass on the table, I glance around the room.

“You know only douchebags buy their way into these sections, right?”

He chuckles. “What?”

I rest my elbow on the back of the booth and prop my head up while giving him a knowing smirk. “Come on. How many times have you picked a woman uprightafter taking her to one of these?”

His eyes flick to his drink, and he fights a smile. He takes a drink and sets the glass back down. When he meets my eyes, he’s the one with the smirk.

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