Page 21 of Collide

“Yes,” I finally replied as I ran a hand down my suit jacket, ironing outimaginary creases.

I turned to the tiny form still lying prone on the garbage bags, the lookof pure terror etched across her gorgeous face. Her hair was piled up on top of her head in a messy bun but some strands had come free following her tussle with the cunt who had attacked her and my breath hitched in my throat at seeing her again in real life, rather than just from a photo.

The photos did not do her justice.

I took a step forward and offered my hand out to her, wanting to helpher up, but she just stared up at me with her mouth gaping open and her beautiful brown eyes wide. Anyone would have thought I had three heads based on the way she was staring at me. I guess I couldn’t blame her, she had just witnessed me kill a man with these hands and probably thought she was next.

“I won’t hurt you, Riley.”

She peered up at me with those chocolate brown eyes whichwidened further at my mention of her name, and a look crossed her face that said she was surprised I’d remembered it.

If only she knew.

Slowly, she reached her hand up and placed it in mine. It was small inmy large palm and her skin was soft, as soft as silk. I pulled her gently to her feet and to my surprise when she was standing again, she didn’t immediately remove her hand from mine.

“Should we call the police?” she asked nervously, staring down at herwould-be attacker.

I smirked. I supposed I could call the police, I owned them after all,and with the right payment to the right person, there would be no record of this. But I preferred to take care of body disposal myself and the dead prick did not deserve to be recorded as a John Doe and given a funeral, no doubt paid for by the city.

No, he would rot in the deepest part of the waters that surroundedHollows Bay, wrapped in a body bag and weighed down with a ton of heavy rocks.

“No, I’ll take care of it,” I replied.

Shock must have been setting in because she didn’t flinch, or evenblink at not getting the police involved, she stared from me to the body and then back at me again, her face growing whiter by the second. Once again, I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my arms and keep her safe.

“Did he hurt you?”

She finally removed her warm hand from mine and I instantlymissed her contact.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you for-” she paused, struggling to find the nextwords to say, ‘saving me, stopping him from raping me.’ Instead, she just waved a hand toward the dead man. I nodded my response, finding myself in a rare moment of being at a loss for words, and in the seconds that followed, we just stared at each other.

I wondered if she finally knew who I was, had Diana told her that Iwas the man that owned and ran this city, a man not to be messed with? Or was she thinking that I was just another customer who happened to be in the right place at the right time?

For some reason, I found myself desperately wanting her to knowwho I was, and for me to have been on her mind as much as she had been on mine this past week.

“Mr. Wolfe, I should probably go,” she said as if to answer myunspoken question and I had to resist the tug of a relieved smile on my lips.

Her eyes darted toward the mouth of the alley where her freedomwaited. She gave me a small smile and then took a step away from me.

I immediately blocked her path.

There was no way she was going anywhere that wasn’t with me andwhile I had planned to coax her into my car one way or another before the night was over, this situation had presented itself and it was an opportunity I was going to cash in on.

“I’m afraid you are going to have to come with me, Riley.”

Grown men had pissed their pants standing before me, but my brave Star didn’t show an ounce of fear. She didn’t look like the downtrodden girl I had seen in the photos, she looked how she did when she was usually in the company of Angel, feisty and ready to take on the world.

She crossed her arms over her chest, inadvertently pushing her titsup and I couldn’t stop my eyes from glancing at them. I couldn’t wait to nestle my face between her luscious tits.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she huffed and scowled at me andI begrudgingly dragged my eyes away from her chest.

She stood firm, arms crossed and hip cocked to one side. I was soused to people falling over their feet to do as I said, to please me. And yet here was this little girl with the audacity to stand up to me.

It did things to me, stirred parts inside of me that I thought were dead.

She stared back at me, offering a silent challenge.

Well, if my Star wanted to play, then who was I to deny her?

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