“Fuck,” Vaughn groaned. “Just…fuck.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
He held me tight and gently removed the vibrator.
Vaughn placed a kiss to the side of my neck and tucked the blankets tight over me. “Gonna get something to take care of you.” He stuck his head in front of the phone camera. “Sorry, big guy. You’re on your own for clean-up.”
Fang stuck his middle finger up. But then the camera was back up at his face and he was studying me intently. “Are you okay?”
I nodded sleepily. “I’m great.”
“He was gentle?”
“Where I needed him to be.”
Fang made a gruff noise of satisfaction. “Good.”
I grabbed the phone from the bedside table. “What’s going on there?”
“We’ve got a lead on the Sinners. A house they’re using to hole up.”
I smiled at him. “That’s great, baby.”
Except Fang didn’t smile. “They have women. Ones who aren’t there by their own free will, we believe.”
A sick feeling took over the lovely tingles of pleasure. I instantly wanted them back, but I couldn’t grasp them. “You think they’re being trafficked?”
He bit his lip. “I don’t know. But, Pix? That’s not all. They’ve seen Caleb there. He’s using them for protection.”
I gasped. “The girl? Is she there with him?”
He nodded. “At least we think so. We’ve been looking into it, and she arrived there the day after you nearly drowned.”
I sat up. “Fang! You have to go in and get her! I promised!”
His teeth mashed together, but he nodded fiercely. “I’m on it, Pix. We’ll get her. I promise.”
24
KARA
She was the most perfect baby I’d ever seen. With tiny rosebud lips, the prettiest shade of pink, and a soft dusting of fuzzy blond hair. She was so sweet it was hard to believe she was even real, until she woke up and cried.
I wasn’t sure the other girls felt quite as enthusiastic about the crying, but I loved it. When she was quiet, it was too easy for the dark thoughts to taunt me with the fact she might not actually just be asleep.
I watched her every minute of the night and day, barely sleeping, refusing the help the other girls kept trying to offer. I needed to soak up every moment with her. Commit it to memory, because at any moment, I knew Caleb would ruin it for me.
Georgia and Winnie watched me nurse my daughter from the corner of our room, the two of them deep in discussion about something.
“What is it?” I asked, a tremble in my voice. “What do you know? Did you hear something?” All the nightmares I’d been trying to hold at bay came crashing down over me, threatening and dark. I clutched my daughter closer, as tight as I dared without hurting her.
Winnie rushed to my side and knelt in front of me to stroke the baby’s downy head. “Oh no, nothing like that. We’re just worried about you.”
“No need for that,” I assured them. “As long as I have her, there’s nothing else I need.”
I meant it with every beat of my heart. Having her in my arms was all that mattered. I just wish I’d known that before I’d stupidly turned up on Caleb’s doorstep and demanded money from him. Mama was right. I was greedy and selfish and now I was being punished for those sins.
“I’m so sorry, baby girl,” I whispered. “I wish I could take it back.”