Page 31 of Selling Innocence

“I know,” I whispered.

“And you’ll still remain silent? You’ll risk whatever we do to you for what? For a couple of bodyguards?”

I nodded.

“Why?”

“Because they’d do the same for me. If you want to hurt someone, I won’t make them your target.”

“So you’ll take their place? You’ll make yourself the target?”

“Yes.” Finally, an answer with some conviction. My voice still trembled, but I had no doubt of my answer. I was terrified, but I would never give up the Quad, no matter what happened to me. “I know that I’m weak, that I’m not as brave as the people around me, not as strong, not as capable. I might be a coward who everyone else has to pick up the slack for, but I won’t let you hurt people I care about. It doesn’t matter what you do to me, I won’t betray them.”

Char blinked slowly, his expression different than the two I recognized. It wasn’t the friendly one he showed others or the malice he offered to me. Instead, it was something like confusion, as if his brain had to make sense of the words I’d said.

After a long moment, he pulled away with a huff, then stormed out.

I glanced at the other three, wondering if that was the end.

Tor gathered the items off the table—including the gun—packed them away, then left.

Hayden nailed me with a hard look, one that said he wasn’t done with the conversation even if he’d lost this time. “I’m going to tell you something it sounds like you already know but don’t understand. I am a bodyguard. I deal with keeping clients alive. Just like how your bodyguards told you that keeping secrets from them would only endanger you, I’ll tell you the same. Whether you like it or not, right now my job is to keep you safe. Keeping secrets is only going to make that job harder.” He didn’t wait for me to respond before leaving as well.

Only Vance and I remained in the room, and he stared at me with the same easy, amused smile as usual.

“Get dressed,” he said. At my expression—which probably showed my confusion—he laughed. “We’re going out. Wear something nice. I believe Hayden brought some of your clothing, so pick out a pretty cocktail dress.”

He didn’t ask me, didn’t wait to see if I’d agree, before rising and walking out.

It left me alone in the living room, the tension from before still there, still crushing me. That anxiety that swamped me at night so often remained, bounding around inside me, not allowing me to breathe deeply or settle.

And now, after all that, I was going somewhere with Vance?

All I knew for sure was that that man was not good for my heart.

Chapter Eight

Kenz

When was the last time I’d dressed up like this? I pulled at the hem of my cocktail dress as I sat in the passenger seat of Vance’s fancy sports car.

It was far from the first time I’d been in a car like this, though it was probably the time I was the least comfortable with it. Vance had yet to tell me anything other than he was taking me out on a date.

“You can’t be that nervous.” The way Vance could look so comfortable while driving around in a half-a-million-dollar car annoyed me. He should be the nervous one, darting through traffic while headed for some fancy restaurant.

Instead, he looked one hundred percent at ease.

He probably does this all the time.

Get a girl in a car like this, shower them with affection and compliments and fancy food and the odds of ending up alone at the end of the night were pretty slim, after all.

He’d dressed up in a suit, and it sure suited him well. The black gloves were still in place, but I hardly noticed them anymore. They were just a part of him.

“I’m not used to dates,” I said.

“No? A pretty young girl like you? I figured you’d have at least ten guys on the hook, all of them simps willing to do anything you want.”

I snorted at the wholly inaccurate guess. “I’m not into having men ‘on the hook.’ Besides, I’m busy with school.”

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