Page 3 of As Thick As Thieves

Dad kept glancing at me so I forced a disgusted look on my face, sneering at Zavier. “If you think you’re touching me, you have another thing coming.”

“If you think you get a choice, then you're in for a big surprise,” he chuckled, and it was scary how real it seemed. He grabbed my chin, keeping his eyes on mine. “You can’t escape me. You’ll never see your daddy again. That’s a promise.”

His hidden comfort was easy to read and my tears of joy just made me look the part of a scared girl. “Fuck you.”

“Once we’re in the car,” he replied, keeping a hand on my wrist until his friend returned with bags of cash. I had no idea how much business these two did with my father, but considering Dad didn’t feel the need to count the cash, I guessed it was a lot.

“Say goodbye to Daddy,” Zavier growled, and I made sure to pull back and make it look like I was trying to get away from him.

“No! Dad, please!”

“This is what happens to princesses who think they can do as they please,” Dad said bitterly, patting Zavier on the shoulder like they were good buddies. “Enjoy.”

“I will,” he answered smugly, dragging me from the room as his friend grabbed the screaming blonde. We passed Estelle as she held the door open for us, and before I could say anything to try and soothe her worry for me, Zavier leaned closer to her and spoke softly. “She’s fine. We’ll get her out of here.”

Estelle looked surprised as she ran her eyes over me, her face relaxing slightly as I gave her a tiny smile that I hoped the cameras didn’t see. I didn’t want her worrying about me again, so I was grateful Zavier seemed to know who she was.

“Have a good evening, gentlemen.” She held my gaze, not bothering to hide her affection for me. “I love you. I’ll be praying for you.”

“Miracles happen,” I choked out. “I love you too.”

“We’ve gotta go,” Zavier warned, tugging me out the door and towards a van, his friend struggling with the blonde behind us. It was obvious she had no idea who they were.

We got locked in the back of the van, the vehicle moving from under us as I crawled towards the blonde to comfort her. Zavier and his friend were in the front that was separated from us, so I had to pray I’d read them right and they were saving the girl too.

“Hey, it’s okay. They’re not bad.”

“They bought us!” she screamed, her voice hoarse. “They—”

“I know one of them. They’re helping us,” I said quickly, taking her hand. “We’re okay. I’m Penn.”

“Raylene,” she answered through tears, but she was still on alert. Panic filled her eyes as the van slowed a moment later. “Why are we stopping already?”

Doors slammed and the back opened to reveal Zavier and his friend.

“You’re not really buying girls in your spare time, right?” I asked sharply, and Zavier snorted.

“Good to see you too, Whitlock. You look like shit.”

“Asshole,” I scowled, but I threw myself at him, hugging him tightly. If he was buying girls, I’d take my chances with him over Dad’s basement. “Thank you.”

He caught me, taking my face in his hands to carefully inspect me for injury. His thumb stroked across my cheek where Dad had hit me, his jaw clenched. “I can’t believe he fucking sold you. We nearly didn’t come tonight but we’ve been looking for Raylene for a while and caught wind of her being there tonight.”

“You didn’t know I was there?” I asked with confusion, and he shook his head.

“Not as one of the girls for sale. We knew you’d gone home, Stone said you’d left to stop the Kings from coming after your guys and then attacked him. You shouldn’t have done that, we could’ve helped you.”

“Stone said I wanted to go home?” I asked with a frown, and he ran his eyes over me for a second before replying.

“Is that not what happened?”

“Doesn’t matter now,” I said with a shrug, but inside I was at war with myself. Why had the guys believed that? Stone hated me, so they should’ve checked to make sure it was true. I was so angry at them for thinking I’d just leave them.

Zavier eyed me knowingly but he didn’t mention it. “Let’s get you ladies home so you can have a shower and some food. When did you eat last?”

“I got bread daily,” I offered, and Raylene nodded.

“Me too.”

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