Page 11 of Orion Ruined

“Can someone help me, please?” she purrs.

Logan huffs under his breath, “The way she says please, sweet Jesus mama!”

Before we can move, Orion jumps up, pulls out a cup, and sets it on the kitchen counter. “It wasn’t that high,” he growls at her. “And if I remember correctly, I gave you some underwear.”

She frowns at him before pouring herself a coffee. “I can’t wear someone else’s underwear.”

She stands up for herself; good for her.

Orion rolls his eyes and looks at us. “Let’s not make it messy.” His overly composed voice means he’s one step away from a killing frenzy. It’s chilling.

The three of us jump to our feet at the same time. Nobody’s being a pussy now. The screeching noise of our chairs alarms Maisy, who drops her coffee cup to the floor. She obviously senses what’s coming–except the buzzing message on all of our cells stops us in our tracks.

Orion’s clearly annoyed at Maisy for dropping the cup, breaking it into pieces with coffee splattered all over the floor. He reaches for his back pocket and Maisy raises her hands as if to protect herself.

“No!” she yells.

“Orion, stop!” I shout. Maisy’s face is splashed across the screen of my cell, with ‘Wanted’ written in the message.

Orion’s staring at me, looking vexed. “Is it okay with you if I check my cell, Kai?” he asks sarcastically.

“Oh, sure, I thought… Never mind.”

“What are you waiting for?!” he yells at Maisy. “Clean this shit up!”

I glance at Logan’s cell. He’s got the same message as I have. I look at Orion and he’s staring at his screen.

He sits down, and we follow suit. Maisy’s on the floor, soaking up the coffee with a tea towel. Her t-shirt gapes at the front and through the opening I have a partial view of her breasts bouncing about.

I’m mesmerized.

She looks up, her eyes shiny with tears.

Orion speaks more softly. “Maisy, come sit here.”

She pushes herself to her feet and hesitantly sits next to Orion. She’s eyeing all of us, looking unsure of what to expect. I make her another cup of coffee and set it on the table in front of her.

“Are you hungry?” I ask.

“No.” She takes a long sip of coffee and blinks at me over the cup.

Orion doesn’t beat around the bush. “Why are you wanted by Milan the Dog?”

She looks at him, then at us. She takes a few large gulps before placing the cup back on the table. We are silent, waiting on her to start talking.

“I ran away from his pimp last night.”

“That’s not the reason why he sent every mobster in town searching for you,” Orion replies. “There’s a bounty on your head. He’s not doing that for just any whore.”

She stares him dead in the face and talks through gritted teeth. “I’m–not–a–whore!”

“You ran away. I get that. But there’s something that you’re not telling us.”

“I wouldn’t work for him.”

“Have you ever worked for him?”

“No. I don’t know.” She sighs. “I did some work for Jerry, my landlady’s husband. That’s how I’d pay my rent. I thought that was working fine. Until the day before yesterday. They came in the morning, killed him, my landlady too, and took me with them. The order was, I’m to work for him from now on.”

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