Page 23 of City of Salvation

And damn if I didn’t listen to him.

Dex peeled out, taking off out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell. My ass had barely hit the supple leather seat, and we were already down the isolated road.

For the first time that night, I was able to breathenormally. That was until I remembered the pile of shit I was still in, including having a large, tatted biker mad at me.

I’d only seen him this focused once before—the night I’d run out of Lotería, straight into his arms, screaming at him to go and save Ryan. Moonlight hit his handsome face, dampened slightly by the tint from the windshield. The tick in his jaw was a neon sign about his mood.

The man was pissed.

Torque’s head popped between the two of us, his leather cut back on. “So, how did you get him to be quiet?” he asked, clearly unable to tamp down his curiosity any longer.

“Dex?” I asked, turning in my seat.

Torque scoffed. “Naw. He’s quiet because he wants to wring your pretty little neck.” Dex let out an honest-to-god growl, but the younger man didn’t bat an eye. “I meant sleeping beauty back here.” He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb as if I wouldn’t get who he was referring to.

I peeked around the seat to look at Jardani. “I shoved a pair of panties in his mouth.”

Torque fell back in a fit of laughter. Even Dex let out a snort of a laugh, which he quickly covered up with a cough. Turning back around, I kicked off my shoes, tucking my legs up under one another criss-cross style and replaying the night’s events in my mind, deciding how much to tell them.

The Reapers president and VP had argued they needed Russian firearms and support immediately. I could still feel the lingering press of Jardani’s fingertips gripping my skin whenever the Reapers had said something that irritated him. Which had seemed to be the whole conversation.

They really thought they’d be able to throw their weight around and get Yuri to fall in line with their plans. The Reapers should have done more research—offering to expandhis skin trade wasn’t going to appeal to the Bratva leader. Not when what he really wanted was me.

Yuri was a ruthless bastard with a mean streak a mile wide. It was his way, or a coffin for you and your family.

My father had spoken about it on more than one occasion. Yuri didn’t garner the respect of billionaires through diplomacy, but through tyranny. He became the leader of the Circle by butchering the family of his predecessor—and not only the immediate family. Yuri hung a family tree and ticked them off one by one.

Well,hedidn’t. Fucker wasn’t hands on, but he was damn good at getting people to follow orders.

“When I got there, the club manager said I had to serve their table and see if they’d let me work tonight.” The heat from Dex’s attention licked up the side of my face, but I refused to face him. “Homeboy back there pulled me into his lap and said I was to stay by his side, but then they started talking club business.” I finally turned to face Dex. “They were talking about expanding the skin trade in the area. Then he took me back to a private room, and the ass thought he was about to have the night of his life. I went with him because I figured I’d have a better chance of getting away.”

“Did they threaten you?” Dex’s voice was devoid of any emotion, making it all the more chilling. His grip was so tight on the steering wheel, there were bound to be indents when he peeled them away.

“No. No one threatened me, but I’m not dumb enough to think they’d let me go after openly talking about selling women. To them, I was a nobody who’d shuffled in looking to work one night…”

“An easy mark. How did you get him unconscious?” Torque asked. He’d popped his head between the two front seats again, resting his arms on the center console.

I couldn’t stop the proud smile. “Took his jacket halfway off and hooked it onto the chair to trap his arms. Gave him some bullshit line about how it was so he’d be a good boy and not touch me while I gave him a lap dance. Then I shoved a thong in his mouth, did a few moves, and bam. Choked him with his tie,” I said, recounting the event.

There were a few details I left out.

Like how after I’d trapped his arms, Ididgive him a lap dance, trying to entice him to share why he was in town. I’d hoped I could loosen his tongue enough to tell me something useful without blowing my cover. But that failed epically. Making him pass out was never part of the plan, but the moment his eyes had widened and he’d whispered myrealname, I’d known there wasn’t another choice. And now I needed to figure out what the fuck to do with him…and with Dex.

“So,” I started, “hypothetically speaking, if I were to ask you to drop him and me off at my place wh?—”

A loud squealing noise pierced my ears, my body shooting forward. My already damaged hands collided with the dash, barely preventing my face from hitting the plastic. Torque yelled out at the same time I did.

“What the fuck, Dex!” I yelled, sending him a scathing glare.

His thick finger nearly poked me in the nose. “You listen here, Nicole Marie Whatever-the-fuck-your-full-name-is, undernocircumstances am I going to let you be alone with a man you felt you needed tochoke unconscious.” He tapped against my head, rather hard, if I was being honest. “Now I know you’re smart, so that means the only reason you’d ask me such a stupid fucking question is because you’re hiding something.”

We were at a standstill.

Both of our chests rose and fell faster than normal. Every fiber of my being wanted to fight with him. To tell him to fuck right off with his suspicion. Problem was, he was spot-on with his assessment.

The other issue was that I was turned on by how much he clearly wanted to protect me—because that was what I heard in his voice when he growled out that I was going home with him tonight and continued driving. Instead of fighting and telling him to take me to my own home right that moment, I sat back and went along for the ride, pushing away all the warning bells about why this was a bad idea.

CHAPTER 10

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