Page 18 of Skin Trade

That would be the only reason Payton would consider changing. She’d seen it once at Creven’s when another girl had been punished for something she hadn’t done. She’d protested her innocence too, and that had made her punishment worse. It hadn’t been Payton. She thanked God every day for that, but never … never would she allow anyone to take the fall for her actions. Not to mention how she’d feel if it did happen. It was a harsh world out there. She didn’t need to feed her conscience reasons to berate her.

“Sir will want to know if I gave you the dress.” She cast her gaze down to her feet and wrung her hands together.

“And you did give me the dress. I just don’t want to wear it. I will tell him it was my choice. He won’t blame you?”

“Sir will not be happy with Payton.” She raised her gaze again. “You have time,” she said, sounding hopeful. “You could change and then Sir would never know. Yes. You can change.”

Payton pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t want to wear the dress. Tell me honestly, will he punish you if I go down dressed like this? Will he make you pay for my decision?”

“No. Sir is fair. But Sir will make Payton change. He will demand it.”

Payton couldn’t help the small smile then. Sir could demand all he wanted. He had nothing on her. Nothing he could bribe her with the way Creven had. “I’m ready to go to dinner now.”

“You won’t change? Please? Sir has very important meetings today and he needs to--”

“Have everything his own way? I’ll tell him the dress didn’t fit or something. Now, dinner, I’m famished.” And that wasn’t a lie. She’d not eaten properly since being in Creven’s care, and what she ate there was always small, meagre, enough to meet all the nutrient requirements, but never enough to satisfy hunger. Though Creven knew how to starve a person when he wanted. He knew how to make them do anything for the tiniest of bites.

She thought Sky was going to protest some more. Her gaze had flicked between Payton and the dress so many times it was a wonder she hadn’t made herself dizzy with it. Anything she did have to say, ended with a nod and a weak smile. “We go to dinner.”

Payton expected dinner to be in the club, or somewhere close to where she had seen last night. Not that she had seen much, but the view from her balcony showed the place went around in a square and in the middle was what was supposed to be the outside. More like someone had built a load of buildings together, around a garden area.

Instead of going to the main door, Sky crossed the room and went to the bathroom.

“We’re going in there?”

“Yes,” she said. “To dinner. It is faster this way.”

Faster this way? It wasn’t until she stepped into the bathroom and Sky was at the other door, did Payton realise they were about to go into Seth’s bedroom. The thought was enough to make her take a step back and pause.

“There isn’t another way?”

“Yes, but we cannot be late for Sir. Come.”

Sky opened the door and they were immediately blasted with the scents that were all male and all very clearly Seth. The masculine scent of him made Payton wrap her arms around herself, as if she could somehow protect herself from it, but he was everywhere. If she had never met him, never seen him even, she would know the scent of him meant he was someone important, someone of power.

Yet, when she followed Sky into the room and saw the bed, she frowned. Three jackets, two shirts and a tie lay on the bed. He had taken out clothes to choose what to wear. She found that knowledge fascinating. Perhaps because he appeared to have everything together. He knew what he wanted, but then he couldn’t decide on something simple like what to wear?

“These are Sir’s private quarters,” Sky said. “You are very lucky to get the room next to his.”

“He doesn’t normally put his latest purchase in the room next to his?” Surely it was more convenient that way. To have sex on tap. Just put it into the room beside his and keep it there for when he wanted it.

“No. Sir does not buy ladies.” A tilted smile. “He doesn’t need to. Sir is very handsome.”

Payton narrowed her eyes at Sky. Was Sky all there? Perhaps, perhaps not. Maybe she just didn’t know all of Seth’s comings and goings. It didn’t matter. She followed Sky along an elegantly decorated corridor. It was old fashioned, like something probably out of the Victorian Era. Something different to the sleek and modern parts she’d managed to see already. She paused for a second at a picture on the wall. It was large, hand painted, a portrait of a young girl—a very young girl.

‘Katherine Taylor,’ it read on a gold plaque underneath.

“Is this Seth’s daughter?” Payton asked examining it closer. She had the same dark hair, blue eyes. “She looks like him. The same eyes.”

Sky glanced up at the painting as if she was seeing it for the first time. “She is very special to Sir. It makes him sad when he looks at it.”

“She is dead?”

Sky shrugged. “Sir is old. Time passes. Come, we have to get to dinner, or we’ll be late.”

She hurried her way to the end where there was a lift. The doors opened immediately revealing a room of its own. It was as magnificent as the corridor and decorated almost the same. A red velvet lined bench sat in the corner, but Payton didn’t sit.

So many questions buzzed in Payton’s head, but where would she start if she ever got the freedom to ask them? Would Sky even answer her? Based on the evasions so far, it wasn’t likely.

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