Page 26 of Skin Trade

The first floor was like a mirror copy of the floor where her room was. Its corridor was built the same, decorated the same and lined with small tables at each alcove. Rows of doors lined the hall, except these were clearly not for guest use.

The first door was open a little, as if someone had left in a hurry and forgot to close it behind them. She nudged at it with the edge of her foot and peered inside. It was an office. A big office housing a meeting table, two small sofas and a desk at the far end. There was a screen of some kind on the desk. Not like what she remembered seeing growing up. This one was flat, black and sleek.

Her father had an office in their home when she was a child. No one was really allowed in it alone, although that didn’t stop her often. Sometimes, if he was there, he let her play on his computer. He’d load up some card game she liked to play and let her sit until she got bored while he did paperwork or other things. His computer had been a big white box, though. Not like this. How on earth anything fit in the inside of this machine, was beyond her.

If Creven had computers, Payton had never got to see them. There were only certain floors the blood slaves were permitted to go to and anything like that was forbidden. Hell, even talking to each other was often forbidden and she had seen other slaves beaten for it.

Slipping into the room, she sat herself in the chair behind the desk and moved the mouse around. A small cursor jumped to life on the screen, and most of the items on the display were little yellow folders with labels like Skin Trade Staff, or Skin Trade Ordering. A small icon on the other side caught her attention. It was round with four different colours making up a wheel. She clicked on it. It opened immediately, filling the screen with white.

A small box appeared in the centre alongside a button that saidsearch. She let go of the mouse and leant back in the chair at first. Not sure what she should search. She’d never used one of these things before.

First, she typed in Seth, Skin Trade and pressed the button. Image after image of him came onto the screen and she jumped back as if he could look back at her through the pictures. When she was sure he wouldn’t, she clicked on the first one and was given a description of Seth and his business. It gave basic facts, what he owned, how long he had owned it. The more she read, the more she felt like she was intruding on him, even though this was nothing more than someone’s take on who he was and what he did.

Still, she closed the box.

Maybe …

A minute later, she took the mouse again and opened the page once more. Instead of putting Seth’s name into the search, she typed in her father’s. Joseph Matthews. She froze when her father’s face came onto the screen.

“Dad,” she said. “Oh, Dad.” The image of him made him look older, a lot older than just the last few years from when she had last seen him. He’d lost some hair and it had greyed too. His face had aged in a way she hadn’t expected. Was this what her being taken had done to him?

Under the pictures were more links, the same kind that had come up when she’d searched for Seth. She pressed the first one. It was a newspaper article.

“Matthews to run for Mayor,” it read. She leant in closer so she could read it. Mayor?

“Do you always snoop around in places that you are not welcome?”

Payton yelped at the voice and jumped back from the computer. Seth stood on the other side of the desk, only a few feet from her. Damn him and his silent entering. She hadn’t heard him at all.

“I was just looking,” she said, getting out of his chair. “The door was open. I--”

“So, the door was open, you thought it was acceptable to wander in and look around?”

“No.” She put her back to the wall, knotted her hands in front of her and took in a deep breath. If he was going to do something to her for this, then do it. She put her head down and although her body trembled, it wasn’t for the same reasons as before. “I’m sorry.”

Seth strode around the desk. He didn’t sit on the chair, but he did look at the screen. “Joseph Matthews? You have an interest in him?”

“I was just looking someone up. I didn’t mean to do anything.”

“You know him?”

A quick glance back to the screen. She nodded. “He’s my father.”

Seth had put his jacket on over his waistcoat and shirt. Colour filled his face, and those blue eyes were darker than before. He rubbed a hand along the stubble around his jaw. “You know I could punish you for this? It’s technically breaking and entering.”

“Entering sure, but I didn’t break into anything. The door was open.” It was a feeble excuse. If this was Creven in front of her, she’d already be down on her knees asking for forgiveness that would never come. Whatever Seth had planned, she deserved. She knew better. If she could, she would have closed her eyes and wished him away or wished herself away to a moment ten minutes ago when she didn’t come into this room and get herself in trouble. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—"

He cut off her words with his finger under her chin, making her raise her head so she could see into his eyes. “Is this who you really are, Payton? An afraid little girl? Are you afraid of me?”

They stood toe to toe and she searched his face for any indication of how she was supposed to answer this question. He was vampire, and by definition of that he was the dominate one here. Maybe if he’d been human, she wouldn’t care, but he wasn’t.

“I’m not afraid.”

“Really?” He slid his hand from her chin, running a knuckle down to her breasts. He stopped between them. “Your heart is pounding. I can hear it.”

“Because you startled me.”

He kept his hand there and she willed her pulse to slow down. Calm down and stop giving her away with him.

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