Page 32 of Skin Trade

Another raise of his brow but this time he angled his head in a way that she knew there was more. She frowned at him at first, not sure what it was, but then the word came to her like an ice pick in her psyche and she swallowed down her pride. “Sir.”

“Do you need an escort?”

“No. I am …” she trailed off. She was about to utter a retort at him but thought better of it. “No. Thank you. The bathroom is upstairs?”

He nodded. “You have five minutes.”

Her body jolted when he let go of her hand and cast her off into five minutes of freedom. It tempered her need to fight against him, to tell him she’d take as long as she wanted. But she was pretty sure doing that in front of everyone here, would put her in the kind of trouble she’d probably never recover from.

It didn’t stop her clenching her hand beside her hip, trying not to feel what letting him go was like. It put her on the edge of something, something terrible—she was freefalling away from him. It made her want to grab his hand again just to make it stop. She didn’t like this, not one bit. If he was teasing her with vampire magic, trying to lure her in, he damn well better stop. She’d tell him so when they got back to Skin Trade. It was one thing to tease her, to play games filled with lust and wanting, but it was another to play around with her core. No man, or vampire, was allowed to get in that deep. If they did, she’d lose part of herself that would be impossible to get back. She would never … never be anyone’s slave. They’d have to kill her first.

Turning her back on Seth, Payton cut through the crowd of vampires. Every single gaze crawled along her back until she nearly broke into a run to get to the ladies’. She touched a hand to the front of her dress, about to pull it closed. “Be confident,” Seth had said. She did. She let go and put her shoulders back. The only part of the dress she held was the side of her skirt, to lift it so she could walk up the stairs and not catch it with her feet.

At the top of the stairs, she paused, blew out her breath again and steadied herself. They were so oppressive down there. It wasn’t evident until she was out of their sights, but the power of each of them throbbed around the room. It was like heaven just taking a moment to herself before going into the bathroom.

The bathroom was quiet when she went in, and Payton almost backed out, but this would be the only place Josie would be permitted to go alone. She shut the main door, pressing it to make sure the latch caught and then she walked along the side of the stalls. Three of the doors were closed, but only one displayed the engaged sign. Payton knocked.

“This one is busy,” the voice inside called.

Payton pressed a hand to the door, feeling relief. “Josie? Josie, it’s Payton.”

Silence. Not even the sound of Josie moving echoed in the room.

She knocked again. “Josie?”

Payton stared at the door, waiting for some kind of answer, but nothing came of it. She bent down. Feet, there were definitely feet on the other side.

“Josie, it’s me, Payton. I was part of Creven’s coven with you.” Still nothing. “Talk to me.”

“You know it is forbidden,” Josie said, her voice low now. “Please leave me alone.”

“I just wanted to see if you were okay.”

“I am okay. Please go, before you get us both in trouble.”

“There’s no one here.”

No answer again. Payton clenched her hands together and stepped away from the stall. She didn’t leave the bathroom, though, even with the invisible timer ticking loudly above her head. “I never got to say goodbye.”

When Josie flushed the toilet and opened the door, Payton moved out of her way, but Josie didn’t even glance at her. She barged right towards the sink to wash her hands.

“Josie …” Payton gasped, dashing over. “What have they done?”

It should have been of no surprise to Payton that Josie’s back was a mess of purple and red lines. She’d been whipped. Some old, some new, all of them looking so painful that Payton’s heart hurt at the sight of them. She could imagine the sounds, hear the cries. They’d been enough when she’d heard some of the girls whimpering at night.

“He did that to you,” Payton said, gently touching Josie’s back, but not where her wounds were.

“They are my own doing,” Josie said. “I know the rules and I broke them. Please stop talking to me. I do not wish for more.”

“He shouldn’t be doing that to you.”

“He does nothing I don’t deserve.” The defeat in Josie’s tone made Payton want to go down there and scream at Creven. He had no right to. “Can you please leave me alone?”

“Josie … Please.” She went to touch the girl’s thin arm, but Josie pulled away. “I can get you out of there. I don’t know how, but I will. I promise.” She reached for her again, this time grabbing Josie’s hand. She tried to pull it towards her in earnest, but Josie snatched it back.

“Please. I have asked you. Leave me alone.” The tone in Josie’s voice threatened to tear Payton apart. So young.

“You can’t stay with him, Josie. Not like this.”

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