Page 55 of Skin Trade

She let the words hang in the air, not sure what she actually meant by that statement. She had been thirteen when she’d been given to Creven, but she had been thirteen when a lot of things happened to her.

“Bad things happen sometimes. My mother was always waiting for someone to save her, I think. Looking for that man who could take her off the streets and give her and her son a new life. Problem was, back then, no one wanted a woman with a son. They wanted to sire their own heirs, not allow some bastard child to eat at their tables and be a burden on their wealth.” He brushed a strand of Payton’s hair back. “My mother died in the back of a tavern when I was fifteen.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It was a long time ago. You shouldn’t waste your life waiting to be saved, that was my point. You don’t know why your father didn’t come for you. You may never know the reason, but you don’t need him either. You’re so much more than you think you are. Save yourself.”

Her eyes prickled with his words. It was so easy to think she could do that, but in this world. “You bought me; you own me now. I can’t just take myself away.”

“Why not?”

“Because …”

“Because is just an excuse you tell yourself. I don’t own you, Payton. I have told you that. You’re free to leave any time you want.”

“The other women. What about them?” He owned them too. Like Creven, like every vampire she’d ever seen, they owned what they paid for and Seth had paid for her, he’d paid for the others too.

His eyes darkened. “Not all assumptions speak the truth. There are many things you do not know, do not understand,” he said, and then he slid his arm from under her and got off the bed.

She didn’t get back in the bed this time, but rather pulled the sheet from it and used it to wrap around herself. Seth went to his closet and rifled about in the array of shirts and suits.

“I’m sorry if I said something wrong.”

He took out a blue shirt, dark, like his gaze now. “You didn’t. I just have to get to work.”

“You moved pretty fast for someone who just needs to get to work. I--”

The phone rang, a weird, odd sound, and Seth went to it and pressed the button. “Sky?”

“Aamon is here to see you, Sir.”

“What does he want?”

“I don’t know. He’s in your office.”

Seth paused before answering her. He nodded. Not that she could see that. “Tell him I’ll be down in five minutes. I’m in another meeting.” He clicked off before Sky could speak. “I have to get ready for work, as you can see. That is all. I have been alive too long for passing comments to bother me. If you are not busy when I am done, I would like to take you somewhere.”

“Take me somewhere?”

He had slipped on his shirt and boxer shorts as they spoke. “Yes. You want to see freedom; I can show it to you.”

He dressed quickly after that and she had nothing to say in response. She just watched him, the way he moved around the room, putting on his trousers, his shoes, a different tie. He was back to business in less than five minutes.

“I have to go to work,” Seth said, finally buttoning up his waistcoat as he walked over to her. He leant in, face close to hers. “Don’t have too much fun without me.” Then he kissed her and was gone.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Payton found herself sitting perfectly still in Seth’s bed as if she was waiting for him to come back and didn’t quite believe he had gone. Her body ached for him, each nerve ending she possessed called out to him for his touch, his attention.

It was a weird thing given how little time had passed since she’d arrived in Skin Trade, but with Seth, he made it so she was sure she’d known him for years. The way they’d moved together, the way he’d held her and that look he had when she admitted to him that he was really her first.

Time ticked by at such a slow speed and Payton’s heartbeat with it. Whatever Seth had done, however it was, he’d touched her, he’d awoken something deep inside her and made it into something sharp, something that allowed her to feel every rise and fall of her chest. It was, she thought, as if he had made her into an observer in her own body.

Easily, Payton moved herself back up the bed and climbed right into it, wrapping herself in the sheets and letting herself lie back down against his pillows. As she stared out into the room, towards the window, she thought about the way Seth had looked when Sky had told him who was waiting for him in the office. It wasn’t the look of a man expecting someone to arrive for a pre-arranged meeting, but something else, something fleeting that had passed across his usually blank expression. That was a vampire gift—the ultimate poker face.

Staring at where he had stood beside the large ornate desk, fingertip resting on the button for Sky to talk, head cocked to one side as he listened, she tried to pull into her mind the memory of it, but her mind couldn’t hold onto it. Little puffs of white smoke that blew out of her mind the moment she tried.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said to herself. Whether he wanted to see Aamon or not, he was there now, in the same building. Payton pulled over a pillow to lie on top of the one she’d been using. It smelt of him—a deep, musky masculine scent that had her rolling onto her front and turning her face into the smooth fabric, just so she could take him in. The pillow was firm, stuffed with feathers. Her mother had used feather pillows and covers when she’d been growing up. She never liked them then. They were always cold.

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