Page 80 of Skin Trade

Chapter Forty-Four

Seth’s eyes locked onto hers and for a strange moment, she thought she heard him say he was sorry. Except he didn’t say the words, his mouth didn’t move. It was the distant echo of his voice in her mind, the one she’d heard all those times he’d teased her, a caress inside her.

Despite that, she couldn’t quite face the man in front of her, the man she’d given herself to. Seth … someone she trusted. “Why?” she asked. “Why?

He put a hand out to reach for her, to stroke her face, but she shook her head and backed away.

“No.” She kept going backwards until the back of her thighs reached the desk in the middle of the room “You opened the door. You unlocked it.”

She wanted to believe he couldn’t have done this, wouldn’t have. That there was some logical answer as to why he stood with the door key in his hand and how he had walked right into the town and known where she was.

“Is this because I left? Because I snuck out while you slept?”

“No,” he said.

“Then why? I don’t understand.”

He was the same man in front of her, the same man who had taken care when he’d taken her. The same man who’d stood in the kitchen and uttered those words that had driven her mad since he said them.You’re more than that.

“Tell me why, Seth. You can at least tell me that.” She hated how weak her voice sounded, how vulnerable she was in front of him.

“I didn’t. I …” he paused as if he was trying to find the right words for her.

“You did this? This is because I ran away from you and you couldn’t come and get me? You got me locked in here?”

“No.”

The door shoved right open, bouncing back against the wall. Alexander came into the room. The fine hairs on Payton’s arms rose at the sound of his voice.

“A poetic answer, wishful. Wouldn’t it be nice if that were the truth?” Alexander said as he came properly into the room. His voice carried all around it, loud, like she remembered it at the meeting, all his power being vocalised around her so the sounds could wrap themselves around her body.

“Seth, what’s going on?”

“Yes, Seth, what’s going on?” Alexander raised one brow at him, his head tilted to the side and a cocky smile on his mouth.

If she stepped to the left, she was close to Alexander. If she stepped right, close to Seth. Between them they had her trapt. Bright blue eyes watched her as Seth stayed still. But he never took them off her. Never looked away, even for a second. She could tell herself she didn’t know the answer to her own question. She could give herself logical answers, but if this were anyone else …

“Don’t you just love loyalty, Payton? I tell you, if you ever want someone to be loyal to you, go to Seth. That man is spot on with doing as he is told.” Alexander put his finger to his lips. “Oh, wait. You did that, didn’t you?”

“Loyalty. That’s what’s going on. Seth here is very loyal, aren’t you? Does as he is told. Gets what I ask him, too. I forgive him for the little fun he had for himself with you. A man can be forgiven for giving into the sins of the flesh. Tell me, Payton,” Alexander said, as he came around the other side of her, put a hand down on her shoulder. “Did he pleasure you properly? It’s a crime to take from me what is mine, to have her before me, but if he left you unsatisfied.”

“She is not yours,” Seth said.

“No? Does she know about our little deal? Did you tell her that during your pillow talk? She might feel very differently after she knows the truth.”

“Stop it.” Seth went to move forward, Alexander came around Payton, putting it so he had the advantage with her, trapping her between the two.

“Ah, ah. I warned you.” He pulled Payton away, putting distance between her and Seth. If she wanted to reach him now, she couldn’t. “There is something very special about having loyal friends, don’t you think so, Payton? It builds trust, creates foundations. Seth has been a loyal member of my team for a very long time now. How long is it? We reaching one hundred years yet? I admit, I was a little concerned when I saw you. He always had a soft spot for the weak and broken. Wasn’t sure he’d hand you over as easily.”

“I don’t understand,” Payton said. Her eyes searched Seth’s, looking for answers, hoping for them even. Because everything her mind was trying to tell her ended with him doing this on purpose. When she found none, she said, “How could you?”

“Oh, don’t be too hard on him,” Alexander said. “He was only doing his job, isn’t that right, Sethy?”

Alexander spread his fingers out along Payton’s shoulder, making his claim on her clear. She was his. She wanted to shrug him off, to push him away and get away from the both of them. “He did look after you, didn’t he?” Her face flushed. “But I guess he always has done that, haven’t you?”

Whatever thoughts Alexander’s words brought up, he crashed them right back down with the latter part of his speech, even worse when Seth spoke.

“Don’t,” he said. He made a low growl, something deep, predatory. A sound she’d heard from vampires when they were closer to the creatures they were, rather than the humans they’d once been. It was a warning, a threat. There was something going on with these two. Alexander was the master, ahead of Seth in the chain of command.

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