Page 52 of Pay the Price

“I’ll tell him,” Jace said. “Maybe he can find a connection in some of Calvin’s other shit. Although…”

Wolf looked at him. “You got another idea?”

“Just something we could add to the mix,” Jace said.

“Like what?” Otis asked.

“He wants to go,” Wolf said. “To the Velvet Rope.”

I stared at Wolf, then looked at Jace. “What? Why?”

Jace shrugged. “Just seems smart to scope the place out ourselves while we wait for Aloha to dig through the data. Only so much words on a screen are going to be able to tell us.”

Otis shrugged. “I’m in.”

“Okay,” Wolf said. “I’ll bite.”

Jace turned his gaze on me. “What about you, princess? You in?”

I wanted to believe the thrill that ran through my body was fear, but the truth was, I was turned on by the idea of a sex club. Or put more accurately, I was turned on by the idea of going to a sex club with the Beasts.

I should think this through. I was barely not a virgin. A sex club might be a bit much.

But there was a challenge in Jace’s eyes, something that said he didn’t think I’d do it.

That I was still Daisy Hammond. Blake’s little sister. Rich girl. Princess.

Fuck that.

“I’m in.”

Chapter 32

Daisy

Three days later I entered my room to find a black box with the biggest, silkiest violet ribbon I’d ever seen sitting on my bed.

I looked around, half expecting to find the anonymous gift giver lurking in the shadows, but the room was empty.

I approached the bed suspiciously, wondering if my stalker was back, but that didn’t make sense. Otis had installed more cameras on the path leading to the house, ensuring no one could come up the driveway without the Beasts knowing.

This was obviously from one of them.

I sat on the bed and held the box in my lap, trying to guess which one. The box was light but obviously expensive, the ribbon expertly tied. It didn’t scream Otis, whose love language was acts of service.

Otis showed his feelings for me by taking care of my car and fixing the antique watch that had belonged to my grandmother. He kept my gas tank full and my oil changed, kept the Mustang purring like Jace’s cat, who I’d seen a lot more of in the days since I’d first discovered Jace feeding him in the kitchen.

And Wolf had been careful around me, was obviously giving me space to process the Blake thing, to decide if I still wanted him in my life as more than just a roommate while we figured out the details of my dad’s trafficking ring.

Which meant the present was from Jace.

I pulled at the ribbon and watched it unfurl, then set it on the bed while I lifted the box’s lid.

There was a sea of violet tissue paper inside. At first I thought the box was empty, some kind of joke designed to make me think Jace had given me something when really he was still an asshole.

But as I got to the bottom of the tissue paper, I spotted a piece of black silk.

I pulled it out of the box and realized it was a tiny black wrap dress, so small it might have been a shirt.

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