Page 155 of Redeemed

“I’m ready.”

She doesn’t sound like she is. Her voice wavers, and fear flits across her face, quickly followed by tentative curiosity.

“You sure?” Colton asks.

I raise an eyebrow. Out of the three of us, he’s the last one I thought would ask that.

“I’m sure.”

There’s a beat of silence before Colton nods. “Then go get changed. What you’re going to wear is on my bed.”

Haven picks up Star and cradles the cat to her chest, and I notice her hands are trembling. I almost stop her, but what she said pops into my mind.

I know what’s best for me. I know what I can handle. I decide what happens to my body.

So I let her go, grasping for something to distract me from my growing concern for her.

“Were you looking through the emails?” I ask Colton once she’s gone.

“A few. I was going over some of the jobs Mark has been declining, too. It doesn’t make sense. These are perfectly viable plans with good teams. Why would he reject them?”

The Glass Rooks always have jobs to be completed, and they’re usually handed off to whoever Charlotte thinks will execute them best. That doesn’t mean Rooks can’t do their own shit, though.

Any profit on non-organization jobs, you keep. You have to pay all the expenses, too, which is where the Rooks general fund comes in. If you can convince the board to take on a job, they’ll cover expenses. But, of course, they take a certain percentage of your profits.

It’s one of the things that pisses Colton off. When it’s a Rooks-funded job, all funds go through the board. Mark isn’t always transparent on how much the expenses are on any given job, which means he can fudge the numbers to take more than he’s actually owed.

“Maybe he’s icing some members out?” Xander suggests.

“That could be it,” Colton muses. “I’ll have to ask Char about it, see if she knows what’s going on.”

“That woman knows everything,” I say under my breath.

“Itisher job,” Colton replies. “Literally.”

“What job?”

All three of us turn to face Haven, deliberately ignoring her question. She’s wearing one of the black bodysuits Xander and I picked out for her. This one is almost entirely lace, and it goes all the way up to her neck, but there’s a diamond-shaped window showing off her tattoo and a hint of her breasts.

“Shit,” Xander mutters.

“What?” she asks.

Tilting his head, Xander lets his eyes rove over Haven’s body. “You look good, that’s all.”

Haven is trying to stand tall and act confident, but the blush that creeps across her cheeks tells a different story. Growing up in that cult really did a number on her. She still doesn’t know how to handle being desired—being seen as sexy or hot. In a way, it’s kind of cute. She’s nowhere near a virgin, but she’s still maintained a type of innocence.

One I couldn’t wait to ruin. Now, I’m not sure. When it comes to Haven, I’m at constant war with myself.

Haven shifts from foot to foot, and it takes me a second to realize that Colton is enjoying watching her squirm. She has no idea what’s coming, and he loves seeing the fear in her eyes.

“What do you want me to do?” Haven asks.

Colton is silent for a moment, like the fucker doesn’t have every second of what’s about to happen planned out. “No. Get on your knees.”

Haven doesn’t protest or try to talk back. She lowers herself to the floor, anxiously twisting her hands together in her lap. Tension lines her shoulders, yet she’s watching Colton expectantly, waiting for his next command.

“Good girl.”

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