Page 136 of A Captive Situation

“You.” His other hand touched my bottom lip, pulling it down a little. “Me. EJ. Anyone you love. Anyone EJ loves. That was the deal.”

I let that sink in before I sat up, now fully straddling him. He adjusted with me, moving so he was sitting against my bed’s headboard. My legs sank down on either side of him, and his hands went to them, anchoring me against him. I closed my eyes, giving in for a moment, savoring the feel of him between my legs. I rocked forward.

His hands tightened on me, pulling me to him as he groaned.

God. That felt good. So fucking good.

I paused, opening my eyes to see him watching me. His own serious. Dark with lust. My chest rose up and down in a slow breath. “I thought Blake already made that deal?”

He nodded, his hands running up my legs. “She did, but she disappeared almost right away. Lane would’ve used that as a loophole. So I made a deal with him myself.”

“She disappeared?”

“Yeah, but she’s okay. She didn’t disappear because of him or to go back on not making sure you guys are all safe. It was a sort of inevitable thing she needed to do, but it’s all good. I helped her sort it out too. I was doing that before I came here.”

“What about EJ?”

“He’s good. That’s where I was the last month. I went to California and introduced myself to EJ’s half sisters and Tab’s husband.”

I wanted to hear more about that situation, but the Lane part was nagging at me. “What’d you have to do to get Lane to agree with upholding letting all of us be alive and torture-free?” Or worse. “What’d you give up so he’d agree with that deal?”

He shook his head, leaning toward me. His hand returned to the back of my head, cupping me. “Nothing that you need to worry about.”

I braced a hand to his chest. “Jake.” His heartbeat pounded through his chest, into my hand. It distracted me momentarily. “I need to know what kind of deal you made.”

His lips twisted down. “I gave him something that he’s been wanting the whole time. That’s all. I’m not trying to keep it from you, but I need to tell someone else first.”

“Who?”

“One of the guys from the city.”

I frowned. “One of the Mafia guys?”

He nodded, silent.

“The one you like?”

His lips twisted again, finding that amusing. “Walden and I have always had a weird dynamic. We’re friends. We’re enemies. We’re going to be more enemies than friends from now on.”

My frown deepened.

His hand began rubbing over my leg, tugging me to ride over him. He added, “But that was his doing. Not mine. Not yours. He did that, so the deal I made with Lane closes a door to us. That’s it. The only consequence is that we can’t go to the city again.”

My lips parted. “Ever?”

“Not for a long while.” He blew out a ragged breath. “Is that okay? I know you just met your cousin. And you had that list of tourist things you wanted to do. We can’t go back there. Not for a while. It won’t be safe. I’m sorry about that, about taking away that city from you.”

“Stop.” I pushed up against his chest again, climbing higher on his lap. “I don’t care about that right now.”

“But you can’t visit your cousin.”

I waved that off. “Graham can come here. He is coming here.”

“You never saw a Broadway show.”

“I can watch something on television and pretend I’m there. Have you met me? I have a good imagination. Plus, there’s no line for the bathroom here. Or there isn’t usually. Snacks are significantly cheaper too. If I get drunk, I don’t need to worry about my safety on the subway or if I should cab it home.”

“I still feel bad.”

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