Page 45 of Dealing Dirty
He raises a hand to the guards, calling them off. “Won’t you at least give me a name, seductress?”
They try to get a better look at me—surely trying to identify me—but Jackie’s shoulders eclipse my sight, blocking their faces from view.
“What’s in a name?” I tease, covering my frazzled laugh as I desperately try not to gasp for air.
That was too close for comfort.
The mayor boldly reaches for a lock of my hair, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger lightly. “Ah. And you would be the sweetest rose, wouldn’t you?”
I can’t believe how incredibly stupid I was to come here. This man is Bruce’s right hand. He could do anything he wants to me, and no one—not my parents, my siblings, Glenda, Cassidy, or even Derrick—would have any idea what truly happened if I disappeared tonight. I’d be just another body bag Sasha might come across in a dumpster during her next shift.
Yet, there’s something alive and inviting in his pale gray eyes that’s calling to me. An almost familiarity that’s comforting in a curious way, and against my better judgment, I want to explore it.
He glances over his shoulder before twisting back and sweeping his hand toward a small room I hadn’t noticed until now. “Come with me.”
I know I shouldn’t go with him. I’m even screaming internally,Run!Don’t follow him.
But I note a window to the room that faces the main floor. It’s not like he can hurt me with all these people around, right? If I hesitate now, he’s going to know I’m full of shit, and he’ll have those goons sniffing around for other potential threats.
That’s not going to happen.
Placing my hand in his open palm, I drift alongside him like a snake would follow its charmer.
“Trying to get me alone, are you?” I’m going for flirty, but there’s a jumpy edge to my voice that even I can detect.
He answers with a smirk, guiding me past the room with the window and down a dark hallway.
My head whips around to where I assumed he was taking me. Temples slick with sweat, I laugh nervously, trying to pull my hand from his. But his grip is tight, to the point of rubbing the bones of my hand together.
I wonder if this is how he treats all of his women. Complimenting and eyeing them like a feast before he steals them away to dark, quiet rooms where no one will hear their screams. The redhead I saw straddling him earlier comes to mind.
Was she the warmup, and I’m the main event?
When I’m led into a vacant conference room, the gravity of my current situation settles into the depths of my stomach. My heart pumps adrenaline through my bloodstream while slamming against my sternum. The traitorous thing is going to make a break for it, leaving me here to die.
Jackie is much larger than I am, and when he shuts the door and turns the lock, I feel my chance of getting away disperse like vapor in the wind.
The seductress persona I’ve embodied slips through my grasp as I try to come up with a new means to escape. I open my mouth to say something—anything—when he wraps his big, strong hands around the sides of my face and crushes his lips over mine.
I’ve made a grave mistake.
My brain detonates straight to panic mode. I ball my hand into a fist the way Adrián taught me to when I was a young girl. Rearing back as far as I’m able in the tight space he’s forced me into, I slam it into the side of his body repeatedly until he grunts and releases me.
I raise my knee to nail him in his crown jewels, but he blocks me so easily, it’s almost comical. With one hand still clasped around my knee and the other wrapped around my neck, he pins me against the wall.
The warm honeyed scent of his cologne gags me with every breath I attempt. He’s got to be upward of fifty, but age doesn’t have a thing on him—the man is insanely strong.
Getting air down my windpipe becomes increasingly more difficult, and I’m right on the verge of passing out. Tears spring from my eyes, hot and salty, tracing along my gasping lips as black-and-white spots wink in and out of my vision.
Of all the emotions I should be feeling right now, the sadness drenching my insides is the most confusing. Scared, terrified, angry as hell… that would make more sense. If I die right now, I’ll die knowing that not only did I let Derrick down when he trusted me the most, but I also failed him.
“Just as I thought.” His voice is a silken threat. “A little spy traipsing through my casino, trying to royally fuck things up for me.” His hold on my neck is punishing, but he relaxes just enough to allow me a few good breaths.
“Honestly, how stupid do you think I am? I know you’ve been tailing my guys for a while now, and I want to know why Chief Barren woulddeliberatelydisobey a direct order to keep his officers away from Diablo’s properties.”
My wide eyes sting as I continue to gasp for air. Thispendejohas the audacity to roll his eyes as I replay his last words in my mind.
Is this the answer we were looking for? Is there a chance the police chief gave Sasha this intel, and maybe she isn’t in as much danger as we’d assumed?
