Page 42 of Desperate Measures
Today needs to be one of those times.
She gives us a long look. “He’s expecting you.”
I bet he is. I keep my hand covering Yasmina’s as we follow Meg onto the elevator and head up a floor. She doesn’t speak, which is just as well. Meg might be Hades’s right hand, might run this place just as much as he does, but at the end of the day, he is the one who leads. Which means he’s the one I need to deal with.
We step off the elevators, and she motions for us to follow her to a set of large dark doors. They stretch from the floor nearly to the ceiling, and the shiny wood is stained black and carved with a tableau of images that are drawn straight from myth. It sets the tone of any meeting conducted in this room, but I could give a fuck. I’m not here to beg on my knees for a favor. I never have. Favors from Hades have a way of coming around to bite a person in the ass. I’ve seen it too many times to discount the danger he represents.
Meg pushes open the doors, and they swing easily beneath her fingertips. We precede her into the office. It’s done in shades of gray, which would amuse me under other circumstances because I’d bet my left arm that there are fifty of them contained in this room.?5 The far wall is lined with shelves that are filled with knickknacks and weird cluttery shit. I can feel Yasmina’s curiosity over the space, but I only have eyes for the man behind the large gray desk.
Hades looks exactly the same as he did last night, though the suit is a little different. He smiles as we walk forward, the smile widening when Meg comes to stand at his right shoulder. “What can I do for you two lovebirds? Need a favor?”
Yasmina tenses, but I don’t look at her. “No favors today.”
“Pity. We’re under quota.”
I’m not entirely sure that he’s joking, but I ignore it. “You let Ali Tahan have a membership here.”
Hades raises his brows. With his black-framed glasses, it gives him the look of a cultured professor waiting for a student to get to the point. “I allow a lot of people to have memberships here. That’s the purpose of the Underworld. Neutral territory.” His lips quirk, even as his dark eyes stay cold. “Surely you didn’t think your vendetta was the exception to the rule?”
I’ve never seen Ali here, so I made some assumptions I couldn’t afford to make. That doesn’t change the fact that what happened earlier shouldn’t have. “He entered our room without permission and accosted Yasmina.”
The amusement on Hades’s face vanishes. “Bold accusation.”
I give him the look that statement deserves. “You have cameras all over this place. Look for yourself.”
Hades glances at Meg. “Be a darling and see what Ali was up to while he was here last night.” He watches her leave through the door on the other side of the room, his gaze dropping to her ass.
I almost roll my eyes but manage to muscle down the reaction. Hades and Meg fuck other people, but the only loyalty they seem to hold is to each other, and when it comes to the shit that matters, they are a unified front. It’s a rare treat when they play in public; Hades mostly prefers to fuck behind closed doors.
“Sit, sit. You don’t have to stand there all formally.” He waves a languid hand to the chairs situated on either side of us. I take the left one and pull Yasmina down into my lap. She tenses for half a second and then relaxes into me. I wish I could say that I’m doing this to send a clear message to Hades, but the truth is that I know she’s still shaken, and I don’t want her to feel untethered.
And fuck, yes, I want to mark her as mine in front of the king of this place. She doesn’t wear my collar, but that’s a mere formality at this point.
Hades lifts his brows again, but before he can say something sure to piss me off, Meg walks back into the room. A short nod from her, and he turns back to us, all seriousness. “My apologies. We have rules, and Ali didn’t follow them. It won’t happen again. His membership will be rescinded.” And no doubt Hades would take payment for the infraction.
“Thank you.” I urge Yasmina to her feet and stand. “See you around, Hades.”
“Without a doubt.”
I don’t hustle Yasmina out of the Underworld, but I set a pace that doesn’t invite lingering. Even with Hades’s assurances that it won’t happen again, I want to get her home.
Safe.
14
Yasmina
Jafar doesn’t stop touching me the entire ride back to his penthouse. It’s not sexual in nature, which I can’t decide if I find a relief or a disappointment. Sex would drive away my concern over the interaction with Ali, over the threat he offers that no one saw fit to tell me about until an hour ago, but it won’t fix things. I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that nothing will fix my current situation.
Jafar offered to give me my trust.
I might laugh if the gesture didn’t make me want to cry. Whether Jafar did it to be cruel or because he honestly thought I’d be able to take it really doesn’t matter. Growing up, I had dreams. Dreams of traveling, of moving through the world and experiencing all the things denied me while I remained under my father’s thumb. Of carving out a space that was mine and mine alone. All it took was one night out to lock me up and send panic fluttering in my throat. How can I face the entire world if I can’t handle a single club??1
Jafar takes my hand and ushers me out of the car. It’s not until we leave the elevator into his penthouse that he pulls me to a stop. “Yasmina… Baby girl… Let me take care of you for a little bit.”
Take care of me.
I know he doesn’t mean it the same way an owner takes care of a pet, but I’m so raw, I can’t differentiate between the two truths. If I were stronger, I’d tell him to fuck off and find my balance on my own without needing to lean on another person.
