Page 10 of Darkness I Become
“Now, that’s where you’re wrong,” he said, a sly look in his eye. “Choosing me means that you get to live with me, instead of in a crowded dorm with all the other unattached women. It means that you’ll get more rations. And it means that you won’t have to open your legs for every man here and back at the Nest—including Angel.”
Asha’s eyebrows had risen so high they might’ve disappeared into her hairline.
“And for you?” she asked. “I’m assuming this generosity isn’t free.”
He shrugged. “You’re not wrong. You’ll work for me. Fight for me. And yes, I’d like to fuck you. You’re a good-looking girl, and it’s been a long time. I won’t force you…but I won’t lie to you, either.”
Asha laughed bitterly. “I guess I have to appreciate your candor, at least.”
He grinned, showing those surprisingly perfect teeth.
“It’s what I’m best known for.”
“Why can’t you just let me go?” she asked. She hated how fear creeped into her voice, but reality was starting to sink in: she was never going to be free again.
Cade blew out a breath. “Because they’d know it was me. And I don’t want a bullet in my head.”
She considered that. “We could make it look like an accident—”
“It’s not an option,” he cut in forcefully. “If I could, darling, I would. You don’t have to believe me, but it’s true.”
Even if he could,she thought,where the hell would I go?She’d be lost and alone and starving to death, the way she’d been before Pike and his goons had found her. That was a one-way ticket to a slow, painful death.
“Anyway, we need to move on,” Cade continued. “But think it over on the rest of the trip to the Nest. You won’t have much else to do anyway, since Dom is practically mute most of the time.”
Cade stood and returned to Angel’s wagon. Asha watched him go, chewing her lip some more. Anxiety was alive in her veins. Shehadn’t known what she was getting into when she asked Cade for help. Now, it was a choice between servicing him—a strange man who had, at best, questionable ethics—or being passed around to a bunch of gangbangers, who might hurt or kill her before or after they were done raping her.
Their lack of basic hygiene doesn’t help,Asha thought ruefully.At least Cade looks like he’s bathed in his life.
If he hadn’t helped her, would it have meaningfully changed her options? She doubted it. At the slave market, those men wanted one thing. The best she could’ve hoped for, as much as she hated it, were the choices she now had in front of her.
Cade had been right about Dom; he barely spoke to Asha as he escorted her through the woods. Compass in hand, he helped steer their direction, but other than that, he left her to her thoughts. Which was good, because she was a little preoccupied at the moment.
I don’t think he’d hurt me,Asha mused, glancing over her shoulder towards Angel’s convoy. She couldn’t see Cade clearly from this distance, but she felt his eyes on her. She scolded herself briefly:You’ve known him all of a day. How can you possibly know what he’s like?
But hehadhelped her, hadn’t he? Yes, maybe he was getting something out of it, but he also hadn’t had to offer for her. He could’ve left her to Angel’s men. Maybe he was helping her in the only way he could. Who knew how long he’d been living amongst the worst kind of people, after all? Maybe this was all he knew.
Asha’s gut told her that Cade was the lesser of two evils, and it wasn’t particularly close. He was the only one who’d treated her with an ounce of dignity during her captivity, and he’d never shown signs of aggression toward her, which was more than she could say for the men who still occasionally catcalled at her as she walked. It said enough that Cade had ordered Leo and Dom to guard her against his own gang; even he didn’t trust them.
She would’ve died before she admitted it out loud, but she also had to concede that fucking Cade—who was unnaturally good-looking, especially compared to the other men—was far more appealing than the alternative. It was hard to see his body under the tactical uniform, but he was clearly in good shape. Maybe seeing him naked wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
It made Asha feel cheap and crass, to sell herself off to some guy she barely knew. Her parents would’ve been ashamed of her. But she wasn’t an idiot. She knew that he was the only realistic chance she had for survival. She would do what she had to.
Chapter 4
They walked the rest of the afternoon. Finally, the shape of shadowy buildings appeared on the horizon, and they entered the city outskirts.
“How much farther?” Asha asked Dom, who grunted. That was all he seemed capable of doing half the time.
“Another ten.”
“Minutes? Hours? Days?” She wouldn’t have been shocked if her feet were bloody stumps at this point, they hurt so bad.
He grunted again, not amused. “Minutes.”
They weaved through the derelict ruins of city buildings, down broken streets and alleyways, stopping every so often to wait for Angel’s convoy. As they went, they came across various people, who waved at them as they passed.
“Who are they?” Asha asked, a little nervously.
