Page 55 of Dangerous Command
“You did it like a pro.”
“I wouldneverlet Jackson do that to me.”
“Oh, shut up. I saw him spit on you last week.”
“Here,” one of them said, handing me a piece of gum. “This should help.”
I had taken the peppermint from the bathroom attendant without thinking about it, but then I had realized that Ilikedfeeling the remnants of what he had done to me. The impression of the bottom of his shoe on my face. The slight puff to my lips. The taste of the ash.Hisash. Proof of how he had degraded me.
But it was wrong. Derek didn’t know anything about the real me, and once Muro was gone, I would have to run far away. Forever, this time. Because Derek would never be able to forgive me for not telling him the truth.
I wanted to tell myself that if I could have left right then. Ran straight from the Byron Estate Club and grabbed Mack, gone far away and never looked back. But that urge wasn’t true anymore. I needed to make sure we would always be safe, and one of the best ways to do that was to work with Derek. I couldn’t rely on him, but maybe we could work together.
And I didn’t want to leave him.
I opened my mouth, staring at my grayed tongue. Derek must have tasted the ash on me too, but it hadn’t stopped him from kissing me. In fact, if I was reading his body right, it had made him want me more.
My stepdad had ruined my mother. But that didn’t mean Derek would ruin me.
Or maybe Iwantedhim to ruin me, but in a different way. Because if being ruined meant being broken down like this, then I would fall headfirst down that hole with him. He would catch me, lift me up, only to let me drop again, and again.
I liked the fall.
“I’m sure the attendant has a toothbrush,” one of the women said as she exited behind me. I closed my mouth. If Derek wanted to make me his ashtray, then I wantedhimto taste the evidence.
By the time I went back to the banquet hall, Derek was standing with a predatory look in his eyes.
“We’re going,” he murmured into my ear. I was still in lingerie, but he slipped me inside of his jacket, letting it cover most of my back. The staff member handed me a bag with my clothes from earlier. Then Derek put his hands on my shoulders, pushing me toward the door. We passed a thin man on his knees, his head deep in the lap of a suited gentleman, and a woman with her legs spread as another man inspected her pussy, letting the ash of his cigar fall in one thick line on her thighs.
Our driver immediately pulled up, and Derek opened the door, letting me in. We traveled back to Pebble Garden, but when we got into town, the car went in the opposite direction of my apartment.
“He knows the apartment is that way,” I said, pointing out the window. “Right?”
“We’re not going there,” Derek said, a subtle gleam in his eye. Heat swelled in my stomach. The driver took us through the town to the only hotel in the area, a five-star on the opposite side of the college, near the conference center, for the few rich folks that visited during the occasional seminar. We went straight to the top floor penthouse. Derek slid his key-card against the digital pad.
“You own this too?” I asked.
“No,” he chuckled, “but I did book it for us.”
Us.
Inside, the place was modern. Spacious. Wide windows displaying the dark night stared back at us, like a black sea.
I turned to him.“What is all of this?” I asked.
“This is an escape,” he said.
I raised a brow. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve never been here,” he said. I nodded. “Which means our history isn’t here. You may have lived in Pebble Garden, but never like this. And I only have an interest in this city when business takes me here.”
I had a gut instinct that business hadn’t taken him here before now. I wasn’t sure how to take the words. Was this business to him?
“Inside of these walls, you’re not a mother. You’re not a daughter. You are simply mine,” he said, his voice low. “And you’re going to kneel for me, Mads. And I’m going to take you exactly how I want to.” Derek stepped toward me. “And right now, my sole desire is to own you.Kneel.”
This time, I didn’t question my instincts; I did exactly what he said. The heated floors were hard on my knees, but I looked up at him, knowing that it felt right. His mouth twitched, and his bottom lip opened. He bent down, running a finger across my lips. My lipstick was all gone now.
“Show me your tongue.”
