Page 63 of Haze of Obedience

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"It's not a big deal."

He pats the console.

"What?"

"Sit."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

I awkwardly sit on the console, but it's only for a moment. He slides me over it, so I'm sitting in his lap with my head against his chest. "Take my body heat." His strong arms circle me, and it feels like I'm exactly where I should be.

My pulse beats faster, and my favorite smell in the world flares in my nostrils.

"Better?" he asks.

"Yeah. Thanks."

I hesitate where to put my hands but eventually place them on his chest. His heart beats against my palm, and I slowly look up.

A torrential downpour continues to bang on the vehicle. The lightning lights up the night, and Dirk's beautiful face.

"I wish I wasn't such a hot mess." I only mean to say it in my head, but I don't.

"Are you ever going to tell me what they did to you?"

Thunder claps, and I jump. He tightens his grip around me.

"Zoe, I need to know."

"I wouldn't know how to answer you."

"Why did they pump you full of drugs?" he quietly asks.

"So I could keep working night after night. And maybe they knew I needed it for...the other things."

"What things?"

I hide my face in his chest—shame, embarrassment, and pain cyclone. And I know once I tell him, he'll never look at me the same way.

His hand moves to my head and his lips brush against my forehead. "I want to know."

"I've never told anyone. There was no one to trust or save me," I whisper.

"Then trust me, my Little Diva."

The words alone shed my tears. "I want to."

"Tell me."

Just tell him. Then he can move on and be happy he didn't let things go any further with you.

I swallow the lump in my throat and somehow manage to get out, "I was their whore."

His heart beats faster, his chest heaves quicker, and he holds me tighter. "Who?"

"The Global Leaders."

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