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“I recognize a lady when I see one. You can slum it all you want, baby, but it waves around you like a giant red flag.”
“What does?”
“Class.” I release her face and gently stroke her cheek, staring into her gorgeous green eyes with a stern expression of warning.
“Don’t come here again, princess. This place is not for you.”
“I can do what I want.”
Her eyes flash and I chuckle softly.
“I’m not saying you can’t but consider this.”
I jerk my head toward the bar across the parking lot.
“What happened yesterday should have been a good enough warning. That guy had a plan that didn’t involve you seeing your home again.”
Her soft gasp tells me the message hit home and I say harshly, “Chicks who head to Dark Shadows are fair game. He is known to drug them, kidnap them and sell them on the open market. Many are never seen again.”
“Fuck!”
Her shocked gasp makes me smile.
“He is a middleman. The guy who collects and delivers for a price. The club is his and if the cops come looking for you, there would be no evidence that you were ever there.”
“Don’t the cops know?” She whispers fearfully, and I shake my head.
“That’s where the problem lies, baby. They are so corrupt he keeps them on a retainer to turn a blind eye. By now, you would be waiting to begin your new life as a sex slave or something along those lines. Pretty girls don’t stand a chance in Dark Shadows, and you are prettier than most.”
She looks down and I hate the defeat in her posture as she whispers, “Understood.”
For a while we sit in silence and then she says with a gentle sigh, “Thank you.”
“For the rejection?”
“No.” She drags those long lashes up and stares at me through troubled eyes.
“Thank you for rescuing me yesterday. You’re right, I shouldn’t have come here.”
“So, you won’t come again?” I fix her with a warning glare, and she nods miserably.
“I was just–” She shrugs, appearing so dejected it makes me feel like a bastard.
“You don’t know anything about my life. I was looking to escape it for a while.”
“Why?”
“Because I lost my identity somewhere between my dad blowing his brains out and my mom heading into madness as a result of it.”
She shakes her head and laughs bitterly.
“I just wanted to forget and to lose myself in a world I don’t understand. To let go of my inhibitions and live life on the edge for one night.”
“Then do it somewhere safe, not places like this one because you wouldn’t believe the depths these people sink just to make a buck.”
“What happened to him, the man, I mean?”
I think of the unfortunate repercussions of my actions, and I growl. “He’s fucking raging.”
