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She waved him forward. “Fine. Looks like you’ll have to be in the bathroom with me.”
“Hold on. Let me grab my laptop.”
Without thinking he moved swiftly in the direction of the sitting room, and the next thing Angelica knew this time he was flying backward. She laughed as he rose to his feet, but she hurried past him, picked up his laptop, and handed to him. “It’s really not that funny, is it?”
He narrowed his gaze at her, but his lips curved. “Let’s go. I have what I need.”
Chapter Two
Once inside the bathroom Reyes had to keep moving himself and his laptop, tracking with Angelica, in order to sustain their distance restriction and avoid another tug at his neck. At least the toilet had its own small room for privacy, so that wouldn’t be an issue.
He decided, however, that there were too many mirrors in the room. Though he could avoid watching her actually strip out of her short nightgown or hop in the shower, a couple of stray glances had allowed him too many glimpses of her na**d body.
Fortunately, the shower was a walk-in separated by block glass tiles and he really couldn’t see anything. He could imagine it, though.
He took a deep breath and opened his laptop, letting it sit on the side of the long marble counter. He returned to the Starlin Web site and once more perused the various parties he could attend.
Now that he knew who the board members were, he set up a separate document and listed the ten most influential. He then removed five whose human slaves rarely made it past the first week. He wasn’t about to expose Angelica to the worst of the slavers if he could help it. That left him with five less-criminal party hosts, including Engles.
He found their homes and plotted a course along the river walk.
When Angelica finished her shower and donned a robe the real difficulty arose when she had to choose from the fantasy wear that the Starlin Group had provided for her. She sighed heavily over each of them as she pushed one hanger aside after another.
She glanced at him, wrinkling her nose. “Do I have to?”
It was such a normal response that he chuckled. “They’re all horrible. Why not close your eyes and pick one? Either that or I will.”
“I’ll do it.” But she actually did as he suggested. He watched her gather all the hangers and costumes into one tight group, then close her eyes. Waving her hand back and forth a few times, she reached out and grabbed one.
She groaned at the sight of the costume, but she didn’t put it back. She’d randomly selected a very small outfit made up of a thong and a bustier of leopard print in black and turquoise. A pair of black thigh-high stockings, trimmed in matching leopard-print fabric, completed the barely there outfit.
Glancing down at the row of shoes below, she picked out a turquoise pair of what appeared to be a rather pain-inducing platform set with six-inch stilettos.
She scowled as she showed them to him. “You may have to carry me half the time.”
“With pleasure.”
Her gaze caught and held. “You know, you’re exactly how I thought you would be. You’re very kind, Reyes.”
“You thought I was kind?” He was stunned.
“Maybe respectful is the better word. Even Marcus said that about you.”
“Marcus?”
She nodded. “At Briggs’s. He’s one of the bartenders.”
“Marcus, of course. And he thought I was respectful.”
“Toward women.”
Reyes nodded slowly. “That’s an interesting view, though I’m not certain where he got that idea.”
“Wait, what are you thinking about right now? Because I swear you feel really badly about something, but I can’t imagine what that might be.”
He held her gaze. He needed to remind himself that whatever he experienced, the chains would communicate his reactions. “I’ve used the slaves badly in this part of the world to build my cover, demanding sex from them, treating them no better than most of the other Starlin men who attend the sex clubs. I’ve watched women being hurt in sex shows and haven’t lifted a finger to help. So somehow the compliment falls short of reality.”
She grew very solemn, holding the faux-leopard costume against her stomach. “Did you ever hurt any of these women yourself?”
“Do you think it’s necessary to cause pain in order to violate a slave? Every command is a violation.”
She drew close, caressing his shoulder. “I understand.”
“How can you? You’ve never been a slave.”
She glanced at the costume in her hand, then let it drop to the floor. Meeting his gaze once more, she said, “You seem to forget that I was a captive for a week, even through the time that you seduced me while I hung in chains. Maybe it wasn’t the level of torture you’ve gone through, but I experienced the same kind of overwhelming impotence and fear. I think it’s one of the reasons I chose to stay here, to help you with your mission. It was such a terrible feeling …” She got no further, as tears filled her eyes. “I want to help. I really do.”
He drew her into his arms once more. He remained silent for a long moment, then said quietly, “I was thinking about this Asian woman I used recently. She begged me to buy her, to take her out of that club, and I couldn’t.”
Angelica drew out of his arms and swiped her cheeks. “Why not?”
“At the time, I was still performing for a couple of Starlin spies. I hadn’t been granted my membership yet. I couldn’t take the chance.”
“But you’ve been accepted since then. Is anything preventing you from buying her now? I mean, would that go against the rules?”
He felt light-headed suddenly. He hadn’t quite adjusted to his new reality, that he was a Starlin member, a participant. He’d been vetted and approved. “You’re right. I have a new set of options I didn’t have before.” When she reached down to pick up the costume and started to take it off the hanger he said, “Leave that. I want to do this now. I want to buy her before something terrible happens to her, if it hasn’t already.”
After Angelica put the leopard outfit back on the rod he took her by the arm and guided her back out to the sitting area. He found his phone and called the club, asking for the owner.
The man gushed at Reyes’s call. Of course he did, especially when Reyes offered a hundred thousand for the Asian slave. “She’s still available, but working, Master Reyes.”
But Reyes grew very quiet and with his silence let the club owner feel his displeasure.
