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“Kissing isn’t in the job description.” I gave him a playful grin and ignored the irritated set of his eyes. “I’ve just never allowed a man to kiss me. Never wanted to. Especially not with any of them.”
Minutes came and went in silence as the assassin stared at me, like he was trying to figure out things he shouldn’t.
And the ticking only became louder.
When it started to feel like I would go out of my mind if he didn’t say something, he crawled over the bed and lay on his side next to me. “Tell me why you do it.”
A wild laugh slipped from my lips. “It’s easy money. Why else?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his shoulder-length hair. “Don’t do that. Don’t pretend to be someone I know you’re not.”
I looked at him, caught off guard at the way he suddenly sounded so drained, but he was staring straight ahead.
“And what makes you think you know me, Nightshade?”
His eyes lifted to meet mine. The look he gave me telling me more than words could.
Without saying anything, he returned to staring straight ahead, and I blew out a steadying breath.
“Because I need money.”
“Lots of ways to make money.”
I tried to laugh, but it came out as a depressed sounding huff. “Yeah. Tried a lot of them too. I’ll spare you the story of poor Jessica’s job failures, but I was desperate. I owed a lot—Momma owed a lot to some people, and she’s never worked a day of my life. I had to get money to keep her alive and keep us in the trailer so we weren’t on the street.” Again.
“Where were your dad and brother?”
“Gone.” When he tapped my leg, I rolled my eyes. “I’m not sure. My dad could be dead for all I care. And Jentry was already off living his cushy life with Declan. Forgetting about me. When places started refusing to hire me because they’d heard about Momma and the people who came looking for me, I started begging on a corner. Not long after, some things happened and I decided to take control of my life.” Another tap. Another roll of my eyes. “The man who . . . the one who tried to force himself on me.”
His fingers curled into a fist on top of my leg, but slowly unfurled after a few seconds. “You said you had clients,” he said, spitting out the last word. “Why are you on a street if you have them and don’t get picked up?”
“Standing there is how I originally met them and it’s how they come get me. I refuse to go crawling to them, and I won’t let them near Momma. I’m already protecting her from enough.”
The random people she brings home.
The boyfriends.
AJ . . .
He nodded slowly, but I could feel the way his body was slowly beginning to shake. “Why do you make people think you’d fuck anyone for cash? Beck. Your brother. Me.”
Shock pulsed through me at his question. But after a moment, a hint of amusement played on my lips. Of course Kieran would be the one to pick up on the inconsistencies in my lifestyle and my conversations with others. Of course.
If Kieran understood anything, it was threats. The way they moved and worked.
And a threat is exactly what I’d been to him.
“I don’t make anyone think anything,” I said softly.
Kieran muttered something too low for me to hear.
“I spent my entire first night turning away every car until the very last one,” I mumbled, my voice thick with shame. “He’s still my client. He’s never once touched me, and he just watches me touch myself. He was my only client for months.”
Kieran’s body was trembling so hard that it was forcing mine to shake too.
“Beck found out a few days later and started yelling at me. Called me a whore. Told me to go spread my legs for another dozen men if that’s what I wanted.” I swallowed around the knot in my throat. “Growing up, it was nearly impossible to get in touch with Jentry. It’s how I became so good at sneaking into places. When I finally got in touch with him after all that began, he lost it. He already knew because Declan had seen me on my street. Said more of the same as Beck had. I first saw you with Beck, and he’d already decided he knew everything he needed about me. So . . .” I shrugged and started playing with my fingers.
“Declan’s a client?”
