Page 26 of Bared

“Huh?” Gervais grunted.

“Inside, mine called yours ‘highness.’ And their accents…not completely American. Especially this one’s.” During that, he rammed a hand beneath Requiemme’s sweater. He massaged her breast as if analyzing a melon in the market. “Hmm. Just as I thought. Expensive lace.”

“And you’re going where with this exactly, Inspector Clouseau?” Gervais charged.

“That maybe they’re good for more than just some thrills.”

“Which means what?”

“That they’re used to being kept in style. That wherever that money exists, there is bound to be more.”

Jayd seethed so hard, she worked her tongue around the gag enough to form mangled words. “Bein’ keppp?” she spat. “Becaw we cannaw kee ourfelves as such?”

“Hawness!” Emme exclaimed. “By dah Cweatah’s toes!”

“Ah!” Remy flashed a triumphant leer. “You get it now?”

If Gervais had a response revving, Jayd squandered no moments in cutting his ignition short. She did not even tarry with a rebuke for Emme, nor the comfort of knowing her maid was probably already flogging herself for the slip.

Instead, she focused. Intensely. Right to the center of her body. She funneled her attention on bucking out and then up, determined to be the mongoose that unseated this snake.

As soon as Gervais swore again, caught aback by her burst of violence, she twisted to the side and away from the dumpster. For heartbreaking seconds, her equilibrium swam. She mistook the eddies of a puddle as the thin line of sky over the alley. As she righted herself and continued to stumble, shouts ricocheted up and down the looming, dirty brick walls.

“Putain!” Gervais’s shriek split the air again.

“Christ,” Remy gritted. “What now?”

“My nuts! Shit. I can’t move!”

“Well, don’t let her go! She’s obviously the highness in all this.”

“Did you hear me now? I can’t move!”

“Highness!” Requiemme’s scream was an urgent slice on the air. That could only mean one thing. She had yanked her gag free. And if she had done that—

“Highness! Run!”

Too late.

Remy had let Emme go to chase and capture Jayd. And succeeded.

She flailed, but the man really had to be half bull. He was barely breathing hard to secure her, while binding his arm around her at the perfect angle to push at her lungs. She only had enough air left to get out a defined shriek.

“Emme! Get out of here. Now!”

“No. No,” Emme sobbed. “Not without y—”

A new scream on the air. Jayd was certain she watched as it shook some plaster loose between the bricks, but she could not be certain. She was sure that it did not belong to Requiemme. It definitely had not burst from her either.

Then who…?

Really?

She slammed back against a wall, bringing knuckles to her forehead in shock. Was she truly watching this happen?

It seemed so.

Unbelievably, the screech belonged to Remy. She confirmed that because he erupted with it again while being hauled to the opposite wall by his back collar.