AllFreeNovel
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Most of the women at Hellfire are under thirty. No judgment, because I know places where the sadness and desperation and general giving up on everything purveys the grain of wooden floor, the stage. I know places that are little more than brothels dressed up as a club. Where the women are meat to be poked, prodded, holes to bury your dick in.
And the guys who go there don’t give a fuck about the age, as long as they can get their rocks off. I’m gonna say as long as they can hurt the women they fuck without any recrimination.
I fucking despise those places and the men who go there. The men who run them.
A girl’s gotta make a living, I get that. But I like the fact Mia is giving these girls a safer place to make the so-called easy money.
So-called, because there’s nothing easy about it. Even for those who like the empowerment of showing their wares.
But from what Leo has said, Mia gives the girls a way forward.
I like that.
I like her.
Maybe way too much.
I always have. And scarred outside and in makes no difference to me except she got hurt.
I need to think this through.
“Sweetness?”
She takes her time answering. “What?”
“I’m not the bad guy. I’ll keep the bad guys from hurting you.”
Her shoulders stiffen. “Christian . . .”
My name is like a broken whisper, lost.
I cross to her, across the wide-open foyer, and take her shoulders, easing her back against me. “Don’t run. You can’t.”
“I need . . . I need space. I need to breathe.”
“You’re breathing.”
“You turn everything upside down, and I can’t take it.”
“You’re the strongest person I fucking know, Mia. Too strong, but I get it.” I trail a hand down her arm to link our fingers. She shivers beneath my caress. And she’s warm and perfect against me. A perfect fit. “I get it.”
“No.”
“Yeah, I do. I didn’t go through what you did, but I get it. I get you. Sweetness, you don’t want to bend and let anything in for fear of shattering, but if you don’t bend, you run the risk of snapping in two.”
She pulls free. “I just need a few minutes.”
“Go shower, get changed, and I’ll order us pizza.”
This time she turns and stares at me. “No one’s delivering pizza out here.”
“They will for me.”
My man’s just delivered the food, and I have security here tonight. I don’t need it, and I don’t think anyone’s gonna do anything, but after what happened to Ellie, I feel better with that extra power. Not that I’m telling Mia.
She freaked out at me putting security detail on her. She’s not that happy I’m here. Combine the two, and she just might try and murder me.
I call out to her to get her ass down here. As I retrieve the bourbon from outside and wait in the living room, I sort of wish it was cold enough to light the fire. Instead, I just turn on the lamps, kick off my shoes and wait.
