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“Tired.” I yawn loudly and they grin.
“After coffee, we’ll show you to Malik’s room, unless…”
Jasmine’s sentence trails off and I smile, causing them to reward me with knowing smiles of their own.
“Malik’s room will be fine.”
“So, Malik…” Jasmine says, leaning forward with a conspiratorial wink. “I must ask this. What’s he like?”
“Jasmine!” Louisa says with a shocked giggle.
“Don’t tell you’ve never wondered. I mean, that man’s darker than Lucifer himself. Please tell me you’ve been there already because I’m dying to hear the details.”
Winter laughs out loud. “The details! Don’t let my brother find you salivating over another man.”
Jasmine shrugs. “I’m curious. I mean, all that darkness wrapped in sinful pleasure. I bet he’s rough and sexy. Please don’t disappoint me and tell me he’s a pussycat.”
Charlotte giggles. “I bet he likes the hard stuff due to all those rough edges and secrets hiding behind his eyes.”
Winter nods. “Even at Rockwell, he was mysterious. The other guys not so much, but all the time we were there, I never saw him with a woman.”
“He’s not…” Jasmine looks horrified and Winter bursts out laughing. “Of course he’s not gay, he’s just mysterious. You know…” She glances around at the group and grins wickedly. “There wasn’t a girl on campus who didn’t want a piece of Malik. I used to hear rumors that he was into all kinds of dark shit that the girls he practiced on subsequently craved like narcotics.”
“Ooh, tell me more.” Jasmine whispers and all eyes turn to me as Louisa grins. “Let’s ask the only one in the room who knows for a fact. Come on, Eliza, put us out of our misery. You’re among friends now.”
Laughing, I settle back in my chair and grin. “Well, the first time I saw him, I had stripped naked before discovering him sitting in the shadows of my room.”
“No way!” Charlotte gasps and I nod, warming to my subject.
“He asked me where Frankie was, and I couldn’t tell him. Iwouldn’ttell him, anyway because I didn’t know who the fuck he was.”
“Good answer.” Winter nods, but at the mention of her son, a little of the light dims in her eyes.
“He asked me again, and I told him I would never tell him and before I could react, he pressed two fingers against my neck, and I was out for the count.”
“Wow, pressure points maneuver. That’s so cool.”
Charlotte appears animated and the others laugh, Jasmine jerking her thumb toward her friend. “Charlotte loves to fight. Ivan is teaching her.”
“I bet he is.” Louisa says with a giggle and Jasmine turns to me and says eagerly, “What happened when you woke up?”
“I was tied to a bed in the most beautiful room I had ever seen.”
“His house, I’m guessing.” Charlotte chips in. “I know that place. I stayed there with Ivan. It’s off the scale.”
I nod. “The fact I was still naked became a problem that didn’t change, and he said unless I told him where Frankie was, it would stay that way.”
Winter looks concerned and I smile my reassurance. “It’s fine. I’m not going to say I loved the experience, but I understood it. Now I understand his connection to Frankie, I wish I’d spoken sooner, but I had to protect Frankie. I was told not to breathe a word to anyone about what happened for his own safety.”
“The servant?” Winter says thoughtfully. “Can you tell us about him? The only ones I met were silent.”
“Because they had no tongues.” I nod sadly and we share a look as we cast our minds back to the nightmare that we both lived in not that long ago.
“I only met him twice. Once when I arrived and then just before I left.”
I cast my mind back on the man who popped up when I needed him most.
“When I first got there, I was shown to the nursery by one of the silent servants. I didn’t understand what the hell was going on and just started caring for the baby I found sleeping in his crib. I figured Massimo would fill me in later and then in the middle of the night, someone shook me awake, his hand covering my mouth.”
