Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 157162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
His finger did one last brush of my pussy before he removed his hand. Slowly, without any outward sign of defeat, but I knew he felt it. He’d been able to play my body like a fucking violin. I’d learned pleasure with him. True pleasure. And now that he didn’t have that, he’d be off-kilter.
I reveled in that more than I should’ve, even though I comprehended how dangerous it was for me. Jasper knowing I didn’t want him anymore might’ve rid him of all kinds of nostalgia that might’ve been keeping me alive.
“I seem to be out of chips.” He drummed his finger on the table.
A cold dread started simmering at the base of my spine, moving up as I sensed what he might’ve been doing before he even spoke.
I forced my composure to remain exactly as it was. Not a shred of the panic building in my gut would be betrayed. Not in front of these men who would drink it up like fucking cognac.
“I do have something extremely valuable that means a lot to me and that a lot of men would consider priceless.” His low, chilly voice brushed against my exposed thighs with the same sensation as his fingers.
I gritted my teeth as all the male eyes at the table swept to me, appraising, probing.
My chin lifted upward, refusing to meet any of their gazes. No fucking way would I lower it for them. Lower myself for them.
One man, the man I pegged to be the most powerful and dangerous in the room, chuckled. Chip Hollows. Oil baron. Involved in multiple arms deals to countries we were technically enemies with. There was chatter over whether he had influenced the most recent election.
“You want us to think Calliope Derrick will willingly let herself be traded like some common whore?” His words were sickening because I didn’t doubt he regularly traded women like cattle, thinking of them the same way too.
My eyes found his, and I glared at them, only serving to widen his smile.
Jasper’s hand circled around my thigh, squeezing to the point where it cost me a great deal not to wince.
I looked down at Jasper, the promise of retribution in my gaze. He simply considered me, his lip twitching in what looked like amusement. Only I knew that this was all a show. Jasper never naturally smiled. Not even so much as a lip twitch.
“Calliope Derrick is anything but common,” he nodded. “And if you’ve heard of her, then I expect you know that she is a woman of her word. And one who deals in favors. To which she is in debt to me.” He motioned to the pile of chips and watches on the table. “A debt I’m putting in the pot.”
My thigh burned from the pressure he was exerting, and he was not letting up. Jasper didn’t enjoy causing me pain; he was doing it to make a point. To make a mark. That, I knew. That no matter how this turned out, he wanted me to have the physical reminder of his presence. Of his power. There was a time when a situation like this might’ve served as foreplay.
A time when I trusted Jasper, when I was eager to dip a toe into the underworld, ignorant of its true ugliness, hedonism, and focused on my own pleasures.
That time was long gone; his touch now disgusted me as much as it excited me. And that was the shameful thing. It still did. A touch of that cruel, selfish, cold person I was with him remained. Called out to him, despite the lack of wetness in my panties.
I knew he sensed it. That this whole show might have been to serve whomever he was working for in that moment. But it was also a test. He was working to see how far I’d crept from his reach, if he could pull me back in.
“Tell the gentlemen.” Jasper commanded me like I was nothing but an obedient pet.
I held his gaze for a moment before I let my lips tilt into a smirk. “I doubt anyone in this room could be described as a gentleman.” I aimed the barb at Chip. “But my … associate is correct. I owe a favor. And I do not leave debts on the street.”
Chip Hollows did not drop his eyes, allowing me to see the hunger and greed swirling in them. That’s what drove these men—greed. And when you had more money than anyone could spend in ten lifetimes, could buy anything your sick heart desired, that’s when things started to get fucked-up. You didn’t want to buy things; you wanted to steal them, sully them, torture them.
You wanted to own what you couldn’t buy. Innocence. Terror.
“The unattainable Calliope Derrick.” His eyes shot to Jasper. “And here I was, thinking she only spread her legs for you.”