She looks away. “It doesn’t make sense hanging onto the place if neither me nor Charlie is going to live there.”
That’s not the point. The point is that no one is going to buy a bachelor flat in Berea. Homeless people and thugs may move in, but they’re not going to pay a cent. I get it, though. She’s proud. She doesn’t want to tell me why she wants the measly money that shithole is worth. I give her more than enough money to feed and clothe her, with plenty left to take care of her brother. It’s not that she owes anyone. I checked with the money lords. There’s something else.
“How much are you hoping to get?” I ask.
“Ten, twenty thousand, maybe?”
If this is part of a scheme to pay me back quicker, I’ll play along for now. In time, she’ll understand I’m not letting her go. Anyway, she won’t get a lousy buck for the place. If she wants twenty grand, I’ll give it to her.
“I’ll handle the sale for you.” She doesn’t have to know I’ll be the one to buy it. “You’re never going back to that area. Do you understand?”
“Oh, no.” Her eyes grow large. “I’m not making my problem yours. I can do it.”
“I know you can do it, but I said I’ll deal with the agent. End of discussion. There are too many others like Tiny out there.”
She goes quiet at the mention of the fucker’s name. Way to go, Louw. Why don’t you rub her face in it?
“You shot him, didn’t you?” she asks in a small voice.
I hug her tighter. “He’ll never bother you again.” I’m afraid to ask, but I need to know if I should call out a doctor. “Did he hurt you?”
“Some.”
I go cold, the fury from earlier reviving in my veins. “How?”
“When he slapped me. My hands.”
That explains the bruises on her knuckles. “Anything else?”
“Not like that.”
Relief has me close my eyes briefly. “It wasn’t the first time he bothered you.” I of all people know when a man is proprietorial, and Tiny acted like she was territory.
“He collected levies for our building. It doesn’t matter now.”
It does. I can only imagine how he made her pay. The thought has a nerve twitch in the back of my eye, making my eyeball jump in the socket.
“What did he do to you?”
“Nothing.”
“It didn’t look like nothing.”
“It wasn’t always like this. Today was different.”
The light bulb goes on in my head. “He made you give him head,” I state matter-of-factly, keeping the agonizing rage from my voice, because I need to know.
“I gave nothing,” she bits out. “He used my mouth, but I didn’t give him a single damn thing.”
That lowlife fucking son of a bitch. I wish I had more control back in that alley, enough to hold back from shooting him straight away. I should’ve tortured him to death, starting by cutting off his dick. The irony of the situation isn’t lost on me. I’m condemning an already dead man to a slow, painful death for something I’m guilty of myself. I took her and decided to keep her. I eat her pussy every night and get off on her climaxes. I stuck my dick in her mouth and shot my load down her throat. Yes, I’m no goddamn better than the man I killed for her today, but she’s mine. Tiny had no right to lay his hands on her.
Turning my scars toward the shadows, I bring my head down and brush our lips together. I want to wipe the imprint of every other man’s dick on her lips away. I press my lips on the mouth that cocksucker Tiny abused God knows how many times.
“There.” Despite my dark mood, I try to keep things light. “All kissed better.”
A smile curves her lips. She looks so damn innocent looking at me like this. After what happened to her, the enormity of the oral sex weighs heavy on my shoulders. She’s mine like no other person has been, not even my ex-wife. When I took possession of her body, I also committed myself to take care of her feelings. I’m training her body to want me, because God knows I’m too ugly to inspire spontaneous desire in a woman, let alone love, but she needs to understand sucking my cock isn’t mandatory.
I smooth my hand over her hair. “You never have to do that again. Not for anyone. Not even me.”
She lifts her head to look at me, her brown eyes soft and wide. “It wasn’t the same. With you, I wanted to.”
The alcohol loosens her tongue, but it also makes her speak the truth. A foreign feeling crushes my chest. Gratitude. It’s the first time in my life I feel gratitude toward anyone.
Not knowing what to do with the emotion, I rock her in my arms until she drifts off. For a long time I hold her, until Marie is about to arrive. Easing her limp body down on the mattress, I cover her with the duvet and put Oscar on the bed to keep her company. I go straight to my study to call my PI. I prefer to conduct sensitive calls in a room swept for bugs every day.