12. Negotiation

TWELVE

NEGOTIATION

CROSS

I let down my guard too soon.

Ever since Winter said that he had plans for Genevieve and me, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head. He was very clear: none of his guys was allowed to touch her. I was so relieved that I didn’t have to worry about the remaining guards attempting to sexually assault her again, I allowed myself to relax a fraction.

Then Luca appeared yesterday. I know him. For the second chance that the Devil of Springfield gave him, he would never betray the Sinners Syndicate. So long as there is a Sinners tat on my arm, we’re basically family. If he’s here, Devil found us and sent him in.

I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in Devil’s ability to control his man, Rolls’s skills as a fixer, and the genius that is Tanner Maguire. Between the three of them, they would’ve found us eventually. Throw in Genevieve’s overprotective older brother, and I figured we just had to survive long enough to be broken out of this place.

Now that Luca’s here, he must know that it’s another Winter who’s running the show. Whether he goes by Johnny or Jimmy, it doesn’t matter. He’s a fucking Snowflake, and he’s the enemy. He’s also a very formidable enemy, and the fact that my fellow Sinners haven’t come down here, guns blazing, just yet tells me that they understand just how dangerous Winter is.

Getting a man on the inside is super smart. He can relay the layout and the amount of both weapons and enemies that Winter keeps wherever we are. Because it’s Luca, I feel like it’s Hamilton, but that’s at least three hours away from Springfield; though that would explain why it took them as long as it did to find us.

Luca’s not at the facility today. He’s playing his part, and whether he’s really going out and grabbing another prison for Winter, he’s not with Noah when he comes down to bring our breakfast. He’s not with Noah when he serves us some cold pizza for dinner. Both times it’s Baker, and I hope that means the next time someone comes down, it’s Luca, followed by members of the Sinners Syndicate.

So, yeah. I let down my guard because, after the second visit to our cell, I didn’t expect another one until the morning—but right around the time that Genevieve usually starts to curl up in the bed, and I get the opportunity to hold her as we both sleep, we both here footsteps.

Her pretty blue eyes go impossibly wide. I know exactly what she’s thinking. The last two times we had unexpected visitors, Mickey wanted her to blow him, then Johnny Winter made it clear he plans to keep us down here for his ‘plans’ until he decides to blow us away.

Whoever’s coming down, that can’t be good.

Unless… unless it is Luca.

It’s not Luca.

It’s Noah and Baker, and while both men are armed, neither is carrying a plate. Any hope that Winter decided to add dessert tonight especially as one of his ‘accomadations’ dies a quick death when, unlike usual, both men step into the cage as soon as the door opens.

“Oh good,” sneers Noah. “We made it on time. It’s not past the princess’s bedtime yet.”

Genevieve climbed out of the cot as soon as we realized the footsteps were getting closer. Wearing the same sundress she’s had on for weeks, it seems so much thinner, so much looser than it did when we first arrived.

With Noah leering at her, and Baker standing there as silent as the grave as always, she crosses her arms over her chest, a flash of temper crossing her face at the derisive nickname.

She hates being called ‘princess’. I hate the way these two men are looking at her right now.

Winter said not to assault them. He didn’t say not to mouth them off.

“What do you want? You brought dinner. Your fucking pets already at the food. Happy? It’s my bedtime, too. So why don’t you go and leave us the hell alone.”

Baker snorts. Noah grins.

And I know I made a mistake.

“What do we want? Hear that, Baker? Pretty boy here wants to know what we want.” Slowly, making it obvious that it’s what he’s doing, Noah looks Genevieve up and down, lingering on her crotch and her chest. She gulps, and he gives me another crooked grin. “We want to watch you fuck.”

Genevieve sucks in a breath.

My body comes alive in the worst way.

What the fuck? No. No . I move between Genevieve and the men so that I’m blocking her from view. “You heard me before. Leave us the hell alone.”

“What’s the matter, da Silva? We’ve seen the two of you together. There’s a reason the boss put you in the same cell together. Even if you weren’t hot to trot when we ran that bike of yours off the road, she’s a pretty piece of ass, isn’t she? You’d have to be a fag not to want a taste of that.” His eyes light up, and he laughs as though what he said is hysterical. “Then again, I saw what you did to Mick. Could’ve taken him out without sucking him off first, you know.”

Baker grunts. “Unless he wanted dick in his mouth.”

“I think you’re right. He wanted dick in his mouth. Well, you two are taking too long. I want to see dick in pussy. And I want to see it now.”

I shouldn’t look back at her. I shouldn’t?—

Fuck.

She’s not just crossing her arms over her chest anymore. She’s hugging herself instead, shaking her head back and forth slowly.

Of course not. Of course she doesn’t want me to fuck her. Why would she? Maybe before we were taken captive and she got to see this side of me, if I’d given in and claimed her like I wanted to, it would be different. I know she wanted to fuck me then, but I was the noble idiot who kept her at arms-length. Now? These two think they can tell her we’re having sex and she’s going to gleefully fall back on the cot and spread her legs to me.

With an audience? With them watching? No fucking way.

But Noah won’t drop it. “Come on already. We got new meat coming in, but tonight you two are the stars of the show. Isn’t that where you belong, princess? Center stage?” He points to the cot. “There’s your stage. Now get on it.”

Genevieve is still shaking her head.

Turning just enough that I can keep the two men in my line of vision while also addressing Genevieve, I tell her, “Don’t listen to them. They can’t make you do it?—”

“They can’t,” booms the voice over the loudspeaker. “But I can.”

Genevieve lets out a soft moan. Do you know what I would’ve given to hear her make a sound like that at the thought of fucking me? Only not one that makes her sound terrified, but well-pleasured instead? Her moan should go straight to my cock, but that one went straight to my heart.

“Winter,” I snarl.

“Yes,” agrees the voice coming over the loudspeaker. Of course it’s Johnny Winter. Who else would it be? “Listen to me. We can sit here and posture all night. Noah can be crude and be homophobic, and you can pretend that you’re not dying to get Ms. Libellula under you. But Mr. da Silva… Carlos ? — ”

That name is a dagger to my chest, though the pain lightens a tiny sliver when Genevieve is suddenly indignant on my behalf. “His name is Cross.”

She knows my history. I spelled out as much of it to her as I could because, damn it, I wanted her to know. In a sick way, I was trying to push her away because all I wanted to do was hold her close. If she learned the truth about me, she could walk away and I’d know that as much as I need this woman, I was never meant to have her.

And now Winter is trying to offer her up to me on a silver platter, and as visibly scared as she is, she’s defending me. My butterfly is smart. She has to realize that I shed the name ‘Carlos’ like a cocoon after my family died.

I am Cross, and I get the feeling that she’ll correct anyone who tries to say otherwise.

“So it is,” Winter agrees, sounding so smarmy, I visualize beating his face in with my fists even though he isn’t here. “It’s also besides the point. I have you filed here. Every adult”—and the bastard emphasizes ‘adult’ which makes me believe he’s not completely full of shit, and that Dave wasn’t the only one who sold me out—relationship he’s ever had has been with a woman. Not as many as you’d think, considering his appearance and his profession, but I don’t think we’ll have a problem getting what I want from him. After all, we could’ve nabbed the girl at any time. You hear that, Ms. Libellula? You should be grateful that I at least chose this Sinner to put in the cell with you. It could’ve been a number of others, and they would’ve been the one to deflower you.”

His plans… all along, his plan was to manipulate the situation so that I slept with Genevieve? When he told me that he wouldn’t allow any of his men to touch her, it wasn’t out of the kindness of his heart. Oh, no. He just wanted to make sure that, when Genevieve got fucked in here, it was by someone he could use.

A Sinner.

Me .

What’s the plan? Her brother is the head Dragonfly. He’s spent her whole life keeping her protected. When Jimmy Winter targeted Damien, his plan revolved around making it seem like Devil beat Damien to death and left him in an abandoned store on the West Side. Of course the Dragonflies would have to retaliate.

Boom, there goes Devil.

There goes the Dragonflies.

There goes the Sinners Syndicate.

And here comes the goddamn Snowflakes.

That didn’t work. Obviously. But what if some questionable Sinner started seeing Damien’s sweet, beloved younger sister behind his back. Not only that, but when Genevieve was at her most vulnerable, that same Sinner proved to be a villain who took advantage of her during their captivity?

If Winter doesn’t kill me, Damien definitely will. There are cameras here. Center stage, right? No doubt it’ll get back to her brother. I’m dead, and the Sinners will have to retaliate.

Same outcome, right? At the very least, the truce between the Sinners and the Dragonflies will go up in smoke. Only Devil and Damien will still be alive, too busy fighting each other to notice that Winter is moving in.

And just like he wants, his enemies are destroyed without him having to assassinate them and make martyrs of them to their men.

It’s brilliant. Sadistic, and brilliant.

And never going to happen.

“I won’t do it,” I grit out. “I won’t rape her.”

Genevieve’s voice is soft as she whispers my name.

I fist my hands. “So forget it, Winter. Okay?”

Winter’s sigh comes over the loudspeaker. “Why must everyone always do things the hard way? You think I haven’t been watching you on the camera? Haven’t seen how you look at her while she’s sleeping? That kiss? I’m giving you what you want. Take it.”

“The only one who can give me that is Genevieve,” I spit back.

“Very well. It seems as if I need to be a little more persuasive.”

“Nothing will make me?—”

“Baker. You have impressive aim. Shoot him in the hand. The right one preferably since his file indicates he’s a righty.”

Genevieve finally finds her voice. “What? You’re going to shoot Cross’s hand? He’s an artist!”

“Yes. See. That’s also in the files,” Winter says, a touch bored. “And maybe when he’ll never work again, he’ll realize he should’ve done what he was told.”

“He’s saying no because of me. Because you’re a sick fuck, and you want to make me have sex for the first time on camera!”

“Well, yes. But, to be fair, if he hadn’t been such a gentleman these last two weeks and already fucked you when I gave him ample time to do so, it wouldn’t have come to this. Now, Baker. If you would.”

I move away from Genevieve so that she doesn’t get hit if his aim isn’t as impressive as Winter thinks.

She dashes in front of me. “Fine. I’ll do it. Okay? I’ll do it. Just don’t shoot!”

I grab her hand, tucking her behind me again. “Genevieve, no…”

She juts out her chin, though she’s shaking where she stands. “I mean it. You… you know how I feel about you. I never thought it would be like this, but if it saves your hands…” Her eyes dart over to Noah and Baker. She bites her bottom lip, then nods. “I’ll do it, Cross. I want to.”

Consent under duress. Fucking great.

“I can’t,” I tell her. “Let them blow off my hands. I don’t care. I’d rather have no hands that ever touch a woman who doesn’t want me to.”

Especially not this woman.

“Again with the making everything so difficult. Noah,” calls out Winter. “Shoot the girl in her knees instead. Maybe when she won’t be able to dance again, he’ll realize just what his insolence has really cost him.”

What ?

“No,” I bellow. “You can’t?—”

“Then start to undress, Mr. da Silva. The girl’s agreed. You said she was the only one who could give you permission, and she did. Now time’s ticking. If you’re not stripped by the time I count to five, Noah will shoot her in the knees. I don’t bluff. One?—”

I yank off my shirt, trying to figure out a way to save Genevieve’s career and her innocence.

“That’s more like it. I want the tattoos caught on camera, just so you can’t deny later on that it’s you. Two.”

“Call off your goons,” I tell him.

“Do you really think that you’re in the position to negotiate? Three.”

Hoping like hell that he lied, that he is bluffing, I concede a little by unbuttoning my jeans, but before I tug on the zipper, I say, “Aren’t you hoping to use this to prove a dirty Sinner plowed the Dragonfly princess?” I hate calling Genevieve that when I know she despises it, but if that’s what Winter thinks… “Won’t really have as much of an impact if it’s obvious we’re only doing it at gunpoint.”

“You might be right. And I’d prefer her to look like she’s enjoying it, not that she’s afraid for her life.” He pauses for a moment. “Fine. Finish undressing, then I’ll send Noah and Baker away. If I’m satisfied with what’s on the camera, they won’t come back until your next meal in the morning.”

“Genevieve stays in her clothes until they’re gone,” I growl.

Winter chuckles. “And you wanted me to believe you don’t already consider Ms. Libellula yours? Take off the jeans, Mr. da Silva.”

Before he can say ‘four’, I pointedly stare in the camera and remove my pants. I save time and take my boxer briefs off with them. Kicking them off, giving Winter my most defiant expression, I tell him, “Done.”

“Quite impressive,” drawls Winter. “Seems like we won’t have to waste too much time for foreplay since you’re obviously ready.”

I won’t apologize for being aroused. Sorry. It’s my default state while Genevieve is around, and though I’ve been able to control myself since sneaking off to the exposed toilet and rubbing one out while Genevieve was right fucking there just seemed disrespectful and wrong, my body is so ready for release, I can’t help it.

My mind knows better than to be excited that I’m supposed to fuck Genevieve on command. Normally, my body would, too. But it’s been nearly three weeks since I’ve come. I’m primed to explode.

At least I won’t be able to torture her for too long. How much do you want to bet that, almost as soon as I work my way into Genevieve’s virgin pussy, I go off right away?

Here’s hoping, though I’m sure Winter won’t be too happy with a two-minute show.

Not like I give a shit. This is about making this as easy as possible for Genevieve. And if stripping down to nothing, having my cock and balls and ass on display for a psycho and his two goons, fine.

“There. I did what you said.”

“And you even made it by the count of five. Fair enough. Okay. Pack it in, boys. Go upstairs and wait for my next orders. Tonight? It’s for our young lovers here.”

And Johnny fucking Winter.