Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Charlotte Mitchell

I can’t help but feel a little insecure as I shop for clothes with Nix. All around me are women in expensive clothing, and I’m forced to wear the dress I wore last night to the gala. I have no makeup, no hair products, and I appear ridiculous with my fancy clutch grasped in my hand. I look like a mess, and they’re all staring at me. I can see their unspoken questions as they then gaze upon Nix, wondering what the hell a man like him is doing with me.

I can only imagine the direction of their thoughts, and it makes me feel horrible about myself.

The cash register dings in the front of the shop while soft piano music plays gently in the speakers above us. Nix seems to ignore it all as he sifts through the clothes with me, and to add to my dismay, it’s a little embarrassing that we’re shopping in the heavier section. I’ve never had ill feelings toward my weight until now – now that he’s with me and there are other, more fit women surrounding us, who don’t have the problems we currently do.

“I can do this myself,” I whisper to him, and damn it if my insecurity doesn’t seep through in my voice.

“Why?” he asks back distractedly, his volume a little louder.

I only give a shrug as I pretend to look at a black top. It’d hug my curves, and it just makes me want to wear a potato sack to hide them. I swallow thickly and put it back on the rack.

“That would look nice on you,” he grunts with a frown. “It’s your style.”

“You’ve only seen me naked or in a dress. How would you know what my style is?”

Grabbing my elbow, he swivels me to face him. His eyes are sharp as he searches the plains of my face. “What’s going on with you?”

I shrug again, but I can’t help the way my gaze swivels to the woman trying hard not to pay attention to us a few racks over. She’s far more beautiful than I am; thin and tall and all legs.

He looks with me for a second, and then his expression turns hard. His grip on my elbow squeezes a little tighter. Leaning, he whispers into my ear, “Don’t compare yourself to others, mama.”

“But I am,” I murmur back.

He doesn’t lean away. “That – them? They have nothing on you. Your body has made you popular. You’re Her. You’re sexy as fuck, and grabbing onto you while I fuck you is a major turn-on.” He gently grabs my hand and lowers it to his cock, which is hard and ready. He makes my fingers squeeze him as he adds, “Just being near you, picturing you naked in those dressing rooms, has me ready to bend you over. Right here. Right now. ”

“But –”

He places a kiss on my lips before muttering against them, “They’re nobody. They’re like everyone else, plain. Is that who you want to be, mama? Like everyone else? Or do you want to be you?”

I search his eyes and find nothing but sincerity. “Okay.” My voice is so small, but my tone is firm.

He gives me one more kiss. He lingers with his lips against mine, and when he pulls away, I know why. The woman was watching us, and he was staking his claim. My heart warms for a second for this dangerous criminal. I doubt that woman even knows the kind of man he is, but I do. He could have anyone, but he chooses me, again and again.

Even though it weighs heavy with what stands against us, my heart skips a few beats as he holds eye contact with me and says, “Good girl. Now pick up the black shirt and try it on.”

For the next hour, he’s hooking clothes on my door handle, forcing me to try on any and all things that he’d find me sexy in. And with every garment, I feel a little better about myself because, when I show him how it fits on me, he has a hungry look stretched across his face.

I’m just lucky he’s paying for this because there’s no way I could afford even one shirt from this place.

When I’m done and there are no more clothes to try on, I grab the ones Nix and I both agreed on and my clutch and step out of the changing room. I stumble for a second as my high heels catch on the stone floor. The clutch tumbles from my hand when I reach out to steady myself against the wall. The contents spill out onto the floor, and I curse under my breath.

Nix chuckles a little before bending to pick them up, and as he does, his hand pauses before grabbing the last thing. “What’s this?” he asks, pinching something from the floor, standing, and bringing it to my attention.

“Oh.” I grimace as we look at the tiny red stone together. “That’s, um…”

“No lies,” he says, squinting at me.

I take the stone from him as well as the clutch and tuck it back inside. “I found it.”

“Where, Charlie?”

I cringe and look away from him. “In a shipping container.”

I feel more than see him stiffen. “What were you doing at the port?”

Narrowing my eyes to match his, I whisper, “My job.” And by the low growl in his chest, I know he knows exactly what I mean.

“Fuck,” he hisses. “You went looking for the men and women?”

I shrug a little, like it doesn’t mean much, but we both know it does. “Yeah.”

His jaw ticks, and his anger is palpable. At first, I think he’s angry because I found out about the way they’re shipping them in undetected, but then he murmurs, “Do you have any idea what kind of danger you put yourself in?”

“I’m always in danger,” I counter quietly. “I’m in danger right now.”

He loses his composure for a second and swipes a hand down his face. “You could have been caught, and since you’re still alive and nothing has hit the news, I’m assuming the stone is all you found.”

I nod and angrily say, “And the evidence that people had been in there for a long-ass time.”

Nix sighs and closes his eyes for a moment. “You weren’t supposed to see stuff like that.”

“What? ”

The anger is back on his face when he opens his eyes and gruffly adds, “I’m trying to protect you from all this, and here you are, searching for it. I don’t want you to see the dark side if I can help it.”

“Well . . . too late.” I raise the clutch and give it a little shake. “And I know who the stone belongs to. I met her last night. There was a stone missing from her necklace.”

Understanding crosses his features. “The woman you questioned.”

“Yeah.” I pinch my lips together for a second. “Is Anya even still alive?”

“Yeah,” he breathes out. “I’m shooting her later today.”

I attempt to cross my arms even though it’s impossible with everything in my hands. “Against her will?”

His jaw flexes again. “Probably,” he eventually grunts.

I look away, my own anger rising until my blood feels like it’s boiling.

“We have to pretend like everything is normal, and you need to come to grips that you won’t be able to save her.”

“The video is to audition her for those interested, isn’t it?”

“Probably,” he whispers with defeat.

“Her corpse, am I right?” I look back at him just so I can see the truth on his face.

“Yes.”

Bile rises in my throat. “I think I might puke.”

He steps forward and grips my upper arms. “This isn’t going to be easy, Charlie, but if you want to save the rest of the men and women, you have a part to play, just like I do. I will go to that shoot. I’m expected there. Just because our plans have changed doesn’t mean the business has. If I don’t show up, if you try to save her, we’re dead.” He gives me a little shake. “Do you understand? ”

I swallow down the vomit in my throat because I know he’s right. There’s not a damn thing I can do for that woman. For any of them. Not until we get to the top.

I close my eyes and give him one curt nod. A soft kiss to my forehead follows. “I’ll keep as much as I can from you, the parts you don’t need to know. Don’t hold it against me, please, mama,” he begs.

I lean into his lips and nod again.