AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What does that mean?”
“Shut up and wrap it up, kitten.”
She reaches for the toothbrush and rips it from its wrapping. This one has a temper that I might find a bit too amusing. “And what about clothes? Right now?—”
I take the toothbrush from her, squirt some toothpaste on and push it into her gaping mouth. There. That makes her shut up. “Brush.”
She does so, all the while glaring at me until she’s forced to spit.
Fuck. Even that I find arousing.
“Clothes we’ll sort out once we’ve established your base worth.”
“My base worth?”
I ignore her question. If she hasn’t figured it out yet, I can’t help her. For a moment I toy with the idea of locking her back in the safe room, but then decide against it. The other room is on the same level, and if the doc comes first thing, it would be less involved to just have her there already.
“This way.” I nudge her towards the door, take hold of the luxury throw at the foot of my bed in passing and guide her to the room at the end of the corridor. “In you go.”
As she walks past, I tug down the towel and toss the fake fur throw towards the empty bed. “Sweet nightmares, kitten. We’ll touch base in the morning.”
I close the door and lock it. The last glimpse I get of her is how my kitten flexes her claws, ready to pounce, but then scrambles to cover her body. She’s an innocent little kitten, finally finding her claws. That doesn’t bother me. Natasha Armstrong might be fighting fit, but she’ll never be a match for me or any of my men, trained as we are.
What plays in my mind’s eye as I pad back to my own room is that naked body of hers and how she’ll react to the feel of the faux fur against her skin. And whether she is going to seek her own release now that she thinks nobody is watching her.
I hammer back hard at the idiocy of wanting to look on, so I refrain from fetching my phone and logging into that room’s security camera footage.
16
TASHA
I’m ripped from restless sleep by the door that’s swept open, harsh light flowing in. I jolt upright, clutching the throw to my breasts. “Don’t! Please!” I blink into the sharp light that’s blinding me, terrified to look beyond it. Several figures are filing into the room. Burley, who is holding the light, an Asian woman, and my host, Matteo. I cower back, my heart in my throat, not wanting to know what’s going to happen next.
What time is it even? I don’t know. Not with the black-out shutters still down. I tried to open them last night, but they seemed to be locked in place. I rub at my eyes with a groan. I’ve hardly slept. I thought I’d pass right out, but once I was alone my brain wanted to dissect everything that’s happened. Visions of the killing scene haunted me, and then there was Matteo. His touch. His plans for me. The doctor who is coming to take blood samples so that they can match me with desperate people who need black market organs.
I swallow as Matteo comes to stand right beside me. I glance up at him, nervous, and at the same time wanting to fly at him and scratch. He is dressed impeccably in his usual suit, looking well rested. Asshole. Hot freaking prick.
My gaze jumps to Burley. He looks as if he slept like a baby last night. His gaze is flighty, not looking me in the eye, as if we didn’t spend a good half hour bonding while cleaning brains and blood off that tile last night.
“Open the shutter,” the woman says, and as Burley presses the button and natural light floods in, I curse. I was either too dumb or too rattled to get it right last night. Or maybe they unlocked the jail while I was sleeping. It must be at least eight o’clock already.
She’s an older woman, grey at her temples where her hair is sternly swept back, and slightly stooping with age. She has a doctor’s traveling case with her which she puts on the edge of the bed. Then she takes the light from Burley, pulls at something, and a telescopic stand folds out with little wheels at the end of it.
Ah hell. I know those. They have them standard everywhere where doctors get to dig. I drop back against the cold wall, a giant knot twisting in my gut. That type of auction. I should have known. I want to bury my face in a pillow at having been so naive, but I don’t have one.
“This will take a few minutes,” the doctor says, looking at Burley and then in Matteo’s direction.
Burley nods and walks out of the room, but Matteo stays put.
“I’ll watch,” he says, and I curl up inside and die.
The doctor shakes her head with a grunt as she opens her case and pulls out sterile gloves. For the first time she looks me in the eye. “Lie back, legs open.”
When I don’t move, her cold hand reaches under the throw, touching my foot. I jerk away, only to feel Matteo’s warm grip settling on my shoulder.
“You do this with the throw or without. With Burley restraining you, or not. Choose.”
I close my eyes at his words, scoot down to lie on my back, and obediently open my legs. A hot red flush is sweeping over me, and I cup my face with my hands to hide. At least they’re not auctioning off my organs. Not yet in any event. This comes first.
