Page 19 of Depraved

God, I wished Red was here. She would have known what to do, what to say to keep me strong. She always did, which was why I loved her like the sister I never had. I remembered the day I graduated high school, when all I wanted was a congratulations and a hug from my mother. Instead, she took me straight home where a new ballet instructor waited for me. My mom reminded me how hard I was going to have to work in order to make it into Juilliard, and she made sure I realized what was at stake if I didn’t. Her reputation.

I looked down at my bare feet, the Band-Aids around my toes still intact. Back then, with the new instructor, my toes ached and bled after the first lesson. It was brutal, and the worst part, my mother sat there the entire time. Even with tears in my eyes and blood on the floor, my mom didn’t stop it. She just sat there with a scowl on her face, scolding me every time I fell. That night, I cried so hard it felt like my ribs would crack in half. When Red came over, she sat flat on her ass next to my bed and gently pulled her fingers through my hair.

“The only person who can allow her to break you…is you.”

That night, the penny dropped, and Red’s words helped me build a wall around my mind in order to keep my mother out. After that, I never gave my mom the satisfaction of seeing me cry again. The brutal training didn’t stop. It continued with my mother spectating. But I never cried a single tear when my mom was there to witness it.

“The only person who can allow them to break you…is you.” I heard her voice like she was sitting right there next to me.

If I had the backbone to survive an entire childhood with my mom, I could survive a few bikers, right? I just needed to keep my head and not let the horror of the unknown break me. With every war you needed to fight in your life, your mind would be the battlefield. If you could control the battlefield, you could win the war.

I crossed my legs under me and took a few more sips of water, thinking about what happened. Onyx shot the guy who threatened to kill me. For a few short moments, I thought they had saved me from the kidnappers, but now they were the kidnappers. It was a complete mind-fuck, and I had no idea how to wrap my head around it. If it wasn’t for them saving me in the first place, I would have said this was all because of me being the police commissioner’s daughter, and that it had something to do with their midnight dealings with my dad. Maybe my dad pissed them off. Maybe my dad owed them money. Who the fuck knew? But I was confused as to why—if my dad pissed off the Kings—there were other kidnappers trying to take me.

Dear God. Was I the target of two criminal syndicates? Jesus. It was a miracle I was still breathing.

And what did Granite mean by saying I knew why I was here? Why did he look at me the way he did, like he knew me? As if he knew my deepest, darkest secrets? Like he knew my most sordid desires?

Did he bring me here because of something my father did? Or did he bring me here because of something that had nothing to do with my dad, but everything to do…with me?

CHAPTER SEVEN

GRANITE

I couldn’t sleep. Not while she was underneath my goddamn roof. It was like I had this giant vortex inside my head, twisting my thoughts in her direction, making me think of all the warped fantasies I’d had about my pretty ballerina. All those nights I watched her dance in her parents’ back yard played over and over inside my mind making my dick hard.

It was already dawn when I eventually got to my room, so I decided to go to the gym, punching the shit out of a boxing bag. Looked like Onyx couldn’t sleep either since he was right next to me kicking the crap out of another boxing bag.

“Did she eat?” I glanced at him.

“Dunno. I didn’t stick around.”

“Did she say anything?”

Onyx swung around and gave a hard back-kick. “Just that you were one ugly mofo.”

I grinned then flung a fist at the bag. “What did you give her to eat?”

“Turkey sandwich.”

I stilled and caught the swinging bag. “Are you kidding me?”

Onyx shrugged. “What?”

“She doesn’t eat bread, you dumb fuck.”

“How the fuck was I supposed to know that?”

“She does ballet, Onyx. Do the math.”

He lifted a brow. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know this is a goddamn B&B.”

I pulled the gloves off my fists and tossed them to the ground. “Get Neon to take her a fucking salad or something.”

“Dude, the girl is as thin as a fucking stick. She can do with some carbs, if you ask me.”

“No one asked you.”

“Good God, why are you being such an asshole right now?”