Page 106 of Playboy’s Purgatory

“I’m sure you pictured me accusing her and yelling at her, getting in her face, and saying she was worse than you. Did you imagine me breaking her until she broke down in tears?”

A flash of triumph lights Lola’s blue depths from the inside out. I see it. We all fucking see it.

“None of that happened,” my voice goes flat, dead. “She called us the moment she found the cash. I read your letter and never once thought there was a single word of truth in it.” Her eyes widen and I know she’s thinking about her professing her love for me. My jaw clenches and I grit the words out, “Not. One. Word.”

“No,” she gasps and I see her start to crack. Not just this ruse, but her life. All of it.

Everything she’s told herself to feed her delusion about how special she is. Every compliment she’s soaked up like a sponge because her kind of rot must be fed. Every day she’s woken up believing she’s above it all.

“Yes,” I growl, “and you will be very happy to know that once my house is built, Lara and Vanessa are moving in with me.” Lola makes a sound similar to one a dying animal makes. I don’t mention how my plan isn’t completely locked down. I’m using the power of visualization and speaking it into existence and rolling with it. One side of my mouth tips up and my voice drops, “I already have her cut.”

Lola starts thrashing in her chair just as Ryker steps forward, his voice loud in the space and carrying the heavy authority of the SOMC President, “You stole from us, Lola.” She stills and then opens her mouth to protest, but Ryker doesn’t give her the chance. “Here is what is going to happen. You will be heading off to Seattle. Through a connection with another club, you will be joining the staff of Second Circle, a brothel run by the Amato Family.”

Lola starts shaking, but I don’t care. I look away because whatever fear she’s feeling, she’s earned.

“You will be treated well,” Ryker assures her. The smirk on his face is a warning. “You’ll work off what you owe us and the cost to keep you.”

“Ryker,” she screeches, “you can’t do this to me. I’m part of this club.”

Something inside me snaps, I step forward and slap Lola across the face. Her head flies to the side and I seethe, “You are not part of this club. You stole from us, yes, but you betrayed us long before that. You are nothing, Lola, not to this club, not to the family you were born into, and not to your daughter.”

Lola turns her head slowly and looks at me with tears in her eyes that might be genuine. Whether they are or aren’t, it doesn’t matter to me anymore.

She’ll go and pay her penance.

I’ve already found my way out of purgatory and I’m not looking back.

CHAPTER 27

PLAYBOY

I lean back slightly and wipe Lara’s skin. This is our last tattoo session and we’re almost done. It’s a bittersweet feeling because I’m not ready for the sessions to be done. Now, at least, I can talk to her anytime I want without the buzz of the tattoo gun in the background.

Still, I’m a little sad.

“You don’t need to pout,” Lara teases me.

I glance at her and make my pout even more pronounced. Her laughter fills the space. She looks at me with affection and like she’s not sure what to do with me.

It’s one of the best ways she looks at me.

“I’m not pouting,” I try and defend myself. It falls flat; I knew it would.

“You know,” she starts, her voice turning coy, “you don’t have to hide behind the tattoo sessions anymore, Jettson.”

I stick my tongue out at her, and she shakes her head with her lips pressed together to hide her smile. “No, I don’t, but I still don’t like that this is the last one.”

She makes a humming sound and nods. “I understand,” there’s a wistful quality in her voice and it tugs at my heart.

We’ve been solid. Finding and dealing Lola wasn’t even a speedbump to us. I did tell her where she was sent for the purpose of paying off her debt, but she didn’t even bat an eye.

Instead, she shrugged one shoulder casually and mused, “Doesn’t sound all that different from the life she was living. Just a different pay structure.”

I blinked at her twice and then barked out a laugh.

Most nights I’m over at her place, unless there’s something going down at the club. Then we’ll stay in my room while Vanessa is treated like a princess over at Dad’s house. I love the routine we’ve found. There’s something peaceful in it, something grounding.

I’ve never felt like I truly belonged, not when my mom always felt like a stain I couldn’t get clean. No one made me feel that way; it was all me. I was always trying to prove myself.