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"While I understand your position, dues are a part of life. Unless you'd like us to pay you a visit." Dante paces away, then leans against the front of Jenkins's desk.
I focus on the screen, biting my lip as I pull up a file I've never seen before. The last time I did this, someone tried to hack in, but I doubt it'll happen again. My chest still seizes until the screen fills with numbers and descriptions of people.
I gasp when I realize it's a list of every person they have locked in the Pit. At first, I think the numbers are to keep them straight, but then I see that they're age-ranges. There are hundreds of them, separated into different documents, but at the top—the city's name.
Remembering twenty-four cities shouldn't be hard, but as soon as I move from one, I forget the previous one. My eyes flick to Dante, silently trying to get him back here. He's too busy arguing with the person on the other end. The red light on the camera lasers through me, and I glance around.
I jerk my arm and knock over the pencil cup. Pens scatter across the floor and Dante's head shoots up. He hangs up mid-sentence and stalks over. As I scramble to pick up my mess, he leans over the desk. He tenses, nudging me with his knee. Sitting back down, I scroll through the data, allowing him to memorize the various cities. When I reach the last one, he raps his knuckles on the desk, and I close out of all the programs.
We need to get somewhere we can talk. I don't know where any of those cities are, but Harris wasn't on them, at least. Dante stalks from the room and I trail after him, peering down the hallway as we go.
Jenkins might be pissed we just left, but I'm not in a position to say anything. I'm never in a position to have a voice, unless it's with Dante, but lately even he dismisses me. He comes to me for information and that's about it these days.
"Are you ever going to fuck me again?" I ask, tripping down the stairs.He throws out his arm, catching me before I crack open my skull.
"What the fuck, Aelia? Not exactly the time to discuss that."
I follow after him, horror and embarrassment swamping me. I didn't mean for that to tumble out. Clearly, we have more shit to deal with other than sex. And it's not like we're in an actual relationship. We weren't fucking like rabbits and suddenly there was nothing. Most of the time we fall into bed each morning after Jag and Dante stay up putting a strike plan into place. Avery and I fall asleep long before they're done.
Dante slams the door behind us, startling Avery and Jag. I stop, head swiveling between them. They're posted on opposite ends of the room, studiously ignoring each other. I drop onto the bed next to Avery, tracking Dante's movements as he approaches Jag. Rolling my head to the other woman, I peek over at the book she's reading.
"Where'd you get that?" I ask, leaning forward to see the cover. A half-naked man chest stares back at me.
"Jag brought it. He's not exactly happy I found his stash," she murmurs, turning the page.
"A stash of romance books?" The only romance books I've read were historical and had a man with wavy blond hair on the front. My father burned them when he found my small collection.
"Smut mostly."
"What's that?" I lean over, trying to read over her shoulder, but she sighs, closing the book with her finger keeping her place.
"You don't know what smut is?" she asks, finally looking at me, and I shake my head. "It's explicit."
She raises her eyebrows as if that's an actual answer.
"I read some historical stuff when I was a teenager," I mumble, realizing how much I've missed being locked away.
She busts out laughing, and I turn to slide off the bed. She grabs my arm, gasping for breath.
"Sorry, it's not your fault, obviously. I just forget how sheltered you are while at the same time being surrounded by sex." She sobers as I plop down again.
"I wouldn't call what happens within these walls sex. More like violations."
"Well, I read books with explicit consent and nary a mention of manhood."
My eyes widen, and she bursts out in laughter again. I scrub my hands on my cheeks, trying to erase the blush I'm sure I have. Avery leans over, grabbing another book from the nightstand.
"Here. Read this one and then we'll talk about it. By the time you're done, I'll have finished book two."
"You just had this lying around?" I ask, raising an eyebrow as butterflies erupt in my stomach.
"I finished it an hour ago." She goes back to her book, and I realize she's already halfway done with it.
Tears fill my eyes as I stare at the cover. I haven't done anything as simple as reading a book since I was sixteen. Avery doesn't understand the gift she's given me, though I doubt I'll be able to finish it by the time she's done with hers. What would we even talk about? The sex scenes? I feel like I would spend the entire time being embarrassed.
"It's just a book, Aelia," Avery whispers.
"Yeah. Just a book. I'm going to go take a shower. Oh, and we found where the other sites were. Don't know how much it'll help." I slip from the bed, clutching the paperback to my chest.
