“I’ll pick you up tomorrow,” Fate said. I think he was taking pity on me.
Luck stepped forward. “Come on, I’ve got an outfit you can borrow for now. Let’s go to the bathroom and clean you up a bit.”
I didn’t argue with that. I was leaving a trail of dirt as I walked away.
“Looks like we have a base,” I heard Knox say as we left.
Huh? Did that mean he was coming too?
Chapter Eleven
Everyone was treating me with kid gloves since fiasco one, the near gang rape, and fiasco two, the condo burning down that almost took my cat with it. Fate had picked me up from Luck’s house the next evening. But he’d backed off only to sic his boys on me. I’d seen both Cutty and Lars in Luck’s backyard throughout the evening.
Luck was planning on staying with him too so I wasn’t sure why I needed a personal escort. She’d promised to drive Smoke over with her since Fate had wanted to make a stop. I’d burnt out my arguing skills over the past day—something I never thought would happen—and I was slightly more agreeable while I waited for my words to replenish.
Fate pulled the car up behind a closed strip mall about halfway between Luck’s place and his house. Every store in the row had been boarded up in the past week. I knew because I’d slowly watched it happen. I passed by here every day on my way to the office and I’d kept count. The last store in this strip mall had closed as of a few days ago.
“What are we doing here?” I asked.
“You’re going to need clothes.” He got out of the car and waited until I followed. He pulled out a set of keys and opened the backdoor to a place called Sandy’s Boutique. I’d shopped here when I was human and made better money. I hadn’t stepped foot into the place since I’d begun my new job.
“You own this place?” Fate and a women’s boutique went together about as well as a wolf in a hen house.
“I own the building, not the store.” He held the rear entrance door open for me and flipped on the lights. “Pick out whatever you need. I’ll cover it with the owner.”
Who would cover it with him? I walked around the store, knowing I couldn’t afford anything here without even having to look at a tag. Wow, this was awkward. Maybe I should just get one outfit to hold me over.
No, this was ridiculous. I was going to pick up two items that would cost me my whole pay for a month? “I can’t afford this place. There’s a clothing store down the street that’s still open. I’ll go there tomorrow.”
“I told you not to worry about it.” He shrugged, as if he didn’t understand my problem. Dismissing the issue, he looked back down at his phone as he leaned against the counter.
“But I can’t not worry about it.”
“You can pay me back if it makes you feel better.” He was still looking down at his phone as if he didn’t understand the concept of worrying about money.
“On my pay, it’ll take me fifty years with the price of things in here.”
“You’ve got the time.” His voice faltered on the last word and I looked away.
I knew what he was thinking because I was as well. I might not have the time; not if the vision he’d seen of me being killed was accurate. Neither of us brought it up often but it wasn’t something easily forgotten, not when you were the walking dead.
I grabbed a shopping bag from the counter beside him, figuring debt was the least of my issues right now and tried to forget the reminder from a moment ago.
I walked around the store debating on which was more depressing, ceasing to exist or minimum wage for an eternity. My intention had been to grab the basic essentials but the reminder of my throat getting slit added an additional level of stress that drove my need for shopping therapy way past the point of subduing.
Twenty minutes later, Fate looked up from his phone to the bags and heaps of shoeboxes I was trying to juggle. He reached into his pocket to add another wad of cash to the pile he’d already left near the register. He scribbled a note and placed that and the cash in the drawer before we left.
We got to his place less than five minutes later and he helped me carry in all my new belongings. I’d thought he was being a gentleman when he’d grabbed them for me.
He walked past the kitchen and living room. Things didn’t go bad until, instead of taking the stairs to the bedrooms above, he headed straight towards the master suite—his suite—the lair of the… That was the scariest part about it. I didn’t even know what the hell he really was.
My body, which had been simply watching, finally sprang into action and chased him down as my bags disappeared inside with him.
He was placing them on the bed when I walked into the room.
“Why are you putting my things in here? I know you have guest rooms. I’ve seen them.”
“We need the space. You heard them back at the office. We’re going to have half the place staying here. No one can afford to have their own room. Going to have to double up at minimum.”
“Double. Up.” I said the words as if I’d never heard them before. How could I have not thought of this scenario? That’s right, I’d been worried about everything falling apart while he’d been worried about falling into bed.
He said it as if he had no control of the situation. No—worse—like he was as stuck as I was. Fate didn’t do anything he didn’t want.
It all made sense. It was why he didn’t mind the entire office cramming into his house.
“You did this to…” My words faltered. I couldn’t say he did it to win. Oh no, that might lead to an outright discussion about what he wanted to win. Next thing, we’d be talking about sex. Then what if it led to a discussion about why I wouldn’t? The warning bells were starting to chime. I needed to abort this conversation immediately. I could picture it now, me in a pile on the floor crying why don’t you love me? Because that was the only thing left that could make this week complete.
And it could happen. I never would’ve imagined I’d be that girl, the kind who would grovel and beg. Now it hung over me like a looming threat. If I veered too close to the edge, I’d fall over, broken, desperate and clinging to whatever flimsy root I could.
“I don’t need to double with you. I think it would be better if I doubled with another female. Luck is coming tonight.”
He shook his head. “She’s rooming with Mother.”
“What about—”
“The Jinxes are in with Knox.”
He hadn’t merely been texting or surfing the web on his phone while I’d been shopping; he’d been tightening the noose. I guess that was what I got for being lured in by pretty linen sundresses. Oh the shame of it! He’d used the lure of frilly things in my time of need to distract me. A row of pretty colors and strappy sandals and I’d been a lamb to the slaughter.
“You’ve got other rooms.”
Legs wide, hands in his pockets, he said, “Taken.” The low husky way he pronounced that word gave me an altogether different idea of what he meant.
I watched him walk past me and shut the door while I was still looking at my new things on his bed, like a piece of meat sitting in the center of metal claws ready to snap its teeth into me. What would I do? Would I go quietly or would I chew off my paw?
So stunned at how neatly his trap had been set, I didn’t realize he was still there until he was standing before me, smelling all sorts of good and looking all manners of broad and handsome. How was a girl supposed to fight against this caliber of ammunition?