Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 49989 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49989 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
“I’m not a hero. Stop telling me what I want to hear.”
“Please, just don’t kill me. I don’t want to be a prisoner either. Can’t you just … trust me?” she asked.
Priest couldn’t help but internally laugh. The very idea of trusting this woman was disturbing. In his line of work, he never trusted anyone. “I can make it a quick death.”
“No!” She growled and started to wriggle even more. “I’m twenty-four years old. I haven’t even had a chance to live yet. I have no family. All my life I wanted a family. A big one. I’ve never had a single boyfriend. Never kissed a guy. Never had sex.” She released another growl. “I won’t tell on you, please. Do you think you’re the first bad man I’ve seen? I know how to mind my business.”
Priest was curious now. “You a foster kid?” he asked.
“Not anymore. I got out the day I turned eighteen.”
“I know what you’re trying to do, but it’s not going to work.” She wouldn’t be the first woman to try to humanize herself. When death was around the corner, it was fascinating what people could come up with to live another day.
She tensed up, thrusting her body hard against him. He felt the warmth of her pussy against his dick. Priest gritted his teeth.
Years of training stopped him from reacting. His body was a machine. If he wanted sex, he got hard. When he refused to, he stayed flaccid. It took him many years to learn to train all his responses, but when he could, he shut everything down. Business and pleasure were two different beasts.
It was one of the reasons Boss picked him for this task. Some men would take the opportunity to play with willing women, like back at the hotel, and use them. He had no desire to do such a thing. He got in, did the job, and left. Short and sweet.
What little Cleo Bennet didn’t realize was he had no intention of killing her. He couldn’t even hand her off to Boss with a clear conscience.
His one firm rule. He never killed innocent people, only sinners.
It would have been nice to end this with Cleo, but it wasn’t going to work. She wasn’t part of their world, he could tell the moment he saw her.
“Haven’t you ever been in my position?” Cleo asked.
“That being?”
“Needing money so you take the first job you can find. That’s why I work at that damn hotel. I went for fifteen job interviews last month but no luck. My rent was due, and I had to make some quick money fast. So I took extra shifts.”
“You didn’t think of stripping?”
She glared at him. “Yeah, I did actually, and they told me they didn’t have a market for fatties. I’m a damn hard worker. Use me. Is there anything you need cleaned? I’m a good organizer. I have an eye for detail.”
Did she even realize the stuff she was saying was going to get her killed?
“That wasn’t the first woman that guy brought back to that hotel,” Cleo said.
Now she became interesting.
He wanted to find out the name of the strip clubs that had denied her. Did they not realize there were men who wanted to see women with curves dancing for them? Priest knew he would’ve enjoyed the show. He was still glad it hadn’t worked out. Strippers and prostitutes were filthy creatures. An innocent girl like Cleo had no business getting involved in that shit.
“I’m listening.”
She licked her lips. “I didn’t like the guy. Sometimes he’d bring in multiple women a night, never together. The girls always looked young, always close to passing out. One time, this big dark truck turned up about half an hour later, and I saw them carrying the girls out. I did stop one of them once because the girl looked to be having a seizure.”
The girls had been drugged.
“The guy … he was … I was scared, and he had this swastika tattoo. I mean, who does that?” she asked.
“When was this?” he asked.
“Yesterday. I actually went to the police today, but none of them would believe me or take a statement. I felt like an idiot. Maybe I was wrong about everything.”
The cops were working for them, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. This could mean bad news for Cleo Bennet.
“They made me give my name and address. Told me they would be in touch.”
Fuck. Bastard. Fuck.
This woman. She didn’t understand what was going to happen to her.
“Now you’ve just made life real fucking interesting.” He lifted her by her maid’s uniform and without letting go, marched her straight back to his car. After shoving her into the passenger seat, he pointed a finger and told her not to move.
He was surprised when she stayed perfectly still.