Fight(29)

I grabbed a small stack and flipped through them.

Each picture she was in a different pose. Starting to take her clothes off, bending over with her tits pressing against her bra, then her bra on the ground, hands covering her nipples. Topless pictures followed. Winter touching, cupping, playing. Even a couple pictures of Winter tasting herself.

I threw them down and didn’t want to see anything else.

“What is this?” I asked.

“Just pictures. They’d come in and shut the place down. They’d demand we take pictures. The owner went along with it. It was money, Tripp. It was harmless, I thought. But Rocky wanted more and more and more. He loved taking pictures and keeping them.”

“For what reason? Blackmail?”

“I was a stripper,” Winter said. “Anyone could have seen me…”

Jealousy flooded my body.

He stood up and kicked at the box. “That’s what you were worried about? Topless pictures? Is there more?”

“Sort of,” she whispered.

“What? You and some guys f*cking?”

“No!” Winter cried out. “They did that with some women, but not me. I refused. As long as Rocky could take pictures, he was happy. It was a horrible way to try and feel safe.”

“Yeah, real f*cking safe.”

“I always wanted to burn them,” she said. “Just burn them all. But he would never…”

“He’s dead.”

“Yeah, he is.”

I turned and stormed from the room. Winter called my name, but I had to get away, again. Each twist and turn with her made me want to scream. Christ, it was so tempting to just get in my car and go. For real this time. Let Aldo track me down.

Instead, I started to open drawers. There had been candles on the coffee table in the living room, which meant there had to be a lighter somewhere. I found one in a junk drawer and grabbed a heavy duty glass bowl from one of the cabinets.

I returned to the room and sat down.

“Do it then,” I said to Winter. “Start burning them.”

I watched as she collected a few of the pictures and put them in the bowl. She clicked the lighter and they caught. The flames ate the pictures right up. I grabbed a few and put them into the dying flames, keeping them alive. I couldn’t help myself as I stared at a few of them though.

Christ, she was really pretty. I mean beyond looking at her perfect big tits and everything. Her eyes, her face, her hair. Even her smile in some of the pictures.

I turned one around. “You seemed happy here.”

Winter had her hands in her hair, pulling it back, smiling. Completely damn topless.

“I was probably drunk,” she said. “Burn it.”

I brought it back to me. “I’ll keep it for myself then.”

“No,” she growled. She grabbed the picture from me and dropped it into the fire. She then inched closer and kissed my cheek. “I’ll give you a live picture later.”

Good hell.

A woman teasing me and I enjoyed it. Hell, this was the closest thing I had to a date in longer than I cared to remember. And the date was setting pictures on fire. Forced pictures that were taken of Winter. It was wrong and it pissed me off, but there was nothing I could do about it.

As the stack dwindled, Winter seemed to ease a little. She really thought I was going to get mad at her for this. Yeah, sure, I was mad, but not at her. I didn’t know Winter when all this happened. If I had, she would have never lived this kind of life.

What kind of life then?

That question felt like a punch to the gut. I had no way of giving Winter a better life, did I? I had a small apartment in a building that got raided once a week. I was at the mercy of Aldo. When he needed me to fight, I had to fight. And nobody is perfect. I’d never get a chance to lose again. Hell, for all I knew, when this protection thing ended Aldo would kill me.

I grabbed another small stack of pictures but looked at Winter instead of the pictures.

“What?” she asked.

“I’m really damn sorry all this happened to you,” I said. “I mean, for everything.” I shook the pictures. “This stuff. You feeling trapped. Being trapped. Stuck with me. What happened in that motel room and bathroom… it shouldn’t have.”

“You can’t say that,” Winter said. “I wanted it. Both times. I was begging for it. I needed it, Tripp. Don’t you get that?”

“You were lonely.”

“You were there.”

I shook my head. “Yeah, I was there. But I can’t promise that tomorrow. Or a week after that.”

“Nobody can.” Winter reached for my hand. “Please finish burning these. Because there’s something else I want you to see. I’m scared, Tripp.”

“Don’t be,” I said. “Let’s just get through this and try to enjoy the night together. Let everything happen tomorrow.”

“I like that.”

“I… I like you, darling.”

As if I couldn’t cross anymore lines.

I started to flick the pictures into the fire like a fast card dealer. With two left in my hand, I dropped one down and hurried to grab it.

I jumped back and got to my feet.

“Who the f*ck is this?” I growled.

I showed Winter the picture and her face turned white. “Tripp…”