Until I Saw You(5)

“I’ll just ring you up,” I tell him. I walk to the register as if I’m in a daze. I steadfastly choose to ignore the stares Allen’s family are giving me, but I can feel the heat of their gaze. “That will be thirty-two dollars,” I murmur, turning around as I put the bottle into one of my sage green bags with the store logo on them.

He tilts his head to the side and studies me. This unnerves me and I fight down the urge to go into hiding.

“The tag on the bottle said forty-one,” he responds.

I shrug. “I gave you a discount since it’s your first purchase. You might decide you don’t like it,” I explain.

He puts a hundred-dollar bill on the counter and I move to pick it up right before he captures my hand.

Uh-oh.





4





Allen





“What’s your name?” I ask her, needing to know it more than anything else I’ve ever wanted in my life—and that includes proving to Roman he was right about me.

That’s a scary truth. A fucking terrifying one.

When Roman captured me I was a junkie wanting to die. I’m not proud of my past, but it’s the truth. That’s who I was. I was running from my past, from an abuse so dark that it colored everything I was, everything I did. It destroyed me. I was wanting to die. I was prepared for Roman to deliver that death. I knew he would. I’d crossed him on purpose.

I never expected that he’d captured me to dry me out. I never expected he would give me a chance to get revenge from a monster who had hid in the corners of my mind for way too long. I’ve never wanted anything more than to make Roman proud. That’s the only thing that has driven me since that day years ago that I was locked up in one of Roman’s warehouses and chained like the damn dog that I was. Roman gave me everything and somehow he managed to find a way to give me my sister back too. I owe the man everything. But, suddenly, in a flash my priorities change and they all center on this tiny woman who barely comes up to my chest, with soft hair the color of dark honey and eyes bluer than the Florida sky.

“I’m Jessie,” she whispers. “Jessie Hart.”

Her voice is so sweet I have to close my eyes at the sound of it. She holds her hand out so innocently, not realizing the monster she’s inviting into her life. I should back away, leave her for another man to claim. A man worthier than I am; a clean man without darkness inside of him. I look down at her hand while a battle rages inside of me. I slowly reach out and grasp it in mine. Electricity moves through me and I swear I can feel the ground shift under my feet. I should have never touched her. I should have let her go.

Roman’s words come back to me.

“You will go down on your knees to keep her and if she’s a good woman, Allen, you’ll do it gladly.”

She’s it. She’s the one.

She deserves better and she definitely deserves cleaner, but her fate is sealed.

I’ll be damned if I give any other man a chance to take her away from me.

She’s mine.

“Allen.”

“Hi, Allen,” she says, her hand tightening against mine.

I don’t know how long we stand like that. I couldn’t tell you how long I stare into her eyes. I just know that I never want it to stop.

“Excuse me. Could I get your help picking out a shampoo?” one of the customers asks from behind me. I squeeze Jessie’s hand, not wanting to let her go, but knowing I need to.

“I’ll be with you in just a moment,” Jessie answers, but she doesn’t take her eyes away from me. “I’ll uh… just get your change,” she says, pulling her hand away.

I force myself to let her go, but I don’t do it happily.

“Keep it,” I respond.

“But—”

“I said keep it,” I tell her, and I know that comes out grumpy. I hate the way the tone of my voice makes her flinch.

I try to get a handle on my anger; she doesn’t deserve it. I’m annoyed as hell right now because I have to leave her, and I don’t want to.

“I’d really rather not,” she says huffily, obviously put off because of my tone, and I can’t blame her. She pushes a button on the register and the drawer slides open. She pulls out the change and hands it to me.

My gaze travels to the money and then back to her. I do all this frowning.

Jessie’s face is closed off now, the light out of her eyes and the blush changed from embarrassment to anger. I don’t know how I can read her that clearly, but I do.

“I want you to keep it, Jessie. You can give me a discount on my next purchase,” I respond, closing my hand around hers in such a way as to hold her without taking the money.

“You’re coming back?”

“Nothing could keep me away, Mouse. Nothing at all,” I promise her and Roman grabs his son from the counter, takes my sister’s hand, and they start walking to the door. I follow them, resisting the urge to look back at Jessie until I get to the door and then I have to turn and look at her again.

“Down on your knees,” Roman mutters and I rub the side of my neck, unable to argue with him.

“My bro has moves,” Ana laughs and I grunt my frustration at her, which only makes her laugh harder. I sigh, following them through the street as we’re joined by Bruno, another of Roman’s men.