DELIVER(65)

She adjusted her skirt and rose with shoulders stiff, hands fisted, and eyes smoldering like embers of a dying fire. “Boy, go stand by the door.”

Dammit, Liv. He knew she was sending him out of harm’s way, but what about her safety? If he disobeyed, the deal would fall through and her family would suffer.

He fixed his gaze on the floor and crossed the room, sweat dripping down his back in his effort to obey. Every step away from her killed him.

“Give me the referral, and we have a deal.” She wielded her voice like a blade slashing the air, but there was a slight hitch in the inhale that followed. Pain from the brutality she’d endured? Fear of what might happen next?

Traquero paced a circuit around the room, gathering his suit jacket and straightening his tie. “I don’t like what I see.”

Her laugh was a cold shiver. “What, his cock’s too big for you? His face is too pretty? What the f*ck do you not like?”

“He comes for you, not me.”

The man just did unspeakable things to her and had the balls to sound petulant. Josh was a hairsbreadth from body slamming him. He locked his legs. To stand there and do absolutely nothing flung his nervous system into a havoc of messed-up signals. His muscles pumped to use physical force while his brain bellowed the consequences.

Despite what just happened, she’d dealt with predators like Traquero before. She was their best shot at getting out of this. So he kept his eyes down, his periphery rising no further than their waists.

“You wanted a straight boy. Of course, he’s going to come for me.” She leaned a shoulder against the wife’s suspended body as if she were a lamp post. Her fingers rested on her thigh, just inside the top of her boot.

Traquero’s pacing stopped behind a narrow counter. “Get away from her.”

Liv straightened but didn’t step away. “After ten weeks of training, he will crawl to you on his belly, lick the cheese from your nut sac, and plead for your cock in his ass, all while quivering with anticipation to come on your command.”

The god-awful image boiled bile into Josh’s throat. He stood by the door, his distance from her a heavy frustration, his chains equally so. At least, the width of the room separated her from Traquero.

“There’s something else going on.” Traquero buttoned his jacket. “You’re protecting him.”

“I protect my assets, you delusional f*ck. Until you pay, he’s mine to keep undamaged and unused. If you’re not man enough to want him, another Master will be. Do we have a deal?”

Her voice was ice, but beneath her taunting, Josh could hear a crack. If Traquero were listening past her words, he would’ve heard it, too.

“No,” Traquero said. “No deal.”

Silence, so stagnant it clotted Josh’s inhales and clung to his skin. His muscles contracted, preparing. What was she thinking? What would she do? Her temerity scared the ever-loving crap out of him.

“Go to the car, boy.”

She was out of her mind. He rooted his feet to the floor.

“You go.” Traquero shifted against the counter. “He stays.”

Josh snapped his head up as Traquero pulled a snubnosed revolver from beneath the counter and trained it on Liv. Blood thundered in his ears. He jerked forward and crashed to a halt when he saw the gun in her hand.

She shoved the barrel through the ring that held the wife’s mouth open. “Are you a good shot, Traquero? Maybe you’ll hit me at that distance. Maybe you won’t.” Her dark eyes blazed with ruthlessness, but flickering in the depths was a hint of desperation. “We both know I won’t miss.”

Josh’s heart died in his throat. Liv was gambling on Traquero’s caliber of bullet, his accuracy from thirty feet, and his level of duress. If he didn’t hit her with the first shot, chances were he’d kill her with the second.

The room stood still, waiting for Traquero’s response.





Chapter 31




Josh’s breathing shallowed. His heart knocked against his ribs. Every frenzied thought concentrated on the aim of Traquero’s gun.

The glow from the filmy bulb gilded Traquero’s distorted face in a putrid yellow. “Don’t shoot her.” The revolver’s nose tipped down, just an inch. “Please.”

There was nothing shocking about a man begging for his wife’s life unless that man was Traquero. But Liv didn’t seem shocked. Somehow, she’d figured him out.

“Empty the gun. Toss it.”

She spoke as a Deliverer, a Mistress, a cold criminal. But that wasn’t who she was. No matter the mask, Josh had never wanted anything more than the courageous, reckless woman trapped beneath it.

Falling bullets plinked on the floor. Traquero chucked the revolver, and it clambered somewhere beyond the reach of light.

Holding her gun in the woman’s mouth, she removed her phone from her boot. Probably the same place she’d concealed her gun. “The referral.”

As he rattled off a phone number, she typed with her thumb and, given her subtle exhale, sent off the text. “Don’t f*cking move.” She stared at the screen, her gun hand unwavering. A moment later, she said, “Confirmed.”

Thus, securing the lives of her family. Her drive to protect was fierce. He wanted that same kind of protection for her. He wanted to be that for her.