Chapter Five

Noelle spent so much of the night drifting in and out of dreams where Jasper smoothed his hands over her skin and rasped dirty words against her cheek that at first she thought the familiar rumble of his voice was just another dream.

Lex's irritated reply wasn't.

Noelle jerked upright, clutching the sheet to her chest as Lex continued grumbling. "I'm going to take her myself. Later, when normal people are awake and moving. So fuck off, Jas."

He shook his head, ignoring the fact that Lex was yelling at him and stark naked. "No ink yet. Dallas says she goes with me or not at all."

"Do you mean shopping?" Noelle sounded breathless, but maybe they'd attribute it to sleepiness and not the way her heart leapt into her throat at the sight of Jasper's stern face.

"The market," he confirmed. "Meet you out front?"

A whole morning with him. "I'll be right down."

Lex shut the door and wrapped an arm around her bedpost as she watched Noelle scramble off the sofa bed. "No, that's okay," she said wryly. "I can make other plans."

Noelle froze, teetering on her toes. "I'm sorry. I just thought--if you want me to go with you, or if you want to come with us..."

"With you and Jas?" Lex laughed. "I think I'd rather eat glass than watch you two make googly eyes at each other, especially after last night."

Noelle's cheeks heated again, but she hurried toward the closet. "Last night was...interesting." What a confusing understatement.

"Yeah. If you're planning to talk to him about it, you might want to sound more enthused."

"No, it was amazing. It was." She wiggled into her borrowed pants and hesitated. "It's just that everything was so good, and then he stopped."

Lex arched an eyebrow. "You didn't expect him to fuck you the first time, did you? And at one of Dallas's parties?"

No one else had hesitated. Every surface at Dallas's party had been covered by naked bodies writhing together in pairs and trios and some tangles with too many limbs to easily count.

"I didn't know what to expect," she admitted, tugging on a shirt. "I still don't."

"Well, how did he treat you before last night?"

It seemed like weeks or months had passed since she'd nearly collapsed at his feet, but it had only been a matter of days. "He's been kind. Careful."

"Okay. So if he treats you worse after last night, kick his ass to the curb. You don't need that shit." Lex stifled a yawn. "That's not really Jasper's style, though."

Noelle tried to imagine a world where she would be capable of kicking a man like Jasper anywhere, much less out of her life. Impossible. Then again, a week ago she wouldn't have been able to envision a world where she could take advice from a naked woman as if nudity were a casual, acceptable thing.

She settled for a noncommittal, "I'll remember that. Do I need anything else?"

"To go shopping or to deal with Jas?"

"To go shopping." She knew she wasn't ready to deal with Jasper.

Lex grinned, leaned over to dig through her nightstand, and emerged with a handful of folded bills. "Don't let him pay for anything."

"Lex, I can't--" The other woman pressed the stack of money into her hand, and Noelle hesitated for a moment, struck by the novelty of holding cash. Actual bills, the tangible paper kind that her father never would have let her touch. All banking in Eden was electronic, with accounts tied to the bar code you were given at birth. But the rich and powerful kept paper money in vaults, along with stacks of gold bars and precious jewels, all the things they swore were unnecessary in a clean, digital world.

It wasn't the only way her father was a hypocrite. Noelle closed her fingers around the bills. "I'll pay you back."

"Are you kidding? Dallas wipes his ass with that kind of money. I'll get it from him."

"Thanks." She tucked the money into her pocket and smiled. "Go back to sleep. I'm sorry he woke you."

"Mm-hmm." Lex crawled back under the covers and dragged them up almost over her head. "Just be yourself, Noelle. You'll make out all right."

She would have replied, but Lex was already asleep by the time she slipped out the door. No one else was stirring this early in the morning--no surprise, not after last night--so Noelle navigated the twisted warren of hallways that led to the front entrance alone.

Jasper leaned against the front wall, a cigarette in one hand. "Walk or ride?"

"Is it safe to walk?"

"It is. Market's only about five blocks." He held out his hand.

She stared, caught up in the memory of him working those broad fingers into her body, stretching her as pleasure singed her from the inside out. Her nipples tightened as arousal crept through her, riding the moment when memory drifted into fantasy. In her dreams, he'd pushed his cock into her one agonizingly blissful inch at a time, making her beg for each thrust with obscene words she could only imagine saying in her own head.

Praying that he couldn't follow the path of her thoughts, she slid her palm against his, shivering as calluses scraped her skin. "Let's walk."

He folded his fingers around hers and pulled her toward the street. "Lex give you a hard time?"

"No, not at all. She's good to me."

"I know. I was teasing." A smile tilted his mouth at the very corner. "I'm bad at it."

She was gripped with the irrational urge to stroke his cheek, where a tiny dimple had almost formed. Maybe if she could coax him to smile wider, it would appear. "I need practice being teased. You should do it a lot."

"I just might."

"Maybe I'll even learn how to tease you back."

"Someone has to." Something oily and noxious had puddled on the cracked asphalt in front of them, and Jasper lifted her over it like she weighed nothing.

Even when he set her on the street again, she gripped his arms, dizzy from his proximity and the surreal moment of tenderness in a dirty, dark alley. "Thank you."

"Sure." He dropped his hand to the small of her back.

Hard-looking men were already filling the narrow gaps between buildings, but they averted their gazes as Jasper led her past, and the few stragglers still in the street melted to either side. One or two nodded to Jasper in recognition, but even those greetings were tinged with as much fear as respect.

Aware that her safety rested entirely in Jasper's hands--or in the ink curling above them--Noelle pressed closer to his side and lowered her voice. "Do you know most of these people?"

He shook his head. "Not really. I've seen them, and they know who I am, by the tats if nothing else. Once you have yours, it'll be the same."

It sounded more when than if, and she fought a smile. "So you think Dallas is really going to let me stay?"

He eyed her with puzzlement. "Don't you?"

"He seems like a complicated man. If he's letting me stay, I think it's mostly for Lex."

Jasper squinted at her. "It matters to you, doesn't it? Why, I mean."

"A little." If she lifted her gaze, she could just see the shining outer wall of Eden in the distance, the barrier that supposedly kept the city pristine. Like so many things about the city, the safety of those walls was an illusion. "I know I'm naive about a lot of things, but I was raised to know my value as a councilman's daughter. To his allies and his enemies."

He guided her around a cart piled high with bolts of fabric. "Then...maybe, yeah. For Lex's benefit. Or for mine."

Warmth kindled in her belly. "I'd rather it be for your benefit than because he hates my father. Not that I'd blame him. My father is easy to hate."

Jasper snorted. "I'm not saying it's impossible that he's thought of something like that, but it's not really who Dallas is. Not when you get right down to it."

"He's intimidating," she admitted. "He comes across as relaxed, easy and laid-back. But still dangerous. Even when he smiles, he makes me nervous."

Jasper drew her to a stop, grasped her shoulders, and turned her to face him. "There isn't anyone in Dallas's gang who isn't dangerous, sweetheart. Him, Lex, Rachel...even me."

"Rachel?" The pretty blonde waitress was no more threatening than Noelle herself.

He ignored the question. "Even you," he murmured softly. "You need it to live out here, or you die, one way or another. Dallas sees that danger in you too, or he'd have sent you packing already."

Even more ludicrous. "The only reason I'm still alive is you."

"Because you don't know how to survive out here. Once you learn, you'll do anything you have to do." He sounded certain.

It made her feel certain too. "Will you help me learn?"

"Yep." He grinned and pointed her at the cluster of carts and ramshackle booths that lined the street as it began to widen. "First lesson. Never pay anyone what they ask right away. They'll rob you blind."

The market. It looked nothing like the high-end shops she usually patronized. The area directly in front of them was devoted mostly to carts full of clothing. Bright fabrics hung from ropes strung between buildings, swaying in the early morning breeze. More items lay stacked on carts or in front of makeshift tents.

Noelle caught her reflection in a tarnished mirror and almost laughed at her own wide, delighted eyes. Her expression matched the feeling in her chest, light and excited. "I get to barter?" It was like something out of a history text.

He chuckled. "Coming to an agreement about price is called haggling. Bartering is trading. We're paying cash."

Haggling. She made a mental note and returned his grin. "I'm paying cash. My own cash. That's Lex's first rule."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"You can still help me pick out something to wear to Dallas's next party." It was the closest thing to suggestive she could manage, and some part of her braced in anticipation of a brush-off or a quiet rejection.

He moved his hand, curling it around her hip as his smile faded into something darker. Hotter. "Too long to wait. There's a thing tomorrow night. You can come watch me fight."

She couldn't concentrate on his words when his fingers stretched almost to the small of her back. She felt tiny under his hands. Powerless, vulnerable--two states that were familiar, but they'd never heated her blood like this before.

She wet her lips because she liked the way his gaze followed her tongue. "What should I wear?"

He glanced around, then nodded to a booth draped with displays of leather--belts, bracers, even corsets. "Stuart does quality work."

Stuart's booth looked like Lex's closet, though Noelle had seen enough custom tailoring to know most of the other woman's outfits had been made specifically for her. None of the designs on display were familiar, but one corset drew her closer. Smooth, supple leather with laces across a neckline that swooped halfway down the body and little cap sleeves held together by demure black bows. It was dangerous and sweet at the same time, and she stroked a finger over the leather and imagined her breasts behind those laces. Caged, on display but trapped, desperate to spill free.

Just like she felt. "This one. I want this one."

The man behind the makeshift counter squinted as he eyed her. "It's handmade. Ain't cheap."

"I recognize quality craftsmanship." She recognized the look he was giving her too. Her borrowed clothes weren't expensive enough to be worth his consideration. She imagined Jasper's presence was the only thing keeping him from sneering. "You make clothes for Lex, don't you? The style's very similar."

He grunted in assent, his gaze flicking to Jasper. "You a friend of hers, girl?"

"I like to think so. I've been borrowing her clothes, but I need to purchase some of my own."

"We could make a deal, I bet. Cash or trade?"

Her moment of confidence wavered. With Jasper at her back, she'd felt safe enough to pretend he was just another merchant, but her knowledge of navigating expensive, sneering shops ended at the city walls. She didn't know the value of cash or how many crumpled bills compared to the intangible credits she no longer had access to.

The man stared at her as if every moment of silence cemented his original assessment, and she had to say something. "Cash."

Jasper laid a hand on her shoulder. "This is Noelle. She's the newest O'Kane."

Stuart cleared his throat and nodded. "Yeah, okay. No problem."

Amazing, how smoothly the transaction went after that. Stuart indicated a price that would have been a steal in credits, but Jasper's tiny headshake encouraged her to counter. Stuart accepted her offer without a murmur, and Noelle peeled the correct amount off the roll of bills in her pocket with mixed feelings.

She could believe that tangible cash held a higher value than credits, which could disappear with a flash of electricity. Less credible was the notion that Stuart would have accepted her counteroffer so willingly without Jasper looming behind her, his arms a walking advertisement for the O'Kanes.

Her independence was as dubious as the respect she'd been given in Eden as a councilman's daughter, a fabrication based on fear and someone else's power. But if she took O'Kane ink, those tattoos would curl around her wrists too. Still borrowed power, but power she'd earned by finding a place.

A shameful place, according to everything she'd ever learned. A degrading place. But something inside her hungered for the sin.

And now, watching men eye Jasper with wary concern and respect, she hungered for his power, too, even if it was only reflected on her. She'd have to give up everything to belong to him--her secrets, her body, her shame.

It might all be worth it if he could set her free.