CHAPTER 24
SOPHIA
My heels echoed across the courtyard as I crossed over to the warehouse. After sneaking into bed last night next to a sleeping Snake, I’d laid awake till dawn thinking about the women housed just across the way from me. I thought about them a lot when they first arrived, but after my unsuccessful attempt to get the police involved, and the subsequent beatings from Snake, I’d done my damnedest to block them out.
It never worked, not entirely, and I hated myself for attempting it anyway. After a while, I drank more and more to numb out the guilt as best as I could until I fell asleep as early as possible each night. It’s not like Snake wanted me to stay awake anyway. And all desire for him had gone out the window once I realized what he was doing. I’d leave in a heartbeat, and he knows that, but for some sick twisted reason he keeps me around and won’t let me leave.
Probably because I know too much at this point. I’ve often wondered if he suspects I was the one who turned him into the cops in the first place. If he knows, he never let on. I’m sure the fact that I was conveniently away at my parent’s at the time wasn’t lost on him.
He’s a smart guy.
A total prick, but he’s sharp.
Which is why I had to up my game if I was going to get these women out and stay alive doing it. I’d seen his wrath. I knew its power.
Right now, I had to play the part, make no mistakes.
I’d snuck out of bed while he was still snoring, glancing down at him as pale pink sunlight broke through the darkness I’d been blanketed in for hours. He was lying there peacefully spread out, soft wisps of hair falling around his head.
He’d looked like an angel.
You’d never know he was really the devil.
Leaving him laying there, I showered and dressed quietly, my plan swirling around my head as I took a little extra time with my appearance. I put on my favorite dress, a slinky black number that made me feel sexy, hugging my curvy hips. After curling my long black hair, I put on a dab of bright red lipstick and tall, black suede heels. I wasn’t doing all this for Snake. I was doing it for me, because for the first time in a long time, I was beginning to feel a spark of power bubbling up deep inside of me.
I was starting to feel like a woman again.
My chin held high, I opened the front door and walked down the hallway of the warehouse, stopping outside the door and looking in the window. The women were all still asleep, huddled up on the mattresses strewn on the floor.
It was almost peaceful.
But I knew what I was looking at was anything but peaceful.
It was hell.
It was a horror show.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, shaking my head. Tears threatened to fall down my face, but I blinked them away. They didn’t need my tears. My words were useless, too.
I swallowed hard, knowing what I had to do.
I turned and walked back outside, the cold, brisk air chilling my bones, the wind cutting through my dress. Snake was still sleeping when I walked back into the bedroom.
I leaned down, quietly removing my shoes and placing them next to the bed. I stood there for a moment, staring down at him again for a moment, saying a little goodbye to the life we’d led together.
After today, nothing would ever be the same.
The life I’d led with him for so long was gone now.
I knew that, but he didn’t.
I reached down, lifting the hem of my dress and pulling it over my head. It fell in a heap at my feet and I pulled the comforter back gently, before sliding between the sheets next to him. His naked body was warm and I wrapped myself around him, my arms sliding around his chest, my leg sliding up his leg, my toe tracing the serpent tattoo that slithered around his calf under the covers.
He moaned and turned over towards me.
“Good morning,” I cooed, my stomach churning as I felt his hardness press into my thigh.
“Sorry, babe, I’m too tired,” he growled, shaking his head as he put his arms around me, pulling me close into his chest.
I sighed in relief, sinking into the bed.
I wanted to get close to him, I needed to be close to him for a little while longer, but I was hoping like hell I could keep my thighs closed and still get what I needed. With our mutual disinterest in fucking each other, it looked like that part might actually work out.
He went back to sleep and I laid in his arms. Once he woke up, I’d ask him about the hunting trip. In the meantime, with the warmth of his body pressed against mine, his morning erection pressed against my thigh and his arms wrapped around me. I couldn’t control Snake.
I could control my thoughts, though.
I closed my eyes and Snake disappeared. When Eli’s soft, blue eyes popped up in my mind, I let them stay.
****
“How’s your Mom?” Snake asked, as I watched him get dressed hours later. I’d fallen asleep in a fantasy-induced stupor, and I shook myself awake, letting the dreams fall away from consciousness. I needed to focus, not fantasize about a man I barely knew.
I had a job to do.
It was time to get serious.
Snake pulled on a tight-black t-shirt, concealing the map of scars on his torso. He stood there in his underwear, looking like any other shaggy, tattooed guy. If I didn’t know any better, I’d almost say he looked vulnerable. My eyes darted down to the only tattoo below his waist — the snake I’d run my foot over earlier. It wrapped around his left calf like a rope, the head thick with sharp, angry fangs. He pulled his jeans on, the snake hiding in his jeans like a secret, inner demon that he kept packed away.
He looked up at me curiously.
“Sophia?’
“Oh, what, sorry?” I asked, snapping out of my trance.
“Your Mom? She fell? How is she? You were out late last night.”
“She hurt her hip, but I think she’s going to be okay. I stayed there to make sure she was all settled in. It’s hard for her to be alone.”
“She was very dependent on your dad,” he nodded.
“I know,” I replied. “It’s hard to watch her like this.”
“Maybe she needs to be in a home,” he said.
I shook my head in protest. The truth was that Mom was doing great now that Dad died. He was the one dependent upon her. Now that he was gone, she was free. She’d been out enjoying her life finally.
The truth was I envied her. Or at least her freedom.
“I think she’ll be okay,” I said. I didn’t want to tell him the truth about my mother, because oftentimes she was the only excuse I had to get away from him. If he knew she didn’t need me, he’d never let me leave.
“Well, if you change your mind, let me know. We can afford the best place for her now, with all this success we’ve had lately.”
“Yes, business is booming, isn’t it?”
“Sure is,” he said. “Made a real nice chunk of change on that sale I did with Grace.”
“Right,” I nodded, my stomach churning, bracing myself.
“I’d sell to them again, if that dude hadn’t made the moves on you.”
“Eli?” I asked, his name feeling delicious rolling off my tongue.
“Yes, Eli.”
“He wasn’t making moves on me, Snake. I tripped. He was just being a gentleman, that’s all.”
“The fuck he was,” he replied, shaking his head. “I’m a fucking man. I know that shit when I see it.”
“If you say so,” I shrugged, not wanting to start a fight. “Hey, what are you doing today?”
“Got a meeting with another broker.”
“A broker? I thought you were done with that.”
“Fuck no. Grace isn’t the only person buying out there. I gotta say, I’m grateful to her, though. I had no idea the amount of cash I could make doing business that way. At this point, it’s just a matter of flipping them, you know? Easy as shit and twice the profit.”
I nodded silently, my head spinning. If he sold the women, I couldn’t save them.
“Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I was just hoping we could have lunch together. We haven’t spent much time together lately.”
“Not today, babe,” he said, pulling on his boots. “Gotta make that money.”
He stood up and walked over to me, kissing me on the forehead.
“Maybe I’ll let you suck me off later,” he whispered. I suppressed a groan and smiled and nodded.
“Sure, babe,” I replied, as he slipped his cut over his shoulders. He always looked so much more intimidating with that thing on, but today, the power seemed to be missing. It was nothing more than a slab of leather to me now.
He was barely a man in my eyes anymore.
“Isn’t it almost time for your hunting trip?” I asked, trying my best to sound nonchalant.
“Yep, I can’t wait,” he said. “I’m determined to bag an elk this year.”
“When are you leaving?” I asked with a curious smile.
“Thursday,” he said. “Just a few more days. Spend a long weekend up at the cabin with the guys. You’ll hold things down here for me?”
“Of course,” I said. “It’ll give me a chance to spend some quality time with Mom.”
“You’re a good daughter,” he said, before turning to walk out the door.
“Thanks, baby,” I said.
“Love you,” he called over his shoulder, disappearing around the corner.
“Love you, too,” I said to the empty room, as I reached for my phone with a smile.