Thorn
Jess glanced over at me and blushed a little. “Quit staring at me like that,” she said, but I could tell from the breathy note in her voice that she was secretly pleased to have my eyes on her.
And I couldn't help it. She was dressed up in those sexy clothes again, only this time it was for real. Gabi had put all the finishing touches on her, doing up her hair so that it fanned out all around her face and doing her makeup as well. I never could have guesses how intense Jess's eyes would look when they were smeared with eyeliner. And the bright red lipstick on her lips made her look utterly kissable.
I could only imagine how debauched she would look if I threw her down on the sheets now and fucked her within an inch of her life. But we didn't have time for that just now.
I was still half-hard in my jeans thinking about it, though.
I cleared my throat a little. “You did a really good job at disguising her,” I told Gabi. “I've got to hand it to you; I didn't think this was going to work.”
Gabi laughed a little. “I mean, this is a pretty easy transformation to make. But I was in the top of my class at the police academy when it came to getting people ready to go undercover.”
I raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't comment further on it. Instead, I turned to Jess. “I'm going to give you an hour,” I told her. “That should be plenty of time for you to get the information.”
“Give her forty-five minutes,” Gabi said, glancing over at me. “The cops in that area are pretty lazy, but they do make the rounds every hour or so. The pimps pay them off, but if they see someone new out there … well, you don't want her getting arrested for being a prostitute, do you?”
“I don't want that,” Jess said. She bit her lower lip, suddenly seeming to reconsider the plan. I was still surprised by her conviction to help out, but, of course, I had seen how she was with her brother, and I knew she'd do anything she could to ensure his safety. Sure enough, after just a moment's consideration, she squared her shoulders and tossed her hair a little. “Let's go.”
We didn't want Gabi to be implicated in any of this if anything went wrong, so we left her at the hotel. The most difficult part of the whole thing would be keeping anyone from getting too suspicious. I knew Katia had to have local Sigma Saints tracking my every move, and I didn't want them to get suspicious. Jess would need to be careful what sorts of questions she asked, and I would need to make this seem as routine as possible.
I dropped her off in the place that Gabi had suggested, and one glance around showed me that this was a pretty popular place. “Good luck,” I muttered under my breath, making a show of handing her some cash as though I had picked her up and utilized her services.
“Thanks, doll,” Jess said in a sugary-sweet voice. I looked at her in surprise, but she was already slipping out of the car and...slinking off to talk to one of he girls nearest to us.
I shut my gaping mouth and reminded myself that lingering here would make things seem suspicious. I put the car in drive and took off down the road, keeping my eyes peeled for a diner that Gabi had also suggested I wait at. The place was close enough that I could still keep an eye on Jess and make sure that she was okay, not that I thought anything was going to happen to her. I wouldn't have let her go through with this plan if I thought it was going to be dangerous for her.
I got a cup of coffee and found a seat near one of the windows, watching Jess.
She was sexy in those clothes. Of course, I had already kind of known that since I'd stripped her down to bare skin before. I knew what kinds of curves she had, and I had tasted every inch of that pale, gorgeous skin. But there was something entrancing, something utterly arresting, about the way her legs looked with a mini-skirt playing against the top of her thighs, about those shapely calves in those tall boots.
It didn't help that I had already had her like that, bent over in the dressing room. I couldn't stop thinking of the way she had tried to muffle her moans, about how she had pushed back into me, pushing at just the right angle so that every thrust dragged along the head of my dick.
I took a large sip of coffee and choked at how hot it was. That at least brought me back to earth a little.
I watched as Jess strolled up to one of the other girls out there. She chatted easily, laughing a little and tossing her hair back. I couldn't help but wonder who this woman was. Where was the shy, mousy girl that I'd been traveling with? Somehow, with Gabi's transformation of her physical appearance, Jess seemed to have totally changed.
I took another sip of my coffee, considering her.
When the forty-five minutes was up, I went back out to Gabi's car and slipped into the driver's seat, setting off down the street. I lingered on the street corner, waiting for Jess to come over to me. I rolled down the window so that she could continue to act the part, even though I wasn't sure why it mattered at that point since none of these whores were ever going to see Jess again if I could help it.
It was kind of sexy to watch Jess lean against the car, though, grinning at me through the passenger side window. “I don't come cheap,” she said, batting her lashes at me.
I snorted. “Get in. I want you to suck my dick.”
Her eyes darkened, and she traced her lower lip with the tip of her tongue, clearly interested in that idea. She opened the door and slipped into the car. “Thank you,” she said. “You literally came just in time. There was this other guy who was eyeing me up, and I was just waiting for him to come over and start getting handsy or something.”
I laughed a little. “Yeah, I saw him. Probably just hoping to pick you up as one of his girls, though.” I concentrated on driving for a moment. “Did you find out anything about Gabi's sister?”
“Yeah,” Jess said with a little sigh. “It was actually really productive; she'll be happy.” She was silent for a moment. “It was really easy. Almost too easy. I don't know, I just...”
“There's no way Katia could have guessed that we would try something like that,” I said, shaking my head.
“That's not what I mean,” Jess said, shaking her head as well. “I don't mean I think she was setting us up or anything like that. I just mean … I'm a good girl, Thorn. I've never even gotten a ticket for driving, let alone … I don't know. Impersonated a prostitute. Got involved with someone in a gang. All of that. It's just strange to me that it would be this easy for me to have a totally different life. And I don't really like this feeling.”
I hummed a little. “I kind of understand that,” I said. I sighed. “The sort of things I do for Dorian aren't like this. I've never really done something this dangerous, or something this stupid. Or illegal.”
We arrived back at the hotel and got out of the car. As we walked into the building, I slung an arm around Jess's shoulders. She looked up at me, startled. “You know I'm looking out for you, though, right?”
She smiled a little, curling against my side a little bit even though that made it difficult to walk. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “I wouldn't have been able to do that without knowing that you were there watching out for me the whole time.”
We walked into the hotel room and found Gabi waiting expectantly on the couch in the living room area. There was some dumb drama on TV, but she turned it off as soon as we entered, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. “Well?” she asked.
Jess sighed and flopped down in one of the armchairs. “I found your sister,” she said. “Everyone seems to know what's happened to her. I think she's kind of the story of what none of the other prostitutes want to become.”
Gabi's lips grew tight and she folded her arms across her chest. “The facts, Jess. I want to hear the facts. Where is Rian?”
“Katia's given Rian to her second-hand man,” Jess said slowly and carefully. “She is living with Silas Eaves.”
There was a long silence in the room which was broken by my long, low whistle. Jess glanced over at me. Gabi was pale. “Silas Eaves is not a nice man,” I said, speaking more to Jess than to Gabi. I assumed Gabi knew enough about the Sigma Saints at this point that she knew exactly what type of a man Silas was. The authorities had been trying to bring him in for years now. No one was really sure how he'd been able to walk away scot-free when Katia was convicted, but we all knew that her imprisonment had only made an already twisted, power-hungry man even more deadly and ruthless.
“I know,” Jess said, though. She shrugged. “The girls told me all about him. Apparently he'll sometimes come down and pick up girls from around there, and they wanted to make sure I was prepared.” She grinned, showing her teeth. “They were very keen on helping out the poor new girl.”
“Hmm,” I said. I shook my head. “If Katia's given Rian to Silas, I can't imagine that she's going to give her back to you, whether the packages are successfully delivered or not.”
“We made a deal,” Gabi snapped, sounding agitated. She narrowed her eyes at me. “If Rian is in danger, it's your fault. If you had just gone along with the plan like you were supposed to, we would be done with this whole mess already and I wouldn't have to worry about this. Rian would be safe, and ... it's just because of you that Katia's punishing me now.”
I started to respond, but before I could, Jess interrupted me. “It has nothing to do with that,” she said. “Rian has apparently been with Silas for over a month now. I don't think it was ever Katia's plan to let you have your sister back, or at least, not in pristine condition.” She grimaced.
Gabi began to pace agitatedly, cussing under her breath. Finally, she spun around to face me. “I need your help to get Rian back.” She tossed a glance at Jess. “In return, I'll deliver the packages on my own.”
“You already agreed to that anyway,” Jess protested.
Gabi fixed her with a sneer but didn't deign to respond to that.
“All right,” I said, holding up both my hands. “All right. But we're going to have to figure out a solid plan.” We were all silent for a moment, considering that.
“We'll sleep on it,” Gabi said finally. “I have to go to work this evening anyway. I'll see what I can figure out, and then we'll go from there.”
“Take the packages with you,” I told her. “You don't need to deliver them all today, but I don't want them in here anymore. It's risky enough having Katia's men trailing me and doing their best to scare Jess.”
Gabi scowled at me and shook her head. “You'll hang on to the packages until we've freed my sister,” she said. “Otherwise, there's nothing keeping you involved in this, and no way for me to know that you won't be halfway home by morning.”
I frowned at her but had to admit that she had a point. As long as I had the packages still, I couldn't go anywhere. I watched as she walked out the door, slamming it shut behind her.