Either it was really a slow night at the police station, or there was something about their case that had all the officers coming to a standstill the moment they were pulled inside. Willa was still screeching, of course. A 911 call had sent the authorities to La Maison de Petit Gateau, and before Alyx could understand what was happening, she was already being cuffed and escorted to the back of the police car.

How had her life come to this?

The question had pounded her mind the entire ride, and in the end she had come to a single important conclusion. She was being punished for choosing to masturbate over showing up on time at work.

I will never masturbate in the daytime again, Alyx vowed to herself while placing her thumb marks on the documents forwarded to her by the officer.

“Sign here, please.”

After skimming the document, she affixed her signature on several pages, all the while feeling herself shrink.

How had her life come to this?

Kidding aside, Alyx knew it had nothing to do with the fact that she knew what to do with her fingers when she was feeling lonely. No, the real reason behind the current state of her life was---

“Alright, Ms. Marshall. Come with me now.” The police officer led her away from where Willa was being taken.

“Are you keeping us apart because she’s likely to kill me if we’re in one cell?” Alyx couldn’t help asking.

“Something like that.”

Oh. Okay. Alyx did her best to remain calm as she followed the officer, but when she realized where the other woman was taking her, Alyx’s anxiety levels shot up, and she gasped, “Are you putting me in solitary confinement?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The officer unlocked the first door to her left.

“But---”

The lady officer said very gently, “Please remember that resisting is considered a criminal offense.”

“But---”

“Step inside the cell, ma’am.”

Swallowing hard, Alyx reluctantly stepped inside, and the sound of the heavy metal door shutting behind her made Alyx flinch. Whirling around, she cried out, “Aren’t you even going to take my cuffs off?”

But the police officer had already walked away, leaving Alyx’s words echoing pointlessly around her tinier-than-tiny cell.

Alyx slowly looked around her. The bed was nothing but a concrete slab, minus any blanket, pillow, or anything that could make it shamefully comfortable. The walls were a glaring shade of white, marred frequently by streaks and flecks of things she didn’t even want to think about.

The urinal in the corner was lidless, and it…smelled. She daren’t think of anything more beyond it, daren’t even look at the source of the odor because if she did, Alyx knew she wouldn’t stop throwing up.

This is the time you can really do with some stupid made-up love quote, Alyx Marshall.

But nothing came.

Nothing.

Except for one question that she knew but couldn’t make herself answer.

How had her life come to this?

Across the concrete bed was a plastic chair, the only thing that looked less than ten years old. Forcing herself to move, she sat on the edge of the chair.

“I can do this,” she told herself.

She was wrong.

Less than one minute had passed before Alyx started yelling. “Let me out of here!” Jumping to her feet, she began to pace, the silence in her cell driving her crazy. “Is anyone there? Anyone?” Surely she wasn’t alone? Surely there’d be a mysterious, interesting but harmless individual occupying one of the other cells, like in the movies.

“Hello?”

But no one answered, and her heart began to thunder inside her chest. I need to be calm. I need to think. There had to be a reason she would get thrown in solitary confinement while Willa Ingress – whom the police knew had thrown the first punch – wasn’t.

What had she done that Willa hadn’t?

Alyx paced faster as she racked her brains for dissimilarities and retraced her actions.

Had she shouted at any of the police officers, maybe disrespected them in some way? No.

Had she pissed off anyone else that could have told the police she was more harmful than Willa? No.

So what could she have done? What could she have said---

Oh.

Oh.

Oh!

When the police had arrived, there had been a bit of chaos, and she had made a call.

To Nathan Callis, of all people.

As soon as the name of the former model popped up in Alyx’s mind, she knew right away that he was behind this.

Oh God, that asshole!

Alyx plopped back on the seat, glared at the door, and waited.

An indefinite amount of time passed before she heard a buzzing sound outside her cell. A moment later, her door opened, and in came the devil.

A devil that also happened to look like the most beautiful angel sent here on earth, with his silky black hair, ash-colored eyes, and a hard, powerful body that made any and all kinds of clothes appear sinfully sexy.

He was that kind of devil, but still.

“YOU JERK!”

Nathan only laughed, not at all surprised when a beautiful handcuffed virago came charging his way. “A wondrous welcome as expected,” he drawled just as he caught Alyx by the waist and lifted her up before she could head-butt him.

For one moment, he allowed himself to savor the sight of her. She had cut her hair since he had last seen her, a pixie style that made her look more feminine rather than boyish, with the way it emphasized the soft lines of her face. It made her look more petite and curvier, too, and the longer he stared at her, the more he remembered just how much he had wanted her the first time they met.

When her furious eyes collided with his once more, he said wickedly, “Did you miss me?”

“ASSHOLE!”

He laughed.

“You were the one who sent me here, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“YEARGH!” It was a rather unique sound that had him blinking – like a mix of a snarl and growl – and then she was kicking and yelling, calling him all sorts of names in English and Russian.

“Calm down.”

But somehow, his words only seemed to incense her further, and she went ballistic, her words becoming more incoherent.

Solitary confinement! Asshole! Such insensitivity! Bastard!

“This is your revenge because I stood you up, isn’t it?” she demanded.

“Not at---” Nathan grunted as Alyx managed to land a solid kick in his chest, hard enough to knock his breath out of him for a moment. “Let me explain---”

“You’re an asshole,” Alyx yelled, “and there’s no need to explain that!” She tried kicking him again, but with the ex-model now holding her so far up and away from his body, her legs only struck thin air.

Argh!

“Let me down!”

Deciding that it was just better to let Alyx blow off some steam, Nathan simply kept her hanging in the air while enjoying the sight of her jiggling breasts as she tried to wriggle out of his hold. She was such a little ball of action, Nathan mused. She exerted so much energy in every little move she made that if it ever translated to passion in bed, that would make her quite the wildcat in his arms---

Scratching his back---

Biting his shoulder---

Damn. Nathan grimaced as he realized that the direction of his thoughts was making a certain part of his anatomy rather alarmingly stiff.

“I knew you were a jerk the first time I saw you!”

What a shrew Alyx Marshall was, Nathan thought indulgently.

“You have no decency, no decency at all!”

But this time, her voice was no longer as furious or high-pitched. He gave her another minute, but it only took about twenty more seconds when Alyx finally stopped ranting and started catching her breath.

Looking up, he asked softly, “Have you calmed down now?”

Alyx nodded jerkily. She had calmed down, and now that her brain was functioning properly again, she couldn’t help feeling appalled at her loss of control.

How had her life come to this?

Yanna had always been the hopeless romantic among them, the one who would throw away everything for love. And Daria had always been the impulsive and carefree type, the one who would feel and react first rather than thinking anything through.

Alyx, on the other hand, had always been the opposite. She was the one people came to for answers, the one people depended on to be rational.

As Nathan lowered Alyx to her feet, she heard herself say, “I’m a mess.”

“Yes.” His hands on her waist tightened. “I know.” Alyx became stiff and silent at his words, but even so he continued softly, “The police told me what happened, and that multiple witnesses corroborated the report. They said that the other woman attacked you several times, for no apparent rational reason, and that you only sought to defend yourself. When the police arrived---”

“I called you,” Alyx finished tonelessly.

“You did.” And her exact words had been, “I think I’m going to need your help in a bit.” Nathan tipped her chin up. “They were only supposed to arrest her. And you knew that.” He paused. “Didn’t you?”

According to the police report, Willa Ingress had spit on Alyx’s face, and a second later Alyx had returned the favor by giving her a hard uppercut. She had every chance to walk away and let the authorities deal with it, but instead Alyx had chosen to retaliate, in full sight of police officers.

It was a cry for attention, for help, and before all of it, she had called Nathan – her first cry.

Alyx whitened at the look on the ex-model’s face. Shit. He knew. Not the specifics, of course. That would be impossible. But even so, he knew. The look in his eyes made it clear enough.

Nathan Callis knew she was lost.

“Alyx---”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she muttered, wrenching her face away from his hold. Stalking away, she started banging her cuffed fists against the metal door. “Let me out!” She could sense Nathan approaching her, but Alyx didn’t look back. “Let me out, assholes!”

“Alyx---” He reached for her.

“No!” She threw his arm away, and spinning back to face him, she demanded, “Why the hell did you send me to solitary confinement anyway?”

“Because I was concerned about you.”

Her jaw dropped. “What did you say?” Alyx was starting to screech again. “You were concerned about me, so you had me freaking locked in an isolation cell?”

Nathan did his best to fight off a grin. “Yes.” But he failed.

The sight of the sexy-annoying grin tugging at the corner of Nathan’s mouth did it for Alyx, and she yelled in his face, “You think this is funny? ” She slammed her cuffed fists against his chest as hard as she could, and she was rewarded by the sound of the former model sucking in his breath. “Did you think it was funny that I was frightened out of my wits---”

“Of course not.” Nathan caught her hands just as she raised them up for another blow. “But I had no other choice.” He kept his gaze locked with hers as he slowly brought her hands to his lips.

Alyx stiffened.

“If I had let you stay outside with the rest, you could have been forced to bunk with God knew who, and I couldn’t bear the thought of that. I wasn’t willing to take the risk of coming too late and finding you harmed by the other inmates. That’s why I had them lock you up here. Alone.” At the last word, Nathan’s lips grazed her knuckles. “I knew it could make you terrified and anxious, but I also knew you were smart enough to figure it out sooner or later.”

His eyes lifted to hers. “And you did, didn’t you?”

Alyx scowled. She didn’t give a damn even if every word of his made perfect sense now. He had still frightened her out of her wits, dammit, and that was---

“Forgive me?”

Never. That was what she wanted and what she should say. And it was already on the tip of her tongue, ready to roll off, when the ex-model decided not to play fair, his hands reaching for hers to make the fingers unfold.

And the moment it did, Nathan took one finger into his mouth.

Alyx jerked.

He began to suck.

Heat exploded inside of her.

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.

“What are you doing?” She wanted to sound furious, but because her voice had this sexy faint tremble at the end, it only made the words sound like verbal foreplay, and it was all Alyx could do not to expire in mortification. She tried pulling her finger away, but the moment she did he sucked harder, and she hastily swallowed back a moan even as her blood tingled and her knees started to knock against each other.

“Stop this.” But when he only continued to torment her, Alyx couldn’t help choking out, “Please.”

Nathan’s chest tightened at the plea, and knowing how much it would have cost Alyx to say a thing, he slowly and reluctantly released her finger. Gazing at her with hooded lids, he asked again, “Do you forgive me then?”

She thought of saying no---

And it seemed as if he knew exactly what she planned on doing, with Nathan starting to bend his head again at the same time, the look in his eyes calmly warning her that if she didn’t accept his apology---

He started lifting her hands back up, and this time it didn’t look like he’d be satisfied with just sucking, and much less sucking on one finger.

Shit.

His lips started to part.

Alyx yielded to the inevitable. “Okay, stop!”

Nathan raised a brow.

“I forgive you, okay? I forgive you, so stop thinking I can have you sucking on my finger like a lollipop!”

Nathan threw his head back with a laugh. “Was that how it felt?” he drawled in a wicked purr.

“S-shut up!” As she spoke, the former model rapped on the door in a series of short and long locks. A moment later, the buzzer sounded and the door opened, making her look at him suspiciously.

“What next?” she demanded. “You want to see how I’ll react if you send me to Death Row?”

Nathan chuckled. “You really like to see the worst in me, don’t you?”

She didn’t answer, too busy staring at her wrists as a police officer entered the cell to unlock her cuffs. When the shackles fell off, Nathan took her hand. “Shall we go?” But instead of waiting for her reply, he guided her out of her cell, and she drew a deep shuddering breath the moment she stepped into the hallway.

It was over.

She was free.

They walked hand in hand, their footsteps echoing against the gleaming floor. “Alyx?”

“Yeah?”

“The moment we step outside the station, there will be reporters.”

“I’m used to it.”

“Yes, well…do you also think you can get used to people thinking you’re my girlfriend?”