by Naomi West
And then Daddy and his goons encircled him, and the talk of bids started. The impudence rose inside me at that point, and I began to hope he’d get a taste of his medicine, and he’d begin to realize how important it was that we help Kessa out of here.
Only for a second, though. I quickly remembered that he was one of my only hopes of getting out of here. Of course, nowhe might be more willing to help.
I wanted to get to him, to help him, but he was already in the hands of Daddy and his goons as they dragged him off the side of the ball room, with the party seamlessly flowing back into place to where it had been before the interruption.
Then I heard a groan from my feet. No one had decided to help the poor Hollywood agent.
I reached down and helped the groaning, moaning Tanner Wilde to his feet. He had a thousand things to mutter, and none of them were nice or pleasant. I gingerly touched his bloody nose when he was back to standing.
“Holy shit!” he screamed in a nasally voice as he flinched from my fingers. “Fuck, that hurts!”
I winced. “Sorry. Let me help you get some ice on that, okay? We’ve got some back in the kitchen.”
He nodded, and I began to lead him off the floor, off in the general direction they’d dragged Ford. Blood poured down his face, leaving a trail of droplets behind us on the hardwood as we made our way off the party floor. Disgusted looks from the men and women, who’d just watched poor Wilde get his ass kicked, followed us as we left. If there was anything these kinds of people respected, it certainly wasn’t weakness. Of course, it wasn’t like any of them had jumped in to fight Ford on their own. But the idea of getting punched out? That was just too much.
“Your boyfriend packs a real punch,” Tanner mumbled. “Like a heavyweight boxer. Feel like I just went ten rounds with Tyson himself.”
I bristled a little. “He’s not my boyfriend, Mr. Wilde. He’s barely even a friend.”
“Sure about that?”
“Believe me, if you knew the whole story you’d agree with me.”
He smiled around the blood, his fingers still pinching his nose as I guided him to the side door. “Suit yourself, baby. My experience, guys don’t get into fights like that unless they at least like the woman. What happened? You two have a falling out?”
I shook my head. “Mr. Wilde, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
He laughed, winced again. “My broken nose is singing a different tune, baby. But believe what you want. I ain’t been punched like that since the last time I got caught dating a married woman.”
“Date married women a lot, do you?” I asked as we wandered down the hall and found the kitchen. I set him down on a stack of milk crates next to the table and had him lean his head back so the blood would maybe stop draining all over his shirt.
Maybe the agent was right. Maybe Ford did have actual feelings for me. Even though he’d been rough and masterful with me down in the basement, I thought I could feel the underlying tenderness beneath it all. But I’d thought that it was just wishful thinking at the time. Especially after I’d stolen his mother’s ring like that. Then, when he’d stuck around, I’d just figured he was doing it for the money.
His actions, of course, disproved that. Why would a guy who just sticking around for the cash in hand and the finder’s fee go after some guy I was flirting with? A guy I was being paid to flirt with, no less?
Wilde laughed a little. “Not exclusively married women, baby,” he admitted to my back as I found a towel and the ice machine. “But, say, what’s a pretty whore like you dating a guy anyways?”
I tensed a little as I scooped the ice into the towel.
“Shouldn’t that be a big professional no-no, or something?” Tanner Wilde continued. “Or do you just have a trail of johns behind you, all with busted up faces?”
I smacked the iced towel into his face, producing a pained yelp. “I’m not a whore, Mr. Wilde. I’m an escort.”
“Geez,” he said, taking the ice-filled towel from my hand. “Touchy subject, huh? Look, ain’t nothing wrong with doing what you’re doing, Micah. Everybody’s got an asset, baby. Pretty faces get in the pictures; guys who are tough get into sports; big brains go into chemistry; and people with connections go into finance. Ain’t nothing wrong with capitalism.”
I took the domino mask from my face and put it down on the prep table next to us. “Well, I don’t know about how your world works, but being a whore here isn’t exactly a grand thing. You know they’re doing an auction for sex slaves out there tonight, right?”
He laughed. “Well, yeah, but that ain’t real, baby. That’s all for show, ain’t it?”
I groaned a little, and he took the towel from his face and looked at me. I shook my head at him.
“What? It ain’t fake? You gotta be kidding me, baby. I thought this was just a bid-for-the-night thing? Like one of ’em charity auctions, but, you know, sexier, and the guy bidding for the date knew what he was getting.”
I sighed. “Sorry, Tanner, but it’s for real.”
His face drooped. “Well, fuck. That’s some downright shifty shit. You’re serious, ain’t you? Daddy Williams is going to sell some girls off to the highest bidder?” He put the ice back on his nose, wincing as the cold touched his skin. “Like permanent?”
“Only the damaged ones,” I said. “My friend Kessa is going up on the block by the end of the night. Daddy cut her face real bad, sliced her up so she couldn’t work the floor anymore.”
“Holy shit,” he said, eyes round as saucers. “And ain’t no way you can get her out?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to do. Ford was going to help me, but we’ve been separated, and some other things you probably don’t wanna hear about—”
Tanner Wilde shushed me. “Wait, baby. You hear that?”
“Hear what?” I asked, straining to hear above the noise of the busy kitchen.
There it was. A steady thump, thump, thump like a kick against steel. “That!” Tanner said.
I turned around and looked towards the back, to a disused portion of the kitchen where they kept some of the walk-in coolers. Tanner got up from his stack of milk cartons and followed me back towards the source of the sounds.
“Fuck you, Williams!” I heard roaring through the walls of the walk-in, followed by a couple more steady thump, thump, thumps. I recognized that voice. It was Ford!
I rushed over and threw over the walk in. There, on the damp floor, his teeth chattering form the not-quite freezing cold, was Ford with his hands bound behind his back with zip-ties. He looked up at me, the kind of look in his eyes that you only see in the movies. Relief, happiness, exasperation at your circumstances. But, most importantly, love. The kind of love you can’t fake unless you’re about to win a golden statue for it.
God, what a relief to see him like that. To see him looking up at me with even a fraction of the same feelings growing in my chest.
“Micah!” he roared. “Micah! You found me! Help me out of these so we can get to my car!”
I left Wilde’s side and ran to him, dropping to my knees, the floor colder than sin on my naked skin. “Ford,” I gasped, reaching behind his back and trying to get at the zip-tie around his wrists. “God, what were you fucking thinking punching him out like that?”
“My pocket,” Ford said. “My pocket knife in my pocket, hurry!”
“Yeah,” Tanner Wilde said, stepping into the walk-in. “What were you thinking, man? I didn’t do anything to you.”
I could hear Ford grinding his teeth beside me as I pulled the knife from his pocket and went to flick it open. “Not my finest moment, I’ll admit. Just get me out of here, and we’ll go, okay? I’m sorry for punching your lights out.”
“Certainly fucking hope not, man,” Wilde said. “Apology fucking accepted. But, eh, what about your friend? The one going up for auction? You’re gonna just ditch her?”
“Not exactly what I want to do,” Ford said as I eased the blade down to his wrists and went
to snip the plastic. “But we can still try, I guess.”
“Try what?” Daddy Williams bellowed from behind Tanner Wilde.
My eyes, wide with surprised fear, shot towards him.
He stood there all by himself, his massive girth taking up most of the walk-in door. At least he didn’t have any security with him. But still, in one hand he held a massive kitchen knife, the kind that’s nine inches long and sharper than a razor.
I hadn’t snipped the plastic yet! What was I going to do without Ford? If I went to try and cut the zip-ties, Daddy was certain to see me and make his move.
This was it. The jig was up.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ford
I lay there, my hands still bound behind my back. I reached out with my fingers and brushed them over Micah’s hand to try and get her to drop the folding blade into my grasp.
“Try? N-n-nothing,” Micah said, still on her knees behind me. “I didn’t even know it was Ford in here, Daddy. I was helping Mr. Wilde get some ice on his nose, and we both heard him kicking against the wall, so we came to investigate what the sound was, that’s all. I was just helping him because his arm was hurting him.”
“Is that right?” Daddy sneered. “You just back here out of the goodness of your little heart of gold, huh, girl?”
“Yeah, Daddy, it is,” Tanner said, stepping up. “It is.”
As Daddy shot him a withering look, I began to fumble with the knife, to switch it around in my hand so that I could get the blade onto the plastic.
I still couldn’t believe Micah had come back for me, especially with the way I’d been acting. I’d never been so happy to see someone in my whole life, though. Not just because she was giving me a chance to get out of here, either. Instead, I was just happy to see her beautiful face without a mask on, without her pretending she was attracted to some sleazebag. Even if this all went tits up and I was stuck being a blood sport prize fighter for the rest of my short life, this last look on her face might be enough to sustain me till the end.
“Why don’t you get back to the party, Mr. Wilde?” Daddy growled. Tanner glanced down at the knife in the much bigger man’s hand, then glanced towards Micah.
“Just go, Mr. Wilde,” Micah said. “You don’t wanna be mixed up in this.”
I smiled despite myself. God, if she only would have said the same thing to me all those hours ago, maybe I wouldn’t have been lying on the floor of the walk-in. On the other hand, I never would have met her either, and I never would have fallen so hard for her. What a fucking mixed bag. I worked the edge of the knife up against the plastic and began to cut through.
“You sure, baby?” Tanner asked, taking a step towards her. “Ain’t no way I’m leaving unless you say so.”
Micah, her lips pinched up, nodded. “Just go,” she confirmed.
The Hollywood agent glanced to me questioningly, dried blood still on his face, dripping towel hanging from his hand.
I just nodded. Micah was right. No need for him to decide to be a white knight. I had things handled. Just a little bit more on this zip-tie and I’d be back in the fight.
He sighed a little, then turned and left. He turned back to Micah just before he walked from the kitchen, though. “Hey, Micah, baby. You ever get out of this mess, you look me up out in LA.”
“Sure,” Micah said, her voice more subdued than it should have been with a hotshot LA acting agent offering his contact information. She just looked at the floor, her curls hanging around her face.
With Wilde gone, Daddy’s hand shot out, faster than I’d imagined such a fat man could move, and grabbed her by the wrist. Micah screamed as he pulled her to him and brought up his knife. “Get out of this, huh?” Daddy breathed loud enough for me to hear. “Get out? You think you’re getting out, girl?”
“Williams!” I bellowed from the floor. “You fucking touch her, I’ll gut you myself!”
Micah, twisted up in his grasp, tried to cringe away from him as he brought the giant, gleaming kitchen knife up to her cheek. “Daddy,” she whined. “Don’t . . .”
“Don’t what?” he growled in a cruel mimic of her voice as he wrapped her up more fully in his grasp, his hand going from her wrist to her chest and pulling her back against him. “Don’t cut you? Don’t ruin that pretty face of yours? Is that what I shouldn’t do?”
Finally, the knife finished its job, and the binding around my wrist came free. I clamored to my feet, knife in hand.
Daddy just looked at me, gripping Micah tighter with his giant arm. She looked like a midget in his clutches. “Whatcha gonna do with that pig sticker, son? Think you got what it takes to get me?”
“Deal’s off, Williams,” I growled. “Give me Micah back, and we’ll forget all about the money. No finder’s fee, no extra money. We’ll just go.”
Micah twisted away, her nostrils flaring and her eyes wide, as he brought the knife closer to her cheek. “Ford,” she groaned.
“You hurt her,” I said. “You’re dead. Where’s the profit in that, huh? You ain’t got any security in the room with you. Think I’ll let you walk away?”
“You’d never get out of here, Ford,” Daddy said.
“Why would it matter? I’d have exactly what I want right here, wouldn’t I? You bleeding out on the kitchen floor like a fat, dead pig.”
Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead as he seemed to mull over the consequences. “Fine,” he said, lowering the knife to his side and pushing Micah to me.
She ran to my side, encircling my waist with her arms. “But just remember,” Daddy continued with a sneer on his fat lips, “ain’t no one going to pay your debt to Tambor now. You better be gone by sunrise or else he’s going to come for your ass, sure as I would in his place. And even then, he’ll still find you no matter where you go. Tambor don’t like debts hanging out, and we both know it.”
I nodded as Micah squeezed her arms around me more tightly. “Thanks for the advice, asshole. But don’t you have a slave auction to run?”
He glanced down at the knife in his hands and tossed it aside on one of the empty prep tables. “That I do, Ford. That I do.” He turned and left, disappearing back around the corner and pushing out into the hallway.
Micah and I watched as he left, making sure he was gone before embracing and holding each other close. Her heart fluttered against my chest like a small animals, her skin warm, smooth, and wonderful beneath my hands as I held her against my body. I’d never been so happy to see someone, had never held anyone so beautiful so close.
“Ford,” she gasped. “My God, it’s good to see you. I’m so sorry.”
“No,” I winced. “I’m the one that’s sorry. About everything. Things just fell apart when we got in the door, and then when Daddy caught you with my mom’s ring—”
“Don’t,” she said, cutting me off. “Don’t apologize for being upset. I should have returned the ring to you the moment we started working together. And I’m sorry I tried to make you jealous like that, with that agent. You’d never have ended up in the walk-in if I hadn’t been trying to get a reaction out of you.”
I stroked her cheek as I looked down into those beautiful dancing eyes of hers. I leaned down, pressed my lips to hers, and kissed her hard.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, ran her fingernails up and down my nape, and groaned into my mouth as my hands ran up and down her half-naked body.
We pulled away. “We’re both sorry,” I said. “Let’s be done with it.”
“Yeah,” she whispered, still playing with the hair at the back of my head, her teasing nails sending chills through me. “The angry sex down in the dungeon was pretty hot, though.”
I grinned. “Yeah. It was, wasn’t it?” But then, I pulled away from her. “We need to get going, Micah. I have a feeling Daddy might change his mind if we stick around for too long.”
“Leave?” she asked, shaking her head. “We can’t leave, Ford. What about the safe, or Kessa? How are you going to get Tambor paid
off? And how is my friend going to be safe?” She narrowed her eyes again. “We can’t go yet. We still have things to do here, Ford.”
I nodded slowly. As much as I wanted to cut my losses and just be thankful to have my woman back in my arms, she was right. “Fine,” I said, letting her go from my arms. “But how do we do it?”
She walked over and picked up the kitchen knife. “We split up,” she said as she turned back to me, the knife hanging from her side. “I’ll find Kessa; you find the safe.”
