by Sadie Savage
She needed to get out of NYC period. Transfer to a different school. Maybe in LA or somewhere that Walker could not touch her.
She stopped walking, her eyes going wide.
She muttered, “Holy shit. It would work but…but it might get me killed.”
No, there was no might to it. It would get someone killed.
But if she could manage it then she would be safe.
Pete wanted her because she was fresh, a virgin and untouched by drugs. Because she was famous enough that he could brag about having bagged her. She could not change that last part and no way was she about to start doing drugs. But she could have her virginity taken and when she did that would lessen her value.
So why not just do it?
Well, there was the fact that Walker would absolutely kill her if he found out and he would have to find out if she was going to use that to keep him from trading her off to Pete for his connection. If Pete found out he had been swindled he might go after Walker but he would beat her first and maybe even kill her. If he didn’t kill her he would go to his connection and declare it all a bad bargain and cut Walker off from that connection. Then Walker would kill her. Or maybe he and Pete would take turns beating her until she was dead.’ She had witnessed firsthand the brutal beatings that Walker dished out to the prostitutes that he ran. He had not yet killed one as far as she knew but Julia also had no idea how any of those women managed to survive such brutality and come out whole on the other side.
They did survive and went right back onto the streets to sell themselves for Walker. That alone terrified Julia. She knew Carla was not above trick turning and frequently did just that and Walker had been known to whip her ass for coming up short, and in front of her girls too. Walker would blame Carla if her girls did not meet the quota for daily money he set and that was why Carla often took to the streets herself, to make sure she didn’t catch a beating from her brother.
Walker should die.
That thought nagged at Julia. If only she had the guts to kill him! But even if she did what good would that do? There were plenty other equally violent men in that crew who would be willing to take over and would if something happened to Walker. That would leave her without even the very thin protection that being his sister offered.
She muttered, “I need someone who is tough enough to protect me from Walker but who the hell is that tough?”
She froze again, her feet parking her in front of an elegant townhouse. Her eyes focused on her cute little shoes. A thought formed but it was so outrageous and crazy she shoved it aside.
Ace?
Was she really considering trying to get with Ace?
“I really am losing my mind,” she muttered and started walking again.
She left the quiet side street she had fetched up on and stepped out onto Seventh Avenue. Pedestrians floated like shoals of exotic fish. The traffic snarled and horns blared. The street vendors served up their wares and she stopped to look at a few displays of jewelry and then stopped again to buy a small paper bag of roasted walnuts crusted with sea salt and rock sugar. Munching on her treat she let her feet take her past the now quiet stores of the Village. One in particular caught her eye. The windows held a sharp and elegant display of clothing, and the artfully posed mannequins drew her closer yet.
The clothes were industrial inspired, all sumptuous fabrics cut in hones angles and layers. Her heart lightened as it always did when she found an item of clothing that gave her fresh inspiration. She wanted her own shop, a cute little boutique that sold upscale clothes and a nice little apartment all her own just upstairs.
She stared at her reflection on the windows. Her eyes held anxiety and her mouth turned down like a cup rim.
“Ace,” she whispered. “That’s my only hope. I know it is. How in the world do I get him to want me and to want to protect me? I could stay with him just long enough to get out of here?’
Did she want out? NYC was home and had always been her home. It was the center of everything fashion. There were terrific design schools out in LA but the idea of being in a city where she would need a car which she had no idea of how to handle, and that she would be away from all that she knew, was a terrifying one. But she would have to do just that. Get safe long enough to get up the money and to get a transfer out west.
There was so little time. Pete and Walker were pressuring her more every day. Walker had some heavy debts to repay and he needed that connection to take his crew to the next level and deal with those debts. Walker knew how to make money but he had zero idea of how to keep it once he got it. He and the crew were always buying flashy shit and spending like there was no tomorrow.
Her forehead wrinkled. There was another way out if she was brave enough to take it. There was a whole lot of money floating around. She could try to snatch some and run. But that was also something that Walker would kill her for and not just him but the rest of the crew too. And whoever that money was supposed to go too would be happy to put a price on her head.
So that was out.
It was back to Ace.
The empty bag crumpled between her fingers. She was tired and the train was still running but it was not running again for at least an hour. She could not go back this late at night and not expect to find herself in the middle of a serious party. The guys were celebrating taking down some of Ace’s street sellers and she knew that Walker was about to begin harassing the dope boys running along the avenues of Williamsburg, selling heroin and coke to the hipsters and artists and junkies.
Her teeth clenched. Her feet took her back toward the train station. What would Ace do to get the information she held? Would he agree to protect her for that or would she have to offer up her body too?
If she had to, she would. She definitely would. She would be his old lady if she had to. His taking her virginity would guarantee that Pete did not want her. No way would he want Ace’s sloppy seconds.
It was her only option.
And as much as she hated to admit it, Ace had made her feel a leap of desire like none she had ever known in her life. Six had always seemed a little obscene and revolting to her, and she knew that was mostly due to the way she had been educate din it. She lived in a place where people fucked for no reason at all and where hookers would blow anyone for a dime bag of dope.
She had always wanted her first encounter with sex to be good and gentle and intimate and for love.
But that was a dream she could no longer afford to hold onto.
Chapter 5
Ace was in a small restaurant he favored that sat very near the train station. He was parked right at the windows and enjoying a late dinner but his senses were, as always, on full alert. He was forever aware of his surroundings and the people near him. He was always scanning faces and looking at everyone with real suspicion. That was what life had taught him and that was the one habit that served him the most.
So when he spotted Julia coming out of the mouth of the train station his body went rigid. He frowned and tilted his head as she walked slowly across the street and stood near the windows of the diner.
She had obviously just come from Manhattan and he wondered if she had had an evening class or something.
Didn’t matter. He had meant to go back to the store the next day, and get a bead drawn on her. To charm her and then to talk her into coming to dinner with him. He stood, tossing bills onto the table and signaling the waitress before striding out of the place and onto the street.
“We meet again,” he said in a low voice.
Julia jerked and turned to face him. Her lovely face paled. The lights of the diner picked up the small smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, fr4eckles he had barely noticed before. He stared at them suddenly filled with the desire to drop a kiss onto them.
She spoke in a rushed tone. “Oh, yeas. Hello. Did you decide on a shirt?”
He studied her face. Color swept into her cheeks. Her tongue, a small pink triangle, came out from between her kips a
nd swiped nervously across them. Her eyes shifted away from his and then back again and he read fear there.
He dropped all pretenses. “You know who I am, don’t you?”
Her eyes we3nt to the custom bike heeled over at the curb. Her dark head nodded up and down. “Yeah.’
“Uh huh. You know this isn’t your crew’s turf too then.”
Her arms came up and crossed over her firm and small breasts. “I do but…they are not my crew. I can’t help it that Walker is my brother. I am not part of them though. I never have been.”
He knew that for a fact. If anything she was a prisoner over there. Walker gave her a very short leash and tended to yank her back when she strained against it from all accounts. He said, “I don’t that will matter much to some of my guys.”
She swallowed hard. Her fingers yanked at the dangling sleeves of the silk blouse she wore. “I have to have a job.”
“There aren’t any in Queens?”
Her eyes met his. Anger simmered in hers. “Over there everyone knows me. You think anyone decent is going to give me a job? Especially in a place like the one I work in? You think anyone’s going to trust me with their upscale things knowing who my family is? They all just think I am trying to get the number to the safe or the time the trucks are coming in so they ca rob them. There’s a big market for stolen designer clothes you know”
The bitterness on her voice rattled him slightly. He surveyed her face again. She was definitely pissed off. Definitely but he was not sure if she was mad at him or her circumstances. That she was mad at Walker was clear and that made him smile inside. That was good, very good. If she hated Walker and had no loyalty to him she would be easier to manipulate.
He spoke softly, gently, like she was child. “I see your point. Look, I’m not pissed. I don’t care. If that’s what you want I’ll let my guys know you’re cool and I know you are here and that it’s fine.”
She dragged air into her mouth. He caught a glimpse of very white teeth. Her eyes shifted from him to the street. “Thanks.”
He slid a little closer close enough that he could smell her perfume and see the pulse ticking rapidly at the base of her long and creamy throat. Desire rose again, making the front of his jeans tighten. He shifted to hide that growing erection and said, “Sure. Anyone hassles you, come see me. I don’t take lightly to anyone going against my orders.”
Her arms dropped. Her nipples jutted up against the fabric of her blouse, hard little pints that drew his gaze and made his dick stiffen and lengthen yet again. She asked, “Why would you do that?”
He tore his eyes away from those nipples but the very vivid image of him taking those taut peaks into his mouth, sucking and nibbling them, stayed burned into his brain. He said, “I owe you something.”
She looked bewildered. “What do you mean?”
“Margo,” he answered. “You risked a lot to call me.”
Her arms came up again, concealing those nipples. “I didn’t know anything about any of this back then. I wish I still didn’t.”
His eye3s rested on her face. He had the uncanny ability to know when people were lying to him and she wasn’t. She meant every word. He said, “I bet.’
“Yeah well,” she swallowed hard and shot a look around them. People passed by along the sidewalk. They stood under the diner’s awning and she shied nervously away as the door opened to let a few customers out into the warm summer air. “I, uh, look, I need help.”
Shit. Had he just heard her right? ‘Come again?”
“I’m willing to bargain with you. Trade what I know for protection.”
Her words were a breathy squeak. The pulse in her neck began to beat even faster and more visibly. Her face paled and then color slammed into her face, heightening her beauty. She took two long fiery breaths. “I don’t want to be Pete’s old lady. I guess you might have an idea of why Walker’s trying to get me to be, and how far he will go to make sure I cave to that.”
No use in beating around the bush. Especially since she was laying it all out there for him. The whole meeting was crazy and it felt somehow fated. Ace said, “Yeah I know. What’s that got to do with me?’
She studied her nails for a second. When she looked up there was a terrified expression pasted onto her visage. “They’re hitting your street guys tonight. Around midnight. Right out here. They won’t be on bikes. They’ll be in cars. They’re coming in like narcs, but they’re not. They didn’t call in their dirty cops for this. They’re going to pile your guys into cars, rip off their dope, and beat them down. They know you just offer protection from busts and rivals, and that those guys are the street dealers not your personal dealers. They’re betting they will turn on you, and fast.”
His ire rose but he kept his voice low and calm. “You know this how?”
She gave him a glare. “How do you think?’
“And you’re telling me why?”
She swallowed hard and took a step toward him. That luscious perfume of hers came back to his nose, heightening the desire already coiling all through his body. “I told you. I need protection and I need it now. Right now. I am willing to bargain for it and to buy it with whatever I have. Whatever you want.”
Her chest rose and fell in a lust inducing way. His dick stiffened again. Ace smothered a grin. Unbelievably enough she was offering to rat on her brother, and to bed him all in the same sentence. She must either really hate Walker or really not want to be with Pete or a combination of both. He figured it to be the latter.
He said, “You know they’re going to kill you if they find out you let me in on this?”
“They’re going to kill me eventually anyway.” The weariness in her voice smote at him. “I…I won’t be with Pete. I won’t be a bargaining chip for Walker to get what he wants. I won’t…I won’t give up everything I want just so he can have what he wants. I won’t. I won’t sacrifice my life for his….he’s evil. Pure evil. You have to know that. I can’t do it. So they will kill me anyway.’
Damn, she had a point. He said, “You planning on going back?”
Her head shook from side to side. Tears welled up in her eyes. “No. Yes. I can’t but I don’t have anywhere else to go.’
Goddammit. He couldn’t take her to his place, not now. Not if there was some real dirty work to do tonight and what was more the whole thing now felt way too pat. He didn’t trust her. He said, “I tell you what. Go catch the train. Go to Ditmas. Here’s the address, memorize it.” He rattled it off and she repeated it. He nodded. “It’s a small place, in the back of a big house. There’s nothing there but furniture and a TV. It’s a rental for tourists. The key code is four, six, eleven. Got it?”
“Four, six, eleven,” she parroted and nodded.
He made a mental note to change the code as soon as she got in. She would be able to open the door from the inside of course but he had not been kidding, the place was just a furnished rental, one piece of their legit businesses. She would be out of the way there and under the watchful eyes of a man and woman he trusted with his life. If a single soul that was not supposed to be on that dead end and very dead quiet street showed up they would not ask questions, they would just get to work making sure the issue was resolved.
She took a long breath. “I don’t know how to get there.”
He said, “Get on my bike. I’ll take you.”
She looked at the bike on the curb. Her fingers twisted together. She whispered, “You know I just made it impossible to go back there, ever?”
“You asking for my protection?”
Her head bobbed up and down on her neck. He said, “I said I would give it but I swear to God if I smell anything wrong, if I get even a hint that this is some kind of set up you won’t have to worry about Walker killing you. I will kill you myself.”
She said, “I know.’
He walked toward his bike. She hesitated for a second then followed him. He said, “Get on.”
There was a larger fear in her eyes now. “I ha
ve never ridden before.’
She had to be kidding His eyes took in the frightened expression and her uncertainty and he deduced she was being truthful. He asked, “Why not?”
“My mom met Walker’s dad and he took her for a ride.” Tears trembled on the edges of her eyelashes. “She fell in love with him without ever knowing him, all she knew was how much she loved or ride on his bike. She got pregnant with me and he beat the hell out o her. She ran all the way to Hudson heights to get away but he always kept tabs on us. He didn’t care about us, you see, he just knew she knew things he didn’t want to get out. Like murder. Like …other things. She always said that she wished she had never gotten on that bike that day. I never wanted to get on one.’
The bare admission made things come a lot more into focus. He knew she had been older, a teen when she had been placed with Walker and his ragtag family. She didn’t want to be there then, and he had seen it then. She did not want to be there now either.
She let him help her onto the bike. Her body shook as he cranked it up and slowly left the curb and merged with traffic.
As they rode Ace was aware of the fact that was a woman on his bike, and aware of it in a way that he never had been before. Most of the women who planed themselves behind them were deliberately sexy in the way they rode, bare thighs hugging the sides of his waist, their hands locking around his belly, their bodies sliding against his and their tits moving across the leather of his jacket in a way guaranteed to turn both him and their selves on.
Not Julia. She was stiff and shaking. Her hands gripped at the loops that his belt ran through. It was like she was doing everything in her power not to touch him in any way that could be construed as intimate or sexy. She was too sacred to relax and let the ride happen. He had to be careful going around curves because she didn’t lean and her rigidity threatened to send the bike to the asphalt. Ordinarily that would have irritated him, and made him pull over and boot off whatever woman was back there because she was a danger to him.
His patience level stayed high as he drove slowly, keeping a good pace but not going fast enough to unseat her if something happened. Her legs jerked a few times when cars got a little too close. That distracted him on more than one level. Her body heat and the smell of her hair as it whipped over his shoulder, the small distressed sounds she made every now and then, they all caught his attention and he had to force himself to focus on the road ahead of him.
