He didn’t just need to know how to imprison and torture people, he had to know how to manipulate them to the highest level, how to identify weak links, and how to target those who might have a bone to pick and therefore be open to defection.
“It’s only if things get messy, tricky… dirty… then we start to think about taking things up a level. And that’s when the chains and knives come into play.”
Nya hadn’t considered that he might be subtle, she should have because when she thought about it, most of the people they’d come across smiled, and greeted him as a friend, so he couldn’t be all bad.
Gio said he knew everyone. If everyone knew him and wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t last long. If Gio was right that Archer knew everyone, she guessed he could go to his contacts to ask around and find out what they needed to know without causing anyone harm.
“Will you do it?” she asked. “Will you help me?”
“I want you to understand what you’re asking,” he said. “A conversation is one thing, but if it progresses and gets to the point where I unwrap the blades, I need to know you can live with it. That it won’t make you resent me. ‘Cause if you’re consumed by guilt, that’s it, we’re over, now. We’ll never get past it.”
Of course he was right, if she couldn’t handle what he did to other people on her instruction the relationship would never last. She’d see a monster when she looked at him. If she hated what he did, she’d end up hating him. Except it was necessary and Nya wasn’t as soft as he thought. Life on the streets hardened her, and as much as she tried not to grow cynical, she’d seen horrors.
Working in clubs and bars, she’d seen plenty of brawls, seen people OD. Seen blood and fights and even death. He thought he knew so much about her and she’d revealed more to him than she had to many others, but her experience went beyond what he knew.
“I can live with it,” she said. “And maybe this is what we need. Because no matter what you say, one day, I’m gonna walk in that front door and you’re gonna have someone at that table and I would have to make a decision.”
“I can protect you from it,” he said.
“I know, but you shouldn’t have to put up that barrier. What you do is part of who you are and I want to embrace that. There are times it will be tough to see your reasons, but I have to trust you and have faith that you only do these things to people who deserve it, for good reasons. It’s why you couldn’t hurt me, why you couldn’t break my bones and send me out to work off the debt, because you knew I didn’t deserve it.
“So when I walk in that door and I see some sniveling lowlife, crying and begging for mercy, yeah, it might shock me, but I have to stand behind you. It’s not about what you do. If I start to doubt you then our trust is gone and without that, I can’t be with you, Archer.”
“You sound sure,” he said. “That just leaves one detail to clear up.”
“What’s that?”
“Payment.”
So he was going to help her. They just had to agree on what it would cost. When his hands settled over her breasts and his thumbs began to move back and forth across her nipples, Nya was sure she knew what he would ask for.
“Sex on demand?” she offered herself to him.
But he shrugged and didn’t seem tempted. “I get that anyway. You haven’t said no to me, not since the first time I asked.”
The first time they’d had sex he hadn’t asked. But there had been a buildup, which gave her a window of time to change her mind. She couldn’t threaten the opposite, to withhold sex unless he did the job. That was a dangerous power play that tapered into a type of manipulation she didn’t want to be the foundation for their burgeoning relationship. Trust didn’t go hand-in-hand with blackmail.
“What do you want then?” she asked, trying to figure out what he may be angling for and what she had to give him that didn’t involve her body. “I don’t have money. You’ve seen my place. Don’t you think that if I was sitting on a secret hoard of cash, I would have a better apartment?”
“Like I said before, each job is different,” he said. “Sometimes I work for a couple of hundred bucks, sometimes it’s a couple of grand. Sometimes it’s as simple as a free-forever bar tab or car repairs. Hell, there are times I’ve worked for game tickets or free cable.”
So he didn’t always work for money, barter worked for him and that might be all she could offer because she didn’t have many material possessions. “I can give you free drinks at Sizzle.” When she ever went back to work there.
“I have a feeling I would get those anyway,” he said, confident as always, he squeezed her breast.
“I’ll cook for you; I make mean cauliflower and chickpea tacos.”
One of his eyes narrowed. “Is that a threat?”
Giving his shoulder a shove, she thought about Sizzle. She hadn’t been back since the night Jamie died and the place had been shut up for a while, but Tag had told her that re-opening night was last night and her job was waiting for her when she was ready.
“Tell me what you want then,” she said, running both hands into his hair. He pondered this for a while, so long that she considered she may have nothing to offer except an open favor for him to call in when he came up with something. “Can’t think of anything? There’s nothing in the world I have that you want?”
Still, he took his time, now he was examining her body. “You share with me the things I want most. Your body, your mind, your mouth.”
She didn’t know if the mouth comment was about her words or his meat, but he was right either way. “There must be something I can do to tempt you into helping me. You want to tie me up? I bet you have the best restraints.”
“Nah, I told you, I’m not into the S and M thing,” he said.
Elevating her wrist, she displayed him her brand. “Want to burn me again?” she asked. It wasn’t an experience she would relish, but she’d endured it for Tag, and she didn’t mind wearing Archer’s mark.
“No,” he said.
Grasping her wrist, he brought it to his mouth. She did like it when he kissed her there and he seemed to like it too. Maybe he felt like he was making up for hurting her or maybe he just liked the reminder that it was there, that she was his, and that he’d made that permanent whether they kept their sexual relationship going or not.
“I must have something you want,” she said. But when his lips curled slowly, dread made her wary. “What? What did you decide on?”
“No makeup for a week.”
She faltered because she hadn’t expected anything close to that suggestion. “Excuse me?” she asked, taken aback.
“I’ve seen you without it, you don’t need it. I’ve watched you dress yourself up in the morning, watched you take your time to put it on so carefully, and all you’re doing is covering up exactly what it is I want to see. You have a pretty face, Squirm, you don’t need to fancy it up. You sure don’t need to do it for guys ‘cause your cans are all they see.”
“That all you see?” she asked.
Cupping her bosom, he rubbed his face against her décolletage. “Up close,” he said. “I prefer that bare too, like I want your face.”
Wow. Makeup was something she’d used since she was a child. She didn’t go overboard with it, using only eyeliner, shadow, and mascara. Once in a while she used a bit of blush, but she didn’t go in for all the contouring stuff, which was all the rage. Lip gloss was as glam as she got.
She’d always thought her makeup was subtle, but not subtle enough for him apparently. “If I don’t wear makeup for a week, you’ll find out what Hexam plans to do to Tag? And if there’s anything we can do to pay him off?” Archer nodded. “Really? That’s all?”
“What do you want me to ask for? Your asshole? The cooking thing is out for sure.”
He complained about her food when she made it, he would pick up the vegetables, sniff the herbs and the spices. He’d peer over her shoulder as she stirred the pans, as she seasoned and grated and sliced. He would w
ant to know what she was doing, what they were having, what it would taste like and his frequent question was over whether it was edible.
But whenever she put a plate in front of him, he cleared it, he ate everything she made, but he ate all the time. She hadn’t come across a food yet that he’d turned his nose up at. If it could be fitted into one of the food groups, even loosely, he would eat it.
“No makeup for a week,” she agreed.
Without the routine of putting on her slap, she’d have some extra time in the morning, maybe that was his secondary motive—increasing their sex time. It might be difficult to get accustomed to not getting made-up because she almost didn’t recognize herself without her face on. But it was a low price for what she was asking because there was a serious risk involved. Even just asking questions about a man like Hexam could get Archer into serious trouble.
“That’s it?” she said. “Nothing else. You’re sure?”
He patted her ass. “I’ve always had a thing for redheads.”
“I’m not dying my hair,” she said and laughed.
Her dark brown hair had natural threads of red through it anyway, although they only ever caught in the sunlight. If he pushed, she would dye it, she’d done it before. Her hair had been every color of the rainbow at some point in her life as she went through different phases.
“Then it’s definitely no deal, the hair was the clincher.”
Nya couldn’t tell if he was joking or sincere, but she did know a box of hair dye would be on her next shopping list. “I’ll think about it,” she said, teasing like she didn’t want to set a precedent of giving him everything he wanted at his first request. “No makeup for a week and you’ll find out what we need to know about Hexam?”
“I still expect sex on demand,” he said.
Leaning in, she joined their mouths to whisper against him. “So do I.”
sixteen
“You have to tell me what’s next,” she said.
Archer’s bedside clock told her it was after four AM, so they really should get some sleep. But after having sex she felt too energized to think about slumber. “Next what?” he grumbled, betraying that he wasn’t as eager to chat.
“How does it work? What’s your process?” she asked. “You have to find out where Hexam and his people hang out, right?”
“I know where to find them,” he mumbled into his pillow.
That was encouraging news and it would speed things along. She planned to go to Tag’s tomorrow to tell him that Archer was taking up the cause in hope it would bolster her friend’s spirits.
“When should we go over there? Can we do it during the day or should we wait until tonight?”
Turning onto his back, Archer lifted one arm around her and she lay down in the nook of his body. “You’ve got big ideas for a little thing.”
He didn’t sound like he was teasing, but she didn’t understand. “You said that we were going to do this. I figure we’ll have to—”
“There you go with that ‘we’ again,” he said, drumming his fingers on her flesh. “We ain’t doing a damn thing, baby. I told you I’d do my thing for you and I will. You’re not going anywhere near it.”
But the whole thing was her idea and she was devastated to be cut out. “You’re benching me? I haven’t had a chance to fuck up. Why would you—”
“I know you think you’re a lioness, Squirm, but you’re a cub. Let me worry about the work and you concentrate on the play.”
She pinched him. “Don’t do your patronizing thing on me, Fella. If you piss me off, I’ll be out of this bed like it’s on fire.”
“Don’t do that,” he groaned and squeezed her. “Then I’d have to get up and follow you home.”
That’s right, he didn’t let his dates go home without seeing them through their door. They hadn’t been on a formal date tonight, but she’d cooked for him, they’d hung out and then they’d had plenty of sex, so tonight probably fell under his definition of a date.
Finding her way in this relationship would involve asserting herself because Archer was a powerful guy who’d take over if she didn’t fight her corner. “I am plenty capable of helping you. You don’t even know what skills I have, you just assume I’m a feeble woman.”
His eyes drifted closed again and his arm loosened. “You think you can start a war with the world and win. You can’t. I’ve known you a couple of weeks and I question if you know what the hell you’re doing half the time. You have no strategy and a lousy game face.”
Granted, she didn’t have his range, but that didn’t mean she was useless and the last couple of weeks was hardly a fair gauge to judge her whole personality by. Reducing her volume, she found his lips to speak against them to remind him of their intimacy. “Hasn’t stopped you from taking up with me.”
From nowhere, he became more awake, not all the way awake, but enough to startle her. “Yeah, since we’re talking about it, there’s one thing I wanna get straight if we’re gonna do this, if we’re gonna be a thing.”
Apparently she wasn’t the only one with something on her mind. “Ok,” she said, rising onto her elbow to look down on him. “What?”
His drowsy eyes and bass tone didn’t contradict the certainty of his words. “Second thing I learned about you is that proving your loyalty is a major deal, you take it seriously. Third thing was that you’re stubborn as all hell.”
Both true, but it left her to ask. “What was the first thing?”
“Stupid question, Squirm,” he said, snagging her wrist to pull her hand beneath the covers to wrap it around his dick. Shifting her so abruptly made her nude body fall onto his and let her know that the first thing he’d learned about her was that she was attractive. That made sense.
She kissed his chest. “What do you want to get straight?”
“If anyone ever asks you where I am, you tell them.”
She’d begun to stroke his cock with her fist, but his statement made her stop. “What?” she asked and this time sat all the way up. Crossing her legs, she rested her knees on his ribs. “I would never betray you like that.” The only reason anyone would ask about him was if they wanted to hurt him.
Offended by the idea that she might give him up like that, Nya wondered if he actually understood what was important to her. Except the steadfast scowl on his face now didn’t seem to care about that. “I’m telling you that if you let yourself be hurt for me, I’ll take that as the betrayal.”
Spreading her fingers on his torso, she pressed into him, absorbing his strength and relishing their proximity. “No, I wouldn’t be able to give you up. I just wouldn’t—”
“I handle pain better than you do, Squirm, and I’m a better fighter. You tell them where I am, then you get yourself cozy in bed and wait for me to come to you.”
The conversation was supposed to be about Tag and Hexam. “Why did you bring this up?” she asked. “Do you think someone wants to get to you?”
“We’re lying naked in my apartment,” he said. “I’ve lived here for years. If someone wanted to find me, this is the first place they’d look. I’m saying it ‘cause I don’t want you thinking you’re a hero trying to protect me. That’s bullshit. If you’re my girl, then we do things my way, and that means I protect you, not the other way around.”
Another man who expected her to live by his double standards. Typical. “So what if someone asks you about me?” she asked. “Are you going to give up my location?”
Shifting away from her, he tipped his body to an angle so he could examine her face. “Who would be looking for you?”
“No one,” she said, exasperated that he’d taken her question to mean she was in trouble. “You brought up this hypothetical villain tailing us.”
Her bewilderment didn’t affect him one iota, he shifted onto his back again. “Once word gets out we’re together, no one would be dumb enough to ask me about you,” he said, settling back to sleep. “They wouldn’t draw breath to ask a follow-up question.”
A gruff laugh vibrated behind his sealed lips. “I’m going to sleep now, horny one.”
Kissing him again, she spread her fingers on his chest. “I’ll swallow your meat first,” she whispered. He wasn’t so quick to refuse that prospect, in fact, although his eyes stayed closed, he crooked a brow. “Does that sound like a good deal?”
The head of his dick was already prodding her thigh, so his subconscious wasn’t averse to the suggestion. “Good deal,” he mumbled and snatched a handful of her hair to help speed her way down his body.
Archer didn’t want a slow seduction or teasing build-up, all he wanted was release and she was eager to be the one to give it to him. In return for her own, of course.
“You left me hanging,” she mumbled into her cellphone.
Archer was moving too, she could hear the wind down the line and the hitch in his breath that signaled he had to be walking fast. “You got yours in bed when we woke up, and in the shower, stop bitching,” he said.
“I’m just saying, if in future we’re doing oral tit-for-tat, I’m going first.”
Walking down the sidewalk towards Tag’s place, Nya knew that she should hang up the phone before she went inside, but figured that the signal would drop when she got into the elevator anyway. “Are you nervous?” he asked as she moved into the warm lobby.
“Nervous? No,” she said, pressing the call button for the elevator. “Why would I be nervous about visiting my oldest, closest friend?”
“I don’t know,” he responded and his breathing began to even, indicating that he’d stopped. “But we only left my place an hour ago and you’ve already called me three times.”
She couldn’t deny that. They’d spent most of the day in bed, coming out of the bedroom to eat and watch TV. Archer had been transfixed by her feet when she’d pulled her pedicure kit from her purse and proceeded to pamper herself while he read his subtitles. Getting to a salon was out of the question, and she had ignored her preening for too long. Giving herself a pedicure also acted as a distraction from the time she should’ve spent putting on her makeup.
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