Blackthorn [3] Blood Torn (30 page)

What she knew was that her frustration was nothing to do with her tomboyish appearance – it was because she’d wanted her mother there. She’d wanted her mother to see her and be proud. Because once the excitement of the prom was over, she’d still be left with the truth – her mother was dead. And nothing would ever change that.

She flinched as Jask pushed back the curtain, holding it open just enough for him to block the gap he had created.

He handed her a pair of dainty heels. ‘Might complement the dress better than the boots.’

She accepted the shoes off him. She perched on the edge of the stool and fastened the straps over her feet and around her ankles. She stood back up, liked the extra three inches the heels gave her. ‘This do?’ she asked, arms out at her sides, palms exposed.

She hadn’t meant her tone to sound confrontational, but she knew it was inevitable as she stood there feeling as vulnerable as she did.

‘Almost perfect,’ he said – the “almost” being the word she hung onto rather than the “perfect”.

She opened her mouth to retaliate, but he held up his hand, spun what she could see was a garter around his forefinger.

She raised her eyebrows again. ‘Kinky.’

‘I’d say useful,’ he declared, stepping into the cubicle and letting the curtain drop into place behind him.

She instinctively took a step back, the cubicle suddenly feeling very enclosed with him joining her. Her pulse picked up a notch, her breathing terse.

He crouched down – the only thing to reduce his imposing presence in the small space – to reach behind her knee and lift her foot onto his lap.

Sophia held her breath as he slid the garter over her shoe to her ankle. With his thumb looped over the outside of the lace band, his palm flat against the back of her ankle inside it, he slowly slid the garter up her calve, over her knee, making her shiver as he reached her lower thigh.

But he didn’t let either the garter or her thigh go as he stood again. Instead he guided her foot up onto the stool beside them, her inner thigh brushing against his jeans as he finished sliding the garter into position mid-thigh.

‘You’ve done that before, haven’t you?’ she said, her back pressed to the wall.

‘A couple of times. But never with the added extras though,’ he said, his lips dangerously close to hers.

Her heart pounded. Her mouth turned dry.

She felt something cold against her thigh and glanced down to see him slipping the two syringes he’d removed from her combats earlier into the inside of her garter.

Her eyes snapped back to his as he rested his forearm against the wall beside her head.

‘It’s smart to have a backup,’ he declared.

‘Being bitten works just the same,’ she said, sensing the tremor in her voice.

‘I don’t want you getting bitten.’

Her heart jolted. ‘I didn’t have you down as the jealous type.’

His gaze remained on hers. ‘You’d be surprised.’

She involuntarily parted her lips slightly – not just for extra air but because she was sure, positive, that he was about to kiss her.

But he didn’t.

He pulled away, stepping back out of the cubicle.

Sophia dropped her head back against the wall and cursed silently. As soon as she’d caught her breath, she followed swiftly behind him.

She caught up with him at the door, pulled on his arm to take a left, only to have Jask pull to the right.

‘But the place Marid hangs out is this way,’ Sophia said, indicating left.

‘We don’t have time to waste on hoping he’ll be there,’ Jask replied, winning the strength battle and walking her to the right.

‘Then where are we going?’

‘Have you ever been to The Circus?’

Her stomach flipped. As their eyes locked briefly again, she knew her silence said it all.

The Circus, as it was nicknamed by the cons who squatted in that part of the south, was nowhere any sane human being would ever voluntarily go.

It seemed that was about to change.

Chapter Twenty-Five

J
ask would have nothing to do with most of the human convicts – not being able to be trusted was reason above all else. But he and Travis had an understanding, formed in Blackthorn, that was too rare not to maintain. It didn’t mean he liked him. He didn’t like him at all. But there were times he proved useful. And now was going to be one of those times.

Holding Phia’s hand, keeping her close, Jask led her through the run-down building that was once a row of town houses.

It was just one congregation area of many more. Some cons mixed with the third species, but on the whole the cons were as resentful of them as humans outside of Blackthorn were and so stuck with their own kind.

Jask led Phia down the dark, claustrophobic corridor. Cigarette smoke, as well as the stench of other smoke, fogged the air. The whole place was disorientating enough without the conflicting battle of musical tastes spilling out from various rooms.

A lot of the cons’ places were notoriously like mazes. They’d take over a row of properties, knocking through walls and corridors, interlinking one building with another. They were fairly simple to get into for those who dared – but not so easy to get out of. And especially not in a hurry.

He felt her grip on his hand tighten as they passed open room after open room of the sordid activities the cons were renowned for. Those that couldn’t be seen could be heard coming down through the ceilings, or could be added to the scents in the air.

Finally they were in a situation she was far from comfortable with and, ironically, it was with her own kind.

He hoped, at the very least, it was a wake-up call about the point he’d been making earlier – that
this
was exactly why they needed the strong third-species leaders in Blackthorn: to keep places like they were in now from spilling over. Those outside of Blackthorn talked about the so-called underworld leaders living off the misery of the humans forced to reside there and in Lowtown – but there was nothing worse than what humans were capable of doing to their own. He’d seen enough of it first-hand to know.

‘Where’s Travis?’ he asked, grabbing the arm of a familiar face he saw brushing past him.

The con cocked his head over his shoulder. ‘Next floor up. Usual room.’

The subsequent few cons cleared out of his way as Jask led Phia further through the poorly lit space. A couple of males dared to eye her up as they passed, their lascivious looks causing Phia’s grip on Jask’s hand to tighten.

He glowered territorially at the cons who, fortunately for them, instantly resolved it wasn’t worth the effort.

But her anxiety was still painful. The need to reassure her, to protect her, overwhelmed him in a way that pulled him out of his own comfort zone. And he did what he knew he never should have done – he interlaced his fingers with hers and squeezed.

It felt too instinctive not to.

And to his shock, she squeezed back.

The simple act, a silent message passing between them, struck him deep. Phia clung to him in that corridor like she believed he could protect her. And he would. He would never have taken her there in the first place if he thought he couldn’t. And now that he knew he’d finally gained a little snippet of trust, he wasn’t going to let her down.

Jask ascended the stairs and took a right through a knocked-through room.

He didn’t need to look in the direction of writhing bodies amidst gasps, grunts and cruel laughter to know exactly was going on. And neither did Phia from the way she kept her head lowered. She wasn’t just uncomfortable now, she was frightened. She knew as well as he did, as well as everyone who glanced in their direction knew, that the only one standing between her and the dubious attention of each of the cons they passed, was him.

As they reached another hallway, passed unnervingly quiet rooms, shadows playing disturbingly on the walls through the ajar doors, he could hear the escalation in Phia’s heartbeat.

‘Fuck,’ she hissed under her breath as they finally entered an empty hallway.

He glanced across at her. ‘I take it you’ve never been anywhere like this before?’

‘By the looks of it, you have.’

‘A necessity sometimes.’

‘I didn’t think lycans had anything to do with the cons.’

‘Like I said – a necessity sometimes.’

‘Why do they let you just walk through here? Do they not have a problem with you being a third species?’

‘If I’m here, I’m on business. Most of them know not to interfere in that. Socially, they’d have a problem.’

He stopped outside a door and knocked on it. He unravelled his fingers from Phia’s and guided her against the wall opposite. ‘Keep it zipped,’ he warned her. ‘And leave this to me.’

Travis semi-opened the door and peered out. His hazel eyes widened as soon as he looked at Jask. He craned his neck to catch a glimpse of Phia. He raked her up and down swiftly before turning his attention back on Jask. ‘What’s up, Jask?’

‘I want to talk to you.’

A naked Travis glanced over his shoulder. ‘We’re a bit busy in here.’

And the bunched-up shirt he held over his groin told him exactly what with.

‘Do I look like I give a fuck?’ Jask asked.

Travis glanced over his shoulder again before looking back at Jask. He reached up behind the door for a key, handing it over. He indicated to the room directly opposite. ‘Give me five,’ he said, and closed the door again.

* * *

Jask pushed open the door to reveal a dark room inside. He flicked on the light, but it only ignited a handful of wall lights in the twenty-by-thirty-foot room. It wasn’t helped by the fact that the glass shades were red, adding to the sordidness – not least when the first thing Sophia saw was an unmade, metal-framed bed up against the wall to the left. The thin curtains were drawn, not that she had the feeling much light ever got in anyway.

She followed Jask to the two facing sofas in the middle of the room.

Like him, she opted for the sensible choice of the sofa facing the now closed door. She wanted to wipe down the sunken leather seat first or at least lie a towel down. Instead she perched on the edge and kept her hands in her lap as she continued looking around. ‘This place is a dive.’

‘What were you expecting?’

She could barely hold back on her lip curling in disgust as she looked over at the worn, mahogany sideboard where an array of adult toys and contraptions were cast aside. She was no prude but they made her stomach coil – the ones that she could work out the purpose of at least. ‘It had better be worth our while being here, Jask.’

As he placed his arm along the back of the small sofa, his knee touching hers, she felt her stomach tighten again.

She had to trust him. There in that den, he was the only way she was getting out. More to the point, if whatever he had planned went wrong, she wasn’t getting out at all. The reality of just how
much
she needed him made her as uncomfortable as the room itself.

‘You’d better be able to get us back out of here,’ she said, needing to vocalise it – needing to hear him say it would all be fine.

‘Not losing your nerve, are you, Phia?’ he asked, a glint of a taunt in his eyes – no doubt equally a glint of triumph at having found a weak spot.

‘I’m just saying you’d better know what you’re doing.’

He lifted the foot furthest away from her to rest it on the edge of the coffee table before leaning closer. ‘Is that because you know your serrynity isn’t going to protect you in a place like this??’

‘If he touches me, I’ll kill him.’

‘If he touches you,
I’ll
kill him,’ he said, gazing deep into her eyes.

Her stomach flipped for one time too many that night. ‘Are you planning on protecting my honour?’ she said glibly.

‘For as long as you’re useful. For as long as we’ve got a deal,’ he said, the response seeming cold compared to the look in his eyes.

The click of the door made her flinch, her full attention snapping to the con that slipped inside.

She had a proper view of Travis now as he stepped over to the sofa opposite.

He had a swagger that had never failed to irritate her in his kind. He wore nothing but an old pair of grey sweatpants that were a size too big, hanging low on his crotch. His shaved head matched the harshness of his over-exercised body – every muscle and sinew showing through his lean frame. His arms, neck and torso were littered with a multitude of tattoos – some a harsh black, some multicoloured. A naked, large-chested woman sat sensually in the centre of his abdomen, splayed for both of them to see as he stretched his arms out across the back of the sofa, a burning cigarette nestled between his thin lips.

But it was the numbers tattooed along his inner arm that gave him away.

He sniffed crudely before scanning Sophia, her skin crawling as he lingered too long for comfort. ‘Who’s the bitch?’ he asked, looking back at Jask.

Sophia’s stomach tightened, as did her throat. Her eyebrows lifted involuntarily. The turn of phrase, let alone the lascivious look is his eyes, would have, under any other circumstances, had her smacking him right in the mouth without even thinking about it. And she probably would have caused him equal damage between his splayed legs – rendering him permanently useless from the activities she had no doubt he liked to indulge in.

But she contained herself. She clenched her hands and controlled herself, taking slow and steady breaths as she counted to ten in her head.

Jask, on the other hand, hadn’t even flinched. ‘The fewer questions you ask, the better. I’m trying to get hold of Marid.’

Travis looked back at her. He scratched his stubbled chin as he examined her more closely. ‘If you’re selling, I might be interested. I’ll want to test her out first though.’

The mist kicked in before her common sense did. She lunged forward. ‘You fuh–’

But knowing her too well, Jask was quicker. He pulled her back against him, locking her arms in front of her chest, one hand firmly gripping her wrists as he slammed his other hand over her mouth.

She kicked at the table, jamming it against Travis’s knees, making him jolt to his feet, shoving the sofa back with the force.

‘Smart,’ Jask whispered curtly in her ear.

She tried to steady her breathing again, to feel the reassurance of Jask’s hold. To look at the wall instead of Travis whose very presence in the room was now enough to make her blood steam.

‘Shit,’ Travis hissed, kicking the table back into place before slamming himself back down into the middle of the sofa. Only now he wasn’t so relaxed. Now he had his legs planted firmly apart on the floor, his elbows on his knees. But when his anger had subsided he laughed – a laugh that both infuriated and unnerved her.

She counted to ten again.

‘Oh, she’ll be fun,’ he declared. ‘After I get a bit of work done on her first,’ he added, glancing at her chest.

This time she closed her eyes. She had to. She clenched her jaw and tried hard again to relax into Jask’s reassuring hold.

‘I want you to find out where he’s hanging out lately,’ Jask said. ‘But you know how it works – if I ask questions, questions get raised in return, so I need someone else to do the asking for me. You’re the man for the job, right?’

Jask loosened his grip on her slightly, but he kept his hand firmly over her mouth, clearly not trusting her not to explode again.

‘Have you been to the usual place?’ Travis asked.

‘This is a private affair. I either want to know where he is or where to meet him. And I want him to know it’ll be worth his time.’

Travis frowned, looked back at Sophia again, his eyes narrowed questioningly. ‘What are you getting me into here, Jask? Only this ain’t your style. She agency or something? Only I’m not fucking with the TSCD. You know I’m not having them sniffing around here.’

‘She’s not agency.’

Travis rubbed his stubbled jaw again, sliding his thumb and forefinger to a point at the base of his chin. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘This don’t feel right.’

‘I’m not asking you, Travis. I’m
telling
you.’

Their gazes locked long enough for Sophia to look at Jask and then back to Travis.

This was a mini-showdown. This was a con who wasn’t used to being told what to do and this was a lycan who always got his own way in the end.

But Jask had some kind of hold over him – everything about the situation told her that.

Travis sniffed again before taking a few curt inhales of his cigarette. ‘How will I get the information back to you?’

‘We’ll wait here,’ Jask said.

Her heart skipped a beat.

‘You want it done
now
?’ Travis asked.

‘I’m in a hurry.’

‘Shit, Jask. I told you – I’ve got stuff to do.’

‘And I told you I don’t give a fuck. You get the information I need, you come back here and if I’m happy with the answer you can get back to it.’

Travis shook his head but he didn’t put up an argument. ‘Fuck,’ he muttered under his breath as he stood, making his way back over to the door and semi-slamming it as he disappeared outside.

Jask immediately dropped his hand from Sophia’s mouth and let her go.

She swivelled in the seat, turning to face him again. ‘Don’t you
ever
do that again!’ she warned. ‘Silencing me like the little woman.’

‘As opposed to what? Drag you off him? You overreacted.’

‘Did you hear what he said? Did you see the way he looked at me?’

‘For someone who works the streets, you make some stupid choices sometimes.’

‘Stupid?’ she asked, narrowing her eyes. ‘Did you just call me stupid?’

‘I said your
choice
was. What happened to the smart and strategic Phia? It’s about thinking three steps ahead. It’s about not reacting to every little thing. It’s about being selective and keeping your eye on the goal. He would have expected me to contain you – either that or allow him free liberty to deal with you the way
he
chose. Is that what you wanted?’

‘I would have shown him
exactly
what I’d thought.’