Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 66978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
My childhood sucked. I was beaten, locked in closets, told what a piece of shit I was on the daily. Rarely did I get enough to eat.
Life on the island? It sucked too, but at least I was fed. They kept us fed well, because we needed to be strong.
We needed to be worthy prey.
That’s what those men paid for.
They wanted to hunt us, like animals. It was a game to them. Once they caught us, they could feel like big strong masculine guys because they had captured worthy prey.
Most of the women there didn’t understand me. Hell, why should they? They all came from great backgrounds, decent childhoods. Maybe not perfect childhoods, but were they beaten? Starved for days on end? Locked in closets? Forced to—
I shake my head, refusing to let the words dig into my mind.
I’m trying to work through this stuff, deal with it, but there are still things I can’t think about.
I live in the subsidized housing that the Wolfe family put together for us, and I listen, during group therapy, to the other women talk. Lily is here—Tiger Eye from the island—and Katelyn and Aspen have already left. But some new women have arrived—Francine known as Peridot, Marianne known as Pearl, and of course, Brindley.
Smoky herself.
I look at the words on the text again.
I don’t know Smoky’s background. She only arrived at the building a week ago, but she started texting me right away.
Right when I was breaking through, making progress.
Feeling that maybe I didn’t deserve to be taken to that island.
Maybe I didn’t deserve the horrible abuse I suffered as a child.
Maybe I’m better than all of that.
Then here comes Brindley, telling me I’m not.
I stuff my phone into my small purse and leave my apartment. I’m going over to the office building to talk to Reid and Rock Wolfe.
I want to put an end to this once and for all.
3
LEIF
The door to the conference room crashes open.
“Ma’am, please!”
A young woman with reddish-brown hair pulled back in a high ponytail crashes into the room. She’s wearing baggy jeans cinched at the waist with a leather belt and a tight T-shirt that shows a sliver of her belly.
Rock rises to his feet. “Danielle, what the hell is going on?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Wolfe. I tried to stop her. I’ve alerted security.”
Reid rises, shakes his head. “It’s all right. Buck, Leif, Aspen, this is Kelly Taylor.”
A look of recognition crosses Aspen’s fine features. “Hi, Kelly.”
Kelly clears her throat. “Garnet. Sorry, I mean Aspen. I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Thank you.”
The two women are speaking in a weird robotic tone. I get the feeling they don’t like each other. Not at all.
That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, given they were in the same boat on the island.
“Ms. Taylor,” Rock says. “What can we do for you?”
Kelly pulls the phone out of her purse and shoves it in Rock’s face. “I got another one. From Brindley.”
“Brindley?” Aspen asks.
“Smoky from the island. Smoky Quartz.” Kelly’s voice is tinny.
“Right.” Aspen nods. “She wasn’t there for very long, was she?”
“About six months before we were rescued,” Kelly says.
Rock takes the phone from Kelly and studies it. “And you’re sure these texts are coming from her?”
“She all but admitted as much.”
“This isn’t the phone number we have registered for her.”
Kelly grabs the phone out of Rock’s hand and glares at the screen. “So? She bought her own phone.”
“This is a new number,” Rock says. “We’ll trace it, but I’m pretty sure we’ll find the same thing. That it’s untraceable. From a burner.”
“Where would she be getting burners?” Aspen asks.
“Anywhere,” I say. “The question is, where is she getting the money for the burners?”
“We give the ladies a pretty nice allowance,” Reid says. “It’s the least we can do.”
“Who are these guys?” Kelly glares at Buck and me.
But man, even with the glare? She’s got to be one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’ve always been a sucker for a redhead, and her hair is a nice auburn, just red enough to make my dick react.
Plus, she’s got a tight-ass body. Just that little sliver of belly shows me how tight and muscled she is.
I love women who are in shape. I met a lot of them in the Armed Forces, and that’s what I go for. Same for Buck, which is clearly why he went for Aspen.
I can’t help but think about why Kelly and Aspen are in shape, though. They were… Ugh. I still can’t go there.
And damn, they are beautiful.
Especially Kelly Taylor.
A spitfire too. A personality that goes with that red hair.
I’m not Buck, though. I’m not going to fall for a woman with so much baggage. I don’t even like to think about what they went through on that island because then I have to think about what Buck and I have been through. How he and I were the only ones who came home from that last tour. He and I voluntarily joined the Navy, though.