“That’s the only thing I feel good about. My gut throughout this entire job said the man worked alone. He got info and he bought talent to do their thing with the girls but this is not a man who inspires loyalty. Knight’s business is f**ked. He shouldn’t be doin’ it but before I took this job, I looked into him and got nothing back but respect. Even know some cops on the DPD who had good words to say, no f**kin’ joke. So, regardless that he does it, I couldn’t sniff out one single enemy, outside Nair.”

“Knight shouldn’t be doing it?” I asked and my tone made him focus more intently on me.

“I get you,” he said gently. “And I’ll say, straight up, in my job with the clients I take, I cross a lotta lines so I am far from squeaky clean. But there is no denying what Knight Sebring does outside that club is not okay.”

“I disagree,” I retorted and his arm around my back gave me a squeeze.

“I know you do, Sylvie. I know why you do. But now you know that I disagree with you.”

“Do we have a problem with this?” I asked and he shook his head against the pillows.

“Nope. Your life, your job, your choices. I fit into that life; I don’t bend it to my will. Same goes for you with me. We got issues along the way, we discuss and maybe agree to disagree. But if I accept you have reasons for making the decisions you make and vice versa, we’ll be cool.”

That was the right answer so I nodded and my body relaxed.

His arm gave me another squeeze.

“Do you know why Knight does it?” he asked.

“No. He hasn’t shared and I don’t care. He does it. He doesn’t f**k around. He’s committed and, honestly, Creed, this shit rarely happens. So he’s good at what he does, whether you agree with it or not.”

“Right,” he muttered and I braced again when his eyes went back to intent. “That visit to Serena, baby, before we came home, she wants out. The girls want out, you should help them and so should Knight.”

“We do,” I told him and continued. “And I will. So will Knight. He’ll pay to make her physically healthy again, the girls will work with her to help her get over what happened or learn to live with it then he’ll work to pave her way in another life. She’ll be okay.”

His eyes got more intent and his arm tightened so I kept braced when he carried on.

“Just throwin’ this out there but, the new ones come in, you should counsel them to different ways of goin’ about life.”

“I thought you accepted I had reasons for making the decisions I make?” I asked.

“I do. I also told you, we had issues along the way, we discuss them. And a woman finds herself in the position to approach Knight in order to have protection so she can sell her body, Sylvie, he or you should do what you can to show her another way before you take her on. It’s the right thing to do.”

“Okay, I get you,” I told him. “And, you may not know this but he does that already. I cannot say that he expends a lot of effort and there is no doubt he could make more of one but he doesn’t just set them up. Sometimes they feel there are no other ways.”

He shook his head and his arm came up, fingers sifting in my hair so he could pull my head closer to his.

“I had all access, Sylvie, demand that shit when I take a client and Serena was hookin’ to pay for art school. Can you tell me there’s no other way?”

“She’s twenty-five, Creed. She can also make life choices.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Fuck.

“Okay,” I gave in. “That was whacked.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“All the girls don’t have reasons like that, Creed.”

“Maybe not but sometimes shit in life can make you blind to choices you don’t know that you have. You and Sebring really wanna look after those girls, you help them open their eyes before they sell their bodies. Talk to him about making more of an effort.”

“You know, you annoy me when you make sense,” I shared and his face lost its intensity when he grinned.

“Not much I can do about that, baby.” His fingers twisted gently in my hair. “You gonna talk to him?”

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“Be convincing,” he ordered.

I rolled my eyes.

He kept being bossy.

“Now kiss me.”

“No.”

His brows went up. “No?”

“I’m not in the mood to kiss.”

“What are you in the mood for?”

“I’m in the mood to suck you off.”

His face got lazy and I got even more in the mood to suck him off.

“Want my mouth in your cunt while you do that,” he growled.

“This would not be a hardship,” I muttered.

“Top or bottom?” he asked.

“Top,” I answered.

His hand slid down my back and lightly smacked my ass. “Bathroom. Want you clean when I eat you. Then come back, climb on and give me that pu**y.”

It was then I suspected my face got lazy.

Then I dropped my head and kissed his throat. Down, I kissed his chest.

Then I dashed to the bathroom, cleaned up, dashed back, climbed on, gave him my pu**y and took his cock.

Again, it was fabulous.

Chapter Fourteen

Finally

A warm summer day in Kentucky, seventeen years earlier, Creed is twenty-two, Sylvie is seventeen …

I was pacing the pier, my tanned, bare feet pounding against the wooden planks. I was dashing my fingers across my wet cheeks when I felt him and I whirled.

He was jogging through the grass wearing his usual old faded Levi’s and a tee. I could see his beat up pickup through the trees parked up on the lane.

I took off running down the pier, through the grass and I didn’t stop even as I felt his blue eyes move over me, his face harsh with worry. His arms started to swing wide and he stopped jogging just in time to brace when I hit him going full-tilt.

Those arms closed tight around me.

“Sylvie, baby, what the f**k?” he muttered in the top of my hair.

“Kah… Kah… Kah… Creed,” I blubbered, pressing deep into him, my arms also wrapped around him tight.

When I didn’t go on, he demanded, “Talk to me. I got your message. Got here as soon as I could. What happened?”

“Bah… Bah… Bootsie,” I wailed and my body shook with my sobs.

“Oh f**k,” he murmured.

“She dah… dah… died!” I bawled.