Page 29 of Caging Liberty
“From the chat site,” she says, irritation growing. “The one he used to extract every intimate detail about me before plucking me from my life.”
My hand, lightly lingering on her chin, tenses. Slowly, I pull away, no intention of responding.
“How does it work exactly?” she asks. “Does he talk to a bunch of different women, weeding through them until he finds one he thinks will make a good fit?”
Yeah, pretty much.
Her nostrils flare, and I put my hand on her knee. Her eyes instantly dart to it.
“You’re getting worked up again.” I slowly draw my hand back. “Take a breath.”
“Just answer me,” she demands.
I hesitate but end up sighing with resignation. “Yes, that’s how it works. And yes, I’ve seen some of your messages.”
Her eyes remain constricted, but her stony expression cracks. She wasn’t expecting me to say that.
“Breathe,” I say, reaching out again. She jerks her knee away when I touch it. “If you need to be angry, be angry. But stop letting it get you into trouble. Get your emotions under control so you can get to the women who understand what you’re going through. Then you can talk to them.”
“What if I never make it that far?”
I pause for a moment. “What do you mean?”
“You act like a good attitude is going to be enough for Sawyer to let me out of this room. Julio made it perfectly clear that isn’t the case.”
“You think you have to have sex with someone before you’ll be let out?” I ask with fake skepticism. In reality, that’s exactly what Sawyer will want. He’s careful about managing good behavior amongst the women, and a spirited woman like Lib would no doubt create chaos. He won’t allow Lib to be with the others until he feels she’s properly broken in. She’ll need toproveshe’s going to obey. Not just say it.
I don’t see that happening.
Lib doesn’t humor me with a response.
“What if I told you I knew a way you could be out of here tonight?”
The bridge of her nose wrinkles as she glares at me.
“Not by letting me fuck you.”
Her glare softens but doesn’t let up fully. “How?”
I glance around the room until I find the closet. I stand and walk to it, hoping Sawyer stocked it instead of just giving Lib one set of clothes. I open the door and am relieved when I see a few items, one of which will work perfectly.
I take the gold, sequin dress off the hanger and walk it over to Lib. She stares at me suspiciously, and when I lay the dress on the bed, she glances between it and me.
“Put it on,” I say.
“Why?”
“Because I want you to come to the playroom with me.”
“Thewhat?”
“Just trust me.”
She stares at me like she’s trying to see inside my soul while I wait for her to come to the obvious conclusion. If I wanted to fuck her over, I wouldn’t need to trick her to do it.
“Why would I trust you?” she asks.
Because I’m willing to kill for you.