Desire (44 page)

“Take another one, Isaac,” Glory says soothingly. She sounds so far away. “Breathe.”

At least I didn’t topple out of my chair. My silver vial is in my hand, but it’s empty. I think there were three left when we came back here and getting through a blowjob from my stepmother was my biggest problem. “I can’t take anymore today.”

“Then have a drink.”

“Are you fucking insane? I
can’t
. I just have to deal with it.”

Gloria pops a pill from her own
identical silver vial. How the fuck did I forget that she’s the one that gave me mine all those years ago? I can’t believe I’ve been carrying it around this whole time. I let Maya touch it. “Then I’m sure you have a lot to fucking deal with.”

“Not as much as you’re insinuating, Gloria,” I s
narl. “I can’t believe you fucking thought that I was… involved in that shit.”

“You are involved.”

“Not like that. I like them bratty, you know how I am. The empty, extremely compliant ones… that’s not my type.
Wasn’t
my type. I never played with them. And I certainly never worked with them because Dolls don’t need to be rewarded and they definitely don’t need to be trained. I see them around. The only time I’ve ever…” Shit. Sloane. Holy shit, I need to get in touch with Sloane.

“The only ones you fuck are the ones you bring to Sloane
?”

“Most of them aren’t…”

“But a few of them are. And she doesn’t just rehome them with a Mr. Nice Dom like Roger. She takes them to the fucking police. I’m not the only important woman in your life that thinks there’s a possibility you’re capable of this, Isaac.”

“Wait a second, are you saying… what are you fucking saying?”

“Who convinced you to start this little side project? Sloane?”

“No. It was m
y idea. I overheard a few of the girls laughing about what happened to another one that ended up on the street with some fucking pimp because the call girl services didn’t want her and she couldn’t cut it as a stripper. Some of them are just too fucked up. I thought they’d have a chance on Sloane’s side of the tracks.”

“And think back, really hard. Have you ever seen
Sloane touch one of
those
girls?”

“No. They were straight. There were only three.”

“Well, those
Dolls
won’t say a single word about you, Isaac. Not a single fucking word. That does not look good.”

“The only time I’ve ever done that… I swear to God, those girls came on to me after we…
They wanted to. They weren’t scared of me. I made sure they liked it, that’s why I did it.”

“You really did that whole pretend girlfriend thing, did
n’t you?”

“Yes
, and I’m not fucking ashamed for wanting what I want. You’re the one that fucking taught me that,” I snap. “So stop feeling sorry for me and looking at me like there’s something wrong with me just because it’s not the same thing you fucking want.”

“I’m
sorry
. There’s nothing wrong with you and honestly, I think it’s… sweet,” she says, doing her best to control her disdain for anything remotely romantic or emotional. Glory is a lot more fucked in the head than I’ll ever be.

“Well, thanks
, but that’s not what I did with those three. It was basically a very long aftercare session. Sessions,” I correct myself. “I just wanted to help them figure out how to be normal, but it was the blind leading the fucking blind. All I wanted to do was show them that it doesn’t have to be horrible every time someone put his hands on them. It was a long process.”

“
That’s a very gray area, Isaac. You will have to give them something more than a story about how nice you were trying to be when you shoved your dick in a literal sex slave.”

“But I don’t know anything. He keeps me away from that scene, he always has. I have no fucking idea how they get here, where they come from, how many there are.
I can’t think of anything. If I do see something suspicious, I stop fucking looking in that direction. I can’t fucking handle it. I just block it out.”

“Well, I hope som
ething comes back to you, Isaac. I really do. Because if it doesn’t, you have a
big
fucking problem.”

“
Is there such a thing as a little fucking problem?”

“Not for people like you, honey,
” she whispers.

“Fuck,” I sigh, sinking my face into my hands. Since we’re rocking my world with horrible revelations, we m
ight as well talk about how she knows Maya. I’m about to ask her when my phone vibrates. I guess I don’t have to hide it anymore. Glory’s eyes narrow when I pull a burner she’s never seen before out of my pocket.

“Isaac, we fucked up,” Jace says before I can answer.

“What?”

“We fucked up. He got in.”

This isn’t happening. “What the hell do you mean?”

“Luke snuck in
to her room. I don’t know how we missed him.”

“What did he do to her?”

“Isaac…”

“
What the fuck did he do?
” I scream, leaping out of my seat, barely noticing the look of horror that creeps across Glory’s face. “Is
M
aya okay?”

“No,”
Jace chokes, breathing heavily. “No, she’s not okay. I’m so fucking sorry.”

********

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