Diamond (11 page)

Nadya stepped out of the bath, her feet slapping against the chilled floor as she stood still. Both women in the room eyed her from head to toe. The woman with the brown eyes threw a towel at her and told her she could only pat herself dry. Some sort of sealant had been applied to her skin in order to make the ink permanent. The towel managed to remove more dead skin. It would only work to her advantage. Diamond did say he wanted her clean. A memory of a porcelain tub filled with hot soapy water played out in her mind. She had been twelve, and trying to explain to a woman who may have been her mother that she was dying because the bath was taking her skin off. Nadya shook the memory away. She became frustrated when her mind would remember the littlest things. It was the bigger things she needed to remember. But couldn’t. Like who she was, where she came from. Not some memory of when she was small and worried about dead skin.

“What’s going on?”

“You’re being prepared,” was the woman’s answer.

“Do you know what I’m being prepared for?”

“For Diamond, of course.” Short and to the point. Nadya found she was getting more and more irritated by the second. Somewhere out in the city she now called home, Anna and Dominika were suffering. Waiting on her to come through for them. They’d been so trusting, so sure she’d do what she promised. But what if she couldn’t?

The muscles in her body tightened with anger. Her skin’s temperature rose to an uncomfortable level and she knew it was evident in her cheeks. Why would Diamond want her prepared for him? The deal was that he’d find her a patron, someone to sponsor her and her family? He should have already asked her for the location of Anna and Dominika and sent out his guards to go and retrieve them.

“Turn around, I need to see what size clothing to put you in,” the other girl said. She had bright purple braids and a scar underneath her left eye. Around her neck were several metal rings. You could barely see her flesh between the rings, and her neck looked longer than the average person’s.

Nadya turned around in a complete circle at her request.

“He doesn’t want clothing.”

“Collared, then?”

The girl with the pink hair nodded thoughtfully before walking out of the room and leaving Nadya with the other female.

“Is there a reason that I don’t get to wear clothes?” Nadya inquired.

“We don’t question Diamond. I’ve been here for a long time, and the last
virgin
he trained fell in love with him. Things didn’t work out so great for her.”

Well, she wasn’t like the last girl, and she definitely wasn’t interested in Lavarious Diamond. Not in that way. He was a means to an end. She’d do what she needed to do in order to secure a patron for Anna and her daughter. Diamond saw her as his possession. A thing to get whatever it was he wanted. She was to be used for profit. He’d made his desires very clear, and if he thought for even a moment she’d fall for him, he was wrong.

“That won’t be a problem. What kind of training.”

“Depends.”

The door swung open and Diamond walked in with Emerald and Lindy.

“Change of plans,” he snapped. “The girl needs street clothes, and I want her to have at least a knife. We’re going out.”

“Out? Why are we going out?” Nadya questioned. Why did they need to leave the Quarry? Something must have gone wrong. The hair on her arms stood on end. It was a clear sign bad things were about to happen.

“Amethyst is busy at the moment. Lindy wasn’t able to catch up with her, so we’re heading out to Inwood to retrieve your mother and your sister. But if they hold no value to me, I don’t care if you have a hundred patrons lined up and ready to sponsor your pussy and your family. They will not have the protection of the Quarry, and you will not only owe me, you will be permanently employed with no chance of release.”

There were words she wanted to say but couldn’t because her mind had gone completely blank. Diamond believed he would own her. She could see it in the way his eyes tracked her movements. Who the fuck did he think he was? She was so having that heart to heart with him. Soon. It wouldn’t happen yet, she had to stick to her plan—get Anna and Dominika a patron. But after, she could go about her business of systematically taking down the Towers one building at a time, saving the Quarry for last. It was the only lasting memory she had. A directive. Take out the Towers. She didn’t know why, but it kept her moving forward.

“I didn’t agree to those terms.”

The air in the room changed temperature with his attitude. Diamond’s eyes narrowed. Nadya was aware she had nothing to protect herself with. She wasn’t weak by any stretch of the imagination, but Diamond didn’t know that. He didn’t need to know that. But if she had to defend herself, she’d take his ass out now and deal with the repercussions after.

“Never asked you to agree to anything. You came to me, not the other way around. I already explained this once, and only because you’re new, I’ll explain it one more time. I get what I want, or you can turn your ass around and beat feet back to Inwood. My job is to turn a profit, not run a family institution complete with pick-up service. Any other girl that came in here with that sad sob story would have been out on their ass faster than you could say, ‘I remember when corn tasted like sunshine.’”

Corn tastes like sunshine?
Huh?

Diamond’s eyes traveled the length of her body. Slow at first. If she didn’t know better, she would have assumed it was lust she saw in the depths. It wasn’t. Diamond was exploring his investment, making plans for her body. His eyes roamed from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. Nadya realized she was only wearing a towel. It barely covered her chest and the thatch of hair between her thighs. The lower portion of her new ink was on full display. His eyes lingered there the most. Something warm slivered around her waist and squeezed. She didn’t know what the feeling was, but she didn’t like it. It was foreign and awakened her nerve endings with a jolt of electricity.

“Nordas, get her some street clothes.”

“Right. She’s petite but muscular. I think we have something to fit her.”

“I want her in boots too, no heel.”

“Got it.”

Nordas, who was the girl with the pink hair, nodded and left to find Nadya some clothes that matched Diamond’s description. All they needed to do was give her back what she’d come in with and she’d be fine.

“What about what I wore here?”

“Burned. It was infested, I’m surprised you’re not diseased-looking under all that dirt. You have a few scars and bruising, but that seems to be it. What do the symbols on your hips mean?”

Nadya didn’t have an answer for him. Not one he’d want to hear. Instead of the truth, she lied.

“Just some ink I had done a few years back.”

“That’s not like any ink I’ve ever seen before. Looks like part of your skin, and it shimmers like gold.”

It did? She’d never noticed.

“Got it in Tribeca from some Bionic. He said it was all the rage.”

Nadya changed the subject. He knew she was lying, but he didn’t call her on it.

“What about weapons?”

“What about them?”

“We’ll need some if we’re going out there. I know around here you think everything is safe and secure. Out there, well, it’s a completely different ballgame.”

“Lady, do you know who the fuck I am?” He waited a beat before continuing his man-speech, and Nadya would have napped if she could. She knew full well who he was, but she didn’t think he understood what was really out there. He hadn’t surveyed his self-proclaimed kingdom in some months. Shit was bad. Ragers roamed the night. Not in full attack mode, sure, but they were organized now, tactful. Attia’s people were out there searching for her. Nadya knew they were, and hoped like hell they hadn’t gotten ahold of Anna and Dominika. There were Gearheads, and people on the verge of going Rage. If you added in the inner-city gangs, Diamond’s city had long ago skipped the out-of-control stage, diving headfirst into chaos. There wasn’t a guarantee any of them would come back alive. Not if they weren’t prepared, and especially if she wasn’t properly armed with weapons. “I’m Lavarious Diamond, we’re going armed up. Not even an hour ago, a bitch tried to blow my ass up. I’d be a fool to think I can go out there and shit not happen.”

Well, at least he was smart. She hoped.

“I’ll need a weapon, as well.”

“You’ll only get a knife. A small one at that. I’m your weapon. Lip and Lindy will be my weapon, and so help me, woman, you even think about running off or trying to play who’s the better fighter while we’re out there, I’ll take your pinky finger. Get me?”

That’s it? A pinky?

“Why the pinky? Why not the whole damn hand?”

Emerald choked on his laughter, trying to hold it in. Nadya decided right then that she liked the large male.

Diamond’s eyes narrowed into slits. He may have even been trying to hide a smile. She could see the laughter in his eyes, but he refused the emotion. Diamond was like an android, life-like in many ways, but when it came to emotions, mechanical and forced. Maybe he didn’t want people to think he had a sense of humor. Or, she was reading way too much into his persona. She was kind of hoping it wasn’t the latter, because if it were, it meant he was dead serious. He’d cut off her pinky if she tried anything he felt was in direct violation of what he ordered.

“Shut up and get dressed.”

Emerald winked at her before leaving.

Lindy smirked but otherwise kept her mouth shut. And then she left, too.

After one last look, Diamond left as well, leaving her with Nordas and the girl with the purple braids.

“Love it when he goes all dark and moody,” Nordas said while handing Nadya some clothes.

“Why is that?” Nadya asked.

“Because, if you’re lucky—which you’re not, at least not right now—he’ll fuck you until you can’t walk. That’s how he works the aggression out of his system. Takes one of us and gives it to us so good and so dirty, we’re literally able to take two days to ourselves. Two whole days of just rest and relaxation from all things.”

“Oh.”

Nadya didn’t know exactly how to feel about the woman’s comment. On the one hand, she’d rather it be one of them than her. But she wondered what would it be like to be used that hard and then be allowed to rest, really rest for two whole days? Her ribcage constricted from the sharp intake of breath at the thought. She wasn’t into any man like that, not even if she was faking it. The act of sex was just that, an act. Two people slamming together repeatedly in a rut was not her idea of a good time.

Her only goal was securing a patron who would sponsor her family. Her method may not be one she liked, but it was better than the alternative. She wanted Anna and her daughter inside the Quarry walls. Diamond only wanted her for what he could get out of her, and that was okay with her, because she wanted something from him, as well. They were both using each other for their own personal gain. She didn’t trust that Diamond would honor their arrangement. Attia was coming, but she was the least of Nadya’s worries. Something more menacing was headed their way, and if she didn’t follow through with her initial plan to take down the towers, things would end up backfiring. The world itself would be flipped on its axis. That one lingering memory kept her moving forward. She’d been waylaid, but now, things were progressing much faster than she’d anticipated.
You’re running out of time.
The voice inside her head reminded Nadya. It was something she already knew. She’d been stagnant for too long. It was time to take action. Move pieces into their proper place.

Nadya didn’t know how she knew, but the warning in her gut was real. She trusted her instincts, had learned a long time ago, her internal alarm bells would never lead her astray. Something deep down inside told her she’d suffered horribly at the hands of a person whose idea of a good time was torture and bloodshed, and all because she’d done the opposite of what her gut had warned her about. She wasn’t one to repeat past mistakes.

The clothes he’d outfitted her with were more than acceptable. Better than what she’d come in with. Nordas had given her a pair of leather boots that actually fit, and a pair of socks. Pants that fit so tightly, they felt like a part of her skin. Her top was tight-knit and covered her from neck to wrists. There was a zipper at the left side of her shirt that went from beneath her armpit to the bottom hem of the shirt and attached to her pants. Nadya was given another hooded wrap, this one made of metal mesh that was surprisingly lightweight. Lastly, a pair of black gloves. Her entire outfit was black, with the exception of the metal mesh, which was silver. The wrap would not only cover her head but her face, as well. She was even given a pair of goggles. Nordas said it would help with seeing at night. She had no problems seeing in the dark but took them anyway.

She’d been informed that they weren’t leaving until dawn. It was a smart move, but a costly one. There was no telling if her family would still be where she’d left them when they finally made it to their destination. Nadya’s stomach growled. She was still hungry. She realized she hadn’t eaten anything for days before coming to the Quarry. Her last meal had consisted of a less than desirable bowl of tree bark and beetle grub Dominika had found. No one should have to eat that shit, but it was either that or people, and she refused to eat people.