His brow creases. “I’m not following.”
“I asked you this before, but you blew me off. I want the truth this time. What happened between you and Gia because I know something did.”
He turns to face me. “I don’t kiss and tell, man. You know that.”
“She’s important to me.”
“We all see that, and I’m really happy for you, Joshua. She’s perfect for you, and you don’t need to worry about the past. It wasn’t serious, but you should still ask her. It’s her place to tell you, not mine.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Gia
“Leave them, and get over here,” Liam demands as I move to take our plates away. He cleared his dinner while I just moved my chicken and pasta around the plate. Despite a stern inner talk, I’m on edge. I hate being here. I hate even looking at his gloating face. I hate playing the mute docile girlfriend. And I especially hate how he’s been pawing at me all night.
I feel sick as I plaster a smile on my face and walk over to his side of the table.
“Show me your tits.” He levels me with a challenging look as acid churns in my stomach.
Lifting shaking hands to the straps on my dress, I pray the diphenhydramine kicks in soon. I put 150 milligrams into his beer twenty minutes ago. It’s double the recommended dose, but Liam is a big guy, and I figure he’d need more than the average person. I want to ensure the sleeping aid knocks him out long enough for me to search his place thoroughly and pretend like I was sleeping beside him all night.
I was sorely tempted to give him an overdose and rid the world of him, but unfortunately, we need the creep. Joshuaupdated me on the meeting, confirming the board wants me to continue. I was mad when he told me he asked them to extract me, but it wasn’t for long. At least he was honest about it, and I know his motives were purely coming from a protective place. Although I’m not happy he tried to undermine me, it shows he cares, and that means a lot.
My mouth is dry, and my palms are sweaty as I lower the straps of my dress and my bra, exposing my chest to his leering gaze.
“Fuck, these are incredible,” Liam says, flicking his fingers at my nipples. He tweaks and rubs them until they stiffen, and I feel another part of me die inside. “Lean down. I want to suck on them,” he says, ensuring my mortification is complete. I hate that Joshua is listening to this. He’s having a hard time with me being here tonight, and I promised him I wouldn’t shut off the audio no matter what.
I zone out as Liam sucks and bites my breasts, tugging painfully on my nipples.
He pulls his mouth back and peers intensely at me. “Hmm. I’m not sure you’ve learned your lesson yet.” His conniving expression sends icicles crawling up my spine. “On your knees, whore.”
I hold my head up as I lower to my knees and reach for his zipper, panicking that I didn’t give him enough sleeping liquid. Shouldn’t he be sleepy by now? I swallow back bile as I pull his limp dick from his pants. He’s soft and floppy, like jelly in my hand. I stroke him a few times before he shoves my head down over him. I almost gag on his disgusting shaft, but I visualize all the ways I’m going to make him pay before I kill him, and it helps. Sucking his cock doesn’t induce an erection either, and I’m guessing it’s a side effect of the medicine.
“You’re fucking defective,” he snarls, slurring his words a little as he slaps me away and tucks his flaccid cock back in his pants. “You can’t even make me hard.”
How the fuck am I the defective one?
He wraps his hands around my throat, but there is no strength to his touch, and I know he’s got to be close. I need to get him to his room.
“Baby, come to bed. Let’s get naked, and I’ll get you really hard.”
“You better.” He releases my throat, grabbing my hand and yanking me toward his bedroom with a frown. He sways a little in the hallway. “What the fuck?” he says over a yawn.
“Which one is yours?” I ask, pretending like I don’t know.
“Stop talking.” He pulls me into his room. “Less talking, more fucking.” He flops down on the bed on his back, beckoning me forward with his fingers. Another yawn escapes his mouth as his eyes struggle to remain open.
Thank fucking God.
I saunter toward him sexily, smiling as I shimmy my dress down my body, leaving me in only my lace panties. Crawling up the bed, I grin as his eyes open and close. I untie his shoes and remove his socks, hiding my grimace at the strong smell emanating from his feet. Ugh. His toes are hairy and oddly shaped, and his feet are all veiny, which I know is a sign of health, but his feet are seriously gross. Grabbing his pants, I unzip them and yank them down along with his boxers.
A snore rips from his lips, and when I look up, he’s completely conked out. I slump on the bed beside him for a few minutes, staring up at the ceiling, thanking whoever invented that drug for its existence. Then I spring into action. Removing his shirt is a bit of an ordeal, but I finally manage to get it off him. I take pics of him naked before I shove him under the covers. You never know when it might come in handy.
Checking he’s out for the count, I scan his apartment for cameras with the device Joshua procured for me. None show up, which is a relief. Then, I begin a thorough inspection, starting with the kitchen and ending back in the bedroom. Using another gadget Joshua gave me, I crack the code to his safe and open it. But the contents are disappointing. There are a few bundles of cash, some watches, and the deeds to a house in Boston along with a couple of fake passports and driver’s licenses. I take copies of everything and immediately send them to the cloud so the team has access to them.
I go through his closet, his drawers, and bedside tables again, growing frustrated I have found nothing of use. If he’s storing everything at the bar, I can’t see how I’ll ever be left alone there to get my hands on it. I’m lost in thought as I rummage through the second bedside table, and I almost miss it.
My eyes flit back to the small silver cylindrical object, and my breath hitches as I stare at it. “No way,” I whisper, staring at what appears to be one of our tracking chips. How did Liam get his hands on this, and why does he have it? My mind churns with ideas as I take pictures of it, making sure to zoom in on the numbers on the underside. Each number corresponds to an individual chip, so if this was an active one, we’ll be able to identify where it came from.
