Across the desk, Maslow was practically purring. “Thank you for your honesty, baby boy,” he told Zephyr. “You can go. We’ll catch up later.”
Zephyr stood, a little shaky, but I stretched out my arm to block his exit.
“Stay,” I said, then cursed the way I sounded like a dog trainer myself.
He hesitated, visibly torn, and the guilt of realization churned in my gut.
I left him like this. I allowed this.
In the silence, Maslow growled. “Don’t go forcing my boy to choose his master. I don’t think you’ll like what he decides.”
I whirled toward the wraith. “Does he have a choice? I don’t see it.”
Maslow’s lips took on a wicked curve. “Of course, you’d recognize a deal.”
“A shitty one,” I retorted. “What does he owe you?”
“Gratitude,” Maslow replied, going for innocent and missing by a mile.
So I corrected him. “Servitude.”
I knew this game. Maslow was trafficking demons straight out of Hell, trading a life topside for indentured work in this club—and the next.
Not if I could help it.
Zephyr settled back into his seat, seemingly less making a choice and more not trusting his legs to hold him. He’d barely sat down when Maslow targeted him with another pointed finger.
“Don’t get sentimental because he makes your dick hard.” The wraith’s finger was pointed at Zephyr, but his scorn was for me. “He’s livestock. They all are. I move them in, house them, feed them, and they get to stay as long as I see fit.”
My blood boiled, and my glamor threatened to fail again. I was smaller in this human body. I looked weaker, but the primal part of me wanted to remind Maslow who was the lesser being in this room.
“It’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be,” the wraith continued. “Like I said, there’s a line of sinners queued through all seven layers of Hades waiting for the opportunity I give. They love it here.”
“Do they?” I edged closer to his desk until I was pressedagainst it, looming over where he sat like a bloated king sunk deep in his throne. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks more like a cage. Are you sure they’re not just playing along because they don’t have a way out?”
Can’t leave the club, Zephyr told me. No farther than the parking lot.
I could open the door. Hell, I’dbeenopening the damn door for Zephyr for weeks, and I wanted nothing more than to kick it wide and leave it that way. Steal him away from this place. Give him the world that looked so much grander through his eyes.
Maslow still hadn’t tallied the cost of my transgressions, but that was fine because I had the feeling he was about to add a couple of zeros for my next request.
“Tell you what.” I tapped my money clip against the desk. “While you’re tallying up my tab, why don’t you also figure out what it’ll cost to let Zephyr walk out of here with me—for the day?”
Behind me, Zephyr sucked a sharp breath while the wraith frowned like he didn’t understand the question. I thought it was pretty fucking clear.
“Just today?” Maslow asked.
“And tonight,” I added. “I’ll bring him back tomorrow.”
I stepped back and watched the wheels turn. He said he wanted more than money from me, but there wasn’t a thing in Hell or on Earth that couldn’t be given a price tag.
“Let’s see,” the wraith mused. He pulled a ledger book out of his desk drawer along with a pen, then he started scribbling notes. “How many fucks do you think you could fit in twenty-four hours?”
“Just give me a number,” I growled.
Maslow paused in his writing and glanced at me without raising his head. “You know, Fairmont might beworth twenty-four hours. Hell, you could have my little spider for the weekend. Rub your dick raw in his tight ass. I bet he feels like a dream.” The words oozed out, slimy enough to make me cringe.
I slid over, positioning my body between the wraith and where Zephyr sat. Becoming a shield between my incubus and Maslow’s verbal barbs. I wanted to protect him. Needed to.
