My eyes drifted down to the best used options I could pull together from the choices I had. Yeah, I was still wearingthe donated remnants of other women’s wardrobes. It was an embarrassing reminder of how transient my life had become.
“Sorry if you’re embarrassed because the woman you bought doesn’t look top shelf. If I ever get paid for tending bar, I’ll be sure to buy trashy booty shorts and belly shirts first thing, so I’ll fit into my new lifestyle.”
His brow creased into a deep frown. “I traded for you. No fuckin’ money changed hands.”
“That doesn’t make me any less owned though, does it?”
Fuse cursed under his breath like he had a habit of doing, while I waited for him to get his mess together. I knew the minute the finger came out and pointed at me that he was about to lay down the law. I’d seen it too many times already. And not just with me. He did it when dressing down the prospects too.
He started with, “You listen…”
I jabbed my finger right back at him, “No. You listen to me. You fuckin’ bought me, whether with money, or favors I don’t care. Don’t do shady shit and then try to lie about it. I was there, remember? I saw what went down firsthand.”
His hand dropped to the table, beside his plate. He stared at me for a minute, looking none too happy. In fact, he looked exasperated and miserable.
“I’m not tryin’ to say I didn’t buy you. I’m tryin’ to say that I don’t fuckin’ own you.”
“Yet you won’t let me leave the clubhouse. If you can control my movement, how does that make me free? I want to know how you’re justifying that in your own mind?”
“I already told you that I took you so you didn’t end up somewhere worse. What I didn’t say is that you’re not fully paid for until the favors are completed. You still belong to Viper. If he or one of his men caught you out in the community, they’d just pick up what they see as their property.”
I hadn’t thought of that. I assumed that since I was here, then the Slayers owned me, even if they’d struck up some deal. My hands began to tremble, because being back with Viper and no door that locks is the last thing in the world I wanted. “You think he’d really pick me up again?”
“Of course. You’re still beautiful and still a virgin. To a man like Viper, you are just as valuable as you ever were. Fucker values all the wrong things in a woman.” After a second, he added, “He might even come up with some pretext to keep you, like claimin’ we didn’t execute our end of the deal good enough to suit him. If that happened, I might not be able to rescue you a second time.”
“I never want to set eyes on that man again as long as I live.” The words popped out before I could stop them.
Fuse dropped his fork down onto his plate and frowned at me. “I didn’t want to scare you but there is a good chance that if he got a hold of you again that he might even gift, sell, or trade you to Vulture to make peace with their club. That’s why you need to stay here at the Slayers clubhouse where I can protect you until the deal is concluded.”
What he was saying made a certain kind of sense. “What happened to the club girl at Vulture’s clubhouse? The club girls say she died because of the deal you made with Viper.” It was a brave, ballsy question that I didn’t expect him to answer.
He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Viper got us to ride with him through Vulture’s territory. It was payback meant to humiliate Vulture for getting him thrown out of the rally. Only later in the night someone burned Vulture’s clubhouse to the ground. Unfortunately, there was a prospect guarding the clubhouse and one of their club girls stayed back to keep him company. She died of smoke inhalation while he was trying to get her out of the building.”
My hands flew to cover my mouth. Knowing someone died and learning the details were two different things. “You think Viper did it, right? He was the one with a grudge against Vulture.”
He nodded, staring at me. “Yeah, we’re not sure why he burned their place down. He’d already gotten his revenge by violating his territory with enough men at his back to make sure Vulture and his crew couldn’t do anything about it.”
He paused while I was thinking over his words., and then he gentled his voice. “Just so you know, I’m not embarrassed by you.”
Nudging his laptop over to me again, he explained, “Right now, you’re my responsibility and I haven’t been taking proper care of you. I want you to order seven full outfits, shoes, and whatever shit you need in the way of hygiene products. That way you can do laundry once a week, like I do.”
Everything about this morning’s conversation was just too much. Letting him buy me a whole new wardrobe felt wrong.
“Like I said, I’ll buy clothing if and when I get paid.”
“You’ll be getting paid next Friday. The Slayers pay cycle is every two weeks with an initial holdback of one week.”
“Well,” I told him, “until then you’ll have to get over seeing me in baggy clothes.”
“I don’t know why every fuckin’ thing has to be an argument between us. I’ve been tryin’ my damnedest to do the right thing by you every step of the way. I saved you, brought you to safety and got you a job. Now I’m trying to put clothes on your back. I get that buying you was trafficking and you hate me for it, but I’m trying my fuckin’ level best to make it up to you by providin’ for you.”
This man undoubtedly thought of himself as a hero. I made a snap decision. If he wanted to provide, then I would lethim, through malicious compliance. My dad taught me all about what that was through a lifetime of watching him do it.
I tugged the laptop over and clicked through the open pages. Fuse had given me a lot of choice with the stores he’d pulled up. I quickly moved from tab to tab, buying a nice assortment of casual wear, one dress, and two pairs of shoes, in addition to underthings. Then I threw in my hygiene supplies, and a large duffle to carry my stuff in. I didn’t intentionally buy high end luxury stuff, but I didn’t go cheap either. I triumphantly showed him the screen, thinking he would lose his mind over the two grand total.
Fuse just chuckled and hit buy on each cart. That didn’t turn out to be the big win I thought it was going to be. When he was finished, he closed the laptop and slid it back into his rucksack. He shoveled some food into his mouth and that was apparently that.
I finished my food and just as I was draining my coffee cup, he spoke up again. “There’s somethin’ else I have to discuss with you.”
