“Shaw!” Frederick—now in a suit similar to Sebastian’s, only light gray—stood and greeted us. “Take a seat,” he said, the cigar in his mouth bobbing as he spoke.
Sebastian let go of my arm. A slither of panic came up my throat as I realized there was only one seat at the table.
“Evie, go socialize with the other women,” Sebastian said softly, resting his hand on my lower back, urging me forward.
“What?” My gaze shot to the women on the other side of the room. Panic shot up my spine at the thought of being pulled from him. “No. I want to stay with you.”
“Go. I’ll be back after a few rounds.” He gently pushed me away, and reluctantly, I nodded and stormed off.
The women barely looked up from their drinks and conversation when I joined them, and when I finished my blueberry lemon drop, I was given another one right away. They were strong. After I’d drained the second, I felt a little dizzy.
I glanced over at the table. There was so much smoke, I couldn’t see them well. The only indication that we were all still in the same room was the laughter and occasional cheers of wins and groans of losses coming from the poker tables. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Sebastian came for me, his face grim.
Something wasn’t right.
I stood and wobbled on my heels.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as he practically dragged me to the table.
“Welcome back, Evelyn Reyes, our guest of honor!” Frederick greeted me again, warmly.
Guest of honor?I looked at Sebastian, but he refused to meet my eyes.
“What’s going on?”
“Well, you see, sweetie, we invited your boyfriend here because we have reason to believe he knows something about our late friends, Mike and Jason. He swears he doesn’t.”
“It puts the lotion in the basket,” Sebastian murmured so low I almost didn’t hear.
I flicked my gaze back to the table, where Frederick was staring at us, his eyes lowered to slits.
“What was that, Shaw?”
“I said I was sorry,” he said loudly.
Sorry? For what? I was confused and growing scared. I tried to back away, but Sebastian gripped my wrist tightly.
“I warned you that sitting at my table was a risky game. Take your loss,” Frederick demanded.
A bolt of unadulterated terror ran through me as I realized all the men at the table were looking at me with wide, hungry eyes.
“It does this whenever it’s told,” Sebastian finished the quote. In our secret language, he was telling me to follow along with whatever he was about to do. But something in my gut said it wasn’t going to be good. He cleared his throat and spoke louder.
“Get on your knees, slut.”
For a moment, my mind went blank, and I looked up at him. What the fuck?
“Did you not hear me?” Sebastian gripped my shoulder and shoved me to my knees.
The table erupted in laughter.
“Sebastian.” I fought to stand back up, but he held my head firmly in his palms. My face flamed in embarrassment. What the hell was going on?
“Consider this number two,” he said as his hands went to his belt buckle.
I tried to pull back, but he reached out and fisted my hair, holding me in place. “I’m your number-one fan,” he murmured.
I looked up at him. His eyes were shiny and full of shame as he pulled his erect cock out of his jeans. Hot, heavy tears spilled from my eyes as I realized what he wanted me to do. He’d been giving me signs the whole time.
