“A thousand.”
The man runs his tongue over his top teeth and looks me up and down in a way that makes my blood sing. “You worth it?”
I blow a bubble and then snap the pink gum back into my mouth with a loud smack. “Babycakes, I’m worth every penny.”
His eyes sparkle with mirth, and he nods. “Okay, I’ll give you a shot and see what you can do.” He picks up a stack of bills from the console and counts out ten crisp hundred-dollar bills before handing them over to me.
“Thanks,” I say cheerily, stuffing the money into my top.
“Get in. I want my money’s worth,” he demands, and I step back so I can open the car to the gorgeous sports car.
And that’s when I feel a hand close around my bicep. “Step away from the vehicle and place your hands behind your back, ma’am.”
“Wh-what?” I gasp, looking up into the face of a man in a brown suit holding up a badge.
“Officer Jones, vice squad. You’re under arrest for prostitution.”
My blood turns to ice in my veins as fear and panic take over.“Y-you’re making a mistake,” I stammer, and the man rolls his weary brown eyes before snapping the handcuffs on my wrists.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s what they all say.”
I clamp my mouth shut, knowing better than to say anything else without a lawyer present. My eyes shoot back to the Lamborghini when I hear a scuffle, and I see my alleged “john” bent over the car, getting his own set of jewelry snapped onto his wrists.
“Perri,” he calls. “Don’t say anything. Call your lawyer immediately.”
I nod dumbly as my eyes fill with tears. “You too.”
As I’m being stuffed into the back of a cop car, I see they’re pushing him a bit more roughly into the car behind me, and I grit my teeth. They don’t have to be assholes to him.
I crane my neck back to make sure he’s okay as two officers get into the front seat of my new ride. Swirling red and blue lights illuminate the once dim block, but luckily, everyone who had been onthe street earlier seems to have vanished as soon as the police showed up. And where the hell did all these cops and cars appear from anyway?
I turn back around and stare at the backs of their heads as the enormity of this situation hits me full force.Holy. Fucking. Shit.My family is going to murder me. Not just because of this colossal mistake, though they will be furious about that.
No, the biggest problem is going to be when they find out I’ve been secretly in love with the biggest enemy of the Hale family. The man currently in the cop car behind me.
Grant Carlisle.
