Page 125 of Forbidden Fate

We reach the bottom of the stairs. “There’s no time. Fuck. I wish you were wearing clothes.”

“I don’t care about clothes,” she says, still pounding on my back. “Was there anything else you did in Texas? Something I should know about?”

I close my eyes.

Fuck.

Not now.

Not now.

Not now.

The thing I didn’t tell her.

The thing between the body and her abduction.

We reach the bottom of the stairs and I put her down.

“What did you do?” she demands.

“We need clothes. I know where they are. The laundry area. We’ll get them there and then we’re out of here.” I grab her hand and yank her toward the back of the house, where the stairs to the basement lead to the laundry.

“Tell me,” she demands again as I open the door to the basement.

“You’re not going to like it.”

She rolls her eyes. “That’s becoming a theme.”

“Robin—”

“Tell me.”

I pull her down the stairs, click on the lights. The washing machine and dryer are in the far corner. I pull open the dryer. Thank God. Clothes.

Fuck. No men’s clothes. But a ton of clothes for Robin. “Choose,” I say.

“What are you going to wear?”

“What I have on.”

She cocks her head. “You’re covered in blood.”

“Not the first time.” I point to the dryer again. “Find something comfortable. You’ll have to go barefoot. Maybe find some socks.”

She harrumphs as she sorts through the clothes more slowly than I’d prefer. “Keep talking,” she says.

I sigh. “I received a tip from Vega.”

Robin pulls out a blue dress and discards it. Then a red one. “These are all dresses.”

“This is a brothel,” I remind her. “Keep digging. They do wear casual clothes when they’re not working.”

She finds a blue sweatshirt, discards the robe—I try not to stare at her gorgeous body—and pulls it over her head. “Keep going.”

“He told me someone in the area was acting erratically. Someone was close to discovering secrets he didn’t want made public.”

“What secrets?”