Dangerous Beauty by J.T. Geissinger

Author:J.T. Geissinger [Geissinger, J.T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781542042314
Published: 2019-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

EVA

I’m not a violent person by nature. I’m the girl who won’t kill spiders or trap mice. I save the silverfish who crawl up the bathtub drain and release them outside. I believe all God’s creatures have the right to the life he gave them, and I’d only use deadly force for self defense.

But Naz—if that’s even his real name—has made me reconsider.

Strapped into the seat across from me, he watches me with those dark eyes as we fly through the night. Toward Cuba, or so he says. Who knows what our real destination is? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we landed on a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean and I was loaded into a container with a hundred other handcuffed girls, headed for sale in a Turkish sex slave market.

The metal cuffs around my wrists chafe, but he’s smart not to remove them. I want so badly to wrap my hands around his throat, it’s a struggle to keep them clenched in my lap.

The betrayal I feel is overpowering.

He watched me. He spied on me. He worked for Dimitri, who knew where I was all along.

The entire time I was developing real feelings for him, Naz was reporting to the monster who raped and beat me for seven years.

No matter what bullshit excuses he’s got, there’s no coming back from that.

I wish you were dead.

I send him that thought through a look. He receives my transmission and winces, turning away.

I feel a twinge of guilt but smother it. If this helicopter ride doesn’t end with me being delivered back into Dimitri’s arms, I’ll be shocked.

I believe in you, I told him. What a fool. My faith would’ve been better placed in the tooth fairy.

“María la Gorda in five,” says the pilot over the com, nodding back toward Naz.

I look out the windows but see nothing but moonlight glinting off the surface of a black ocean, stretching away in all directions. When I glance back at Naz, he’s rolling his left shoulder. The bullet must not have hit bone, because his movement is unimpeded, but he looks like he’s losing a lot of blood.

Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

He catches me looking at him. “If you promise not to claw my eyes out, I’ll take the cuffs off now.”

“No deal.”

A ghost of a smile lifts his lips. “I appreciate the honesty.”

“Yes, it’s nice when someone tells the truth, isn’t it?”

A muscle flexes in his jaw. In a slightly different tone, he says, “I’ve told you plenty of truths.”

“Like I was safe with you?” I say, staring him down. “Give me a break.”

“You’re safer with me than you’ve ever been with anyone else.”

My laugh is humorless. “That bar is set extremely low.”

He leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs and piercing me with a burning look. “Okay, you wanna get into this? Let’s get into it. Ask me why I didn’t fuck you when I had the chance.”

My cheeks sting as if I’ve been slapped.

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