Part of me was talking out of my ass. I couldn’t really protect Winter, could I? The best I could do was offer my life. And if this Skull X group wanted her, they’d kill me and get her.
Fuck, the thought shook me to my core.
We got to my car. I started it, half expecting it to blow up.
It didn’t.
We drove to her place without any incident. The same as when we got inside, which I did first. Again, there was no winning because if someone was there to kill me, that left Winter all for the taking.
I remembered Skull X hadn’t been here though. Whatever happened with Rocky they had acted upon and had kept quiet since. Maybe Aldo was involved and keeping them at bay. Or maybe something was waiting for me tomorrow.
I locked the door and Winter went right for a drink. We had a few beers left in the fridge. Not enough to get drunk, but enough for a taste. She opened me a beer, gave it to me, and I grabbed her arm.
“Show me right now,” I said.
Her face dropped again as she nodded. “Okay.”
Winter led the way to her bedroom. The second she opened the door, my body tightened. My cock pressed against my jeans, already thickening. It was wild what this woman did to me. Christ, it was a bedroom. It wasn’t like she was naked.
The room smelled of her. It smelled of blankets and a sleep smell.
There was a dresser across from a wide bed. The sheets were black with red trim. It was kind of girlie, dark and pretty. I shut the door and looked around the room. There were some clothes on the floor, a pink thong showing. I walked to it and kicked the clothes, covering it up. It would have driven me damn crazy.
Winter put her beer on the dresser and went to the closet. She opened it and stepped inside. A light flicked on and she crouched down. I stepped up behind her, watching her shirt pull up her back. The bones and curve of her spine pushed from her back, her black panties showing a thin line.
Everything about her turned me on.
I wanted to protect more than just what was around me.
Christ, was I actually starting to have feelings for her?
Winter slithered back out of the closet and had a box in her hand. An old, maroon colored shoebox.
“This,” she whispered.
“What is it?”
“Pictures.”
“Of?”
“Me.”
My heart sank a little. I crouched down and saw her eyes were already filled with tears.
“What kind of pictures?”
She turned her head and took off the lid.
The pictures were in a messy pile. But they were all pretty simple.
Topless pictures of Winter.
I grabbed a small stack and flipped through them.
Each picture she was in a different pose. Starting to take her clothes off, bending over with her tits pressing against her bra, then her bra on the ground, hands covering her nipples. Topless pictures followed. Winter touching, cupping, playing. Even a couple pictures of Winter tasting herself.
I threw them down and didn’t want to see anything else.
“What is this?” I asked.
“Just pictures. They’d come in and shut the place down. They’d demand we take pictures. The owner went along with it. It was money, Tripp. It was harmless, I thought. But Rocky wanted more and more and more. He loved taking pictures and keeping them.”
“For what reason? Blackmail?”
“I was a stripper,” Winter said. “Anyone could have seen me…”
Jealousy flooded my body.
He stood up and kicked at the box. “That’s what you were worried about? Topless pictures? Is there more?”
“Sort of,” she whispered.
“What? You and some guys fucking?”
“No!” Winter cried out. “They did that with some women, but not me. I refused. As long as Rocky could take pictures, he was happy. It was a horrible way to try and feel safe.”
“Yeah, real fucking safe.”
“I always wanted to burn them,” she said. “Just burn them all. But he would never…”
“He’s dead.”
“Yeah, he is.”
I turned and stormed from the room. Winter called my name, but I had to get away, again. Each twist and turn with her made me want to scream. Christ, it was so tempting to just get in my car and go. For real this time. Let Aldo track me down.
Instead, I started to open drawers. There had been candles on the coffee table in the living room, which meant there had to be a lighter somewhere. I found one in a junk drawer and grabbed a heavy duty glass bowl from one of the cabinets.
I returned to the room and sat down.
“Do it then,” I said to Winter. “Start burning them.”
I watched as she collected a few of the pictures and put them in the bowl. She clicked the lighter and they caught. The flames ate the pictures right up. I grabbed a few and put them into the dying flames, keeping them alive. I couldn’t help myself as I stared at a few of them though.
Christ, she was really pretty. I mean beyond looking at her perfect big tits and everything. Her eyes, her face, her hair. Even her smile in some of the pictures.
I turned one around. “You seemed happy here.”
Winter had her hands in her hair, pulling it back, smiling. Completely damn topless.
“I was probably drunk,” she said. “Burn it.”
I brought it back to me. “I’ll keep it for myself then.”
“No,” she growled. She grabbed the picture from me and dropped it into the fire. She then inched closer and kissed my cheek. “I’ll give you a live picture later.”
Good hell.
A woman teasing me and I enjoyed it. Hell, this was the closest thing I had to a date in longer than I cared to remember. And the date was setting pictures on fire. Forced pictures that were taken of Winter. It was wrong and it pissed me off, but there was nothing I could do about it.
As the stack dwindled, Winter seemed to ease a little. She really thought I was going to get mad at her for this. Yeah, sure, I was mad, but not at her. I didn’t know Winter when all this happened. If I had, she would have never lived this kind of life.
What kind of life then?
That question felt like a punch to the gut. I had no way of giving Winter a better life, did I? I had a small apartment in a building that got raided once a week. I was at the mercy of Aldo. When he needed me to fight, I had to fight. And nobody is perfect. I’d never get a chance to lose again. Hell, for all I knew, when this protection thing ended Aldo would kill me.
I grabbed another small stack of pictures but looked at Winter instead of the pictures.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m really damn sorry all this happened to you,” I said. “I mean, for everything.” I shook the pictures. “This stuff. You feeling trapped. Being trapped. Stuck with me. What happened in that motel room and bathroom… it shouldn’t have.”
“You can’t say that,” Winter said. “I wanted it. Both times. I was begging for it. I needed it, Tripp. Don’t you get that?”
“You were lonely.”
“You were there.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, I was there. But I can’t promise that tomorrow. Or a week after that.”
“Nobody can.” Winter reached for my hand. “Please finish burning these. Because there’s something else I want you to see. I’m scared, Tripp.”
“Don’t be,” I said. “Let’s just get through this and try to enjoy the night together. Let everything happen tomorrow.”
“I like that.”
“I… I like you, darling.”
As if I couldn’t cross anymore lines.
I started to flick the pictures into the fire like a fast card dealer. With two left in my hand, I dropped one down and hurried to grab it.
I jumped back and got to my feet.
“Who the fuck is this?” I growled.
I showed Winter the picture and her face t
urned white. “Tripp…”
“No way. You know who this is?”
Winter didn’t respond.
“Goddammit, darling,” I said. “You better not choose right now to start lying to me.”
Her bottom lip quivered. It was sexy, but I couldn’t have that shit right now. This was serious. This was…
Winter nodded. “Yes. I know him. There’s more, Tripp… what I’m trying to tell you…”
“Fuck,” I bellowed.
I looked at the picture again and wanted to throw up.
It was a picture of Winter, this time in a bra. A lacy black bra that matched the panties she wore in the picture. She was on someone’s lap, arms around his neck, her cheek pressed to his.
The guy sitting in the chair had a nice grey suit on. Money in his hand. A cigar in his mouth. Slicked back black hair. An aura of complete asshole that burned even through the picture.
My world spun as I tried to make sense of it.
It was a picture of Winter sitting on Endo’s lap.
Endo.
Aldo’s son… who was shot and in a coma.
Fuck.