Defy (Brothers of Ink and Steel Book 3) by Allie Juliette Mousseau Page A

burner phones should do it. I load up his counter.
    “I’ll take a bottle of your Everclear,” I say, scanning the alcohol in the locked case behind him.
    “Gonna have a party?” The way he sounds, talking through his teeth and around his cigar, is comical.
    “Something like that.” I smile.
    “Shitfaced in the woods—I miss them days.” He bags my items. “There’s a great spring-fed swimming hole about twenty miles up the road.”
    “Gators?” I ask, keeping it nonchalant.
    “Sometimes.”
    “That’s too often for me.” He laughs, and I thank him and head out.
    I jog across the road and back behind the motel. “It’s me.” I listen to the three locks being released and the sound of the chair scraping over the floor. Good girl, I think to myself.
    The door opens, and Farrington is standing there with her arm dangling by her side, gun in hand, freshly showered and wrapped in a clean, dry towel. My jaw unhinges. Her hair is soaking wet, and beads of water trail and slide, dripping from her smooth, fresh shampoo-scented skin. 
    My asshole dick is not my friend as it rises to get a better look. Goddamnit, she’s breathtaking.
    “I saved you some hot water,” she drawls and takes a bag from my arms. “What did you get? I’m starved.”
    There really is no defense against a beautiful woman, Ryder. Might as well understand that now, son, the sooner the better, Chief had told me one night after an argument with Betty.
    “Not knowing your personal tastes, I just grabbed a bunch of stuff—sandwiches, milk, soda, fruit, candy—eat what you want.”
    I don’t have to tell her twice. She rips open the wrapper on the turkey and cheese and stuffs bite after ravenous bite into her mouth.
    I watch her and my heart sinks. “Did they starve you?”
    She winces as if I struck her. “No,” she explains with a mouth full of food. “I did. They got me in the first place by drugging my drink. When I woke up chained, Pedro came in daily with food, but when I got the gist of their plan to send me off, I realized it would be easier for them to get me there if they drugged me again—I mean, it worked so efficiently the first time. I stopped eating their food.” She shrugs. “They brought me unopened cans of nutritional drink—like SlimFast or Ensure or something—I drank those.”
    “That was smart.”
    She crams half a Twinkie between her lips.
    Hot damn, how I want to be that Twinkie. Asshole dick!
    “I told them I wouldn’t eat their food. It gave me something more than a warped sense of peace, it gave me a feeling of control. I had a say over myself. In the position I was in, it was a huge victory.”
    “Yeah, it was. You were brave.”
    She nods in agreement before guzzling down the chocolate milk.
    “That was the only time someone touched me. One of my guards backhanded me because I wouldn’t eat the food. That’s when I found out about them selling me. The man who hit me got reprimanded. But that was days ago, so I’m famished.”
    “I’m sorry this is all I got. We’ll get you a good hot meal tonight.” I’m disappointed in what I was able to find in the crappy gas station convenience store.
    “This is just fine.” She catches a yellow Twinkie crumb tumbling out from the side of her lips. “Thank you for it.”
    I smile and even laugh a little.
    Yeah, no defense.
     
    Rachel

     
    I hear the shower start up as I cram the other half of the Twinkie in my mouth. I chew while checking out the remaining contents of the bags Ryder brought back with him.
    “Thank God,” I breathe gratefully when a couple of his and her burnt orange Texas Longhorns t-shirts tumble from the bag.
    Grabbing the medium sized one, I yank off the tag and pull it over my head. It’s warm, dry and clean. I look down at myself—no bra—I try and overlook that fact. In the second bag are poor quality, black mesh gym shorts. I fish for the smaller size and pull them over my hips.
    No undies. I sigh.
    His shower is done