Free The Innocent by Kailin Gow

you can’t live without his commands. Look at you.  You're no better than a helpless puppy he can just kick around whenever he feels like it.”
    “That’s out of line and you know it.”
    Sebastian bit his lip and his fingers softened their hold of her shoulders. “I’m sorry.  It’s frustrating to see the way he treats you.  He drains you of all dignity.  You're just a piece of property to him, a piece of property he hardly cares about.”  He ran his fingers down the length of her arms and laced his fingers through hers.  “You're so much more to me, Serena.  You're the woman I love.  You're the woman I cherish.  You’re talented, beautiful, smart, caring, passionate, loving, and so much more than a sexual object or trophy. Don’t you want to be cherished?”
    “You're wrong about Price.  He cares about me more than you can imagine, and it may surprise you to learn that he does cherish me.  You have no idea what he’s done for me, Sebastian.  I’d be nothing today if he hadn’t helped me.  I’d be dead.”
    “You underestimate yourself.”
    “No.”  She met his gaze with frank honesty.  “I was at the end of my rope when I met him.  He literally pulled me out of the gutter and kept me alive.  When I was strong enough, he made me a woman.  He taught me what it meant to be a woman; a woman who enjoys pleasing a man.”
    Sebastian’s eyes widened in surprise.
    “I’m sure it all seem so scandalous to someone like you, someone who grew up with plenty of food in his belly and nice clothes on his back.  I didn’t have that, and I’ll tell you, I much preferred the life of pleasing a man than starving on the streets.  Price taught me the value of my body in every way possible.  Men, so easy to entice with only the sway of my hips… they laid down hundreds of dollars just to see me take off a few pieces of clothing.  Put on a nice raunchy song, dim the lights and swing your hips as you kick off that dress and they’re putty in your hands.”
    Sebastian grimaced.  “You…?”
    “Danced?  Stripped?”  She chuckled though the sting of his disgust pained her. “My parents didn’t send me to private school, Sebastian.  I didn’t grow up in a privileged neighborhood lined with Porches, Jaguars and Bentleys.  I bet the biggest decision you had to make when you were fourteen was whether to have fillet mignon or lobster for dinner; whether to wear Armani or Versace; whether to go to the theater or the ballet. I had to decide whether I was going to go through the trash bin at the hamburger joint or rummage through the garbage container behind the grocery store.  I had to decide whether I was going to wear the old, ratty and worn out sneakers I’d found or go barefoot.  I’m sorry, Mr. Sorensen, if I didn’t have the luxury of picking and choosing what I could do to survive.  I just did what I had to do.”
    Dumbfounded, Sebastian just stared at her.
    “You see?”  She pointed to his face.  “That’s why I can’t be with you. That’s why I’m better off with Price.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “That look of disgust on your face; the disdain.  You look down at me from your high perch of million dollar morality and judge me for the choices I made.”
    “That’s not true.”
    “Look in the mirror, Sebastian.  Go have a look and tell me you have an expression of complete understanding and compassion for what I went through.  You can’t.  You’ll never be able to.  Our worlds are so far apart, we may as well be on different planets.”
    “And your world is closer to Price’s?  To a man who has you sneaking around because you’re not allowed a moment of freedom?”
    “Price knows and understands where I come from.  He knows what it’s like to be hungry.  He also knows the woman I’ve become; the Little White Lily who looks innocent and pure on the outside, but who wants it… wants it all the time, harder, rougher, louder. What I need will only make