Free Ravished (The Teplo Trilogy #1) by Ayden K Morgen Page A

seen strippers there, but maybe she'd missed them. It's not like she'd wanted to see what went on in there once she knew what kind of place it was.
    "No?" He arched a brow, his expression cold. "You were certainly willing enough to let me help you play one last night, weren't you? Do they pay you to fuck random men or was I special, Lillian? Was I the only one who got a keepsake?"
    She flinched as if he'd slapped her. "How dare you accuse me of being a whore when you did the same thing? You were just as responsible as I was! If I'm a whore, then so are you!"
    "You and I are nothing alike," he snarled, the angry lights in his eyes intensifying. He clenched his fists at his sides. "I don't help kill people. What did they offer you to sell your soul for them? Money? Power?"
    She gaped at him, caught between fury and confusion. He made no sense, calling her a stripper one minute and then accusing her of killing people for money and power the next. She had plenty of money and she'd never cared about power. He was-
    She gasped and pressed herself further away from him as realization set in. "Are you high ?" The question came out breathless and full of horror. She didn't want to believe it, but it was the best explanation she had for his behavior. He was high, a druggie like everyone else in Teplo . Of course he was!
    Right on the heels of that realization came another wave of panic. Memories popped up, unbidden.
    Pain.
    Fear.
    The murderous look on Marc's face when he'd thrown her to the ground.
    The way she'd screamed when her leg snapped beneath the force of his attack.
    The audience sitting in their seats, watching….
    Lillian's stomach heaved at the invasive, painful memories.
    "I'm not high," Tristan snorted. "Not all of us are desperate enough to take the shit your bosses make."
    "My bosses?"
    Now her bosses were making drugs?
    Confusion returned, intensified.
    The painful memories began to blur, blotted out by more immediate concerns.
    The vestiges of panic retreated. Her stomach began to settle.
    "What in the hell are you talking about, Tristan? What bosses? Are you insane?" she asked, suspicion rife in her tone. If he wasn't high – and who knew why, but she believed him when he said he wasn't – he had to be crazy.
    "I'm not insane." He chuckled, his eyes flashing. "I'm not drunk or otherwise mentally incapacitated either. I am curious though. Why me? Out of everyone in the club, why sink your claws into me? Did they know why I was there?"
    "What are you talking about?" She had to shout to be heard over him as he continued to spit questions at her, not even bothering to wait for her to answer between one question and the next. It wasn't like she had an answer to any of them anyway. Every question he asked was more senseless and confusing than the last.
    "The Vetrov family, Lillian," he said. "What do you do for them? Do you just fuck people for them, or do you do something else? Do you help mix that shit? Hand it out?" His jaw pulsed where he clenched it.
    "I was a dancer!" she snapped, fed up with his senseless questions, unjustified anger and accusations.
    "A stripper." His lip curled as if he'd caught her in a lie.
    "A ballerina! I was a ballerina . I'm not a stripper or a murderer or a drug dealer or anything else you just accused me of being, you moronic ass." Angry tears slipped down her cheeks as his hateful, snide questions tore through her. What the hell was wrong with him? Had he really been so different yesterday or was she just a blind idiot?
    God, she was a blind idiot.
    Maybe he was an angry, hateful person all the time. She wouldn't know. All she knew was that he whispered delightfully naughty things, smelled good, had gorgeous blue eyes, and an amazingly talented tongue and set of fingers.
    Why had she let him touch her?
    Lesson learned.
    She'd never, ever make that mistake again.
    "Right," he said, his disbelief obvious. "What's a ballerina doing in a place like that?"
    "I just wanted to dance!" Her