Free Arranged for Pleasure by Lacey Thorn Page A

with pictures being sent to her phone. Then Juliana had tried to kill her. So why was it different with Kat? No photos, no notes, no contact of any nature. It was driving her crazy, sending her thoughts spinning in circles.
    What if they were all wrong? What if there was no one watching Kat? What if they were watching River or Tara, just waiting for an unguarded moment to take one of them? What if Kat was the decoy and one of them was the real target? Juliana was crazy as shit, anything she said was suspect.
    Kat should call River, call Tara. Check in with them and make sure they were being careful, not making any little mistakes. She should go back to the house, cuddle up with her men, and forget leaving them.
    She heaved a weary sigh. But thinking about all of them—her friends, her lovers—only served to remind her of why she was leaving. Juliana Marino and the threat she represented needed to be removed from their lives for good. That way all of them could move on. She really hoped her future included Rafe, Liam, and Adrian.
    She slipped quietly into the garage, being careful not to turn on a light and give herself away. She was worried enough about one of them waking at the sound of the garage door opening. They’d be out the door and after her immediately. Part of her even hoped they’d stop her.
    She leaned against the car and heaved another sigh. “What am I thinking?” she whispered out loud. Uncertainty filled her. Was she doing the right thing in leaving? Or making the biggest mistake of her life?
    Too late, she noticed the shift in shadows. Too late. She was too late as the hand covered her mouth and the pungent, sweet scent of chloroform filled her lungs. One strong arm banded around her chest completely locking both her arms at her sides while the other hand kept the doctored cloth securely over her mouth and nose.
    “I knew if I was just patient, you’d come to me,” a voice crooned in her ears. “I told Juliana to wait. She was so impatient, so eager for your blood. She wanted me to take you weeks ago.” A chuckle filled Kat’s ear where the voice whispered to her. “I’m betting you’ll be well worth the wait.”
    Everything was going fuzzy. Kat could feel herself losing consciousness. Her last thought was a prayer. Please let Rafe, Liam, and Adrian find her before it was too late.
    She awoke to the sound of arguing. Her head ached, and she gagged at the acrid taste filling her mouth. She tried to remain as silent as possible and slowly took inventory of her body. She still had her clothes on. Her hands were stretched above her head and secured to the headboard of the bed she was lying on. Her legs were free. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t do her much good if she couldn’t shake of the lingering effects of the chloroform.
    It was like a scene in a bad movie, the ones she always scoffed at. What type of woman allows herself to be chloroformed? Apparently, she did. She cracked an eye open and after blinking a bit was able to bring the room into better focus.
    It was almost like a closet. Tiny, so tiny, there was no room for much other than the bed and a small table. She could see the gleam of knives on the table and felt what little saliva she’d worked up dry out immediately. Did they plan to use them on her? A slide show of the pictures of the other woman played in her head with the focus set right on their slit throats.
    “Be patient, Juliana.”
    Kat tried to focus on the argument outside her door. The male voice was the same one that had crooned in her ear while she’d been drugged. There was something odd about it. He spoke so low, so husky, it was almost hard to hear him. The feminine one had to be Juliana’s. She’d made good time getting back here.
    “But it’s been so long,” Juliana moaned. “I want to touch her. I want to play. Remember all the things we did last time we were together? How good it felt?”
    “Yes, I remember everything, Juliana.”
    Was that exasperation Kat