Free Fall Gently (Red Light: Silver Girls series) by Debra Kayn

sliding glass door behind him to get away from his observations. His attention unsettled her. She licked her bottom lip, unable to get yesterday's kiss off her mind. Last night, she'd even dreamed of him kissing her. Instead of stopping, he'd continued and taken her to bed. The moment her back landed on the mattress, she'd woken. Her bad mood at the interruption, before she could find out what else he'd do, extended throughout the day and into the evening toward her customers.
    She couldn't even remember which men visited her room.
    Snow fell softly outside the building. She used the sleeve of her sweatshirt to wipe the moisture off the glass. While the room stayed toasty against the freezing temperature, the sliding door fought the cold. There was even another foot of snow piled on the balcony after Jeremy came and shoveled two days ago.
    She glanced over her shoulder and tried to peek at the screen on Dawson's phone. He kept too much about his personal life private. She had a hard time believing the Sparrows members who weren't arrested when the women working for Vince were picked up and hauled off to jail hadn't banded together.
    Maybe he was in constant contact with the remaining members who were free.
    The unknown petrified her.
    "If you spent four years in prison, how are you surviving without money?" she asked.
    He put his phone on his thigh. "Never said I didn't have money."
    "You do?"
    He nodded. "If you want to ask questions, how about getting out from behind me so I can talk to you."
    She skirted his chair and sat back on the bed, pulling her feet off the floor. His mouth remained relaxed, and she hoped her question wouldn't anger him.
    "I told you I chopped cars for Sparrows before spending time in prison." He stretched his legs out and crossed his ankles. "I had money in a secret holding with Sparrows and Vince was supposed to dole out Jacqueline's monthly allowance from that. For some reason, he never touched the money. Maybe he planned to withdraw the cash later and never had a chance. I don't know. But, the money is there, and I'm using it."
    "The police never found it when they investigated Sparrows?"
    He shook his head. "There are things surrounding Sparrows that nobody knows about, including the police. My money is safe."
    "Are the men going to rebuild without Vince?"
    "There's talk. As of right now, that's all it is." He tilted his head. "If you have something you need to know, just ask."
    She moistened her lips and shoved her hands under her thighs. "If they get the organization going again are you joining them?"
    Dawson latched his hands behind his head. "If they chop, I might. If they continue with Vince's vision for Sparrows, I won't. Even I have my limits and selling girls isn't something I want involved in."
    "I see..." She looked away.
    "No, you don't." He waited until she raised her gaze and continued. "It has nothing to do with my sister or you being involved. I'm not a man who believes women should be used as tools in a dangerous game."
    "Yet, you belonged to Sparrows when Vince kept women on the streets and held me inside his house." She got off the bed. Her room suddenly too small and confined.
    Dawson stood. "I never knew about you."
    "But you knew about the other women. The women who stood on the corners in our district," she snapped at him. "Even if you had no one involved that you knew, you had free reign to use those women as a member of Sparrows. You could've used me. Maybe you did, and I don't remember. You never paid, because you were better than me. Vince thought he'd let his men sample—"
    "Stop." He closed his eyes a moment, and when he opened them again, they were filled with pain. "I wasn't involved with the women. The chop shop took all my time."
    "Oh, that makes you above using a prostitute. I see...and don't tell me I don't." She gasped at the sound of her high voice.
    She'd never spoken back to Vince. Even monotone replies awarded her with a slap across the face if she even