Free Liberty Begins (The Liberty Series) by Leigh James Page A

paycheck, and there were plenty of hungry girls in Vegas who would love my job.
     
    “I don’t want everything to be taken care of,” I said, my voice rising. I was becoming totally overwhelmed. “ I want to take care of everything. That’s what I do. Not ride around in a tour bus with a hostage and a bunch of vigilantes.”
     
    The rest of what he had said was just starting to dawn on me. What had Cruz and John done, striking a deal involving me? Like I was some sort of trading card? Yes, I had held John’s hand. Yes, I had used my stripper pose on him. Yes, he had made me throb down there just by looking at me with those sexy eyes. None of this meant I was for sale.
     
    “You have the wrong idea about me, John,” I said, my voice loud. “I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression — but I’m not going to be some part of an arrangement where Cruz is paying me to be your escort.”
     
    I stood up. “I may be a stripper,” I yelled, “but I’m not a prostitute!”
     
    Then I turned and saw that the other guys on the bus were studiously not watching us, except Darius, who looked like he might be smiling underneath the duct tape. I quickly sat down.
     
    “No, no, Liberty! Of course not. You don’t have to say that,” John said, reaching across the aisle to grab both of my wrists and almost knocking all the food to the floor. The plates clattered but then settled. “Please.”
     
    Corey appeared with the tray and within a moment, everything was cleared away. I was still barely breathing.
     
    “Come here,” John said, and pulled me into the seat next to him. His eyes were pleading.
     
    “I would never think of you like that. I would never treat you like that, ever,” he said, and he pulled me to his chest. I stiffly let him hold me for a moment, then I pulled away.
     
    “You have to understand,” he said. “You’re a special case. I wasn’t just in Las Vegas for Cruz’s job.”
     
    I looked at him blankly. “I don’t understand,” I said, and despite the coffee, I felt tired. I wished I could go back to last night, when I hadn’t peeled back this next layer of madness. I wanted to go back to holding John’s hand before I knew he was a bounty hunter and God knew what else.
     
    “It’s complicated,” John said. “I told you that everything happens for a reason, and it’s true. It was no coincidence that I was in your club. In addition to Cruz, I was in Las Vegas for another client.”
     
    I shook my head, still not understanding.
     
    “Liberty,” John said, “I was sent for you .”

CHAPTER EIGHT
     

Thinking of Jumping
     
    I froze in fear. If John was sent for me, that meant ... that meant I was an asset. An asset to be acquired and repurposed. That meant that I would probably be finding myself with duct tape over my mouth soon, being seat-mates with Darius.
     
    I looked around for help, an exit, anything. The pit in my stomach was fear, but there was a boulder in there, too. A big boulder of disappointment. I thought I’d meant something to John; deep down, that’s why I thought he’d rescued me and brought me here. Not because Cruz was paying him. And never in my dreams would I have thought that someone had paid him to capture me.
     
    “I thought you liked me,” I whispered, ashamed. To my absolute horror, I felt hot tears spill down my cheeks. I was an idiot beyond belief. A stripper, just one step up from a whore, believing in stupid dreams.
     
    John sighed and rolled his eyes back into his head. “You know, I am royally fucking this up,” he said. He pulled me onto his lap. Ridiculously, my body lit up like it was on fire.
     
    He stroked my hair. “I do like you, Liberty, very much. That’s how I know that this was no coincidence,” he said. He reached up and wiped away my tears with one of his hands. Even though his skin was rough, rugged, he touched me so carefully that it felt gentle.
     
    I wanted to bury my face in his neck, to let him hold me.