Free Renounced by Bailey Bradford Page A

flaring in his eyes. “Does this hurt?” He shoved with more force.
    Maarten tried not to make a sound. He bit his tongue so hard he tasted blood.
    Robert’s smile grew even bigger. “Nice.” He drew back his hand then slammed it against that same spot.
    Maarten coughed as his breath left him.
    “Your kind heal fast. I know that much.” He hit Maarten again. “Demons.” He leaned closer. “That’s what I tell them you are, but I know. I know.”
    Maarten’s side flared with streaks of pain.
    Robert drew back his fist again.
    Maarten flinched and Robert laughed.
    “I had an agreement with the former, hmm, shall we say, leader of the pack?” Robert chuckled and backed away. “Then he was gone, and the people of his I used to deliver my products began to ask questions they shouldn’t have. I lost a lot of business because of your boyfriend. I don’t appreciate that at all.”
    If he was waiting for Maarten to comment, he could stand there until the world ended.
    Robert Butler did wait for a solid minute then with a smile that gave Maarten the creeps, he stepped back and let his men approach Maarten.
    “If you do anything stupid, I’ll make certain your boyfriend and his companions die before they reach us here.”
    That got Maarten’s attention.
    Butler nodded at him. “Yes, I know exactly where they are. I didn’t even bother doing more than sending a text to Ryder to tell him I’d contact him at another time instead of calling him. What was the point? He’ll be here soon.” Butler looked him over. “You must have a tracking device on you somewhere. Or is it in you?”
    Maarten closed his eyes. He was passing everything along to Ryder.
    “We should have stripped his clothes off. Go ahead and do that before you take him down. Easier that way,” Butler added.
    The clothes were cut off him.
    Maarten regretted the loss of the sweet, bright green jeans and his neon orange thong.
    “Even dresses like a fag,” one of the men muttered.
    “None of that nonsense,” Butler said firmly. “We don’t tolerate it.”
    “But I—”
    A sudden yelp had Maarten opening his eyes. A man—presumably the one who’d made the crude comment about Maarten’s clothes—made a gargling noise as his throat was slit. Blood spewed out and the pungent scent of death filled the room. A second man grunted and let the lifeless body drop to the floor at Maarten’s feet.
    Butler wiped off the blade of the knife he was holding. “I can’t tolerate such stupidity.” He tucked the knife into his sleeve and arched an eyebrow at Maarten. “Surprised? Very few people are all good or all bad. Even your beloved boyfriend must surely be an ass at times.”
    “Not a drug dealing, kidnapping, murdering ass,” Maarten finally said, his voice so rough as to be unrecognizable to him. He was thirsty and miserable, and Butler was an idiot to compare himself to Ryder.
    Butler gave him another of those weird smiles. “Sadist. You should add that to your list of my faults. I do try to keep that contained to willing partners, however—with the rare exception of enjoying a prisoner’s pain. Besides, we can’t all be the good guys, can we?”
    Maarten didn’t get a chance to answer. At that moment, his arms were unchained and the pain caused upon having them moved was unlike anything he’d ever felt before.
    Butler liked to see people hurt, he was enjoying himself for certain when Maarten bellowed as stiff muscles were forced to move.
    “Very nice,” Butler murmured. “Very nice indeed.”
    Maarten blacked out for a moment when the rest of the restraints were undone. He woke up on the floor with one man aiming a wicked looking gun at him. Maarten could see that it was loaded with darts attached to vials of gold liquid.
    The dead man was gone and a middle-aged woman knelt, scrubbing the floor. As far as Maarten could tell, Butler wasn’t in the room anymore.
    “Ryder?”
    “We’ll be there soon, Maarten. Olin is checking into some