Free Sin & Savage by Anna Mara

first time in a very long time, Savage Monroe suddenly felt—dirty. In a flash, his dark eyes turned stormy, angry at her for making him feel this way—because compared to her, he was a no-good, worthless, piece-of-shit.
    He glanced back at Estelle. “I see her, ma’am.”
    Estelle nodded. “Good. I thought you would,” she said, knowing full well what the man had been thinking. She may have been born at night but it wasn’t last night!
    She continued, “My Tori is the most priceless thing in my whole life. She’s good, with a good heart. She believes in the goodness of people and giving people a second chance. But you and me, we know different. We’re not good like her, are we?”
    Savage stared at the older woman’s stern face. “No, ma’am, we’re not.”
    “Now it’s your job this weekend to protect that goodness. Anything bad happens to that child and I’m gonna blame you. And then, I’m gonna come lookin’ for you and I’ll castrate you myself, with my bare hands. Don’t think I can’t do it. I grew up dirt poor on a Texas farm and I’ve done things in my life that would shock even the likes of you. Do I make myself clear, sir?”
    Savage nodded, not quite believing the fearless audacity of both of these southern belles threatening someone like him. “Perfectly,” he intoned softly.
    Satisfied, Estelle nodded. “Good. I’m glad we had this chat.”

Chapter 11
    “But why won’t you tell me what you talked about?” Tori asked for the twentieth time since they had walked back to their hotel.
    “Great balls of fire, Victoria, it’s none of your business and that’s final!” Nana plunked down on the couch in her granddaughter’s hotel room and lit up a cigarette. “My gullet needs a shot of whiskey and my stomach needs some food. Let’s go downstairs and get us some supper,” she added, neither of them having eaten anything at the pancake restaurant except for their black coffees.
    “Fine,” Tori huffed, finally accepting her Nana’s pronouncement. “But first, there’s something I have to do.”
    “What?”
    She held out her hand. “Give me that big roll of cash that’s in your purse.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I’m going to stash it inside the hotel safe here in my room. If I let you keep it, you’ll play the slots while I’m gone, then lose it all and that goon will come after us with a lead pipe if we don’t pay the balance of what we owe him.”
    Nana nodded. “This is true. Good thinkin’.” She reached into her purse and handed over the bundled money. “There’s over $2500 in there, by the way. What Mr. Savage doesn’t know is, I would have gone as high as $4000 for him to do the job, but we won’t tell him that, now will we, sweetpea?” She let out a naughty giggle.
    Tori smiled. “No, I think we should keep that information to ourselves.”
    Tori thought back to the last moment she’d seen Savage. After Nana had had her private chat with him, the ladies had walked out of the parking lot to return to their hotel. She’d turned back then and had spotted the biker still seated by the window, only now, Lynnette the waitress was sitting in his lap, her hands splayed across his handsome face while she kissed the hell out of him. His arms had been around her and the pair was putting on quite a window display for everyone around to see.
    Tori’s insides had twisted at the sight. But why? After all, it had nothing to do with her, and the way they were acting, well—you wouldn’t expect anything less from an animal like him anyway. And the waitress? Well, she should be fired for being so unprofessional! But considering that the restaurant was a dive anyway, that probably wouldn’t happen anytime soon.
    Nana broke into her thoughts again. “Listen sweetheart, you put $1000 of that money in the hotel safe to pay him and put the rest in your purse. You never know when you’re gonna need cash this weekend but don’t tell him you got it. You can trust Mr. Savage,