Free Raw, A Dark Romance by Tawny Taylor Page B

that place than you realize.”
    “What do you mean?” Sid asked as she pulled open the driver’s side door of her rental car.
    “Later.” Once we were both sitting in the car, I clicked the locks. “I don’t want you driving when you hear what I’m about to tell you.”
    Sid slid me a side-eyed glance while clicking her seatbelt. “Come on. You can’t make me—“
    “Later, Sid,” I interrupted, catching movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked. One of the bastard’s servants was dragging my luggage out to Sid’s rental car. She unlocked the doors so he could open one. He dumped the bags in the backseat. I said nothing until the doors were shut and locked. “Let’s get somewhere safe and private. Then we’ll talk.”
    * * * * *
    Sid harassed me the entire drive to the hotel. It was thirty very long, very tedious minutes of absolute torture--her begging and pleading, and me telling her no. But I was feeling pretty proud of myself by the time we pulled up to the Weston. This was the first time, ever, that I’d been able to stick to my guns with her.
    Eons ago I’d let her talk me into chopping off all my hair and dying it black. It had taken me ages to grow it back. And that hadn’t been the worst of it. Trying to strip out the black had been a nightmare. I’d ended up looking like a clown—roots yellow and ends fire engine red.
    Then there’d been that time when she’d talked me into joining a multi-level marketing organization that was later fined by the government for being a huge scam. I’d laid out hundreds of dollars for overpriced food supplements and a trip to a convention in Chicago.
    And I’d caved when she’d begged me to sign with FI. Huge mistakes. Every single one of them. But especially the last one. Just those three mistakes had cost me my hair, a whole lot of money, and now a lot of pain. My ass was still sore. But that would never happen again. I’d learned a lesson. A very important one.
    Never again would I let Sid talk me into anything I didn’t want to do.
    At last we locked ourselves in Sid’s small but tidy hotel room. Clearly the chaperones didn’t get the same VIP treatment from FI as the whores.
    Within seconds Sid was bouncing on the mattress, eyes full of eager anticipation. “Okay, we’re here,” she said, obviously about to die from anticipation. “We’re alone. What’s with all the super-secret, I-can’t-tell-you stuff?”
    Emotionally and physically, I was exhausted. I flopped onto the bed. “Sid, there’s a lot you don’t know about FI.”
    She shrugged. “What do you mean? Tell me.”
    Tell her.
    Tell her…
    How would I tell her that she was working for a madam? That Franchot’s company prostituted girls against their will? That they sold virgins to billionaires across the globe without them knowing what they were in for? That they were masquerading as an elite matchmaking service while they were actually committing one of the most despicable crimes against humanity?
    My throat clogged.
    How?
    Sid keyed into my reluctance. “Ken, what’s wrong?”
    My eyes started leaking again. I blinked to try to keep them clear. “Sid, I don’t even know where to start.”
    Sid gave a pout and blinked sad eyes at me. “Aw, Ken. Was it that great? It was so wonderful you’re crying? Are you sad that you have to leave him?”
    Sad that I had to leave? God, did she have that wrong.
    “No, Sid. It wasn’t wonderful. It was awful. It was a nightmare. And I don’t even know how to begin.” I clapped my hands over my face and closed my eyes. My heart was thumping so hard my breastbone ached. My insides were so twisted into knots I felt sick. “You don’t know who you’re working for, what kind of horrible things Fallon Franchot does. And I hate having to be the one to tell you.”
    “What are you talking about? What horrible things? How is setting up girls with billionaires so bad? She sent you with a chaperone. It isn’t her fault you told Tonya to