Malice's Possession(41)

“What do you think?” Malice stood beside her and she glanced over at him. The light came through the window, shadowing the front half of him and almost giving him this sinister, highly seductive appearance. He turned and looked at her when she did respond. “Adrianna?”

Blinking and then smiling, she turned back to the great room. Right now they stood in the foyer of the cabin Malice had told her women who were rehabilitating stayed in. They hadn’t really spoken much, and she really didn’t know why the club would be in the business of having some kind of half-way house in the middle of nowhere. But of course she wasn’t a fool. She assumed enough that this had something to do with illegal affairs, ones that probably lined their pockets. The why of it was what she didn’t exactly know.

“It’s beautiful.” She looked around the house, saw several women cleaning up, others reading in little nooks, or just sitting on the couch and talking with each other. She turned back to Malice. “What exactly is this place?” When he didn’t answer right away she went on. “I mean I know you said it was where these women could heal, but I don’t understand what that means.” She had lowered her voice so only he could hear.

He tipped his chin toward the stairs, and she followed him. They climbed the stairs, and she didn’t miss how some of the women glanced her way, and then looked at Malice. Once they reached the top of the stairs he moved down the hallway and stopped on the last door on the right. The room they entered was gorgeous in the natural, bare sense. A full bed was against the wall, a matching pine dresser across from that, and a large window that showed the front part of the property. She walked over to the window, saw the two bikers she had noticed when they first pulled up leaning against the smaller cabin beside this house, and then heard the door shut behind her. She turned and saw Malice standing right in front of it.

“I probably should have told you all of this before now,” he shrugged, “but now is as good a time as any, I suppose. “ He gestured toward the bed, and she moved toward it and sat down. For a few seconds he didn’t say anything, but then he went over to the closet and pulled the door open. Inside she could see clothes hanging even though he hadn’t turned on the light. “When we had this place fixed up and the rooms made we got some clothes for the women that would be staying here. I don’t know if any of them will fit you. Most of the girls have already had their pick, so basically this is the leftover stuff, but if nothing fits I’ll take you to get some things.”

“Thank you, but I’m sure it will be fine. I’ll make it work.”

He looked at her over his shoulder. “I told you what this place was, that it was to make sure the women here could heal and get back on their feet.”

She nodded, feeling her nerves go on alert because what he had to say couldn’t be good, right?

He turned fully around, stared out the window from across the room for several seconds, and then took a few steps toward her. “The MC makes most of its living selling women, Adrianna.”

For a second she just blinked, and then blinked some more. Trying to comprehend what he had just said wasn’t hard. She had heard him clearly, but the thought of selling women was so abhorrent to her, and reminded her of the grimy life she had fled, that everything inside of her instinctually told her to leave right now.

“We don’t keep these women here against their will, Adrianna.”

That comforted her a little, even though she had hoped, and known deep down, that that hadn’t been the case. She may not have been sold, but she had watched her mother sell her body for extra money, watched the men come in and out of their hovel of a home, and didn’t want to be a part of that anymore. She was moving away from that.

“The club does have a house out past Steel Corner. We use the town as a transport line to get there so we stay off the highways.”

There was clearly this awkwardness coming from him, and it was a little strange seeing him uncomfortable. Since she had met him he had always seemed so in control of everything, including himself.

“The women that work for us are there because they want to be. We treat them well, they are paid and protected, and if at any time they ever want to leave they are free to go.”

Adrianna had every reason to believe him. He had done nothing but help her from the moment they met. Besides, the women that had been reading, laughing and talking, and cleaning certainly hadn’t looked like they were here held against their will. They also didn’t look beaten as Malice had said happened to them, but just because she couldn’t see any marks didn’t mean they hadn’t suffered. She knew that reality just as well as anyone. It didn’t take a genius to put two-and-two together. “Those women were beaten by their former pimps?”