Lie to Me (8 page)

Jones’s death would protect her.
How many others would his death protect?

“I should send you to the brothel.” At Jones’s declaration, Stone jerked his attention to her. “I bet forcing you to suck my cock would make you more obedient.”

Mack winced, but kept her gaze direct and mutinous. “I’d bite your dick off.”

Her courage in the face of a tyrant resulted in a grin tugging at Stone’s mouth. Beside him, Stone caught James’s uneasy glance in his direction. Neither would allow a woman to be pimped out, regardless of jurisdiction.

“Thanks for the heads up, bitch. I’ll know to open-mouth gag you. You’ll look lovely gagging on my cock as I ram it down your throat.”

She blanched. “I’ll kill you or myself before I become any man’s whore.”

Stone believed her, but the tremble in her voice echoed her flailing confidence.

“I’m tempted to call your bluff to see how far you’ll go.” Jones smirked and ran his fingertips along her jaw. Mack recoiled and attempted to turn her head aside, but couldn’t with the way he clenched her hair. The slight trembling of her bottom lip had Stone seeing red. It was the first time he’d witnessed a crack in her courage. Jones pinched her bottom lip between his finger and thumb. “I bet you’d cry prettily for me when I’m inside you.”

Had Stone wanted to snap the man’s neck before? Now, he wanted to commit slow and cruel homicide, peeling one ounce of flesh from Jones’s hide at a time to lengthen the man’s agony.

“That’s enough.” Stone stepped forward. “Release her.”

Jones maintained his hold on Mack, only his attention shifting to Stone. “You’re an uptight prick, eh? Surprising, considering your father loved to bang chicks with me. The harder they cried, the better.”

Of course, Stone didn’t believe him. Even so, the thought of his dad being an asshole like Jones made him sick to his stomach. “My
father
taught me to respect women, not abuse them or exploit them.”

“Keep believing your father was a saint.” Jones smirked as if he knew a secret Stone wasn’t privy to. “You make me too much money crawling through the dirt, Mack, but never forget I control your future. That I
own
you. And if you give me even a single ounce of trouble again, I won’t hesitate to have you sucking cocks or taking dicks up your tight ass.” Jones released her abruptly, which was a fine move because Stone was one step away from becoming violent. “Someone give me an update so I can dish out punishment?”

Not trusting Jones’s men to feed him the truth, Stone detailed what’d transpired.

Jones lit a cigar, not bothering to offer Stone or James one. Probably best because Stone would prefer burning the fucker with the tip than smoking it.

“Goddamn it, Mack.” Jones pointed the cigar in her direction. “Stay out of my business next time.”

“He was coughing up blood. If she hadn’t intervened, he’d be dead thanks to your overzealous guards.” Stone toyed with the idea that he hated Quad2’s Regent.

Mack met Stone’s eyes for a moment. He took the minute connection as her way of saying thanks for assisting her cause. But he could be wrong.

“He has a family, Regent Jones. They’re starving because of you.” Surely she didn’t think appealing to Jones’s humanitarian side would work. Stone had witnessed no evidence of compassion in the other man.

She went to rise, but Jones halted her by pressing his hand on top of her head. “Remain on your knees. It’s where you belong, pet.”

The condescending motherfucker! Stone shot a look at James, who shook his head, but he could tell by the hard stare, his buddy disliked Jones as much as Stone did.

Fire erupted in her eyes, and her shoulders went rigid. For a moment Stone feared she’d rebel against her leader’s command, but after a tense moment she crumpled to the floor.

The other Regent smiled and continued as if he wasn’t forcing a woman to subjugate herself before him. “He’s a thief, Mack. You know my rules. I do not suffer thieves. And his family isn’t my concern. He should’ve thought of them before he wronged me.”

“Actually, they are your concern since they’re your people.” In Stone’s opinion, it sounded like Jones required a lesson is leadership.

“Kindly mind your own goddamn business, Regent Emmerson.” Jones scowled, puffing on his cigar while fingering Mack’s dark-blonde hair. The aggression in the man’s stance indicated he’d do whatever necessary to make Stone back off.

Throwing fists would help eliminate some of the testosterone burning through Stone, but he stood down for now. He inclined his head and scrutinized Jones a moment before reverting his concentration on Mack. He understood Jones’s fascination with her. Hell,
he
was fascinated with her too. She was nothing like the women he brought to his bed. Nothing like Missy who had graced his mattress the past couple of nights. It was strange really, to find himself attracted to Mack, but he could easily picture her naked, legs parted wide, waiting for his penetration. Each woman he pleasured fascinated him. They all found their gratification differently, and sounded different too. James had taught him to refocus his obsession from Kella to getting women off. But with Mack it was different. Fucking her and leaving her wasn’t what was on his mind. Oh, no, he very much feared one time with her wouldn’t be enough. He’d want to bury himself inside her over and over again, getting sloshed off her cries of pleasure.

“The punishment for thievery is execution, Regent Emmerson.” His name on the other man’s lips startled him out of his inappropriate fantasies. “All Mack gained the thief was a slow death on the rack in front of his peers.” Jones shrugged, puffing on his tobacco and creating a cloud of smoke. “Serves my purpose well. So long as the dregs fear me, I don’t suffer an uprising.”

And he called Stone a prick? The punishment did not fit the crime, especially when he threatened to force a woman to work in a whorehouse, which would in effect result in an endless cycle of rape. Oh, yeah, Regent Jones was a douchebag tyrant.

“Mack says he’s not a thief. Who made the claim against him?” He was overstepping his boundaries, but couldn’t seem to make himself back down. A man’s life was at stake.

“I make the claim. He’s guilty. He dies.” Jones yanked on Mack’s hair, eliciting a sharp hiss from her. “My dear troublemaker, you’re too popular among the dregs to ignore your unruliness. Twenty electrical lashes should set a good example among your class, don’t you think?”

“Fuck.” Stone ran his fingers through his hair. “That many blows to a man would result in permanent nerve damage. She’ll never survive it.”

Jones sighed as if weary of Stone’s contrariness. “She’s one of my favorites, my moneymaker—”

“If I’m favored, I’d hate to see how you treat those you dislike.”

Stone agreed with her.

Jones backhanded her, sending Mack sprawling on the floor with a shrill cry. “I own you and all you do. I could take all your profits, but I’m generous and allow you part of it. Show some gratitude for my generosity.”

From where Stone was standing, Jones didn’t know the meaning of ‘generosity’. And if the archeological site fell outside the city gates, anything in the badlands was outside the jurisdiction of the Regent. That meant Jones abused his powers, and that was something he could take to the Board of Regents. He wasn’t part of the good old boys, so he bet anything like that would result in Stone receiving the coldshoulder and wouldn’t win him any friends. Not that he wanted or needed bastards like Jones as friends. And he sure as hell could bet Jones wouldn’t suffer even a set down by the board.

“Because she’s my favorite, the twenty lashes
is
a light punishment. Had anyone else intervened the way she did, they would’ve received the same fate as the thief. See? I can be lenient when warranted.” His grin didn’t reach his eyes, and Stone suspected he’d enjoy her agony.
Probably a sadist who gets off on another’s pain
.

In the end, he needed Mack whole to question her about Kella. Struggling to think of a reason to dissuade Jones from reprimanding her, he ran through a variety of scenarios, but came up empty-handed. His gaze fell on Mack. She rubbed her cheek as Jones instructed his guards to get to the punishment immediately. After publicly executing the thief, they were ordered to string Mack up right afterward and have the punisher apply the lashes.

“Why are you in my Quad?” Jones crushed his cigar into an ashtray on his desk.

This was his lead in to pause Mack’s penalty. “I’m following a lead on my wife.” Her gaze struck him, and a hint of fear entered her eyes. The severe punishment of electrical lashes hadn’t dented her bravado. What about the mention of his wife frightened her?

Jones shrugged aside Stone’s adventure. “Good luck with your find. Please let me know if I can be of assistance.”

“Delay Mack’s punishment.”

“Anything but that.” Several seconds elapsed as they stared at one another, before Jones shifted his gaze to Mack. “What do you know about his wife, Mack?”

“No-nothing.”

She knew something. Of that Stone was suddenly very sure. “I’ll buy her from you.”

James flinched and cut a hard glance in his direction, evidently surprised by his appeal. Even though his intentions were honorable, and meant to protect her, his guilt triggered his inability to look at Mack and gauge her reaction.

Stone sensed Jones’s bemusement over his outrageous request. “Interesting proposition since you no longer offer the sale of even Xenos.”

Shutting down his X-gene clinic had caused uproar among Regents. Jones had been one of the most vocal of the lot, and even Stone’s dad, Peter, had balked at the decision. Going against advice, he’d honored his wife with the closure. He’d coolly reminded the other Regents his Quad, his rules. That had gone over as well as an active whore preaching morals from the pulpit. They’d ganged up on him to oust him from power, teleporting into his Quadrant with a thousand-man-strong army. It was good other Regents dismissed Stone’s effectiveness as a leader because he’d neutralized the offense with a drone strike. Before breakfast their offensive had been negated. In the beginning of his tenure he’d become the asshole dictator who threatened other Regents’ way of life. Stone’s aggressiveness to protect his position, and their necessity for the perishables he grew in his territory, or their need to utilize his teleportation services, had resulted in the other Regents slowly giving up their beef and inviting him back into the fold. It was a tenuous alliance at best.

Stone didn’t trust a damn one of them. His memory was long and unforgiving. And three years wasn’t nearly enough time for them to forget the ease with which he’d defeated them. He was always on the defensive, waiting for another surprise attack, and it was why he maintained high security at all times. At any given moment, an assassination attempt could be made on his life.

“What do you think, Mack?” Jones’s question snatched Stone out of his thoughts. Jones rubbed her head like he would a dog, and she leaned way from him. That earned her a yank on her hair, and Jones forced her to lean against his thigh. “Answer me. Should I sell you to Regent Emmerson?”

“I think you’re going to do what you want regardless what I say.”

A smack to her cheek for her saucy reply. The move pissed Stone off more. “Name your price, Jones.”

Murder spewed from her gaze, and her jaw locked, obviously gritting her teeth.

“I decline your offer. I like Mack too much. Guards, take her to the square for punishment.”

––––––––

J
ust like the day she’d been auctioned to Stone, Kella slapped on her brave face, and sauntered onto the scaffolds with her shoulders squared and her head held high. Regent Jones thought punishment would deter others from rebelling against his tyranny when his actions would have the opposite effect and would fuel her revolt instead. If her life was forfeited for that end result, she happily paid it with her last breath.

What pissed her off the most was that Stone tried to purchase her for a second time. The irony! Although he’d failed this go round, she was pretty sure he’d made the offer to protect her. That he’d even suggested the offer had her simmering. For a person to even
think
of purchasing another said a lot about their lack of morals.

The ‘thief’ died a slow death, strung up by his arms, weights placed on scales attached to his ankles until he suffocated. It was a cruel way to go. The crowd that’d gathered was dead silent as his final breath gurgled from his lungs. An eerie sound for a dishonorable ending.

“Take heed citizens of Quadrant2. Stealing will not be tolerated,” Regent Jones’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker. Kella would gladly slice his throat, or at the very least cut out his tongue. Too bad she’d probably never get the opportunity.

She surveyed the horde, recognizing the majority of them. Once again Stone stood among the throng, his features just as stoic as when he’d bought her. At his side, James measured the throng, his palm resting on the hilt of his gun. The only difference between this and the auction is that this time she wasn’t scared or embarrassed.

In the front row on the other side of the mass her best friend and mentor, Reaper, glowered. She shook her head at him, hoping he understood not to attempt anything stupid. Like trying to save her from her punishment. Kella could endure whatever Jones threw at her. She had to because there was a larger rebellion brewing.

Something about her communication with Reaper must’ve caught Stone’s interest because he raked his gaze in Reaper’s direction.

After the scuffle, James had asked about Kella. It’d taken all her willpower not to sprint in the other direction.
That
inquiry terrified her. Scared her more than the punishment about to commence.

No one had had his hand on her when he’d asked about Stone’s wife, so it would’ve been easy to escape. She knew these streets better than anyone. Bolting would’ve also signaled her guilt. She wasn’t sure if they’d bought her bluff, but she had no idea how to make herself invisible to him either except to run once more. She couldn’t start over. She just couldn’t. The first chance she got, she’d talk with Reaper. Surely he’d have a suggestion.