“He works here, doesn’t he? You think he cares about you? He doesn’t. He enjoys having sex with you because you're obedient and docile. I bet you’ve never fought back a day in your life, have you, little mouse?” he sneered, his fingers hooking through the small piece of lace protecting her from him. “What would you do if I took you right here and now? Nothing, am I right?”
With a yank of his fingers, Griffin tore the scrap of lace, ripping the panties right off her body, and making her skin smart where the material tore into her as it broke. The tearing material caught the attention of some of the men around them, and they looked over to see what was going on. More than one set of eyes flared with arousal as they saw Griffin holding up the ruined panties.
While she was sitting down, no one could see anything, but as soon as she stood, everyone would get an eyeful of her bare center, this skirt hardly covered her backside. Even though she knew Griffin had done it to prove the point he thought he was making, that Mateo didn't really care about her and saw her as nothing more than a living, breathing sex toy, the same way he and all the other men at Azure did, she couldn’t help the tears that welled in her eyes.
But while his words were hitting their mark in humiliating her and dehumanizing her, they didn't shake her faith in Mateo. Because she knew what Griffin apparently didn't. That Mateo wasn't like him at all, that he was only at Azure to destroy it.
“I've known him for eighteen months now, and he came after me,” she said softly, returning her gaze to the ring. Griffin was one-dimensional. All he had was trying to put her down, pretend she was an object when they both knew she wasn't. She wouldn't let his words get to her when she had a real man willing to put his entire life and future on the line for her.
What else could that be but love?
“Sooner or later, he’ll get bored with you,” Griffin said with so much confidence that the part of her that had never felt worthy or good enough tried to latch onto the words. “Then what do you think he’ll do? Sell you back to me to make some of his money back? Trade you for a new woman? Kill you and replace you with another? Trust me,little mouse, men like the one in that cage you're watching as though he hung the moon, don’t have it in them to truly care about another person. Women are disposable, replaceable. You're no different. You might be pretty, but looks fade, you might be sweet and malleable, but that just means eventually he’ll get bored. You're nothing to me but a paycheck, you're nothing to him but a toy. You're nothing at all.”
How many times had she thought that herself?
That she was nothing, that she was an unwanted burden to both sets of grandparents, that she was just someone to torment to her bullies, that she had no friends and no boyfriends because she wasn't worthy of love and affection.
All her life, that was exactly how she felt, but not anymore. Mateo had protected her the best he could, then thrown everything away to come after her, now he was fighting for her. That was love. He loved her. He saw her, heard her, wanted her. He cared about her, respected her, and pushed her because he wanted her to be the best version of herself she could possibly be.
She was more than her past, more than her insecurities, more than just the girl nobody cared about. Maybe Ally Thatcher wasn't anything special, but to Mateo she was special, and that meant she mattered.
“If I was nothing, he wouldn't be fighting so he could buy me for himself,” she said softly.
Beside her, Griffin chuckled. A cold, dead sound. “Oh,little mouse, do you really think I'd let one of my employees buy you?You belong to me, to Azure, never to anyone else. But I’ll string your boyfriend along, let him think he has a chance at owning you in the end, all the while making a ton of money off his fighting. And for each fight he wins, I’ll let him rent you for the night.”
August 22nd
11:20 P.M.
Mateo barely registered the throbbing throughout his entire body as he stalked through the halls toward the room where Ally was being kept. Grateful for the small mercy that Griffin seemed to completely believe he was still with Azure, he’d just lost his mind over a woman. For now, he was allowed to move freely, but Ally was being held under lock and key in one of the holding rooms on the main floor of the warehouse.
He’d won his fight, made a step toward paying off the debt for Ally, and after being patched up by the doctor Griffin kept on the payroll, he’d made his way straight here. This wasn't ideal, he’d hoped that he’d be allowed to take Ally home with him, but he guessed his boss was going to hold her as collateral until he paid her off.
Or he figured out a way to get her out.
Reaching her room, he punched in the code, half expecting to find that Griffin had been playing with him for the man’s own amusement, but the light beeped green, and he was able to swing the door open.
The second he did, Ally jumped up from the bed. It was clear she hadn't been sleeping, because the covers were still pulled up and the pillow didn't have a dent in it. She’d changed out ofthe ridiculous outfit that Griffin had dressed her in for the fight. Now she was wearing a pair of leggings, and a T-shirt. Her hair was loose, hanging down her back in soft waves, the makeup she’d been wearing had been scrubbed off, and he saw the room had been set up for a more long-term resident.
Flinging herself at him, she pulled back at the last second, probably afraid to hurt him, but Mateo reached out, snagged her waist, and yanked her into his arms.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Ally protested, but he noticed she wrapped herself around him like she never intended to let him go.
Fine by him.
If he could, he’d stay right here for the rest of his life.
“You won't.”
“You were already beaten and covered in bruises before the fight, then I watched you fight with that man for over an hour. There is no way that breathing isn’t hurting you right now, let alone holding me.”
“You're tiny,” he reminded her.
“I'm smaller than you, I'm not tiny,” she shot back. Searching his gaze, she asked, “Am I really hurting you? Are you really okay? When we were driving back here, Griffin said that a doctor would be checking you out. I don’t think he was lying, but I'm not sure. Did someone really look at you and make sure you don’t have internal injuries or something?”
“A doctor looked at me,” he assured her. “I don’t have any broken bones or internal injuries. I'm just covered in bruises, stiff and sore. That’s it. I promise.”
Tears filled her eyes, but they didn't tumble free. “I hate that you have to do this for me. You shouldn’t have come after me in Vanuatu. If I hadn't wanted to stop and swim in the pool, this never would have happened. You would have been safe, instead…” Ally trailed off as the tears fell, splashing down onto her pale cheeks.