Til Debt Do Us Part (Married At Midnight #4)

Chapter 9

Nine

Dare

P retty little Talia with her coppery red hair is looking at me the way one would look at a venomous snake. Her eyes are wide and innocent, her cheeks flushed, and her throat working as she regards me. She looks as though she is trying to decide between fight or flight.

I smirk and move forward, my hand grabbing her forearm and my lips drawing away from my teeth.

"Where do you think you’re going, Talia?"

Her lips part in a sneer. She pins me with her gaze and yanks at her arm, but I am so much bigger than her that it is an almost comical attempt to free herself. I squeeze her arm, pulling her closer. She doesn’t come easily; her expression is a combination of fear and hatred. When I see the loathing in her eyes, I am a little taken aback. It’s not like I am used to strangers having such a profound distaste for me.

"Let me go," she hisses.

She yanks her arm from my grip, but just as quickly, I manage to grab her by the shoulders. She looks so incredibly pretty right now, her head thrown back and her eyes glittering. I realize that she must be an absolute firecracker in bed. Rile her up enough, and you would certainly get a show. I can just imagine her in the middle of an orgasm, her head thrown back, a moan escaping her lips, calling my name into the air as she begs me to make her cum. Feeling her feeble struggles and seeing her fight against me, her hands scrabbling at my coat, I can’t help my reaction. In an instant, I feel my cock harden.

"I know about you," she says through clenched teeth. "I know about your little deception. I know that you have a twin. So which one are you? Burn or Dare?"

Fuck, I really thought that I had an advantage there. No matter; it was bound to come out sooner or later.

I let out a menacing chuckle and pull her closer, enjoying the panic written all over her face. "If you must know, little girl, I am Dare. Not that that’s going to help you any. In fact, I don't think anyone can help you."

Her cheeks flush a deeper shade of red, and she looks angry. "You’re horrible. Let me go. You can’t just grab women in back alleys."

I want nothing more than to draw her in and make her behave like a good little girl. But in the next second, her friend is standing next to me, her hands raised like she is going to hit me.

Would it hurt if she hit me? Probably not. She’s a tiny thing, and she has no visible weapon that I can see. But I let Talia go for a second, taking a quarter of a step back and raising my hands as a gesture of goodwill.

I turn to the other girl and try to give her a pacifying glance. "Easy. Your friend knows me."

The girl scoffs. "I’ve heard stories about you, Dare."

"I need you to fuck off now. I have to talk to Talia alone, and you are butting into the middle of our business." I flash her an icy smile.

Talia backs up a little, but I grab her shoulder, pinning her in place. The friend looks terrified but stands her ground. "No way. I’m not leaving her here."

Talia struggles again, and before I can even focus on her, she hauls off and pops me right in the jaw. I am so stunned for a moment that I let go of her shoulder and put my hand to my face.

My eyes connect with Talia’s. When I speak, my words are dripping with venomous sarcasm.

"Well aren’t you a darling girl?"

The friend pulls out a cell phone and starts dialing. "I’m calling the police, just so you know. You need to get away from us right now."

I narrow my eyes on her face and then look at Talia. I know what she wants. I know what everyone wants from me, especially pretty young girls.

More than anything else, they want money.

If I throw money at the situation, the problem will magically resolve itself. I’ve seen it time and time again. Running my tongue over my teeth, I pull out a wad of cash from my money clip. Holding it up, I tilt my head to the side.

"Will this change your mind, Talia? If you talk to me right here and now, you get the cash."

Talia’s eyes widen. She looks nervous, and a flush creeps from her face down her neck. But her eyes are glued on the money.

Of course they fucking are. She’s just the same as every other fucking girl in the world. It’s the only thing that women ever want from me.

I hold out the money toward her. I can see the dollar signs in her eyes, the calculation she has to do. I have no doubt that the money will win out over any worries she might have about talking to me here in the dark.

Talia’s friend grabs Talia’s wrist and pulls her away from me. I let Talia go because I have already baited the hook. After I flashed a little bit of money, I knew that I would get what I wanted. The question is whether she will force me to listen to her friend's nonsense for another couple of minutes.

I cross my arms and ready myself, pressing my lips into a thin line. Talia glances at me and hooks her hair behind her ears.

"Just tell her already," I say. "Tell her to leave you here."

The friend pulls at her sleeve again. Talia grasps her arm and looks her in the eye. "It’s fine, Olivia. He says that he just wants to talk to me."

Her friend looks at me with skeptical eyes. "You sure?"

Talia nods and very gently removes her friend's hand from her wrists. "I am absolutely sure. I’ll text you on my way home so that you don’t worry about me. Okay?"

Her friends' eyes tighten on my face. For a moment, I think that she will keep putting up a fight. But eventually she lets out a long sigh. "Okay. If you are sure, I’ll go."

Talia reaches out and touches her shoulder. "Thanks Olivia. I mean it."

Giving me a final glare, Talia’s friend heads out of the alley. I watch her go, pushing my cheek out with my tongue. When Talia looks back at me, nervously fidgeting and compulsively swallowing, I jerk my head toward the other end of the alley.

"Follow me. Let’s go to my car. I want to be able to speak freely without anyone listening in on our conversation."

As she follows me down the alley, Talia gives me a puzzled glance. "Do you think that anyone actually cares what I have to say?"

I shrug, exiting the alley and pointing towards my sleek black Porsche two-seater. "Better safe than sorry."

I head around to the passenger side first, opening the door and impatiently motioning for Talia to get in. She hesitates for just a moment, her eyes meeting mine, as if she could tell just by looking at me whether my intentions were pure. When she climbs in, I smirk and shut the door. Then I hustle around to the other side, climbing into the driver's side seat.

Once I am settled, I turn to her. This close, I notice her small stature; her figure is much more petite than what I am used to. I live in a world of glamorous supermodels and Instagram influencers, all of them at least five foot ten inches. My dating pool is exclusively made up of beautiful women with dazzling smiles and deep tans. Women who generally know what their best angles are when anyone brings out a camera.

Talia couldn’t be more different if she tried.

She looks up at me, her expression guarded. I have serious doubts that she has ever been the sort of girl who is noticed for anything, much less her looks. Not that she is not pretty, just that she lacks the charisma and self-assurance I usually find in the women I sleep with.

Taking a deep breath, I inhale a lungful of her flowery scent. There is something about her, something untouchable and pure. Something possibly refreshing.

"Are you going to ask me questions or what?" she queries.

Pushing away thoughts of whether or not I find her attractive, I tilt my head to the side. "I want to know about my brother’s exploits. In fact, I want to tape-record them. If you are willing to spill your guts on camera, there will be five thousand dollars in it for you. How does that sound?"

Talia scrunches her face up. "I don’t know. You want me to admit to sleeping around with your brother on film? Why would you even ask me for that?"

I purse my lips. "What does it matter to you? It's five thousand dollars. You should be happy with that money."

A flare of disgust burst over her face. "You Morgans always seem to throw money at every problem, don’t you? It’s disgusting."

I arch a brow. "I dare you to act like you don’t want this money. Like you don’t need it. Everybody needs my money. Everyone thinks that they have a right to it."

She looks away, a muscle working in her jaw. "You don’t know anything about me, okay?"

"That’s okay. I’ve got your number. You’re just like every other girl. For the right price, you’re for sale. Maybe when this is all over, I can entice you to perform for me. I wouldn’t have sex with you, of course, but I would like to watch you squirm. Watch you at my mercy. I bet you will do anything for the right price. All women do at some point."

She lets out a humorless laugh. "Maybe all the women that you are used to. In my world, people have integrity."

"Integrity? That’s what poor people worry about."

She flashes a bloodless smile at me. "It’s good to know that's how you think."

"I’m right. You know I’m right. Can we get on with things now?"

Her lips twitch. "How about this? If I can meet Remy and you give me the five thousand dollars, then I will spill the secrets that you’re looking for."

My eyes tightened on her face. "I don’t know."

She gives me a pointed look. "I haven’t known you for all that long. But I think you know that this is a good deal for you. I am not interested in being videotaped unless I get to meet Remy."

I look at her, wondering if she thinks that meeting Remy will somehow lighten the load placed on her shoulders. I’m pretty sure that Remy is going to laugh her out of his office, assuming that he even agrees to see her. But hey, that’s not really my problem, is it?

Nodding slowly, I finally agree to Talia’s terms. "Okay. The five thousand dollars, and you can meet Remy at some point."

She comes right back with, "When? When is some point? Because I am not going to record anything until I’ve already talked to him."

My brow furrows. "And I’m just supposed to trust you?"

Talia looks offended. "Remember how we were just talking about integrity being for poor people? I have integrity in spades. And I will expect you to have it, too, even though I already think you’re kind of scummy."

"Scummy?" I reply.

"Yes. It’s scummy to ask for a filmed confession of your brother's sex life. It’s scummy to hit on me while you try to work this out. You might be a rich man, but I’m starting to think that you might be completely lacking a moral compass."

The way she is looking at me just now, her head turned back and her eyes glinting with accusation, is so confident that I am a little startled by it. My eyes are on her face, scanning her one last time for any trace of deception. But from what I can tell, she seems completely genuine. So, what the hell... Why not just fulfill her one demand right now?

I reach over to the dash of the car, pressing the ignition button. The car roars to life, and I lift my eyebrows in question.

"You said you wanted to meet Remy. Why don’t we go right now?"

She pales, her whole-body tensing. "Now?"

"Right now. Unless you have something better to do?"

I watch her as she takes a deep breath, looking all kinds of nervous. "No, I’m not busy."

I throw the Porsche into drive and speed off without another word while she scrambles to pull her seatbelt around her body. I grin to myself, gunning the Porsche’s engine and racing off into the night.