took a deep breath. "Finn won't come in right away. Gareth likes to watch me deal with the withdrawal symptoms. The timing is quite precise. I suppose I'd be impressed with Mac Fleming under other circumstances."
The back door opened, and they climbed out. Jade wobbled a little, and Lex steadied her. "Just do everything you're supposed to do. I'll work it out."
"Remember to smile," Jade replied as the driver took her other arm with a gentleness that spoke of loyalty. The old man had given Lex one long, searching inspection when they stopped to pick her up, but hadn't spoken a word then or since.
Two bulky guards in uniforms so cleanly pressed they screamed Eden moved aside as they made their way up the steps. More guards leapt to open the main doors. They performed their job in efficient silence, keeping their hands and gazes to themselves.
And then there he was.
Lex had only seen pictures. She'd looked him up herself, but she'd also stumbled across papers Dallas had left lying around, files still open on his tablets. Gareth Woods, polished and urbane. A cultured, bloodthirsty monster.
His gaze flicked over her, appreciative but dismissive, and the intent stare he turned on Jade warped the very concept of affection. When he stepped forward to sink his fingers into her hair, it made a mockery of the caress Lex had seen a thousand times. This was ownership, stripped of any choice or chance of escape.
He tightened his fingers and wrenched Jade's head back, lifting his other hand to her cheek. "You brought a friend for me. What a sweet girl you are. A sweet, thoughtful girl."
As tense as Jade had been in the car, she was serene now. And she was good, steel nerves beneath a honeyed smile as she played her game. "I'm your rose, sir. But she's something special. Something most men will never taste."
Gareth glanced at Lex again, his eyes heavy with speculation and dark lust. "And what's that?"
"A rose with thorns."
The whispered words hung in the air like a tantalizing challenge. Gareth released Jade and slowly turned. "Is that what you are?"
"Barely." Lex lifted her hair and tilted her head to bare the back of her neck--and the tiny, ancient scar that nestled there, a legacy of Cerys's training. "If you have thorns, they burn them off."
He touched the scar, lingering with a chilling reverence that only got creepier when he lifted his thumb to his lips and licked it. "Jade is such a lovely girl. She struggles at first, but she pants for it before it's over. Do you struggle? Or is the prick of your thorns more subtle?"
Lex kept her gaze fixed on the far wall. "You'll have to find out."
He laughed, delighted, and dragged Jade to his side for a quick, rough kiss that she endured placidly. "You bring me the best gifts," Gareth crooned. "You deserve a reward. Would you like that?"
Jade's breathing hitched, and the sudden raw scratch in her voice wasn't an act. Full of desperation and self-loathing, deep enough to fill an ocean. "Please."
Woods released her so abruptly she stumbled and shook his head with a chiding sound. "That's not how you ask."
Shuddering, Jade folded her knees and sank to the floor. Her hands trembled until she laced them together, pressing them to her stomach. "Please, Gareth. Give me relief from this pain."
"Fine." He nudged her leg with his shoe. "Scoot to the door and call for Finn. I'll be getting to know our new friend."
Jade started to rise, but he moved fast, planting his foot in the small of her back and driving her roughly to the floor. "Crawl."
Woods was at the wrong angle to see it, but Lex caught the searing hatred in Jade's eyes, the fury that would have burned him alive if thoughts were weapons. She lifted her gaze, just for a moment, and Lex could almost hear the words, as if they'd been spoken out loud.
End him.
And then Jade crawled.
Lex searched the room behind Woods's back. Any sort of blade, even something heavy she could use to knock him out until she could crack his worthless neck--but there was nothing she could lay hands on without alerting him.
And she was running out of time. When Fleming's bodyguard showed up, the odds would tilt, and not in her favor.
She drifted toward the line of vintage pipes and pre-Flare drug paraphernalia on display behind the table. "I've never taken any of the stuff Jade is on. Is it good?"