Page 44 of His Asset
“What the hell are you doing?”he demanded in a fierce undertone.
A woman in the front row threw her pink, lacy thong onto the canvas, her flushed face and wild eyes promising things that made my stomach churn.“Chief!You magnificent bastard!” She was practically panting, caught up in the intoxicating mix of violence and victory.“Forget about her.I’m all yours!”
I looked away.All I could see was the creature bleeding in my arms, and the man I thought I knew standing over us both like a conqueror.
Seymour leaned his upper body through the ropes, Reuben’s fight robe in his hands.He looked up at Reuben, and even through the crowds cheering and hollering I heard him explain.“I tried to stop her—“
Reuben put a hand up, cutting off his words.Then stalking toward him, he snatched his robe back and pulled it over his bloodied, sweat-sheened body.
A tiny man with a surprisingly booming voice jumped into the ring, his diminutive size a sharp contrast to the massive competitors.“And the winner is,” he grabbed Reuben’s arm, hoisting it high, “Chief!”
I blocked out the noise, the pomp and ceremony, my stomach curdling with disgust.This was worse than the facility.At least there, they’d pretended it was science.Here, people openly preyed on inhuman differences for profit and sport.
Reuben turned to the crowd, a trophy pressed into one hand before he raised both arms.For a moment he forgot about me entirely, soaking up the adulation and praise from the crowd, many of whom had won big thanks to his victory.
Then his eyes softened and he bent down, his roughened hand on my shoulder.“Come on, I’m taking you away from here.This clearly isn’t your scene.”
I shook my head.“No.I’m not leaving Taurus.”
Reuben sighed, obviously annoyed by what he saw as weakness and by the fact other women would be throwing themselves at him by now.“He’ll be taken care of by his benefactor...his master.”
I swallowed hard.Master.That was what I used to call Adam.Whoever bought us automatically became our master—or mistress—it was what we’d been brainwashed into believing, and clearly what Taurus still believed.Humans would always be the master, GMs the asset.
Reuben’s gaze softened as he added, “He’s worth a fortune.Believe me, he’ll be fine.”
Reuben pulled me away, and I reluctantly allowed it, but I felt Taurus’ eyes on me as I slipped through the ropes.He had nothing on the woman who coveted Reuben.She glared a hole in my back as the announcer retrieved her thong and handed it back to her with dark laughter from the crowd.
Then I was following Reuben back through the tunnels, the scent of decay and blood making my stomach churn.I glanced up at his stony-face.“How many others like Taurus have you fought?”
“Does it matter?”His voice was cold.“That creature isn’t human, it’s a miscreation.You showed it compassion when you should have shown it disgust.”He shoved open the door and I stepped past him with revulsion crawling through my veins.
I spun around to face him, the lights from inside the tunnels illuminating Reuben’s grim face.I glared.“That man showedyoucompassion when he could have finished you.He is more human than you’ll ever be.”
Reuben’s face darkened.“Did I not show you compassion when I stopped those men in the alleyway from raping you—half of whom are still missing without a trace?Did I not show compassion by offering you shelter, by feeding and clothing you?”
His black SUV pulled up, the driver jumping out to open the back door.Reuben held his trophy in one hand as he put his free arm across the opening, stopping me from getting inside the vehicle.That was when I noticed the deep puncture in his shoulder that leaked with blood, the wound Taurus had given him in self-defense.
Concern for a moment pushed aside all other emotion.“You really need to take care of that,” I said, nodding toward his bloodied puncture.Hewasonly human, after all, and not infallible to injuries.
“I’ll be fine.I’ve survived a lot worse.”
I shook my head.“Why would you—“
“You make me feel like shit for fighting, for winning, for creating a life for myself.”His nostrils flared.“But there are far worse out there than me.”He chuckled darkly.“Did you know Adam is not only an investor, but one of the head scientists who created fucked-up creatures just like Taurus?”
The world tilted around me.Of course I knew.Though Adam was too young to have created me, it hadn’t stopped him from creating others just like me, or from deciding I was his GM—his asset—one he’d admired so much he’d paid top dollar to take me from the facility to his home.
It’d been just another prison.That I’d also considered it my first real home—if only I’d had the choice to stay there—still lingered like a shadow in the back of my mind.
I pushed past Reuben’s arm and climbed into the car, wondering if I’d ever trust another man again in my life.Reuben followed me, settling into the plush leather seat as the driver got in and started the engine.
Reuben opened a compartment in the back and popped open a bottle of champagne, the cork flying with a celebratorypopthat made my stomach turn.He poured the golden liquid into his trophy, then took a long drink before offering it to me.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” I said, leaning away.“I can’t celebrate what you did.”
“You’re being dramatic.”He took another sip from the trophy, his eyes flinty.“You’ll learn the real world doesn’t work on fairy tale morals.That thing back there is a commodity, nothing more.And frankly, watching you coddle it was pathetic.”
I inhaled sharply, shocked to the core by his lack of empathy, his careless cruelty.I thought I’d grown immune to barbed comments, but clearly not when it came from a man I liked.I looked away, to the darkness outside the window, to the shadowy shapes of broken down machinery and aged buildings.