Page 27 of Midnight’s Captive (Stroke of Midnight #2)

“What are we going to do about Giselle’s pimp?”

“I’m sorry. What?” Dani’s question startled Taryn. She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear the grit. She hadn’t slept much after she’d freaked out on Ash and the little she’d gotten hadn’t been great. How much of their conversation—Dani’s conversation—had she missed?

Dani frowned. “Are you okay? You’ve been staring at your desk all like it was going to bite you all morning.”

Taryn winced. “What? No. I’m fine.”

A total lie.

The desk had bitten her. At least, memories from the old one had.

“Are you sure? I know you were upset last night.”

Taryn had appreciated Dani’s presence last night after Ash left, but she hadn’t told her friend much about what had happened. Mostly, she’d reassured Dani that Ash hadn’t physically harmed her.

If Taryn hadn’t done that, she was sure Dani would have sicced one of the guards on him. It wasn’t often that Dani saw Taryn that shell-shocked.

“I was,” Taryn admitted. “But I’m fine now. Really.” If she repeated it often enough, maybe she’d even believe it. This time it was only half a lie. She had been upset. Still was when she tried to untangle her feelings.

It wasn’t only bad memories that had kept her up. Her mind—and her body—remembered Ash’s every touch. And she was pissed as hell that the past had ruined such a promising encounter.

Taryn thought she’d gotten over her past. Apparently not.

Dani rolled her eyes, a sign she wasn’t buying Taryn’s bullshit.

That was the problem when employees became friends. Not that she regretted a moment of their friendship. Dani had kept her sane in those early days.

“I’ll be watching you.”

Dani’s ferocity made Taryn smile. “You do that.”

With a pointed look to let Taryn know that they weren’t done with that conversation, Dani thankfully changed the subject. “Are you sure you want to go through with this? You can still say no.” She pierced Taryn with a look.

Taryn choked back a laugh. She’d had no plans to say no last night. She cursed the old Jack again. When Dani looked at her funny, she said, “Sorry, just a random thought. Not enough sleep.”

Sobering, she ran her hands through her hair. Her fingers caught on the tangles. “I can’t say no. He’s already paid. Well, he’s paid half the fee.”

“How much?” Dani asked.

“He’s not paying credits,” Taryn said.

“A favor?”

“No. He’s?—”

“Sex?” Dani squawked. “He’s paying you in sex? Was that what last night was about? Did he hurt you? He said he didn’t hurt you.” She lunged out of her chair.

“Dani!” Taryn’s voice was sharp enough to break through the other woman’s muttering and stop her before she reached the door. “Sit back down if you want to continue this conversation.”

Dani sat but didn’t that didn’t stop her rant. “Do you want me to have Daryl, you know, take care of him?”

“Take care of him?” She stared at Dani. “Take care of Ash?”

She didn’t even squirm under Taryn’s gaze. The woman had balls of steel.

“Yeah. Make him disappear. Eliminate him.” She mimed taking a shot.

Taryn’s eyes widened. “I knew what you meant. I just...” She wasn’t sure what to say. “We don’t do that.”

In the five years she’d owned the bar, Taryn had never “disappeared” anyone the way her predecessor had, no matter how much she might have wanted to.

She’d been smart about getting rid of the competition and reinforcing her reputation without leaving a trail of bodies.

Taryn rubbed her eyes again, this time to stave off the headache that was building. “No, we are not going to get rid of Ash. No, he did not hurt me last night.” Dani opened her mouth and Taryn knew what she was going to ask. “No, he’s not paying me in sex. What happened between us was between two consenting adults and has nothing to do with rescuing his sister.”

“Then why were you so upset?” She narrowed her eyes and studied Taryn. “Was he a bad kisser?”

“No!” Her cheeks flamed. “That was... He was... The kissing was great. I just got hit with some bad memories.”

“Oh,” Dani said quietly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed.”

“Pfft. That’s what friends are for. Before I was so rudely interrupted,” she gave her friend a wide smile, “what I was going to say was that he’s going to help us figure out why Giselle’s pimp was here.”

Dani had settled back in her chair, but now she leaned forward again. “How?”

“He’s a hacker, so he’s going to use his computer magic.” Taryn waggled her fingers in the air to indicate the magic.

“Didn’t you say he worked for Tremaine?” Dani asked.

Taryn nodded.

“Won’t that be a problem?”

“It would,” she said, “except he’s going to be doing it here. That old hacker chair in the basement. That’s why he was here last night. He was updating it so he could use it.”

Dani considered her words. “It still seems like it would be easier to just get rid of him.”

“Ash?” Taryn’s eyes widened.

“No, the pimp.”

Taryn swiveled in her chair. “Yeah, probably. But we don’t do that. And we won’t make an exception,” she growled, preempting Dani’s suggestion. She hadn’t seen Dani’s bloodthirsty side in a while.

“He’s going to be a problem,” Dani repeated.

“I know. But first, Ash will help us determine how he figured out Giselle was here. Then we’ll decide on next steps.”

The fact that he had uncovered Giselle’s location was unacceptable. But she needed help to figure out where she’d made a mistake.

“I checked on Giselle this morning,” Dani said. “She’s still a bit freaked out that he tracked her down. Not to mention, still processing the fact that she’s free.”

Dammit. Taryn should have done that, but she’d been too caught up in her own pain. “Thank you for taking care of her.”

“Of course. That’s what we do.” Dani looked like she was deciding whether to ask a question. “Do you know what you’re going to do with her?”

Taryn rubbed her forehead. Dani had voiced one of Taryn’s own concerns. “No. Not yet. She’s the youngest we’ve ever rescued. She’s too young to work at the bar. Do we send her to school? Find some family to foster her? I have no idea what to do with a sixteen-year-old. At her age...” She trailed off.

At sixteen, Taryn had been on the streets, living some of the worst years of her life. She rubbed her shoulder, where the prosthetic joined the skin and bone. “Do you have any idea what to do with a teenager? I sure as hell don’t.”

Dani shook her head. “At her age, I was turning tricks and drugged out of my goddamn mind. All I wanted was my next fix.”

“If you’d had a choice at her age, what would you have wanted to do?’

Dani blinked in wonder, then stared past Taryn’s shoulder. “I... don’t know,” she said after a while. “My family sucked, so I wouldn’t have gone back to them. And I wasn’t the type who liked school.”

“I don’t know what I would’ve wanted either,” Taryn said. That was a lie. She’d wanted to know why her parents had abandoned her. But she’d finally made peace with not knowing. “Shit, I guess we ask her what she wants.”

“Glad I’m not the boss.” Dani laughed. “So, we’ve got one baby former prostitute. One stalker pimp. And one hot hacker. What next?”