Page 41 of Velvet Chains

“I’m not going to tell you the details,” I replied.

“Phone sex was the detail.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “I should’ve stopped myself.”

“Ruby, you should’ve stopped him from coming into your life again as soon as you saw him. But you didn’t. And now you’re in deep. I’m not judging you, and even if I was, you definitely coulddeal with it, but this isn’t about anything other than keeping you safe. Emotionally and otherwise.”

I nodded. Was it really already too late? I wouldn’t let that be true. I wouldn’t let Alek be right about everything, not this time.

He wanted what was best for me. He had always wanted what was best for me. This time, I was sure—well, almost sure—he didn’t know what that really was. But there was one thing he did know. We both knew it. The best way to protect Rosie was to keep me safe. So what I wanted—how I felt—that mattered very little comparatively.

“I know a guy,” Alek said.

“I don’t want to go on a blind date.”

“It’s not a blind date,” Alek said. “He’s a pro. You would get your itch scratched.”

“You want me to use a…sex worker?” I asked when I had finally processed what he said.

“What’s wrong with that? He would be a consenting adult. You wouldn’t pay him outright, I would do it. There’s nothing illegal here. I feel like it would get you out of your own head.”

I looked at him, trying to process what he meant. Instead, I said the very first thing that came to my head. “Prostitution is illegal in Massachusetts.”

Alek flashed me a sardonic smile. “Thank you, DA Marquez. I didn’t know that.”

“Alek…”

He waved me off. “Lucky for us, I’m not sleeping with him. You are.”

“You’d still be committing a crime. If anyone found out, imagine the scandal.”

“That’s why no one is going to find out.”

The idea of being touched by anyone other than Kieran made my stomach roil…plus, I wasn’t sure if the guy would survive it should Kieran find out. “Have you used their services before?”

“I haven’t,” Alek said. “But I’ve read about them. And I’m not judging.”

“That makes one of us.” I flashed him a wry smile. “Call it my Catholic guilt, okay?”

“Boston’s first female Latina DA,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “Not progressive enough to fuck the guy I lined up for her.”

“Sorry,” I replied. “I know how hard you tried.”

“This is going to get bad,” he said instead of responding to my joke. “I hope you know that.”

I swallowed. “You think I should cut Kieran off.”

“I think you’d be smarter if you did. Then I wouldn’t have to listen to you tell me about your extracurricular activities,” he said. “I’d be grateful for that.”

I cocked my head. “How grateful?”

“Grateful enough to get you through this,” he said. “You’re tough. You’ll do the work. You’ll survive it. I just don’t know if you’ll be DA by the end of it and that scares the shit out of me.”

“But at least we’ll still be alive,” I said, which felt like absolutely poor consolation.

“Yeah,” Alek said. “I mean, I would certainly hope so.”

But right then, I knew hope wasn’t enough. And that…that scared the shit out ofme. And even though I didn’t want to admit it, death felt a lot more likely as an outcome than just not being the DA.