Page 60 of X's and O's

“What else do you do? Because I probably need all of it.”

He chuckled down the line, and oh my God, the sound travelled right down my body like electricity, settling between my legs with a throbbing pulse at my clit. It was no wonder Toby’s friend had sung this man’s praises. His voice alone was a combination of hot molasses and chocolate syrup.

“A lot of things, sweetheart. Pretty much anything you want.”

I swallowed down a nervous stutter. “Would you take my virginity?”

“How old are you? I won’t touch a minor.”

I laughed, but it was bitter. “Thirty.”

He paused for a second, and of course, in that tiny amount of time, my brain managed to convince me that even the sex worker thought I was too lame to deal with.

I clutched the phone so hard I was sure it was going to break. “Please,” I whispered. “I’m so sick of feeling like a loser.”

“What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Violet.”

“Tomorrow night. Text me your address, and I’ll have a car sent for you.”

I agreed before he could change his mind. I really hoped Toby wasn’t full of shit when he’d said he would loan me the money. Because otherwise I had no idea how I would pay for this. “Okay.” I hated that my voice trembled.

“And Violet, wear a dress.” Wyatt DeLeon practically purred down the phone. “And nothing but the dress.”

16

WHIP

Grayson clapped his hands together, trying to capture everyone’s attention. “Okay, so I want to try something new at today’s meeting. We’re going to work on some impulse control exercises.”

Torch and Ace both groaned, like they were in school and the teacher had just announced there was going to be a pop quiz.

I raised an eyebrow at the doctor. “Care to explain further?”

He nodded. “I want us to talk about some ways you can distract yourselves when emotions are running high. Like right now, while we’re on edge about that letter and who knows about our group. I know it’s distracting, and you have the urge to just go handle it with a mass murder spree, but I don’t want it to derail everything we’ve been working on. We have the list for…stress relief… when you really need it, but the aim here is to help you channel those feelings into other places so your kills become less and less frequent.”

X raised his hand beside me.

Doc frowned at him. “You don’t have to raise your hand.”

X dropped it, placing it down on his leg that bounced with unused energy. “What if one does not want to do that? What if one just really likes killing? What if one likes killing so much he made skin ribbons from his latest victim and strung them around his vic’s house for the police to find?”

We all swiveled to stare at him.

He shrugged. “What? I’m asking for a friend.”

We turned to Scythe, who had decided to join us for a meeting.

He shrugged. “Not me.”

Grayson sighed. “Like I said. It’s clear to me that some of you,” he looked pointedly at X, “are pretty badly triggered and really need some help from the group to channel that into a different place. So, let’s talk about some ways you can do that. Whip, do you have any thoughts?”

I knew he was starting with me because I was the most level-headed of the group. But I really didn’t know what he was getting at. “I dunno, Doc. You want us to take up knitting or something?”

Grayson clapped his hands and then pointed at me. “Yes! Exactly! Learning a new, calming activity is a great option! Well done!”

It was cute how excited he got when we actually participated in his group therapy.