“Okay,” I replied.

“Okay,” he whispered.

I decided it was time to switch subjects. “What’s your take on today?”

He rolled to his back but pulled my torso up on his as he did. He looked to the ceiling. I looked at his face.

“I get the play but I still think you all jumped the gun.” His eyes came to me. “Sebring does the job fueled by emotion. I don’t know where it comes from but he’s got a fire in his belly. He was playin’ it smart with finesse, diggin’ deep, lookin’ to make sure he got all the players. Beatin’ the shit outta Nair until he gave all the names of the clients he planted to work over the girls and promised to get the f**k outta Denver might not solve the problem if Nick or some other f**kwad is in on this with him.”

I nodded. “Takes care of the immediate problem, though,” I noted.

“Maybe, maybe not.” His eyes grew sharp on me and when he went on, my body braced. “Torture doesn’t work. Incentives do. Anyone will say anything to stop the pain. We have no idea if he gave us all the names of all the clients he planted. He swears he’s workin’ alone, we can’t trust that either. The only thing we know since we’ve been watchin’ him is that he hasn’t directly approached the girls but Knight’s no further than he was before.”

“Torture didn’t make you say what they wanted you to say to stop the pain,” I said quietly.

“Exactly. Torture does not work if you’re usin’ it on a true believer. Until they offered incentives, they got nothing,” he replied, not quietly.

I pulled in a breath and moved us out of this. I couldn’t deal with this. Not now.

“We’ve found nothing to even hint that Nair had a partner.”

“That’s the only thing I feel good about. My gut throughout this entire job said the man worked alone. He got info and he bought talent to do their thing with the girls but this is not a man who inspires loyalty. Knight’s business is f**ked. He shouldn’t be doin’ it but before I took this job, I looked into him and got nothing back but respect. Even know some cops on the DPD who had good words to say, no f**kin’ joke. So, regardless that he does it, I couldn’t sniff out one single enemy, outside Nair.”

“Knight shouldn’t be doing it?” I asked and my tone made him focus more intently on me.

“I get you,” he said gently. “And I’ll say, straight up, in my job with the clients I take, I cross a lotta lines so I am far from squeaky clean. But there is no denying what Knight Sebring does outside that club is not okay.”

“I disagree,” I retorted and his arm around my back gave me a squeeze.

“I know you do, Sylvie. I know why you do. But now you know that I disagree with you.”

“Do we have a problem with this?” I asked and he shook his head against the pillows.

“Nope. Your life, your job, your choices. I fit into that life; I don’t bend it to my will. Same goes for you with me. We got issues along the way, we discuss and maybe agree to disagree. But if I accept you have reasons for making the decisions you make and vice versa, we’ll be cool.”

That was the right answer so I nodded and my body relaxed.

His arm gave me another squeeze.

“Do you know why Knight does it?” he asked.

“No. He hasn’t shared and I don’t care. He does it. He doesn’t f**k around. He’s committed and, honestly, Creed, this shit rarely happens. So he’s good at what he does, whether you agree with it or not.”

“Right,” he muttered and I braced again when his eyes went back to intent. “That visit to Serena, baby, before we came home, she wants out. The girls want out, you should help them and so should Knight.”

“We do,” I told him and continued. “And I will. So will Knight. He’ll pay to make her physically healthy again, the girls will work with her to help her get over what happened or learn to live with it then he’ll work to pave her way in another life. She’ll be okay.”

His eyes got more intent and his arm tightened so I kept braced when he carried on.

“Just throwin’ this out there but, the new ones come in, you should counsel them to different ways of goin’ about life.”

“I thought you accepted I had reasons for making the decisions I make?” I asked.

“I do. I also told you, we had issues along the way, we discuss them. And a woman finds herself in the position to approach Knight in order to have protection so she can sell her body, Sylvie, he or you should do what you can to show her another way before you take her on. It’s the right thing to do.”

“Okay, I get you,” I told him. “And, you may not know this but he does that already. I cannot say that he expends a lot of effort and there is no doubt he could make more of one but he doesn’t just set them up. Sometimes they feel there are no other ways.”

He shook his head and his arm came up, fingers sifting in my hair so he could pull my head closer to his.

“I had all access, Sylvie, demand that shit when I take a client and Serena was hookin’ to pay for art school. Can you tell me there’s no other way?”

“She’s twenty-five, Creed. She can also make life choices.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Fuck.

“Okay,” I gave in. “That was whacked.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“All the girls don’t have reasons like that, Creed.”

“Maybe not but sometimes shit in life can make you blind to choices you don’t know that you have. You and Sebring really wanna look after those girls, you help them open their eyes before they sell their bodies. Talk to him about making more of an effort.”

“You know, you annoy me when you make sense,” I shared and his face lost its intensity when he grinned.

“Not much I can do about that, baby.” His fingers twisted gently in my hair. “You gonna talk to him?”

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“Be convincing,” he ordered.

I rolled my eyes.

He kept being bossy.

“Now kiss me.”

“No.”

His brows went up. “No?”

“I’m not in the mood to kiss.”

“What are you in the mood for?”