Patchworked Hearts {SAMPLE}

Chapter 16

This is what I get for caring, huh?

Figures.

"You do realize, don't you," she began, biting back a cry of Why can't you see that I'm doing this because I care about you? that wanted to rise up, "that the rest of your family has given up on you? Do you honestly want to burn this bridge? Think about that for a minute."

Katrina didn't even seem to take a second. "Don't be a stuck-up bitch, please." She pressed another languid kiss to Dexter's cheek, and then stood up and traipsed to Helen, passing the sketchy man next to her an appraising look. "Let's talk for a minute."

"Let's not." Helen's voice was flat. She really just wanted to go home, cuddle Ginger, and maybe call Pat to hear his voice and keep away the terror that this incident would surely bring to her sleep.

"Dexter and I will be outside," the sketchy man said, exchanging a significant look with the older fellow. "Katrina," he dropped his head and murmured something into Helen's cousin's ear, and Helen felt her stomach bottom out when Katrina's eyes lit up with glee.

"Is that agreeable?" he asked as he stepped away, his gaze returning to Helen. "I would very much like it."

"Oh, it's more than agreeable," Katrina practically tripped over her words in her haste to get them out, and the eagerness in her features did nothing to comfort Helen. "We'll be out in a moment."

The instant that the two men were gone and the door had closed behind them, Helen swiveled to her cousin and hissed, "What do you mean, 'we'll' be out? There is no 'we' in this situation, Katrina! I'm here to bring you home and have Ginger claw some sense into you! Do you have any idea how dangerous this lifestyle is?" Something in her heart gave way, leaving an aching desire to fix the mess. "Please, Katrina," her voice grew softer, her eyes expressing her desperation, "please just come home with me. There are other ways to live; you don't have to keep doing this."

Katrina's own expression shifted, until she was eyeing Helen with something akin to gratefulness. It didn't last long, however, before her eyes had glossed with steel and her chin was jutted out in defiance.

"I like my lifestyle, Helen, and I've never much cared for your opinion." The words were firm. "Now, I plan to go with Dexter to his place, so I won't be needing your apartment after tonight. And," Katrina's tone lifted, until it was filled with dark mischievousness that had Helen inching backwards, "his friend took a bit of shining to you; he'd like you to come with us."

Helen's heart began to race with the desire to run and never look back. "No. I don't want to go anywhere with you."

Damn, this is bad.

"Oh, come on, Helen, it won't be that bad," Katrina scoffed, snagging Helen's wrist in her hand and then tugging the woman behind her as she waltzed outside. The scary man was gone, but Dexter was right outside the door, his smile leering as he watched the sway of Katrina's hips.

"Ready to go?" he asked, his voice low with desire, and Helen couldn't hide the disgusted twisting of her face.

"More than," Katrina purred. "Where's your friend?"

Dexter waved over his shoulder dismissively. "He'll catch up with us at my place later. Come on, my car's out back."

Bile rose in Helen's throat as Katrina started to pull her to the exit at the back of the building, and she tried in vain to tug her wrist free, only for Katrina to tighten her hold. "Stop it," Katrina sneered over her shoulder.

But Helen couldn't stop it, not when Katrina was essentially trying to force her to join in on a sinful activity that went against Helen's very beliefs. They stepped into an alley, and Katrina shivered in the cold air, her eyes darting to Helen's coat. "I like that."