Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
She’s mine! he thought, refusing to drop his eyes as Grox glared at him. Mine, you bastard and you can’t fucking have her!
But she was only his for a week, and after that she would be fair game for any other customer—including the Trollox. He had to think of a way to keep her safe—and to get her out of this place, Davrik told himself.
He was still considering options as the Sluggorn manager led him out of the lounge and up the marble hallway to a lift with golden doors.
They stepped inside and the manager swiveled his antennae towards Davrik.
“Please observe, Sir Davrik—this will be your own special code which will bring you up to the Penthouse suite, where Sonya currently resides as one of our top tier flowers,” he said. He punched in an alphanumerical code into the glowing keypad on the wall of the lift and Davrik took note of it.
“Can anyone else access the penthouse area?” he asked, after committing the code to memory.
“No—not without a code. And your code will expire after the week which you paid for,” the manager told him. “But until your time is up, you will have unlimited access to our lovely Sonya!”
The lift rose smoothly and swiftly and then stopped with a muted ding at the one hundred and second floor, which was the very top of the building.
“After you.” The Sluggorn held out one oozing arm. “Sonya’s suite is the one on the far left, at the end of the corridor.”
Davrik stepped out of the lift and took a left. The hallway was a long one and he saw two other doors on his right and one on his left before he reached the end of it. All of them had the names of girls in holo letters above them but he didn’t bother to read them.
The last door on the left was made of thick, dark wood and had a red holo sign hovering just above its frame which read, Sonya the Songbird. Top Tier Flower. On the wall beside it, about shoulder height, was a rectangular silver scanning plate.
“Here we are! Now if you would please just press your palm to the scanning plate, Sir Davrik?” The Sluggorn manager stepped forward and nodded at the silver rectangle. “That will enter you as an approved visitor for the week.”
Davrik did as he said and the plate lit up—first red and then green as he pressed his palm to its cool surface. There was a muted click and the door popped open.
His heart was pounding as he surveyed the open door. Finally…finally he was going to see her! He could still remember the last time he’d said goodbye to her—the kiss she had given him as she stepped onto the shuttle which would take her down to see her family and attend her cousin’s baby shower.
The shuttle which had crashed into the Gulf of Mexico and killed her.
Davrik had meant to go too, but he’d been called away on a work assignment at the last minute. Sonya had forgiven him cheerfully.
“It’s going to be a girl thing anyway,” she’d told him. “Lots of cute games like tasting baby food and guessing the gender before the big reveal—you’d probably hate it.”
“You know I’m interested in anything that interests you, baby girl,” Davrik had told her, cupping her cheek and looking down into her eyes. “I wish I could come.”
“I wish you could too, but you have to do your job. Besides, I’ll be back before you know it.”
She had stood on her tiptoes and Davrik had lifted her into his arms and cradled her tenderly as they kissed—a long, sweet, passionate embrace that promised more to come.
Only there had never been any more, because Sonya had never come back.
Davrik still remembered the moment her shuttle had crashed into the ocean and the life had left her body. He’d felt it—felt the severing of their Bond like someone suddenly stabbing him in the chest with a sharp and lethal blade. He had fallen to his knees, filled with horror and disbelief. He—
“Well, what are we waiting for, Sir Davrik? Do come in.”
The Sluggorn manager oozed past him, sliding through the doorway and entering the penthouse suite. Davrik shook himself, trying to push aside the awful memory of pain and loss. This wasn’t his Sonya, he reminded himself again. She was gone. But this new Sonya needed his help and he wanted badly to protect her.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the suite himself. There, kneeling on the floor with her arms out in front of her and her forehead on the shiny white tiles of the entryway, was Sonya. She still had on the sparkling red gown she’d been wearing to perform in the Flower Lounge but her face was down so he couldn’t see her expression.