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money, no hope, and her whole life a fucking train wreck.
“There is nothing I don’t want to know about you,” Søren said, and seemed to mean it. “And I
assure you, nothing you tell me will shock or disgust me. Nothing will make me change my mind about
you.”
“Change your mind? You’ve already made up your mind about me? What’s the verdict?”
“The verdict is simply this—I am willing and capable of helping you out of this mess you’ve gotten
yourself into.”
“Can we call it a ‘pickle’? Pickle sounds less scary than mess.”
“It’s a disaster, young lady. You could easily spend years in juvenile detention for what you did
tonight. One of the cars you stole belonged to someone important and influential, and he’s apparently
determined that you don’t see sunlight until age twenty-one. Keeping you out of juvenile detention
will take a great deal of doing on my part. Blessedly, I have some connections. Or, more accurately, I
have someone who has connections. The time and expense will be considerable,” he said in a tone
that seemed to imply he relished the time and expense, which made no sense. But nothing about the
man or his interest in her made any sense at all.
“And you’ll go to all this trouble for me...why?” Eleanor lifted her head a little higher and stared
straight into his eyes.
“Because there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you, Eleanor. Nothing I wouldn’t do to help you.
And nothing I wouldn’t do to save you. Nothing.”
A chill passed through Eleanor’s whole body. Someone walked over her grave, as her grandmother
would say. She never understood that phrase, that feeling before. Now she did.
“But my assistance doesn’t come without a price.”
“Right.” Eleanor smirked at him. “So this is when we get back to my first question and the fucking
of the kids at church. Oh, well, if you insist.”
“Do you value your worth as a child of God so little that you think the only thing I could possibly
want from you is sex?”
The question hit Eleanor so hard she almost flinched. But she wouldn’t let him see he’d gotten to
her. Her mom would disown her for this. Her dad was probably eight states away by now. Her
grandparents were seven minutes from death. Her entire future was about six feet under. Still she
wasn’t about to let anyone take away her pride. She at least had that. For now, anyway.
“So that’s a no?”
Søren raised his eyebrow at her and she almost giggled. She was beginning to like this guy. She’d
fallen in love with him already—utterly, completely and until the end of the world or even after.
Never guessed she’d end up liking him, too.
“That would be a no. I will require something of you, however, in exchange for my assistance.”
“Do you always talk like this?”
“You mean articulately?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Weird. So what price am I paying? Hope it’s not my firstborn child. Don’t want kids.”
“My price is simply this—in exchange for my assistance, I only ask that you do what I tell you to
do from now on.”
“Do what you tell me to do?”