"Are you one of his men?"
Rick shook his head, the lie falling easily as he stepped inside, letting the flap close them in smelly dimness. "Slave."
Sam took in the fresh and old bruises, dirty, ragged jeans, and shirt that hung on him, no jacket despite the low temperatures. She took a step closer, lowering her voice as her heart warned this was yet another man who couldn't be trusted. "Can you get a gun?"
Rick shook his head again, beady eyes on the bare skin showing through her torn shirt. "No. Pills, though. You'll be a zombie while he's...using you."
Her face was pale as she forced her lips to curve into an inviting smile. "Do you have a woman or family here?"
Rick shook his head again, thinking Cesar would be very pleased with how easy this was going to happen. "No."
She smiled again, and he felt his body respond, the blood and bruises indeed a turn-on for him. That was another reason he'd stayed. Here, a man was allowed to be just that: a man.
"Do they let you come and go?"
"Sometimes," he said absently, staring at her platinum hair and pale blue-and-black eyes with a hot gaze that hid a scheming, evaluating male mind. "Sometimes I have a guard."
Rick gave a slight wince he made sure she saw. "I got away once," his voice lowered to a mutter. "Haven't tried in a long time, now."
Very aware of the dim daylight fading fast, Samantha ran a hand up his arm, letting her shirt fall open. "You like women?"
His eyes were full of want, mind full of control. It was all part of the plan, and he'd done it enough to know he had already succeeded. He was numb to the guilt as he worked her. "Hell, yeah."
"Wanna touch?"
Rick's breath was coming short. He did want her - unlike the other females, who cried too much and cowered - and he broke Cesar's first rule: don't touch until the deal is done.
Samantha was unprepared for the bolt of lust his gentle hands drew. When she arched into his caress, to her shame, it wasn't completely faked. She smiled, deeper this time, with obvious meaning. "Wanna do more?"
His hands slid down her bony hips and she pulled back, closing her torn top as best she could. "Then get us out of here…and I'll be your slave."