Read Online New York Crime Kings Box Set: Books 1-4 by Skyla Madi - Free Book Online

voice, one that both caresses and fucks my ear canal with its magic. It makes me think of my job and how I’ve probably lost it. It makes me think of my apartment and the eviction notice I’m going to see if I ever get out of here. Strangely, the song makes me not care. When it flows into the chorus, I think about my life so far...and about my parents. I haven’t been able to shake the possibility of Skull knowing their names. If I knew their names, I could track them down. I don’t want anything from them; I just want them to know that I’m alive and I’m okay—that I made it without them. Or maybe I want to spy a little, to see if they even stop for a second to spare a thought for me.
    “Do you think Skull will give me the name of my parents if I ask?”
    Underneath me, Jai’s entire body clenches. He doesn’t respond, at least not for a while anyway, and in the silence, I try to comprehend what that means. Yes? No?
    “He’ll help you,” he admits eventually. “At a price.”
    “A price?”
    “With Skull, there’s always a price.”
    I purse my lips together and nibble the inside of the bottom one. What’s Skull’s price? “I don’t have any money.”
    Jai scoffs. “Skull has plenty of it. He won’t bat an eyelid at any price you offer him. He’ll want something else from you.”
    I frown, trying to decipher his vagueness. What else could Skull possibly want from me? I have no skills, none that could benefit him anyway—oh. Oh! I lift my head to look Jai in the face.
    “You think he’d want a sexual favor?” I ask, my eyebrows rising into my hairline.
    He opens his eyes. “With you? Undoubtedly.”
    What does that mean? Is it because I’m simply a female or because Jai thinks I’m pretty enough to draw Skull’s attention? If Skull is as big as Jai claims he is, women would flock to him, and not just normal women, beautiful women. Wealth and power always draw out the beautiful women.
    Jai groans. “Please tell me you’re not contemplating fucking Skull for information?”
    I flinch, taking offense. I’d never use sex to get what I want. Ever.
    “Excuse me? I’d never do such a thing. Not that it’d be any of your business if I did, anyway. You may have saved my life and I might owe you a shitload of money, but that doesn’t mean you own me.”
    With a mighty flick of his hips, Jai tosses me off of him. Somehow, before I fly off the cot, he manages to snag my waist and tuck me underneath the weight of his body. For a larger guy he moves swiftly, as if he weighs only a quarter of his weight. The ear bud pops from my ear and I grip his arms as his legs spread mine and his hips pin me to the mesh underneath us. His breath comes hot and fast. It clashes with mine, less than an inch from our lips. I’ve never dealt with anyone as demanding as Jai. One word is all it takes for him to switch from cool and calm to hot and annoyed. Strangely, it’s sexy. The grip he has on my wrists, the pressure he puts on my pelvis, and the sight of his half-naked body above mine whips my blood cells into a frenzy.
    “I own you,” he says, his voice stoking the fire in my blood. “I owned you the second I had you pinned against the warehouse.”
    I swallow hard, unable to stop my chest from rising and falling so rapidly. I shake my head. “No. We live in the twenty-first century. That’s not how it works.”
    His intense gaze flicks to my lips, unleashing a torrent of butterflies into my stomach. “How does it work then? You tell me.”
    His eyes flick back to mine. I don’t know how it works. I don’t think you can own somebody; not their choices anyway. You can own their heart, but everything else is off the table. I’m yet to meet anyone who I’d let own me in every sense of the word.
    And boy, is it a powerful word.
    Own is a word that equates to love. Owning somebody means you have the ability to tear them apart at your mercy, and the choice of putting them back together...or not. That doesn’t