'Please don't be angry with me, Lloyd. I can't bear it when you are.' Malora's eyes welled with tears and she blinked them away.

His face softened. There was sadness in his voice when he spoke. 'I can't bear it when you cry. I'm not angry with you, Make. I'm angry with myself for failing you.'

'You haven't failed me, Lloyd. I'm so proud of you. Of everyone we know, you're the only one who has made it out of this vortex of poverty and hopelessness. I'm not your responsibility. I'm a big girl now. I can take care of myself.'

He nodded. 'I know. I just wanted better for you.'

'It's not so bad. It's just sex, Lloyd.'

'How's Louis anyway?'

'He's bad. Real bad. The good days are less and less. You do see that I had to do this, don't you?'

'Maybe, but I don't like it, though.'

There was a lull in the conversation and Malora tried to liven it up. 'Since we are openly discussing my sex life. . .are you gay?'

'What?'

'Are you gay?'

Lloyd laughed. 'That'll be a surprise to my girlfriend.'

She gasped. 'You have a girlfriend?'

'Mmnnn.'

'Since when?'

'Two weeks ago. I was always so focused on getting out of the estate I didn't allow myself to get distracted, but my goal is in sight now, and she's a great girl.'

'And just when were you going to tell me, Lloyd Calhoun?'

'Well, how could I with Mika springing your big news on me?'

'Tell me more about her.' Before he could answer, her phone rang. It was Titan. 'Hi,' she said, looking at Lloyd.

'Are you at the apartment?'

'No.'

'Can you get there in thirty minutes?'

'I guess so.'

'See you in thirty minutes.' He hung up.

'That was him?' Lloyd asked.

Malora nodded. 'I've got to go. I'll take a rain check on lunch with you, but I'm buying and we're going somewhere nice.'

'With his money?'

Malora didn't say anything. Of course it was his money. Her credit cards were maxed out before him. And that damned Black card was still with her. He did say she could use it.

'Thanks, but no thanks. I understand why you're doing what you're doing, but I'll be damned if I'm going to help spend his money. As far as I'm concerned it's blood money—your blood. I'm not going to drink from it.'

She looked at him helplessly. 'It's not that, bad. Don't let it come between us, please,' she begged.

He reached forward and grasped her hands in his. 'Nothing will come between us. I'll always be here for you and will be long after he is gone. No matter what happens, I want you to know I'm always here, a phone call away. You can always come to me.'

Tears sprang into her eyes. 'What's the name of that girlfriend of yours?' She sniffed.

'Juliet.'

'She's lucky.'

He smiled. 'You must tell her.'

'When?'

'Luke's throwing a birthday party, and Mika would be returning then. I'll bring her.'

Malora bit her lip. 'If I am allowed to be there, I would love to meet her.'

His eyes narrowed dangerously. 'Are you some kind of sexual slave to him, Mal?'

Malora felt hot color run up her neck. 'No, but it's the arrangement—I have to be there whenever he wants me.'

Lloyd drew a sharp breath. 'That is just sick,' he fumed.

She covered her burning cheeks with her palms. 'Please, Lloyd, leave it.'

'You're such a fucking innocent. Does your sister know about this pact of abuse you have signed up for?'

'Of course she doesn't, but it's not abuse, Lloyd. It's not exactly a hardship to sleep with the man that Hello! magazine has called the most eligible bachelor in the world.'

'So what does your sister think?'

Malora closed her eyes. 'She thinks I've got myself a rich boyfriend.'

'Jesus.'

She ran a finger through the condensation on her glass. 'You know I don't believe in God. All my life I've thought it's a cruel God up there, if there is one at all, but you do, and your God is kind and forgiving. Will you pray to your god to save my nephew?'

'I pray every day for Louis, Mal.'

Tears spilled down her cheeks.

Sadly, he reached out a hand and wiped them. 'Don't cry, little dove. Maybe this treatment will work. Maybe he will get better.'

She smiled through her tears. 'I don't know what I'd do without you, Lloyd. Sometimes when I am really sad I think of you serving the Queen and it makes me feel happy. "Lieutenant Calhoun your attention is needed."'

Lloyd smiled, but it was a sad smile.

'I did what I had to do.'

He rested his forehead on his hand; his eyes were unexpectedly gentle. 'All right, Mal. We'll play it your way. Be safe and remember I'm here for you. Always. If ever it gets. . .strange or dangerous, call me immediately. I swear if he ever hurts you, I don't care if I end up in prison, I'm going to beat him until he can't raise a finger.'

Malora nodded. 'I'll be all right. It's just sex,' she said and he winced.

'Please don't say that again, Mal. It hurts my ears.'

'I've not suddenly become Fat Mary, you know.'

'Perish the thought,' Lloyd said, the ghost of a smile flickering onto his face.

'I have to go now.'

He stood. 'I'll always be here, remember that. I'll call Lorena later.'

'Thanks Lloyd. She'd like that. She likes you. Do you know she thought you and I would get together?'

He made a face. 'Oh dear.'

Malora laughed. 'I know. Goodbye, Lloyd.'

She moved forward, kissed him on his cheek and walk towards the entrance.
Her phone pinged with an incoming message. It was from Titan. It simply read: pack a bag.

*

Not knowing if they would be leaving the country, Malora packed a little bit of everything and two shoes. Then, she packed her toiletries after taking a quick shower. She chose a simple outfit for the travel; cream coloured slacks, a navy blue silk blouse and a black slip-ons. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail. Silver diamonds studs glittered from her ears, and her Rolex watch was strapped around her left wrist.

She'd just finished applying her nude coloured lipstick when she got a message to come downstairs. Malora hurriedly replaced the cap on her lipstick, picked her handbag and travel box, then exited the house after turning out the lights.

Instead of the Agera Henry drove her around in, a silver Bentley idled on the sidewalk. Malora barely had time to admire the car before Henry collected her bag and ushered her into the backseat.

Malora was disappointed to find it empty. There was no sign of Titan anywhere. She had to admit that she was a little bit disappointed not to see him, after anticipating his presence all day.

The drive was silent and companionable, so Malora resisted from asking where they were going to. She got her answer very soon, because Henry pulled the car into the Heathrow parking lot. Again, Henry helped her out of the car, and escorted her into the airport, her bag in his hand.

Henry stayed behind while Malora was whisked across the concourse and then ushered into a plush private waiting room. Titan, it would seem, had been waiting for her in there.

He didn't even offer much as a hello in her direction. Malora remained silent, too. She wasn't about to force a conversation on him and be snapped at for her efforts.

She had just enough knowledge of cars to be able to recognize status vehicles when she saw them, but private jets were completely beyond Malora's sphere of experience. She wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between a Gulfstream and a Bombardier if her life depended on it.

So all she could really say about Titan's, as she gazed at it through the viewing windows, was that it looked like a plane. With wings and engines and wheels and everything else One would expect.

In barely a handful of minutes, their passports were checked in the most cursory fashion imaginable. And then they were let out onto the runway, Malora dragging along her entirely disregarded luggage. If she'd ever fancied terrorism or drug-dealing, this would have been a fantastic opportunity. The only thing missing was her bad-ass dark sunglasses, squeals of tires, and badass guys shooting at them.

Not that she wanted it anyway.

The chill hit her almost immediately, sharpened by the rough edge of the wind. Malora shivered and Titan wrapped his coat about her shoulders. It was probably a demeaning sort of gallantry that she, as a liberated twenty-first-century woman, should have resisted. But she didn't feel demeaned. Malora felt cherished. And the thought made her blush.

'Why don't you ever have a coat?' he asked.

Malora shrugged.

'Do you have some objection to dressing for the climate?'

'I have an aesthetic one.' Malora had a duffel coat Mika had found in a charity shop, but it made her look, and smell, like an aging yak with personal grooming issues.

'Come on.' Titan took Malora's free hand and hurried her across the runway.

All around them the sky gleamed. His palm was warm and his fingers were strong. The wind was making carnage of her hair. It was hard for Malora to hold on to the idea that this was normal life for Titan. When it felt so utterly surreal to her.

As they boarded, it was "Good afternoon, Mr. Pitts". Someone took her case. And then Malora was led into a space that would have impressed her if it had been a hotel. Tastefully decorated in shades of brown and cream and gold, it was essentially just a living room—soft carpets, sofas, cozy armchairs, a wall-mounted flat-screen—except it flew.

It motherfucking flew.

Only the windows, and something about the heavy quality of the light, betrayed the fact they were on a plane. Malora had never stepped a foot in a plane before all her life. She'd never had a reason to leave London, but here she was on her way to an unknown destination with an enigmatic man who only wanted her for her body.

How delightful.

Malora must have had an 'I don't think I'm in Kansas in anymore' look on her face because Titan steered her gently into a chair. He was telling her useful things about where the bathroom was and what to do in case of an emergency but she was too dazed to really take it in. Words like office and conference room and master bedroom kept shooting past her in bullet time.

Although she definitely perked up at bedroom.

Soon enough, they were trundling down the runway. The world smearing a bit as the plane picked up speed.

Malora had once mentioned to Lloyd that she had no idea how planes went from being on the ground to being in the air. So he'd told her. The bastard. And that had taken some of the fun out of it. But this was her favorite part of flying: the moment just before takeoff, when what was about to happen seemed absolutely impossible.
She loved the tilty feeling in her stomach, the instinct to hold her breath. The way one could sort of sense somehow, in the responses of their own body, the unimaginable, unbelievable grace of all that metal.

'Are you all right?' Titan asked. 'You aren't afraid?'

This man. He seemed to know her better than anyone in the world. He didn't even need to ask to know if she'd ever been on a plane. He just knew.

'You know, maybe you should have checked before we got on the plane.'

He looked so horrified that she took pity on him.

'I'm fine. It's just. . .I'm not used to this literally high-flying lifestyle.'

There was a slightly weird pause.

And Malora found herself almost wishing they were back in the relative normality of a hired car, or in One Hyde Park, where they'd found this. . . she didn't know what to call it. . .this routine. This burgeoning sense of what to expect and give. But this new development was strangely surprising.

Malora would liked being so close to him. Having so much of his attention. And she'd liked the secretive parts of himself he'd seemed willing to share with me—things She'd previously only glimpsed, or suspected, or hoped for. The Titan Pitts who'd held her after the visit to Lorena. The one who'd prepared her breakfast.

Malora touched her collar absentmindedly.

The one who'd collared her.

Right now, though, he was nowhere to be seen.

The man sitting on the sofa in his private jet seemed so far out of her league as to belong to an entirely different sport.

As if sensing her eyes on him, he met her gaze square on. For a few precious minutes, he didn't say anything. He simply held her gaze with that blank look she hated so much. Then he did something so totally unexpected.

He crooked a finger at her.

Malora shuddered with a kind of fearful longing.

'Come here, little dove.' He said it softly but there was no doubt that it was a command.

Chapter dedication: MyWickedWays

I dedicated this chapter to her because she's one, wicked wicked author, and I am a boner😁😁😁😁.

Also, because she's one of the strongest people I know. ❤❤❤❤

Check out her works if M/M books with hot, mind-blowing characters and we'll developed plot with hot dispensed are your thing. 😋

A/N:

Titan is hot, but Master T's hotter.

Okay, I just have to say this. Is it just me or is Wattpad dry, like it seems as if there's no one here???

I just hope everyone's doing great.

Just drop a totally random message to let me know y'all are good, 'kay? ❤❤❤❤