Shouldering her duffel, she left the locker room and found Trez out in the hall texting on his BlackBerry.

He put the phone in his pocket and looked her over. “You all right?”

No. “Yup. Was an okay night.”

Trez nodded once and walked with her to the back door. As they went outside, she prayed he didn’t hit her with one of his lectures. Trez’s opinion about prostitution was that women could choose to do it, and men could choose to pay, but it had to be handled professionally—hell, he’d fired girls for skipping condoms. He also believed that if there was even a hint that a female was uncomfortable with her choice, she should be given every opportunity to rethink what she was doing and get out.

It was the same philosophy the Reverend had had at ZeroSum, and the irony was that because of it, most of the girls didn’t want to leave the life.

As they came up to her Camry, he stopped her by putting his hand on her arm. “You know what I’m going to say, don’t you.”

She smiled a little. “Your speech.”

“It’s not rhetoric. I mean every word.”

“Oh, I know you do,” she said, taking her keys out. “And you’re very kind, but I’m where I need to be.”

For a split second, she could have sworn his dark eyes flashed with a peridot light—but it was probably just a trick of the security lights that flooded the back of the building.

And when he just stared at her, like he was choosing his words, she shook her head. “Trez…please don’t.”

Frowning hard, he cursed under his breath, then held out his arms. “Come here, girl.”

As she leaned forward and stood in the lee of his strength, she wondered what it would be like to have a man like this, a good one who might not be perfect, but who was honorable and did right and cared about people.

“Your heart isn’t in this anymore,” Trez said softly in her ear. “It’s time for you to go.”

“I’m fine—”

“You lie.” As he pulled back, his voice was so sure and certain, she felt like he could see right through into her heart. “Let me give you the money you need. You can pay it back interest-free. You aren’t meant for this. Some are. You are not. Your soul’s not doing well here.”

He was right. He was so very, very right. But she was done relying on anyone else, even somebody as decent as Trez.

“I’ll get out soon,” she said, patting his huge chest. “Just a little longer and I’ll be caught up. Then I’ll stop.”