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His mouth is inches from mine, our breaths mingling as we pant. It wouldn’t take much for him to capture it.
With monumental effort I step away and put some distance between us, and the fog in his eyes seems to lift.
“Slade saw us last night. Kissing.” I type the words into my phone.
His eyes crawl over my face, as if committing every inch of me to memory. “I don’t care.”
“I care.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He laughs before the text-to-speak app has even finished. “I’m not worried about your club, darlin’.”
“You should be,” I type and let it play. “Slade warned me to end it.”
His mouth curves down, and I can see a glimpse of the man Dane is in that instant. He’s a man who isn’t used to being told what to do, and he doesn’t like being told something is off-limits.
“Slade can go fuck himself. I don’t answer to him. Nor do you.”
While I agree, I also realise we’re playing with fire here. One of us might end up burnt. I don’t want to let my family down either.
I duck my head, my emotions growing, and he reaches out, capturing a stray piece of hair that has come free from my ponytail. Carefully, he tucks it behind my ear, his eyes moving over my face as he does. What he’s seeking there, I don’t know, but I feel the weight of that gaze intently.
“I don’t give a fuck about Slade or Derek or Dax. I care about you and I care about me.” He considers me for a moment. “I’m worried you’re not safe here.”
I frown at him and mouth, “I am.”
“Last night, your brothers told me you were shot at,” he says quietly.
I pause, unsure whether the truth will help me here. I can feel the intensity rolling off him as he waits for an answer. Knowing there’s no point lying, I nod.
I watch his face contort.
“Were you hurt? Your brothers said you weren’t, but I’d rather hear it from you.”
Jem left me a little dinged around the edges when he pushed me down, but I keep this to myself.
“I’m okay.”
His scowl grows as he listens to my message. “Why didn’t you mention the fact some fucker tried to kill you when I saw you yesterday?”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes.
“Firstly, they weren’t trying to kill me, Dane. They were shooting indiscriminately. I just happened to be in the line of fire. And secondly, I wasn’t aware I needed to tell you this stuff. Did you want me to waltz up to you in front of my brother and Derek and just blurt out I’m okay? Or maybe I could have done it when you were kissing me—something you need to stop doing by the way.”
I can tell he doesn’t like this by the way he roughly scrubs a hand over his face.
“You want me to stop kissing you?”
I don’t. Not even for a second, but I should say yes, so I nod.
I expect him to step away, to leave it at that, but he doesn’t.
“I’ll stop kissing you if you want me to, but I’m not sure you do. I think you’re scared of your brothers, of Slade. Of what they’ll say.”
I blink at him, then type out, “I’m not scared.”
