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I stop myself, my words turning into nothing more than a shake of my head. I have to stop before I reveal too much weakness. I have to get my shit together. It’s nearly closing time, I’m tired as hell, and I have to meet up with some creepy, sex-obsessed crime bosses after work. This is not the ideal moment to explore just what I might really feel for Dixon, or why my cheeks get warm when I’m near him, or why my stomach isn’t entirely swirling with revulsion and the need to vomit when I look at him.
This warm, irritating, tempting, powerful emotion swirls inside me and I don’t know how much long I’ll be able to fight it. Or if I even want to.
“I understand, Alex,” Reggie says. “But I'll say this: I've seen a lot of people in my day. I've seen the ones who are real and the ones who aren't. Snakes, liars, and the ones who will have your back through anything. Dixon? He's real. And when you find someone real in this messed up world, you hold on to them. You hear me?”
Hold on to him? To Dixon? The man I’m supposed to hate, the man I trained myself to hate, yet the man I can’t take my eyes off of?
I nod, not trusting my voice.
Reggie downs the rest of his drink and gives me one last look that says more than words ever could, and then he's gone.
I'm left standing there, my heart pounding, my mind racing. My world is a storm of emotions, and there’s only one rock I want to cling to — it’s the same rock that could drown me if things don’t go the right way.
Turning, I check the clock above the bar. It’s close enough.
“Last call,” I announce, proud that my voice doesn’t shake, even though I can see Dixon out of the corner of my eye. He’s on his phone, probably calling for backup, since we’ll be making the trade-off soon.
At least, that’s the plan.
But, as I notice the way he’s looking at me and think about what Reggie said, a new plan takes shape in my mind. When the last drink is mixed and the last customer is out the door, I turn to him.
“You ready to go, princess? Striker and Moose will be here soon to join us for the handoff.”
I walk toward the front door, smile growing with each step. “How long till they get here?”
“Why?”
At the door, I turn the lock. It makes a loud thunking noise
“Because I want to know how much time I have to fuck you.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dixon
“Not that I don’t appreciate the way your ass fills those jeans, princess, but we have a job to do.”
“You think this is about sex?”
Now I’m even more suspicious. She’s using that tone that I’ve only heard warnings about from other brothers who have ol’ ladies, and it means one thing: tread real fucking lightly. Has she decided to throw away our plan, and instead she’s going to kill me? I don’t know, but there is one thing I know for sure: she looks damn fine in those jeans and it’s jarring as hell having an erection while wondering if she’s going to kill me.
“It’s not? You literally just said you wanted to fuck me.”
“Metaphorically. This is about something else entirely. See, I know what you said to Reggie. Did you mean it?”
“What are you talking about? I told him I was going to teach those guys a lesson. That’s it.”
She reaches inside her shirt and slips the door key into her bra. “Don’t lie to me.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m keeping only key right in here until I get the truth. You want out, you cut the bullshit.”
“What makes you think I’m lying?”
“Reggie. He told me what you said. Exactly what you said. Now, if you want to deny it, I suppose I could call him up and tell him you think he’s a liar. I have his number. He doesn’t live far. He’d be more than happy to come back here and correct you.”
I’ve seen Reggie fight and felt the earth quake when he stomped his feet. The man is like a furious volcano; I may not be the smartest man on earth, but I sure as fuck know not to fight a volcano.
