Текст книги "Under Locke"

Автор книги: Mariana Zapata

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The worry was forgotten a second later when Dex grabbed the back of my thigh in a firm hold. With his other hand, he slid it from my breast down, down, down until he slipped those long, artistic fingers over my slit. Fingertips dipped between my damp lips, stroking the tiny little button hidden between them.

I cried out.

The cry spurred those miraculous fingertips to move from my clit until they were sinking inside me, slowly. Two thick fingers stretched the tight tissues, earning a stifled breath from Dex.

"Shit, Ritz," he hissed.

He pulled his fingers nearly all the way out before pushing back in. Dex thrust in and out, over and over again, scissoring then plunging until I was soaking wet, until his hand was drenched with my excitement, my lips spread tight around his digits

“Never wanted anything the way I want you,” he groaned into my skin. “Feels like I’m gonna die if I don’t have your hot little pussy wrapped around my cock, baby.”

Then, he stopped. Just like that, he stopped. Dex pulled his fingers out slowly, trailing over to the back of my thigh. He hoisted me up to brace my back to the wall. Dex’s grip flexed over my ass as he brought his pelvis against mine. The long column of his erection rest between my slit.

God, he was so warm, and his muscles were so firm...

Dex edged his hand from my ass up my spine as he laid a soft kiss on my shoulder. He rolled his hips so that the tip of his cock nudged up my stomach, all hard and hot and insistent. The breath that fanned my neck was choppy.

"Honey." He ground his pelvis into me, the smooth globes of his balls brushed my cleft. "I can't—"

I kissed him to cut him off. My arms wound their way around Dex's neck, fusing our mouths together. "Dex."

He pulled away only to bite my chin, his breathing so heavy I worried that he'd pass out, or in his case, spontaneously combust from whatever dozens of emotions were hammering through his system. "Please. I need—"

Me.

I snuck my hand between our bodies to grasp his thick erection. Adrenaline and nerves pumped through my veins as I tried to line him up where he belonged, the thick tip nudging too high, then too low until finally, finally, he was there. The big mushroom head dipped the barest inch inside, more like a friendly kiss than anything.

Dex slid an arm under my ass to hold my weight, the other one crossing my back diagonally so that his palm cupped my shoulder, bringing our chests flush. "Here, Ritz?" he asked in a husky voice, sinking an inch deeper into me. The fingers on my shoulder tightened.

The choice was mine.

He could do this, here in his bathroom—not even in the shower—or... somewhere else. His bedroom. Wherever. I knew Dex well enough that I was sure if I told him I wanted to have him taking my virginity officially in a different place, that he'd do it.

But I didn't care. Not at all. It—me—I was his. Here. In his bedroom. On the couch. It didn't matter.

My answer was crafted into a nip at the column of his throat right by Uriel.

Dex groaned, thrusting what felt like half of his stiff cock into me so slowly, so precisely, it only felt uncomfortable as he went where no man had gone before. "Jesus fuckin' Christ," he hissed, loud, kissing my neck with more than just his tongue and lips.

"Okay?" I asked him, which seemed ridiculous when he looked up at me with a pained expression.

His dark blue eyes were heavy, the rough line of his jaw locked. He flexed his hips, letting himself sink in another inch. "You’re perfect, honey. So goddamn perfect." His hips withdrew almost completely before he pushed back in with a care and a patience he usually didn't possess. It was only a small, breathless huff that gave away the battle going on beneath his skin.

Breathing in and out of my mouth, I tried to relax around him, feeling that huge, blunt dick split me around its solid shape. With two more planned, short thrusts, Dex had filled me to the hilt. I could feel the cool metal of his piercing grazing me. It wasn't painful exactly, more strange than anything as he stood there completely still while I flexed my inner muscles around him, experimentally, earning a rough grunt.

"Don't," he hissed through clenched teeth.

I stopped and kissed his throat. "Tell me if I do something wrong," I whispered, keeping myself still.

Dex sighed, tilting his mouth down to kiss me sweetly. "It feels like you're wringin’ the cum right outta my cock when you do that."

I guess that sounded like a good thing. Right?

Instinct struck and I did it again. Dex let out a low noise that went straight to the bundle of nerves between my legs. "Baby," he moaned, hiking me up higher in his arms.

Dex tilted away from me just a few inches, letting my shoulders settle back against the wall as he thrust in and out, one inch, two inches, three... That pretty pink cock impaling me each time.

A slow, steady withdrawal and push between my legs that left me achy and needy, the tight discomfort dissipating with each thrust. He bit at my lips, alternating between sucking one and then the other as he moved. Soon, too soon, the awkward feeling had practically disappeared until something hot and wonderful clenched my belly.

"Dex," I gasped. "Please."

The hand on my shoulder squeezed as he bit my earlobe, tilting his hips at even more of an angle. The movement was more of a low bounce, picking me up and down over him, never more than a couple inches at a time. But the angle, holy crap.

Holy friggin' crap.

The angle made the tiny studs at the base of his cock grind against my clit. Every. Single. Time. Rub, rub, rub.

I threw my head back against the wall and gasped out his name.

"Fuck...fuck...baby..." he hissed through clenched teeth. His hips pumped faster, still an inch, two inches, three inches. The long shaft stayed buried in me, stretching me around his thick cock. "Too good.”

Heat burst between my legs, shooting up my spine, down my legs as his piercing hit my clit roughly over and over again. Then, all of my nerves went galactic. My entire body exploded with electricity and fireworks that couldn't be described, blood pounded through my ears and I went deaf.

I didn't hear the loud choke that squeezed from Dex's throat, or the grunts that he pitched as his thrusts turned frantic, jerky. I didn't see his wild eyes turn down to look at where we were joined, to see him lose his mind as he watched his length disappear. I didn't hear the sound of pleasure that poured from him as he came, warmth and wetness flooding me.

Dex pumped his hips slowly, his breaths hard and gasping as he shifted our combined weight again to press my back securely against the wall. His chest was flat to mine, all sweaty and panting. I squeezed my legs around his hips, his cock jerking inside of me. I rested my face to the side of his as I caught my breath.

The hand on my shoulder made a slippery slide up and down my ribs, coming to rest on the nape of my neck. From the waist up, we were wrapped up in each other, and if I could, I'm sure I could have felt the pounding of his heart on my own skin.

I took a deep breath and pressed my lips to his Adam's apple. "Can we do that again soon?"

A chuckle rose up from him, loose and happy, as he rubbed the side of his stubbled face against mine. "You've gotta be the best thing I never knew I wanted."

Oh man.

I was suddenly way too glad that he couldn't see the huge smile that overwhelmed my face. Telling him that he was sweet didn't seem like something he'd like to hear, so I kept my mouth shut and kissed the line of his jaw instead. I wanted to tell him that he was the best thing I never thought I'd have but I kept that to myself. It felt like too much right then.

Too much emotion for one day.

"That wasn't the way I planned for this to go," he panted.

"It's okay." I kissed his chin. "I'm not going anywhere." Permanently at least, my brain chose to remind me.

"Fuck yeah." Dex nipped at my ear once more. "Gotta put you down," he said in a way that sounded apologetic. "You made me cum like a freight train, baby. It's a miracle I haven't dropped you yet."

He was right, at least I expected he was after he'd put me down on my feet and pulled out, a gush of liquid seeped out, wetting my inner thighs. Realization slammed into me.

Shit. Shit!

Sweat beaded on my forehead, my temples. "Dex, I'm not on any birth control."

He made a humming noise as he brought his hands up to cup my face with those darkened, tattooed hands. He stroked the top of my head. "I'm fuckin' up all kinds of shit tonight. I'm sorry, baby. Didn't even think about it." He wrapped my hair around his fist, bright blue eyes intent on my own. "I’ve always been careful. You don't got anything to worry about," Dex promised.

Nothing to worry about. Oh bloody hell.

There were very few things I remembered about the semester of health class that I took, but the safe sex class was recorded in there. Safe sex, they’d stressed. You don’t want to end up pregnant or taking meds the rest of your life.

"Baby." He pulled on my hair. "Nothin' to worry about. I’ve never…” Dex looked awkward for a moment, because yeah, I definitely wanted to hear about him having sex with other people right after he was with me. Not. “You’re the only one. Ever. We'll figure out the rest, all right?"

Well, it was done and over with. My period was coming in no time, so my chances of ovulating...I should be fine. Plus, I was ‘the only one.’ He wouldn’t lie to me about something so personal. The calm look on Dex's face was my reassurance that things would be okay. At least this something would be okay, maybe not everything in general.

I nodded into his throat. "I know."

He nodded right back, smiling just a little as he swept a palm down my ass to cup it. "Good." With a soft sigh, Dex kissed my chin. "Shower time."

I rubbed my thighs together, the sticky fluid coating skin. "Good idea."

Dex was silent as he turned on the water, leading me into the large tub. Wide, suspecting eyes glanced over the deep, colorful bruises on the hip I’d landed on.

He mumbled something in a harsh voice but didn’t say anything else, and he didn’t touch the injured parts of my body. Dex washed my hair and back with slow, gentle, sudsy hands. His palm skimmed over the scarring of my arm, but he didn't pay too much attention to it. The only indication he gave that there was something wrong was the nerve that popped continuously under his eye.

I waited next to him while he rinsed off, running my eyes over the parts of Uriel that looped on his back. So much even, smooth skin everywhere. I couldn't stop looking him over. His wide, muscled back. Narrow hips. The meaty shaft of his dick laying semi-hard on his thigh. I took the soap from him and lathered my hands, rubbing over the colorful and not so colorful parts of his chest. Over the dark and not-so-dark colors of both his arms.

Dex just stood there, outstretched limbs letting me get to him. Thighs. Knees. Calves. Even his feet. I flashed him smiles every time I got to a different body part, smiles he returned to me genuinely.

I didn’t have any words left by that point, or even after he helped me dry off.

A few moments later, he’d led me back to his bedroom and deposited himself on the edge of his bed—naked—draping me over his lap casually. One arm went around my back and the other faced palm down on my thigh. Up and down he stroked the bare skin.

Dex didn’t talk as he kissed my forehead and my nose so gently it worried me. He didn’t say anything when I winced after he’d accidentally grabbed my bad hip. And he didn’t say a vowel or a consonant when he tried to brush a hand through my hair.

But when he tilted my face up to his, eyes intense on mine, my strength screamed its end.

“You okay, babe?” he whispered, and I knew he wasn't talking about what we'd just done in the bathroom.

My nod was reluctant.

Dex pressed his cheek to my forehead. “That's my girl.” His voice was a quiver.

That undesirable fear from earlier crept over my bare skin. I'd been told my entire life that I was worth something. That I mattered. Between yia-yia and Sonny, the two had never let me feel like I was worth anything less than gold. And I valued myself, I did. While I wasn't talented, a genius, or really good at anything, I was smart enough and hard-working enough to make up for my other weaknesses.

But in that moment, with the weight of the mess my father had brought down into my life, and the acceptance that it had all cascaded into other people's lives, I suddenly felt unsure. I'd known people who had left others for less.

All Dex had done was help me from... well, nearly from the beginning. And everyone else before Dex that had cared about me had done the same and more.

Something that resembled fear gripped my neck in an intangible hold. “I'm so sorry.” The words were choked from a place in me that I usually stashed all of my regrets and worries. All I did was cause Dex headaches. Make him lose money. Time. Patience and credibility. He was under no obligation to put up with my shit. "I'm such a pain in the ass."

His entire body tensed. “Iris.”

I shifted to set my cheek against his. “You know my mom knew she had growths before she went to the doctor? She waited because we were always broke. Because I was sick and she had to pay my medical bills."

It was a miracle I wasn't sobbing as I spilled these things I shoved deep in me. "And my poor yia-yia had to sell her house so that we wouldn't go bankrupt when I got sick again. I had to come move in with Sonny because I was broke. And now you and the guys are suffering through all of this shit because of me."

Guilt, guilt, guilty, guilt, guilt.

"I'm so friggin' sorry, Dex. I never wanted any of this. I don't want any of you guys to get hurt. I don't even want to see my friggin' dad. Or get a fucking gun put up to my face. I don't—I don't—” It took every single inch of determination I had inside of my gut to keep from letting the broken words turn into a fractured cry. "I need to go back home to look for my dad."

The hand on top of my thigh stiffened, squeezing the lean muscle so hard it hurt. In a flash, Dex had flipped us over so that I was on my back and he was on his hands and knees above me, looking pretty murderous. Those cobalt colored eyes flashed angrily. "No."

"I have to."

He shook his head, staring hard. "No." He blinked. "Fuck no."

"Dex," I whispered, my voice sounding so much more pathetic than I wanted it to. "It's my responsibility. This needs to be over."

"He's there, Ritz, you heard Lu, but you're not goin' back." he insisted. “‘Specially not without me.”

It was my turn to blink in disbelief. "You'll go with me?"

"Yeah." Dex dropped his face down to catch my bottom lip in his, and if it wouldn't have been for that touch, I wouldn't have felt the way his hands trembled on my cheeks. The way his entire body shook.

I nodded at him, pulled between the urge to burst into tears at feeling so overwhelmed and the need to throw myself at him to feel the warm reassurance only he was capable of. Could I do it by myself? Yes. But did I want to? No.

I was in love with this guy. Completely, terrifyingly in love with him. And life suddenly seemed so short again. Would I want to live the rest of my life hiding behind my dad's shadow? Living out his mistakes? No. Absolutely not.

Dex must have seen something on my face that had him dropping his weight down on me. That warm naked body spread over my own nude one, his legs bracketed on either sides of mine, his arms caging me in. Ohmigod, Dexter Locke was naked on top of me. His nice, clean groin was resting on my stomach.

Brain dead. I was brain dead.

"You aren't leavin' alone," Dex demanded.

Oh hell. "I won’t."

Holding his weight on one bent arm, he cupped the side of my face. "You took ten years off my life today, baby," Dex said.

Oh man.

"Thought I was gonna have to go to jail for the rest of my life, babe," he whispered. His hand cupped my calf, demanding and hot. "We're gonna find that piece of shit you and Son got cursed with and we're gonna get this taken care of. You and me. Understand?”

Did I understand? Oh yes. I nodded.

Those brilliant blue eyes locked on mine. He breathed, “I don’t know what the fuck I’d do if somethin’ happened to you.” Dex squeezed my kneecaps. "Scared the livin’ shit outta me, and I’m gonna make sure your pa knows what that feels like."

A tremble engulfed every inch of my skin. It was slow but powerful, eating up my muscles and nerves like it was famished. The moment, his proclamation, all seemed like a dream. Like something that would have happened to the Iris Taylor I could have been in an alternate universe, if life had gone the way it was supposed to.

Did I care he was threatening my dad? In that moment, not really. I chose to ignore it because I wanted to be the one to hurt that selfish jerk.

Dex’s hands held me firmly. One hand slipped up to cup my cheek tenderly as he pressed his forehead to my temple. “I don’t ever wanna feel that way again.”

I think my heart cracked a little right then.

“I’m okay,” I whispered, placing my hand over the one he had high on my thigh. I wanted to tell him that I’d never been that scared either but I couldn’t. Not when Dex was opening up and telling me about his own fear. He wasn’t scared of anything. Not roaches, the dark, clowns, scary movies, the possibility of getting hurt. Nothing.

The fact that he’d been scared for me speared right through my gut.

He tipped his head to touch his lips to mine. “I’ll never let anything happen to you,” he murmured as his thumb brushed over my cheekbone. When I didn’t say anything in response, mainly because I was so wrapped up in his touch, he kissed the side of my mouth.

I, better than anyone, knew how unsteady life could be, but that was the beauty of it if you recognized the potential ahead of you. I had to appreciate the best things, the good man who intended to protect me, because it was real and present. Feminism be damned. I’d shouldered enough burdens alone, and let me tell you, it’s not easy.

Every nerve in my body was prepped for tears and choking emotions but I wrangled them in. I’d always considered myself strong, but on Dex’s lap with his arms around me despite the day I had, I felt invincible. I didn’t need tears. So I told him the truth that had grown roots right into the untilled section of my chest. Clear, concise, precise. “I know. I trust you.”

The movement of his hand faltered on my back. “Iris,” he whispered to my temple, his voice sounding like a croak.

This man. My heart swelled in a way that wasn't natural.

I squeezed my arms around the warmth cage of his ribs and mouthed the words I wouldn't let out of my mouth into his shirt.

Three little words that held all the power in the world.

Chapter Thirty-Four

"You want me to drive?"

I glanced at Dex sitting there, his wrist thrown loosely over the steering wheel. We'd been in Luther's truck for the last six hours and besides three pit stops, the old man—he wasn't amused when I called him that out loud—had been driving straight. He was like a man on a mission, insulting my slow driving skills the first time I'd asked him if he wanted to trade positions. His answer now, like it'd been before was the same. "I'm good."

I could rattle off plenty of things that were more than good about him but him driving for so long wasn't one of them.

The ache between my legs was a friendly reminder of one of them. As was the memory of his colored skin, and those little round studs on his Little Dexter, against me.

Ugh. It was all so hot, everything about him. My neck went warm.

"You all right over there?" he asked.

The jerk had a knowing little smile on his face. When he woke me up that morning, nearly spread out over my back, a hairy thigh tangled with mine, he'd been all hooded eyes and smug smiles. He'd ground his stiff erection against my butt in a slow circle.

And what did I do? I let him. So sue me. Even a recently former virgin knew when she was in the presence of a pretty penis. A long, perfectly thick penis.

Hell. What in the world was wrong with me? I'd gone from thinking about sex and having raging hormones right around the time of my period, to being unable to think about anything else besides all things naked-Dex related.

He'd drugged me. That had to be it.

Okay, not really, but still. That thing was practically magical.

Unfortunately, the slow morning had come crashing down too quickly when his cell phone started ringing the moment he'd eased himself over me on his hands and knees. It was Luther. And it was Luther's offer to let us borrow his truck that had Dex and I packing up our stuff to head out.

Which was how we ended up halfway to Dade county with Dex hogging the steering wheel and being an all-knowing jerk.

"I'm fine," I answered, resting my back into the corner of the truck's seat and door. “You're sure you're not too tired to drive?"

He flicked those blue eyes over, his mouth flat. "I'm ready to get outta here."

In ten hours. "Okay," I told him with a shrug.

Dex let out a long deep breath, reaching across the console to grip my thigh. "Wanna get this shit over with, Ritz."

I'd tried my best not to worry about this mess over the course of the last few hours. Going to bed after crying all over Dex had been distracting, and I'd managed to fall asleep pretty quickly but that hadn't meant that I'd been in the clear. I'd woken up at least four times over the night, sweating, nervous, battling nightmare after nightmare of what had happened at the shop. Two out of those times, I'd looked over my shoulder to find Dex wide awake, too.

Whether he'd been asleep or if I'd tossed and turned and made enough noises to wake him up, I didn't know for sure. I didn't ask either. I had slipped my fingers close to his once, and he'd rubbed my back until I fell asleep again the second time. Chances were, he'd probably slept less than me.

And I could only imagine what his own thoughts had been.

Because I knew what I'd been thinking of when I gave myself the chance to. What if...

What if my dad didn't have the money?

We were driving out to Florida to find him, but what then? What would we do if he only had ten bucks to his name?

The reality of it was...I'd make him figure it out. The possibilities were endless, and my ruthlessness was as well. I sure as heck wasn't going back to Austin until this crap was resolved. When I accepted the possibility that he was broke, I thought of Blake passed out and bleeding on Pins' floor. And that's what kept me going. But...

I would always be a worry-wart at heart.

"What do you think the chances are that he has any money?" I asked Dex without even thinking about it.

The sigh he responded with wasn't exactly reassuring. "Pretty slim more than likely, babe."

Not what I wanted to hear. "What should I do if that's the case?"

"We'll figure it out," he said putting emphasis on the first word. "Depends on the situation."

Well. While that wasn’t exactly reassuring, at least I could mentally prepare myself for the truth. I wondered if we dragged Curt Taylor back, whether the gang would call it even. Or maybe… "Know anyone in the black market? I'm sure he could live without a kidney, gallbladder, or lung if he needs to," I said, scared to investigate whether or not I was serious. Something told me I was.

Dex chuckled, squeezing my thigh. "Like the way you think, Ritz."

"You think that makes me a bad person? That I'm not completely opposed to doing something extreme to get this mess straightened out?" It suddenly worried me how nonchalant I was being about the whole thing. Could I really let my dad do something like that? I didn't feel guilty. Not in the least.

"No." He paused for a moment, clearing his throat. “You can’t expect to care about somebody that hasn’t cared about you, babe. It’s only natural. Doesn’t help that he’s a fuckin’ moron on top of bein’ a piece of shit. I think you’ve wasted enough of yourself on him.”

I didn’t say anything as I thought over his words. Because he was right. Every time the old man made an appearance, he was like a harbinger of doom. The man was a human wrecking ball with no regard for others. And it was about time that I let him go completely. “You’re right.”

“Sure am,” Dex agreed with a small snort.

I groaned and leaned back into the seat, trying to relax. To ease myself out of this unholy grip that strained my emotions. “After he sells a few organs, maybe I can finally have a nice, normal life.”

Dex shot me a long side glance, his mouth twitching. "Baby, I don't know what you think normal is but you're gonna have a nice, safe life as soon as we get him. All right? You can bet on it." His tone was low, gravelly. He was mad, mad for me—in my honor, and my insides recognized it and thrived on his emotion.

I nodded. "All I want is just to not worry about things for a while." For as long as I could remember it'd been my health, my mom, my health again, yia-yia, raising Will, bills, my lack of employment, and now all of this. I'd skipped the part where some people went to school and focused on that. Where kids got to be kids instead of having to sit through radiation treatments and funeral services.

I wasn't complaining. I wouldn't. But... something so little wasn't much to ask for, right?

"Right now, I'd give my left bicep for my only worry to be whether or not to tell you that I ordered the wrong ink." I sighed.

He groaned, a smile cracking one side of his cheek and mouth. "Shit like that's under appreciated, ain't it?" he asked, letting his fingers drift a little higher up my thigh.

"Everyone takes things for granted, little things, big things—everything."

Dex made a humming noise of agreement. "I learned my lesson in jail. You have any idea how much I missed my smokes when I was locked up? Drivin' around? Takin' a fuckin' shower without worryin' about gettin' jumped?"

And if by 'jumped' he meant...

Not going there. No, siree. Especially not when I was pretty positive he was trying to connect with me and not scar me for life.

"Learned some patience in there, so I guess I shouldn't complain."

And...it was a miracle I wasn't drinking, otherwise I would have spit liquid all over the dash. "You? Patient?"

Dex huffed. "Yeah."

Cue my snort. A snort that ripped the serious silence we'd wrapped ourselves in. "I don't even want to know what you were like before twenty-five if you think you can say the 'p' word with a straight face."

The sideways look he gave me was a guilty one. He'd definitely been a huge pain in the ass in his younger days. D-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.

I put up both my hands in praise. "Thank heavens I met you as an old man." I winked at him.

~ * ~ *

Weird.

Driving through the part of town I'd grown up in was just plain...weird. Strange. I'd driven down these streets a million times throughout my life. The very last time had been three months ago when I had accepted the fact that my unemployed butt was out of options—I was going to have to move in with Sonny since I'd been so adamant about not going with Lanie to Ohio. Driving to the cemetery where Mom and yia-yia were buried had been my official goodbye. At that time, I hadn't thought I'd ever make it back to Florida. What would be the point? I had no ties left there besides memories that were as good as they were bad.

Yet, here I was, in a vehicle with a man I would have never been capable of fabricating even in my dreams. In a place where I should have felt at home, but didn't any longer.

"This is all too weird," I whispered as we passed the convenience store I used to always pump gas at.

He watched me wearily. After the last half a million hours in the car, of which he drove all, I couldn't blame him for being darn near exhausted. I hadn't napped either but adrenaline and nerves had kept me going. My dad was here somewhere. Some seedy little place with the words Motor Inn at the end.

But we'd agreed to get some sleep before going hunting for the cause of all the recent hell.

"You all right?" he asked in a rough, tired voice.

"Yeah." We passed by the daycare I'd worked at immediately after finishing my last round of radiation. God, this place depressed me. "This is all just messing with my head. I should be excited to be here, but I'm not. I just want to go back to Austin."

Dex nodded severely. "Nothin' wrong with that, babe. Kinda relieved I'm not gonna have to drag you back home with me."

I narrowed my eyes. "Drag me?"

"Yeah. Drag you." He huffed. "You ain't stayin' here even if you wanted." Dex paused and glanced over in my direction, those dark blue orbs intent. "I lived in Dallas and I missed Austin every day, even if I didn't miss all the Club bullshit and drama. Don't wanna give you a reason to miss this dump."

This wasn't a dump but I wasn't going to argue that point with him. I knew what he was trying to do. Talk me out of any residual love I had for Tamarac and Ft. Lauderdale. The sneaky son of a gun.

I couldn't help but laugh more to myself than at him. I'd let him slide, so instead I focused in on what he said about the Widows. "Dex? Why are you even in the club if you don't really care about it? I mean, I know you do all their accounting crap and other stuff with them but I don't think you really...how can I say this? Enjoy being in it, I guess?"

He lifted a hand and tapped his fingers over his lips in a thoughtful gesture. "Tradition, babe. I'm a legacy. And by the time I got out of county, Lu had already cleaned shit up. Half the Widows were gone, and..." he paused and dropped his hand. His lips pursed in what I'd later on figure was a disbelieving and possibly embarrassed gesture. "Luther had been the only one to offer to help me out once I got back from Dallas, so I kinda owed it to him, ya know?"

There it was. That fierce loyalty. He didn't have a clue how that was the most attractive thing about him. It trumped his face, his ink, his body, everything. Dex Locke was true. He was grounded.

And, I really was in love with him.

“He signed Pins’ first lease and loaned me the money without even thinkin’ about it. Nobody else even offered besides Blake helpin’ with the shop’s license. I help out the Club mainly because of Lu.”