Chapter 10 #2
She chose that moment to fly across the room and land on my shoulder. “Trixie is a good bird. Good bird.”
I snorted and reached up to scratch her head lightly. “See? She vouched for herself.”
Axel leaned against the back of the couch, arms crossed, grinning. “Hell, she’s already better behaved than Maddox.”
Maddox flipped him off without even looking away from the TV screen.
“Come on, Julius. Bring your feathered menace over. She can help us heckle.”
Mika hooked an arm through mine and started pulling me toward the center of the room. “Ignore them. You’ll love it here.”
Trixie flapped and adjusted her perch on my shoulder, craning her neck to eye the group like a queen surveying her subjects.
I’d met Crowe months ago at Kirby’s. I didn’t really know him, but he was pretty unforgettable with his dark eyes and muscular body that was covered in tattoos. He was leaning back in one of the big armchairs, and he eyed her with an amused huff. “That bird talk as much shit as you do, Julius?”
“More,” I said solemnly.
“She cuss?” a younger guy piped up, sounding way too hopeful for someone barely old enough to shave. “I’m Bobby, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Bobby, and yeah, she curses. Way too much,” I muttered.
Trixie clicked her tongue and announced brightly, “Kiss my—”
“Trixie, behave,” I said, cutting her off, and she stopped but ruffled her feathers at me.
The whole room burst out laughing, and an attractive fit woman, who’d been stacking pool cues and really needed a haircut, snorted. “Damn, she’s perfect for this group.”
Mika was still giggling. “Okay, okay. What do you want to play? Pool table’s open, or we’ve got Mario Kart going over there. Though I’ll warn you, Isaiah is an asshole with a green shell.”
A man I assumed was Isaiah raised an eyebrow from where he was setting up his controller. “Accurate. But only because I’m a winner.”
Maddox rolled his eyes and gave him a loud, sarcastic slow clap.
I glanced around the space. It was… nice. Comfortable. Like a clubhouse for overgrown kids who also happened to carry guns for a living.
I shifted Trixie to my other shoulder and said, “Pool. I’m better at looking cute holding the cue than actually playing, but let’s go with that.”
“Aw hell,” Tucker drawled, “I love a hustler.”
Axel grabbed me by the wrist and towed me to the table. “Y’all play, I’ll supervise.”
Mika offered to take Trixie, and I hesitated for half a second before letting her hop onto his arm. She seemed delighted with the change of scenery.
“Don’t teach her anything worse than she already knows,” I warned.
He gave me the sweetest, most angelic smile. “Me? Never.”
From Trixie’s perch on his arm, she said, “Pants on fire.” Then she squawked, and I laughed.
“She has your number, Mika. You aren’t anywhere near as innocent as you look.”
We were two games in, the trash talk flying fast and loose, when the elevator doors opened and Gator walked in.
Conversation didn’t exactly stop—but it stuttered, like everyone collectively bracing.
He took it all in at a glance: me laughing at Tucker making excuses for her last shitty break shot, Mika practically cuddling Trixie, and Axel leaning close to adjust my stance on a shot.
His jaw ticked.
“Looks like y’all are real welcoming,” he drawled, voice deceptively casual.
Maddox raised a beer in salute. “We’re excellent hosts.”
Knox didn’t even look up from his game. “Mika’s the one who invited him. Blame him.”
He let his gaze sweep over the room again, lingering on Mika with Trixie and then back to me and Axel.
“Y’all treating him real friendly for someone who just moved in,” he grumbled.
Trixie cocked her head to one side. “Grumpy Daddy.”
The room howled.
I buried my face in my hands. “Oh my God, Trixie. Shut. Up.”
When I peeked out through my fingers, Gator was watching me. His mouth twitched like he was fighting a smile, but his gaze was still all possessive heat.
“Julius,” he said low.
I straightened, cue still in hand, heart tripping like a teenager’s. “Yeah?”
“How long are you going to be out here?”
I wasn’t sure what the right answer was. I was having fun, so I wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon, but the heat in his eyes made me wonder if he had other plans that might be even better.
“I don’t know. I was just killing time. Why?”
“I thought maybe we could go over our plan for the rest of the week.” He paused. “In your apartment.”
My mouth went dry at the way he said in your apartment.
Nobody said anything, but the silence got thick. Tucker cleared her throat like she was trying not to laugh.
I swallowed hard and forced a smile. “Uh. Yeah. Sure. Let me just…”
I walked over to Mika and held out my arm for Trixie.
She eyed Gator with open suspicion and hissed, “Grumpy Daddy” one more time for good measure before fluttering her wings and settling on my shoulder.
Gator didn’t say anything else, but he watched the entire handoff with that same narrowed, possessive look that made my knees wobbly.
I forced a bright smile at the room. “Okay! I’m going to go… have a meeting, apparently.”
Axel smirked. “Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do.”
“Good lord, that’s not a high bar,” Tucker drawled.
Even Crowe cracked a half-smile from his armchair.
I flipped them all off with my free hand and turned on my heel. Gator fell in beside me without a word, his steps long and sure.
We crossed the common area in silence, the others’ laughter following us all the way to my door.