Thirty-One
31
Tex
The women went completely silent the moment I stepped into the kitchen.
Nina’s expression gave away exactly what they’d been talking about.
Salem had bolted from my room as soon as she had a chance. I could have stopped her, but I kind of needed a moment to straighten shit out in my head too. Fucking her had very likely been a mistake. One I would do again…and again. But still a mistake.
Not because I didn’t want to or because I didn’t want her.
Last night, while she’d drunkenly snuggled against my chest, she’d said it felt good to be home and mumbled a final, “I love you,” before passing out.
She didn’t remember it, and I’d lied to her about finding her passed out when I finished in the bathroom. I didn’t think she was ready to face the truths she hadn’t minded sharing while wasted. But those words had taken the lock I’d so firmly clicked into place eighteen years ago and destroyed it, opening up the door that held what I felt for her wide fucking open.
And that was why I shouldn’t have fucked her. Not yet. Not while Liam was trying to find out for Blaise Hughes if she knew who she had been married to. Because that could come back to bite me in the ass.
Having sex with her hadn’t happened because Liam had told me to. He was the last thing on my mind when I gave in and took what I wanted. I’d wanted it since the moment she’d stepped out of the restroom at Pepper’s bar and blinked at me, wide-eyed, in surprise, then said my tongue was pierced. I’d seen the girl she used to be. It was as if nothing had changed. Eighteen years had been erased, and she was mine. My response then was to remind myself that those years had happened and she wasn’t mine. I’d believed she belonged to someone else at the time.
She was mine now though. I’d just claimed what had always been mine.
If it came down to it and she was guilty by association, then I’d take her and run. Leave behind the family I had here. There was nothing more important to me than family. The Judgment had become that, but they hadn’t come first. They’d come after, and nothing had ever been stronger than what had come before.
Salem.
She glanced back over her shoulder at me, and her cheeks colored a pretty pink at having been caught talking about me. Us.
Had she told them we’d fucked? The thought made me grin.
“A little late for breakfast,” Goldie chirped.
“I had a reason to stay in bed,” I replied.
Salem’s expression was a bashful, surprised one. She’d taken a shower, and her hair still looked slightly damp. But there was no makeup on her face. She didn’t need it. Fresh, like she was now, was perfect on her.
“Did you now?” Nina said. “Do tell.”
I walked over to Salem, and those almond-shaped eyes of hers only got bigger as I approached.
“Sounded like you’d already gotten the details Salem was okay with you having,” I said, looking at her, not Nina. “Don’t be greedy.”
“I didn’t,” Salem blurted out, shaking her head. “I mean, I wasn’t saying—” She stopped again, her face a bright red at this point.
I reached out to tuck some hair behind her ear so I had a full view of her face. “What weren’t you saying, Angel Face?” I asked her.
Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. “I didn’t tell them anything.”
“But now that we know there is something to tell, we would just love to hear all the details,” Nina said, and then Goldie shoved her arm, shushing her.
I winked at Salem to ease her obvious distress over their curiosity, then lifted my eyes back to Nina. “If you give me a bacon biscuit to go, I’ll get out of here, and Salem can tell you whatever she wants.”
“Deal,” Nina replied. “Are you headed to Ocala today?”
I watched Salem’s body tense up, but she didn’t look at me. She fiddled with the handle on her coffee cup, attempting to look casual, but her body language said something else. She didn’t want me to go. I managed not to break out into a grin.
“No. A couple of Hughes men are coming in to go over some things that they’re helping us handle,” I replied vaguely.
“It’s about time you go work at Devil’s though, isn’t it?” Nina asked. She was pushing it, and the twinkle in her eyes made it clear.
“Ringer is going to help out for now,” I said, not taking my eyes off Salem. “I have more important things here to attend to.”
“Aw, Tex,” Pepper drawled sarcastically. “I didn’t know my bar meant so much to you.”
I smirked but kept watching Salem as her shoulders relaxed. She hadn’t wanted me to go. Even sober, she wanted me around. That was good to know. Considering I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Ain’t he just a sweetheart?” Goldie chimed in.
The door opened behind me, and I glanced back to see Micah walk inside. His eyes swung to me, then glanced at Salem for a moment before turning to Goldie and Nina.
“We need a few extra pans of the biscuits this morning.” Then he looked at me. “Liam wants to speak with you on a call in the library.”
“Here you go,” Nina said, holding out my biscuit toward me.
I thanked her, then glanced down at Salem, who was back to fiddling with her cup. She needed to adjust to us. I could be patient.
“On my way up,” I told him.
After this, I would find Salem, and we’d talk.