Chapter 10 Lexi
TEN
LEXI
The second I spotted him, I should have walked away. I lost my breath the second our eyes connected, but I refused to give into the sensation. He’d always had the most breathtaking blue eyes that brought out his dirty blonde hair, but I didn’t allow that to sway me.
Especially when I got back behind the wheel of my car.
“If you want to close the door and roll down the window, I’m fine with that. But we really need to talk,” he said.
His voice grated on my nerves. “The time for talking was years ago, Dean. I’m over it.”
He walked up to my side with his hands still partially in the air. “I’m here now. We could talk now, if you’d like. You can say all you need to say and call me whatever you want to call me. And when you’re done listening to me, if you still want to walk away, I’ll never contact you again.”
I peered over at him. “And you’ll use a different hospital if you need one?”
He put two fingers down on both hands. “Scout’s Honor.”
I rolled my eyes as I jammed my keys into the ignition. “Fine. We’ve got around ten or so minutes before I need to peel out of here. I’ve got shit to do. Why don’t you start by telling me why you’re here and why you all-of-a-sudden keep popping up?”
He eased his hands back down to his sides. “I want to make sure you’re safe. That’s all.”
I nodded slowly. “So, does that account for why you followed me home the other night and parked outside of my apartment building?”
He blinked. “You saw me.”
“You were on a bike with that blonde hair wafting in the wind. Of course, I saw you on your bike. What do you think I am, a bumbling idiot?”
He shook his head. “On the contrary, I think you’re incredibly smart and resilient.”
I leaned back against my seat. “So, you want to tell me why you think I can’t take care of myself?”
As his eyes searched mine, I put up the best front I could.
But, the truth of the matter was that all of this nonsense regarding the altercation I had with that man a few nights ago still had me tossing and turning.
I was never one to stereotype people, but it was hard to not do with that man.
I mean, he had face and neck tattoos for crying out loud.
I knew he was into some hard shit, and I knew the second Dean intervened that I was on that man’s shit list.
And it seemed as if Dean had more information on who that was that had attacked me on my first night of work.
“You better start telling me what I need protecting from, or I’ll--.”
Dean interrupted me. “The guys that attacked you the other night aren’t the best guys.”
I furrowed my brow. “Thanks, Sherlock. I really appreciate that. I hadn’t even considered it, what with his face tattoos and the piece he was packing that kept jamming into my goddamn hip bone.”
He sighed. “You were always incredibly observant.”
“Spit it the hell out, Dean. I’ve got six more minutes. I want to know who they were and what the fuck this has to do with you popping back up in my life, and I want to know now. It’s the very least you owe me.”
He shook his head. “It just does, okay? Can’t you just trust me this once? Please? I’ll get on my knees and beg if I have to.”
I turned my keys and threw my car in reverse. “Have a nice life.”
His hand grabbed my left arm. “Wait!”
I whipped my head toward him, and I put the car back in park. “Start talking, or I’ll run you over getting out of this parking lot. Because if you're not going to be honest with me, then there’s no point in talking.”
His touch sizzled up the rest of my arm and traveled down my spine.
My heart lurched in my chest as the heated words poured forth.
As much as I hated to admit it, I was lying to him as much as he was lying to me.
I wanted to talk with him. I wanted to hash things out.
I wanted to know what the hell happened and what the fuck we could do to fix it because the more Natty mentioned her curiosity about her father, the more I wondered if I really could introduce her into his life.
But I wouldn’t introduce the old Dean into her life.
He had to be a new person in order for that to happen.
Because I’d spent too much of my life protecting that girl to have him shatter her world in one fell swoop.
“I’m sorry, Lexi,” he said as his grip loosened, “I’m just trying to keep you out of trouble. But, the more I tell you, the more of a target you become because of what you know. That’s all that’s happening here. I swear it.”
I sighed. “Well, the only way you can do that is if I know exactly what’s going on. You don’t have a good track record with me, so it’ll take more than just your measly little word.”
I shrugged off his touch, but he didn’t move. He didn’t speak, he didn’t look at me. Hell, he didn’t do anything. I followed his line of sight and found his bike parked at the back of the parking lot. And when he looked back at me, I scoffed.
“Really? Thinking about running again and leaving me to fend for myself? Again?” I asked.
He shook his head. “It wasn’t like that. It was never like that.”
I turned my entire body toward him and dangled my legs out of my Jeep. “Then, tell me, how was it, exactly? Did you come home from your deployment and just say, ‘hey, fuck it, I’ll break her heart and keep trucking along.’ Did you find someone else overseas? Someone with a tighter pussy?”
His growl stilled me in my chair. “I was dragged into a top-secret op after I stumbled upon some wounded soldiers on the side of the fucking road during a patrol. I bandaged them up, hauled them back to base, and the next thing I knew I was on a fucking chopper headed out of a war zone with the wounded men in tow.”
I furrowed my brow. “You’re not kidding, are you?”
He shook his head curtly. “No, and I’m not kidding about this.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re still going to have to tell me what the hell is happening.”
He did something in that moment that I hadn’t expected.
He laid his hand out, palm up, against my thigh.
He offered me his hand, and I knew that if I took it, he’d suck me right back in.
I knew that if I tried to withstand his touch for too long, I’d be just as pliable and just as lenient as I was all those years ago.
I couldn’t be that person any longer. I had to be strong for Natty.
But I wasn’t sure I’d ever be that strong as I laid my hand against his.
“I can tell you everything you want to know, but you have to come back to my place to talk. It’s not safe here after what happened with those men, and I need to make sure we’re safe before I fill you in on anything. You’ve got to believe me; I want to tell you. But, not here. It’s not safe here.”
I searched his eyes for a long time before I stuck my free hand into my purse. “I have a call I need to make. You can wait on your bike and when I’m done, I’ll come around and meet you.”
He shook his head. “Leave your car here. They’ll be looking for your vehicle, not mine. You can ride on the back of my bike and when we’re done talking, if you want to, I’ll bring you right back here.”
I shook my head. “I see you’re as agreeable as ever.”
“I’m sorry it has to be this way.”
I scrolled until I found Chloe’s number. “I need privacy for this call. You can stand behind the car.”
He closed my Jeep door, but it took a couple of bangs before it finally clicked. The damn thing was breaking down left and right, but I tried not to let it get to me. I held the ringing phone up to my ear and Chloe answered, her voice groggy from a lack of sleep.
I felt like shit for putting her in this situation, but if Natty and I were in danger, I needed to know what the hell was happening.
“Morning,” she said with a yawn.
“So, I kind of have an issue here at work that’s requiring me to stay a bit longer. Do you think you could get Natty ready for school this morning? I swear, it won’t take me long to get home, but I’m concerned I’m going to miss her bus.”
She shifted around in bed. “Girl, you know I don’t care. I’ll make sure to have her out there. You’re picking her up though, right?”
I looked at Dean through my rearview mirror. “Right. Let Natty know that I’m sorry, and that I love her, and that I’ll be bringing milkshakes when I pick her up.”
“Mmm, sign me up for one of those, too.”
“Oh, that’s a given. I’ll see you in an hour or so, okay?”
“Sounds good. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I hung up the call and slid out of my car, then locked it in the process.
And after that, Dean and I headed to his bike.
Out of all the things in the world I had pegged Dean for, I hadn’t seen him as the kind of man to want to ride a motorcycle.
But, the second he turned his back to me to walk toward his motorcycle I saw the insignia on the back of his leather jacket.
“The Lost Boys?” I asked.
Dean nodded. “Yep.”
“So, you’re part of a motorcycle gang.”
He peered over his shoulder as we approached his bike. “We prefer the term ‘crew.’”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m in trouble because you know me. That’s what’s happening, isn’t it?”
He rifled through a compartment and pulled out a helmet for me. “Put this on.”
“Answer my question.”
“No, you’re not in trouble because you know me. You’re in trouble because the men you stood up to are part of a very nasty cartel that have targeted us.”
I took the helmet from him. “Sounds like a longer explanation of what I just said.”
He slung his leg over the bike. “Come. I’ll help you on.”
I looked around before I jammed the helmet onto my head, but I refused to take his hand as I climbed onto the back of the bike.
I’d already have to cling to him while we were riding around, and I sure as fuck didn’t want to touch anymore of him than I already had.
The last thing I needed was to allow his touch to affect me the way it did.
The last thing I needed was for him to pull me in with his twinkling eyes and his callused hands that somehow seemed softer the closer we got to one another.
However, the second my arms wrapped around his waist to cling to him, his body heat rushed against my own. Memories flooded back in droves, and I had to blink back tears as he eased us out of the parking lot.
I felt like I was back in high school with a crush a thousand miles wide and two thousand miles deep.
And it took everything I had not to rub my thighs together in an attempt to find some sort of release.