Chapter 4 Walker #3
“Definitely trying to learn,” he said, and I didn’t miss the way his eyes swept over me. It was quick and could easily have been missed. I might not have caught it if someone hadn’t been on the receiving end of being cruised. “I guess I’m just trying to figure out what you’re willing to tell me.”
“I can tell you I’m not interested,” I said, because being blunt was the best approach. Anyone willing to be obvious early on wouldn’t take casual or gentle hints easily in my experience.
“That so?”
“Yeah, it is so.”
“Well, that’s a shame,” he said, leaning closer, and I wrinkled my nose at his boldness. “Since I’ve been getting the feeling that you might be a little pent up.”
“What you think is pent up isn’t,” I told him with a frown.
Okay, I was definitely pent up sexually, but I wasn’t going to let him know that.
I would sooner be back in my room and taking care of things myself than sleep with a random guy who clearly had the confidence, if not the arrogance, to think he had a chance by being so bold.
“But by all means, continue to test me and see what’s really pent up. ”
He snorted, circling, so he was near the end of the row of lockers and looking me over even more obviously than before. “I can work with that, too.”
“I’m sorry. How many times do I have to say no?
Because here, let me say it again more plainly, no, I’m not interested,” I told him, refusing to strip out of my underwear for a shower or to cover myself up and give him the idea that I was uncomfortable at his attention.
I would never understand why, but some people seemed to think that if you were uncomfortable with their sexual advances, that meant you were secretly into what they were selling.
“And if that’s not enough, we can try ‘fuck off’ and ‘leave me the fuck alone.’ Does that work for you? ”
He rolled his eyes, pushing gently off the lockers, but not coming closer. “There’s no reason to be an ass.”
“Funny, I was thinking of saying the same to you,” I said, wondering if this was going to become an issue.
It wouldn’t be the first time I had to be physically direct with someone who wouldn’t take no for an answer, but I really didn’t want to do that here of all places.
Somehow, I didn’t think the administration would look too kindly on fights.
“Maybe you should try talking about your sexual hang-ups and inability to understand basic English in group therapy.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be doing that. No one needs to know. Not that it matters. This place doesn’t care if we screw.”
Huh, I hadn’t thought about whether sex was against the rules here, but I realized I would have predicted it would be banned. That information wasn’t all that useful, especially right now, but it was good to know if only because I was still trying to understand how the place worked.
“Great, so you want to sleep with me, aren’t able to take no for an answer, and you’re in the closet or trying to act like you are,” I said with a roll of my eyes, turning my side to him as I grabbed the towel. “What a winner.”
“Which means you don’t have to worry about anyone knowing,” he said, as if that was my worry rather than his. “All you gotta do is…grk!”
I had spotted the movement out of my corner of the eye just as his words were cut off and I spun to face him in time to see a very large, extremely naked Cade grabbing Logan by the throat and spinning him around to slam him into the wall.
Cade leaned forward, lifting Logan enough that the other man was forced to stand on tiptoe to keep from hanging by his throat in Cade’s grip.
“He done told you to fuck off,” Cade snarled, and I felt a zing of worry shoot through me when I saw his grip tighten around Logan’s throat. “Now fuck off, or I’ll teach the same lesson Clay did, ‘cept you’ll be carried outta here instead of limpin’ out, got it?”
“Fucking…” Logan gasped, but I could see it was taking a lot of effort to speak. “Didn’t know you were—”
“Ain’t about that,” Cade said, and worry became alarm when I realized his voice no longer carried the blazing hot anger from a second ago, but was rapidly cooling off.
A hot head on Cade could be a danger, but a Cade who cooled off too quickly was lethal for who or whatever was in his mental crosshairs.
“It’s about takin’ goddamn no for an answer. ”
“Cade,” I said softly, placing a hand on his wet shoulder. Apparently, he had been the one in the shower, which meant he’d been in there for quite some time. “We both know he’s not worth it. Don’t.”
The last was said with as much command as I was willing to put into my voice, but it was enough, and Cade gave a grunt, letting Logan go with surprising control. I was half expecting him to toss the man aside like a rag doll, but he didn’t.
Logan looked up, and I sighed, shaking my head. “Sounds like you’ve got a bad habit of not learning your lesson.”
He glared at me, but when Cade peered down at him, he shut his mouth.
“He has,” Cade said in a clipped voice that still had me on edge. “Tried to go too far with Isaac a few months ago and got his ass handed to ’em. Surprised Reggie let ’em back.”
“Good,” I said in a bright voice. “Then Logan here understands that if he goes and runs his mouth about what you just did, it will be easy for us to point out that he has in fact not learned his lesson from the first time. I wonder how they’d take that.”
Logan huffed, standing up straight and rubbing his throat. “I wasn’t even doing anything, not like…not like then.”
“Oh goodie, you didn’t try to assault me. I’m honored,” I said dryly.
His eyes went wide. “What…no! I would never!”
“Good, then we’ll chalk this up to a misunderstanding,” I said with a shrug. “You misunderstood my signs, and Cade misunderstood your intentions. No point bringing anyone else into this mess.”
Logan might be an arrogant asshole with boundary issues, but I could see he wasn’t completely stupid.
I wasn’t sorry that I was trapping him into not reporting Cade with fear of mutual destruction.
In truth, Cade’s reaction had been overblown because I hadn’t felt Logan was going to do anything but annoy me, but if it meant keeping Cade out of trouble, I would lie without hesitating, and that went double for exaggerating the truth.
Logan turned away, muttering to himself, still grumbling under his breath but willing to leave well enough alone.
Cade and I watched him march off, listening for the sound of the locker room door closing before I let out a breath of relief.
That could have gone a lot worse, and I was glad it hadn’t.
“Cade,” I began gently now the worst had passed.
“I ain’t apologizin’,” he muttered, glaring in the direction Logan had disappeared.
I stared at him; his back was to me and his attention was distracted.
I couldn’t help but look over his body now half of it was on full display.
He had appeared out of nowhere, and neither Logan nor I had heard him coming, despite the normal heavy thumping of his metal leg.
He had acted with an immediacy and decisiveness that wasn’t unattractive, and while I hadn’t wanted the situation to devolve into violence…
I couldn’t claim the mild violence there had been was a turn-off.
Now he was standing there, without a stitch of clothing, still dripping from the shower.
When he’d taken hold of Logan, I had been distracted, but now I could look back and see the way his back muscles had rippled as he’d jerked Logan around.
Those muscles were mostly still now, but they were taut; his shoulders broad, and my eyes slid down his back to his tapered waist. Scars shot up from his hip, one of which went all the way to the middle of his back, almost to one of his shoulder blades.
It hurt to know where those scars had come from, to know what he’d gone through, and yet I felt the sudden urge to trace my fingers over them.
To learn their paths and the shape of them, until I reached the curve of his ass, which while not bouncing with every movement, was firm and round enough to bounce a—
“I mean it,” he said, turning toward me and thankfully distracting me from my wandering thoughts…and eyes.
“I’m not asking you to apologize,” I scoffed. “Though I should probably point out that you didn’t need to interfere. He was being pushy, not a threat.”
“I don’t care,” he said in a low, rumbling voice that my already tempted brain latched onto eagerly.
Now was not the time to get turned on.
“And,” I said, hitting the word hard and crossing my arms over my middle, “I’m not some fragile figurine. I’ll remind you I was given as much training as you, and I’m no stranger to violence, or defending myself.”
“Walker—”
“No,” I pushed, trying not to put too much anger into my voice. He had come to help me, and I wasn’t going to spit in the face of that, especially when I had already stepped all over his feelings today. “I’m serious. I can take care of myself.”
“I know that,” he snapped and twisted to face me, his jaw tight, eyes blazing, and his hands balled up at his sides again.
“Alright? I know ya can take care of yourself. I’m probably the only person who can remember just how much you can take care of yourself.
Ya weren’t some pretty nurse there to kiss our boo boos.
I saw what you could do when you fought with us, and I know ya can fight just fine.
That don’t mean some asshole gets to come along and treat ya like some piece of fuckin’ meat, alright?
That fuckin’ creep was treatin’ ya like that from the start. ”