18. Dallas
DALLAS
I heard scrambling behind the door, and I smiled to myself.
Fucking hell, they were idiots. Did they really think they could pull the wool over our eyes?
Having secret meetings behind closed doors that we now owned?
I had half a fucking mind to take her front door off its damn hinges just so she could learn her lesson.
Sure, she was a sexy little minx. Yes, I wanted to plunge my dick between her legs and make her cry out my name like she just had.
But whatever the hell she believed she was going to accomplish, it would only end one way.
With her demise, if she didn’t get out of our way.
“It’s almost three in the fucking morning,” Char spat as she whipped the door open, “what the hell do you want?”
“To talk,” I said.
“Then, come back in the morning,” M.J. said as she appeared over Char’s left shoulder.
I slipped my boot beyond the threshold of the door, just in case they tried slamming it in my face. And when DeShawn reached that skinny, long arm of his toward the door, that’s exactly what he tried to do.
Only for the door to bounce off my steel-toed boot.
“You need a twenty-four-hour notice,” DeShawn said flatly.
I turned my attention back to Char. “I’ll answer your questions.”
That rendered everyone silent.
“All of them?” she asked.
I nodded. “All of them.”
I knew I had her when she rolled her shoulders back. “All right, come on in. But, the door stays open.”
“Are you kidding me?” M.J. asked.
“You want us to stick around? We can head into your bedroom or something,” DeShawn said.
“No, no, it’s okay,” Char said, “I’ll text you guys once he’s gone.”
“I’m sure you will,” I said.
Both M.J. and Chef shot me looks as they gathered their food and left her place. I had to admit, I didn’t actually believe they were up here eating. But, the smell of food was unmistakable.
Maybe they had just been eating.
Or, maybe my hunches were right.
Either way, talking was the only way to get answers the guys and I needed.
“You sure you don’t want to close the door?” I asked as I thumbed behind me.
“Over my dead body!” M.J. shouted from the bottom of the steps.
Char ushered her arm out toward her couch. “I prefer to keep it open. A little fresh air never hurt anyone.”
“We could open a window for that.”
“No,” she said plainly.
I shook my head at her outstretched arm. “I prefer to stand.”
“Suit yourself,” she said as she flopped down.
I had to admit, it shocked me that she sat. It was a vulnerable position, given the fact that I was standing. It would’ve been too easy to take her down. Too easy to pin her to that surface and?—
She’s playing a game, stay on your guard.
I loved it when they played games. “So, what do you wish to know?”
She plopped a to-go tray in her lap and took a gigantic bite.
She chewed slowly. Languidly. As a drop of grease dripped down her chin.
I walked around the back of the couch, clocking her movements.
Just to see what she’d do. She reached for a napkin just as I rounded behind her, cloaking her in my shadow.
And she didn’t fucking flinch.
“For starters,” she said as she picked up a fry, “why you guys really bought the bar.”
I perched by her head on the back of the couch. “To expand our operations. We’ve already got one bar and a mechanic shop.”
“So, you’re collecting businesses.”
I stood on my feet when she didn’t react to me sitting. “More like flipping them.”
That got her attention, and she craned her head around to look at me.
“Do you have any other questions?” I asked.
That’s when she put her food down and stood. “What services do you contract out to our police department?”
I held her gaze, refusing to flinch at the pointedness of her question as I formulated my answer. I promised Deac I’d tread lightly, but the only way to disarm Char was to give her the answers she wanted.
You know, while not outing our entire plan in the process like she was so keen on doing to herself.
“Spit it out or get the fuck out,” Char practically hissed.
Goddamn it, what I wouldn’t give to shut her up with my hand wrapped around her throat.
“Well?” Char asked. “I’m waiting.”
“We’ve been well established in this town for quite some time,” I started. “Going back generations.”
I paused for her reaction, but she gave me none.
Interesting.
“At one point in time,” I said as I came out from behind the couch, “the police force got so in over their heads with a drug trade that tried to trickle into Layborn that they didn’t have any other choice.
No other surrounding police forces believed what was happening, and those that did didn’t have the manpower to spend trying to fight it. ”
I watched her face slowly morph into curiosity, and I knew I had her.
I walked closer to her, closing the distance between us. “It was rough, Char. Three of our men were downed. We held funerals that were crashed just to prove a point. It was absolute chaos, and there wasn’t much that we could do without involving the DEA.”
She nodded very slowly. “So, they decided to involve you guys instead?”
I was losing her. She backed away, and I saw that guard being thrown back up over her stare. I had to do something, or else I’d lose her for good. And I had to earn her trust somehow. I told Deac that I could. It was the only reason why he let me go up there in the first place.
So, I held out my hand.
“What’s that?” Char asked as her gaze dropped.
“My hand.”
She scoffed. “Shut the hell up and answer my actual question.”
“That was your actual question.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why do you want me to take your hand?”
“So that you can clock my heartbeat while I answer your questions. That way, you’ll know if I’m lying or not.”
It took her a bit to respond. “All right, I’ll bite.”
The second she slid her palm against mine, her fingers found their way to my pulsing vein.
She pressed the tips of her fingers into my skin, and I swear to hell on high I almost blew through the roof.
Her skin was so soft. Her curves, teeming with virile energy.
I wanted to break down those walls of hers.
I wanted to stake my claim with her body on my dick.
I wanted to ride her off into the sunset until all she knew was my arousal dripping down her ass crack while she laid there, helplessly pinned beneath me.
But, I settled for pulling her against me and wrapped my free arm around her waist.
“Hey!” she exclaimed.
I held her close against me. “Our former President, Axel?—”
She tried shoving herself away. “Let me go. Get off me!”
I tightened my grip. “Take a breath and settle down. You’re safe.”
“Over my dead body, I’m safe,” she growled.
I’d never heard a woman make that sound before, and it stiffened my cock. “Just breathe, Char. Clock my heartrate with your fingers and chill the fuck out for a second.”
And much to my shock, she did as I asked. She closed her eyes, drew in a few deep breaths, and held steadily to my hand.
“Good girl,” I muttered.
She scoffed as she looked up into my eyes. “Why didn’t they want to involve the DEA?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Our former President, Axel, was at the helm at the time. We tried alerting the DEA to what was happening in Layborn after our third crew death, but all they did was come in and do preliminary work. Idiotic reports. They were here for, maybe, four days? Then, they left and we never heard from them again.”
She slid her thumb along my pulse point on my wrist. “That doesn’t sound right. The DEA should’ve?—”
“Trust me, I know,” I said as her body leaned just the smallest bit against mine. “Things were bad for a long time here. Really bad. It’s how Mr. Neely got hooked on those drugs of his in the first place.”
“So, you were listening beyond the door.”
I shook my head. “Not for long. I had only gotten there moments before.”
She was smart, I’d give her that. Much smarter than we gave her credit for.
As she swirled her fingers against my pulse point, she placed her ear against my beating heart.
Her small head bobs clocked its ticks. Tick, tick.
Tick, tick. Tick, tick. She moved her free hand up to my throat and placed her thumb against my carotid, and feeling her body overwhelm mine made my cock drip with need against my boxers.
And when she relaxed just a tad bit more against me, pride swelled my chest.
“The DEA was useless,” I said as I allowed her fingers to explore my pulse points, “and Layborn kept getting worse. And when that fucking cartel attempted to buy out our mechanic shop? That shit was the last straw for us. Axel marched right on over to the sheriff’s office and offered up our ability to protect the town in ways they couldn’t for the sake of their oaths. ”
She nodded her head softly, but she didn’t speak.
“It’s… been a symbiotic relationship ever since,” I said with a soft shrug.
I knew she’d find no lies, either. My heartrate was steady as a drum, and she had her answers. After all, there was no reason why I had to tell her everything. Just the things she was curious about. And the things she was curious about were harmless.
Well, our definition of harmless, anyway.
My answers seemed to satisfy her as well, because when she pulled away from my body, she didn’t criticize me.
She didn’t throw one of her well-adjusted quips or attempt to piss me off in any way.
If anything, she had dropped her guard. Her eyes were half-hooded.
Her cheeks, flushed with a healthy color that I would have given anything to see her body coated in.
Her pillowy lips held my gaze hostage as she stood only inches away from me, her presence rooting me in my place.
I wanted to tame her.
I wanted to fill her.
I wanted to mark her body as mine for her eyes to behold in the morning.
And when her stare fell to my lips as well, I smirked.
Which, apparently, was all it took.