“Sure thing!” I exclaimed, twisting around to face him. “It’s right here.” I pointed at my choker. “Sorry, you got a busy signal. Try again later.”
A sexy smirk slid up his cheek. “Human, huh? Interesting. Never been with one, but you seem just as feisty as any of these other Shifters.”
I frowned a little, wiping a strand of hair away from my face. “I don’t think you get it. I can’t talk to you.”
He slowly bit his bottom lip and held it that way for a minute, looking down the length of my body in a way that made me turn back and review the song selections again. Shifter men were persistent, but this guy was just an asshole.
Stu leaned in close. “Feel like being a bad girl and breaking a few rules? He’ll never find out.”
I pushed a button and loud murmurs were drowned out by the classic “Who Made Who?” I turned around and leaned on my elbows, scoping out the room. I almost slid off the jukebox at what happened next.
On the first beat of the song, the main door swung open and Reno Cole walked in.
A black leather jacket hugged his body, unzipped so I could see a charcoal-colored shirt beneath. His jeans fit him in a way that should have been rated S for sexy, and his polished motorcycle boots looked ready to kick some ass. His brown hair was neatly groomed and the lines in his jaw looked fierce, even from across the room.
My heart seized in my chest and a cold sweat touched my brow. Pool balls cracked on my left and a blonde at the bar swiveled in her seat, targeting Reno as her prey. She had on cherry-red pumps and a white pencil skirt. She swung her hips as she made her way toward him and then suddenly turned around as if she were giving him a modeling show. Shifter women turned their backs to men they were interested in. It’s something I started noticing on our trips out, except with the waitresses who always kept that kind of behavior in check.
But Reno paid no attention. His eyes scanned the bar and my throat became as dry as the Sahara Desert. My elbows were glued to the jukebox, and the idiot in the flannel shirt kept yammering on about taking a walk to the parking lot. But I couldn’t take my eyes off the striking man across the bar. Maybe it was the drink, or maybe it was the fact I thought Reno was the sexiest man I’d ever seen, but I got warm and tingly.
Reno reached in his back pocket and pulled out his phone. His eyes swung to Denver at the bar and suddenly shot straight ahead, landing on me. I glanced over at Denver and when he hung up his phone, it all became clear.
“Holy smokes, this is bad,” I murmured.
Stu stepped in front of me and blocked my view. I tried peering around him, but he dodged his head and smiled, trying to make some eye contact.
“You’re hard to get.”
“I’m taken,” I said, looking up to show off my collar again.
“Yeah, which one is the big and bad Maddox?”
“That would be me,” Maddox said in a voice that made my blood run cold. He was wearing his hat, which made him even more menacing because it obscured his eyes.
The Shifter stood up straight and turned his head to look at Maddox, who showed off his mean face. I knew the man to be gentle, but anyone who pissed him off got the jagged edge of the knife.
“See that collar?” Maddox reached for my wrist and gently wrapped his fingers around it. “That says she’s mine.”
“A little young for an old dog like you,” the man taunted.
Maddox looked at him like a predator, tugging me real tight against his left side. “I ain’t no dog, and you should watch your tongue or I might be tempted to cut it out and feed it to you between two slices of bread.”
I grimaced as the Shifter’s eyes darted between us. It didn’t look as though he wanted to take any chances on calling his bluff, so he shook his head and walked away.
“Why do men always have to lay down vicious threats?” I said, still buzzing from my drink.
He stroked his finger across the collar on my neck. “I don’t make threats. I simply state the facts. I want you to come back to the table and sit beside me. I have some business to take care of, so come grace us with your pretty smile.”
It was hard to look pretty when Maddox insisted that I wear heavy makeup. I think he wanted me to look older than I was. He always made sure that when we went to a Breed bar, I had my lashes curled and cheeks blushed.
Maddox had been including me in on meetings I had no business attending. It might have been strategic so I’d need his protection, or maybe he was beginning to trust me. I was more inclined to believe the former.
He led me to the table with a gentle tug. When I froze mid-step, he peered over his shoulder and chuckled.
Maddox had no clue that I knew the man sitting at our table.
Intimately.