“Condo, babe.”
I studied him standing in the door of a kickass Viper, one hand casually laid on the top of the door, from his other hand dangled his travel mug of coffee. I didn’t even know if he could fit his big body in that kickass car but, obviously, he could.
And as I studied him I thought Lady Luck was definitely feeling generous.
“Lex, you gonna get in or what?” he asked, his deep voice edged with impatience.
I was thinking “or what”. I was thinking, my ass hit the seat in that car I might have a spontaneous orgasm. I didn’t even want to know what would happen to me when he fired it up. And I wanted to save my orgasm for when Ty got around to giving it to me.
“You can’t drink coffee in a Viper,” I informed him and his lips twitched again.
“Why not?”
“It’s against badass, muscle car law.”
He dropped his head and looked at his boots but I could swear I saw his shoulders shaking.
“And we also can’t take it to a garden center,” I continued. “The steering wheel will lock you try to pull it into the parking lot of a garden center. We have to take the Charger.”
He lifted his head and even across the expanse, I saw his eyes were dancing.
“Get in the car, Lexie.”
“But –”
“Ass in the car.”
I stared at him. Then I moved across the garage to the passenger side of the Viper, muttering, “Don’t blame me if she ejects us, we try to take her on errands at a garden center.”
“Live wild, baby,” he murmured and folded his big body behind the wheel.
There it was. He fit. A miracle.
I gingerly aimed my ass into the passenger seat. Then I got the door closed and my seatbelt on without incident. Ty hit the garage door opener and turned the ignition.
The Snake bit.
Another tingle, stronger. Nice.
I smiled at the windscreen.
“Fuck,” Ty muttered, my eyes slid to his, he was looking at me and when I caught his gaze, he shook his head. I smiled bigger.
He placed an arm around the back of my seat, looked over his shoulder and pulled out, still shaking his head.
She growled through the condo complex, I allowed myself to feel her then when we were out of the complex, I pulled my shit together.
“Who’s Max?”
“A friend, lives in Gnaw Bone.”
“Gnaw Bone?”
“A town not too far away.”
“There’s a town called Gnaw Bone?”
Ty didn’t reply because, obviously, there was.
So I asked, “Why wasn’t he at the party?”
“Different set of friends,” he told me. “Met him on a construction job in Wyoming. He was a good guy, we found we were both from around the same patch, solidified the connection. We stayed tight even though, back then, he wasn’t around much. Now he’s married with kids so he was around but I wasn’t.”
“Construction? I thought you were a mechanic?”
“Diversified. Job was short, hours long, money fuckin’ great. Same kinda job took me to Dallas.”
I took in a breath.
Then I tested the waters.
“And what led you to Shift?” I asked.
“Poker. I was in Dallas. Sat some games. He heard about me, thinks he’s got a big dick. Called me out, I bested him. He went down and did it hard. Lied about collateral. Walked away from the table unable to pay up. That isn’t my favorite thing; I needed to make my point. I did. He got my point. Promised a payment plan, started it, the job got done, I was back in Carnal, payments were supposed to keep coming and he knew they didn’t, I’d be taking a vacation in Texas. I got framed, went down and Shift thought that was his good luck. Met a guy inside, he knew Shift, didn’t like him, itchin’ to teach him a harder lesson than the one I taught him. He’s out in about a week. I got word to Shift, he didn’t sort out his debt, he’s first order of business when I got out. He gets a visit from me then he gets a visit from my friend. Shift saw the wisdom of sorting out his debt.”
“Enter me,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” he whispered back.
“What’d you do to him?”
“You don’t wanna know.”
I looked to Ty. “Actually, I do.”
He glanced at me then back at the road. What he didn’t do was answer.
“Ty, I don’t care about Shift. You know that.”
He sighed. Then he stated, “Another reason to quit the game. Sometimes men fuck up, do that shit, you can’t be the man who lets it slide. Not my favorite thing to do. With Shift, he’s such a piece of shit, gotta say, I didn’t mind but the effort it took. Didn’t mess around, my message left him breathing if not standing. Delays getting my money I have to wait for the end of a hospital stay.”