Standing at the bar, I drummed my knuckles on the top while Cole monopolized Shy, talking about his job at Inksanity Tattoos.
“I don’t have any ink yet,” Shiloh said.
I rolled my eyes, stepping in. “And you’re not gonna get any, either.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened innocently. “Hello, Max.”
“Did you hear what I said?” I asked, stabbing Cole with a feral scowl until he backed way way way the hell off.
“I did,” she murmured, nursing her drink. “But I already have a dad, and since I’m twenty-four I don’t take his orders anymore either. But thanks for your consideration.” Her tone was sweet-tart.
“Shy.” I inhaled deeply, assaulted by her scent—fresh and sexy all at the same time. “There are things you don’t know about me.”
“Ditto that.” Her bracelets jangled together when she lifted her drink.
She slipped onto a stool, looking me over from head to toe in a way that made my goddamn skin shiver and very unbrotherly feelings rear up when my cock started getting hard inside my pants.
I wondered what she saw? The former preppy boy or the MC badass? About fifty pounds of new muscle heavier than I used to be, I was nothing like the Bishop England grad she’d grown up with. Shy might not have any ink, but my skin was covered in a fuckload of tats. From my shoulders to my wrists and all over my back. I wasn’t wearing a button-down with chinos. More like faded jeans, big scuffed boots, twin gauges in my ears, and an old T-shirt that had gone through the wash so many times the fabric was no longer blue but blue-tinged-white.
She looked like heaven and sin, sex and flesh and softness.
And I was supposed to stay away from her.
But my thoughts about her—especially when that half smile kicked up the corners of her lips—took a fast slippery slide from just friends to completely filthy.
I knocked back my beer, gulping the last few ounces.
“Dance with me?” Her glossy lips curved into a deeper bow, and she rested a hand on my bare forearm—the simple touch shockingly warm and cranking my denied arousal higher.
I pulled away. “Uh. No.”
No way. Because I felt something beginning between us, and I couldn’t let that happen. Not with her, and not with that asshole Diablo’s threats against her.
Shy pouted, pouring on the flirtation with a batting of her eyelashes.
“Shy. No.”
Her temper finally flared. “I’m not a dog, you know?”
Her shout resounded around the bar.
“And fuck you too,” she added, just to make extra special sure everyone watching us—and those nosy fucks were watching—knew she was furious.
Whirling away, she slinked toward Tail with a sway of her hips and linked her arms around his neck.
He looked at me for one single second of apology before sliding his arms around her waist.
Her small waist.
His fingers dangled just above her apple-shaped ass.
Her full ass.
She laughed.
He grinned.
Her head tilted back.
He followed.
With his lips skimming her neck, he looked up and winked at me.
My knuckles turned white.
I almost broke my beer bottle in half.
Shy laughed again, twirling away. And then she stumbled.
I shot off my stool, but Tail righted her, catching her in his arms.
She’d tripped that first time here.
She’d limped a little the other night when we moved her into the condo.
She’d been pale, shaky, tired, almost falling into my arms.
And then there’d been the pill bottles in her bathroom. I hadn’t Googled that shit because I wasn’t a total stalker—yet. But I knew some of what those prescriptions meant.
She wasn’t drunk. Shy wasn’t a lush. And she definitely wasn’t into drugs.
But something was off. Something that rankled my brain.
Something rankled me even more as I studied her.
Tail’s hands on her.
Yeah.
Was gonna break them off at the wrists.
He finally returned her to a seat, holding the chair out for her. Like he knew manners.
Fucking A.
Sadie joined Shy, and I kept on stalking/watching her.
Tail had the balls to slide up next to me. “What does LYLAS mean?”
“Don’t know, but I’ll fucking kill you if you touch Shy again.”
Coletrane leaned forward between us. “Love You Like A Sister. As in he loves you like a sister.”
Barking a laugh, Tail said, “Yeah. That’s what Sadie just told Shy about you, dude.”
“I don’t love her at all.” I gritted my teeth.
“Not like a sister, anyway.” Tail pushed his elbows onto the bar. “And me dancing with her? Just trying to prove a point since you’re too stupid for your own good.”
Sadie approached, and I jumped off my stool so fast I almost knocked it over.
“What exactly did you say to Shy?” I probably sounded half unhinged.
Unimpressed, Sadie let one of her eyebrows arch high. Kinkaid watched me interact with his woman, because it was suddenly absolutely clear to everyone I was not acting like my usual easy-come, easy-go self.