I kissed her ear. “I love you.”
Lifting her face, she grinned at me and hugged her arms around my waist. “You have no idea how much I adore hearing that. I never thought I’d hear you say it to me again.”
“Well, get used to hearing it every day, because I plan on saying it to you at least that often.”
Snuggling against my chest, she pressed her mouth to my neck. “It might take a lot of days for me to get used to it.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to say it for years.”
She glowed happily. “Works for me.”
“Me too.”
The song came to an end way before I was ready, and Eva hurried over, looking frantic. “Okay, waitressing sucks. Felicity, take this damn thing back.” She poked the serving tray at City and then arched an eyebrow at me. “And you. Fetch me my Pick. I really do want to dance now.”
So City and I returned to our jobs.
I was feeling pretty good by the time closing came around. The other bartenders as well as all their women, along with Pick and Eva, lingered, telling stories while the rest of us cleaned. On stage, the band cleared their set. I’d been keeping an eye on Rock until Ten and Noel distracted me with a story about Pick beating the hell out of Skylar’s biological father when he caught him hitting Eva.
When Eva leaned into Pick and grinned up at him as she sighed, “My protective hero,” I shifted my attention toward City, but she was frowning at Pick.
Folding her arms over her chest, she said, “Speaking of men and their overly protective instincts, would you finally like to confess to Knox here that no one’s been threatening me or leaving notes on my break room locker, Pick?”
“Threatening you?” Noel sounded confused as a ruefully grinning Pick glanced my way.
“Oh yeah, I kind of lied about all that. No one’s been threatening Felicity.”
I narrowed my eyes. “But—”
“I made it all up to get you to agree to move in with her.”
“Patrick,” Eva gasped, nudging him in the ribs even as her eyes gleamed with approval. “I had no idea you were such a scheming matchmaker.”
He shrugged and tugged her close. “I wouldn’t say I was matchmaking per say, just...trying to get them to resolve their issues.”
“Well, it worked, you lucky bastard,” Felicity muttered, looking irritable, until she glanced my way. Then her gaze softened as she added. “Thank God.”
I held her gaze, just as grateful, before remembering Rock and my suspicions of him. Glancing toward the stage, I saw him take a drag from some pipe-looking thing and exhale before Asher noticed it. He yanked it out of Rock’s hand and waved it in his face in a reprimanding way before throwing it in a nearby wastebasket.
As Asher stalked off, I watched the way my former brother glared after him. Rock didn’t retaliate though, so I wondered if he was all talk about his hatred of City’s family. Maybe he’d never been any real danger to her after all.
“Since we’re all confessing shit,” Pick spoke up. “Parker...it’s bugged the hell out of me all these years why you ever pled guilty to forcible rape. So...why?”
I froze, staring at him, and wondering why he wanted to bring this up...in front of City.
She slid against me and hooked her arm through mine. “It was for his family,” she explained. “I mean...” Her gaze moved to me. “It had to have been, right? It’s the only thing that ever made sense. He threatened to do something to your family if you didn’t...”
Her words trailed off as she kept watching me, and I could tell my expression was giving me away because her blue eyes widened with worry and surprise. “Oh my God. Knox.” Warning filled her voice. “Why did you plead guilty?”