What with her scowls, her perfect goddamn food, and an attitude worse than mine, she had no right to be getting under my skin at all.
She eyed me right back as I stared at her, unashamed, unflinching. Fuck, she had balls. Maybe that was why she had mine in a twist.
Every time I thought of her slamming Kendra’s face into the counter or spraining JoJo’s wrist, I’d get a hard-on. How couldn’t I?
The demon in me that liked shedding blood appreciated her willingness to defend herself.
Instead of moaning about the sluts who were trying to make shit difficult for her, instead of coming crying to me like they were, she handled shit.
She didn’t need me to protect her.
And fuck if that didn’t make me want to protect her more.
It was a paradox worthy of a square on Rex’s ‘word of the day’ toilet roll.
“If you’re done staring,” she sneered, “I have vegetables to prep.”
“You have a shitty attitude,” I informed her, careful to keep my tone bland.
She shrugged. “It’s twenty-one years in the making.”
“Can’t teach old dogs new tricks?” I retorted helpfully.
A sniff escaped her. “You wanna call me a bitch, just let it rip.”
I shrugged back at her. “Bitch.” I let the ‘B’ pop. I peered at the counter, saw all the detritus on there, and inquired, “You need help in here?” It was only then that I realized how much work it was to feed us.
Storm had been in charge of scheduling, and I knew for a fact he had four to five girls making meals at any given time, yet here we were, expecting her to do it on her own.
“I prefer to be alone.”
I frowned at that. “There’s no point in doing it all and running yourself—”
She frowned back, and somehow, was still beautiful. But, for all that she was a joy on the eyes, her fucking personality was more like vinegar than honey. It was no wonder the only people I ever saw her talking to were her brothers.
“Have you seen those women?” she demanded, breaking into thoughts I had no right to be having over her. “I floss my teeth with strings bigger than the ones they have between their butt cheeks. It’s a wonder you didn’t have pubes floating around in the food you ate.”
My lips twitched. “Let me get this straight.” My stomach began to ache from just how serious she was and how hard I wanted to laugh. Me. Who never fucking laughed. “You won’t ask for help for hygiene reasons?”
“Damn straight. Only fuck knows what they’re carrying.” She sniffed. “In fact, you should get out of the kitchen too before your bacteria floats into my food. Once it’s in the dining hall, it’s No Man’s Land.”
“That’s twice you’ve insulted me today.”
She didn’t flinch at my cool tone. “Then that’s two times too few.” When I saw her swallow, I knew she was all show. If she’d had an Adam’s apple, it’d have been bobbing at that.
Because I could appreciate her front, I hitched a shoulder. “You saw how they reacted when you insulted me the first time.”
“I did.”
“Yet you repeated the insult.” I reached up and rubbed my chin. “You must have been hell on your mom.”
For the first time, she reacted—jerking back as though I’d hit her. Instantly, she twisted around, giving me her back. Not to piss me off further, but to hide her expression from me.
Scowling at the sight, especially when I knew she was upset about my referencing her mom and not the fact that all the sluts knew to watch my temper, I sighed. Hurting her by reminding her of her mom hadn’t been my intention.
For a second, I just stood there, hovering.
Me.
Fucking hovering.
What in hell was even happening here?
I tried not to think about the fact that if she was any other bitch, I’d have stormed out of there. Instead, with her, I wanted to wrap an arm around her goddamn shoulder and ask her if she was okay.
Okay.
Fuck me.
Since when did I even care how anything with a vagina was?
Because it was a concerning development, since I didn’t give a shit about anything other than my club, I just muttered, “If it gets to be too much, get a Prospect in. They can’t fuck the sweetbutts, so they should be clean enough for your standards.”
I didn’t wait for her to reply, just got the fuck out of there.
Because if that sniff I heard as I left was her crying?
Then I really would have to go over to her, and...
My jaw clenched as I thought about the last female I’d comforted, and when I thought about how shit had turned out for Carly, that made me want to start planning my thirtieth tattoo, not just my twenty-ninth.
❖
STORM
“HE’S GOT the hots for her.”
I snorted at Rex. “You only just figured that out?” Arching a brow at him when he glared at me, I just flexed my hands in the tape before I contemplated putting on some gloves.
The last thing I wanted to do was work out, but it was the only way I had to beat off this aggression. There was only so much sex a man could have before it started feeling redundant, before it started feeling like he was goddamn procrastinating.
And that, right there, was proof I was thirty-five and not twenty-fucking-five.
Jesus fuck, I hadn’t given a shit back then about how often or who I’d fucked, just so long as I’d gotten my dick wet. Now? Things were different. I was supposed to have a goddamn Old Lady to slake my thirst on, instead, she was the one behind my goddamn frustrations in the first place.
“I figured it out when I saw him daring her to watch while he practically chewed Cammie’s face off.”
I blinked at him. “And they say romance is dead.”
Link snorted out a laugh. “It is in this place.”
Shaking my head at the weirdo with a butt plug up his ass while he went for a jog, I muttered, “Doesn’t have to be. But the way to a woman’s goddamn heart isn’t to have a bitch suck your dick or chew your mouth off while your boo is watching.”
“Boo’s a little strong, isn’t it? They barely interact!” Rex countered, frowning at me in the mirror.
“Sometimes it’s in a look not a conversation.” I swallowed at how fucking real that was. Back in the day, that was all it had taken for me and Keira. A long look, and I’d known where she was at, how she was feeling, what was going on with her.
That was how I’d felt sure she was supposed to be mine.
That a single glance at her could be loaded with such meaning had made me feel sure that things were different with her.
Now, even after all the crap, I couldn’t say that didn’t hold true. She was mine, always fucking would be. Convincing her of that might be a difficult feat, but I was slowly coming to the realization that life without her was—
"Storm?"
I blinked at my Prez. "What?"
"You doing okay, man? You were just standing there, staring into space."
Link snorted. "Maybe he was checking out your ass."
My lips twitched. "Since when was I into guys?"
"I dunno, but you've been a dipshit of late. Maybe you're into compounding your mistakes by coming onto Rex."