“If I go with you,” I counter. “He can say it to my fucking face.”
She makes a small huff as we turn into the driveway. “Whatdoeshappen next? I know you can’t tell me anything about club business, but can you at least give me some indication of how these situations usually play out?”
“Unpredictably,” I answer honestly. “There’ll be retribution. The club already knows what happened from the men who returned. Our job is to prepare for that.”
She looks up at the dark farmhouse and then down the road. “If they come here, what will Chaos do with Vanessa?”
“Same as I’ll do for you.” Keep her close. Keep her safe. “There’s going to be more people show up over the next few weeks,” I warn her. “The club will get busy, and I’m not going tohave a whole lot of time to stop and talk. I don’t want you to take that the wrong way, okay?”
“I won’t.” She squeezes my hand. “I just want to be here when you do get time to rest. You can let me massage those big shoulders of yours. Cook you a proper meal.”
He chuckles. “Being you is enough, but that other stuff does sound nice.”
We walk in silence for a moment longer before she quietly asks, “Where were you tonight?”
“Huh?”
“You weren’t with Chaos before you showed up at Vanessa’s. He told her who was with him, and he didn’t mention you.”
I glance up at the men on the porch: Flinch and Sips, one of our prospects. “I went to see my old man.”
She hesitates a moment before whispering, “Why?”
I stop walking and turn her toward me, just out of sight of the others. “I needed a little advice, is all.”
“It really is serious, huh?”
“It’s bad, baby. I ain’t gonna lie.” I run the backs of my fingers along her jaw reverently. “I get so mad at myself for getting you involved in this.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” She takes hold of my wrists, urging me to look her in the eye. “They pulled me aside because one of them recognized who I am.”
“The Sheriff’s girl?”
“As Blue Babylon,” she whispers. Her hands fall away, tongue peeking out to touch her lips as she waits for a sign from me. Anything. “I’m sure you know that’s my username by now, right? Your kind of clubs have a way of finding this stuff out.”
“We do. Yeah.” I rub the back of my neck, the goddamn skin hot there all of a sudden. “It’s not what you think.”
“Jinx…”
“Nobody knows but me and Darko. He had to figure it out for me. It’s just?—“
“Matthew.”
I stop rambling and peer at her, afraid of what I’ll find.
“It’s okay,” she offers, smiling a little. “I’ve shown my snatch to the world. It’s not a big deal if you’ve seen it too.”
“It’s different, Kyra.” It feels as though she can read it on my face, that I was getting worked up to her content before today turned to shit.
“How. Because you know me?”
“Well, yeah.”
She sighs out her nose. “Saying it’s disrespectful because you know me just cheapens all the other workers you’ve watched on your screens over the years.” She frowns a little. “It dehumanizes them. Says it’s okay to reduce them to nothing but a sexual aide because you have no feelings for them.”
Fucking women confuse the heck out of me. “What would you have me do then? Not watch any porn at all?”
Kyra fights a grin, sliding her hands to my waist. “I’d have you watch mine with the same enthusiasm you do theirs,” she says softly. “It’s okay.”
