“I don’t need to stalk ye, flower girl. I take what I want in broad daylight.”
Didn’t I just know it.
Kane questioned me about the predator hotline I ran, something that had always been anonymous and shared by word of mouth only, the number redirected to my phone and not registered to me, then moved on to Lyle.
I described how he hadn’t been persistent or overly dramatic about us breaking up. “A week after I ended things, he called to ask me to reconsider, but other than inviting me for dinner a few nights ago, he hasn’t bothered me.”
“What about anyone else you’ve hooked up with?”
My cheeks warmed. “You want a list of everyone I’ve dated?”
A muscle in Kane’s jaw ticked. “Not for a fucking second. But aye, tell me.”
While we entered the busy edge of Deadwater’s city centre, I started with the online flirtations I’d had with men in the year before Lyle, then a boyfriend of six months who I’d broken up with instead of going long distance when he’d relocated for work. But that had been three years ago, and he was now engaged, a socials highlight had informed me. I was happy for him. His fiancée looked lovely.
My list wasn’t long, but the more I spoke, the tighter Kane gripped the steering wheel.
“More likely it’s someone recent who’s got too interested in ye,” he finally concluded.
“You don’t want to hear about me losing my virginity?” I tilted my head at him.
“Fuck, no.”
I tucked my hands under my legs. “Jealousy looks good on you.”
“I’m not jealous.”
I couldn’t help myself. “Then I should tell you how Lyle seemed particularly interested in my breasts. We didn’t get to the stage where he could touch them, but one time?—”
“I’ll fucking kill him,” Kane bit out.
I couldn’t help my laugh. This was cheering me up no end.
He shook his head like he needed to clear it. “New plan. In the same way that woman got the message last night, we’ll show Lyle that ye aren’t available. Nothing deters a man more than a bigger rival who could break his face. I’ll show him what he can’t have.”
I wasn’t sure if it was a great idea or just a territorial one, but I liked it all the same. But still… “If you do that, and he knows you’re skeleton crew, he might get too interested in you.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “He’s already seen me with ye, baby. That ship sailed.”
His ‘baby’ was to remind me of the meeting in the street outside the police HQ, but it thrilled me all the same.
We passed through the centre of town, bars open and people out in the streets, then Kane took the harbour road down to the skeleton crew’s warehouse. Pink neon lit the night from the signs high on the towering red-brick building, and a line formed outside of Divide.
We left the car and entered through the front, passing the queue with the thump of bass mixing with excited chatter from the crowd. Kane had his bandanna around his throat, and I noted the appreciative stares of women as we went by. I understood. I shared their sentiment. He was a huge and grouchy skeleton crew gangster who looked like he knew how to rock a woman’s world.
No lies detected.
If he were mine, I’d curl a hand around his arm and show my ownership. But he wasn’t, and here in a place we both worked, that kind of thinking needed a reality check.
Inside the building, we made our way to the main corridor where dancers in skimpy outfits mixed with skeleton masked men and other staff, everyone busy with a purpose.
At the management office, Convict entered the room, hugging Arran while Tyler, Arran’s intercept guy, exited with two other men, crew members I didn’t know. Perhaps new recruits, and from a quick glance, maybe brothers.
Both had dark hair and dark eyes and were similarly built, as big as Tyler who was a beast of a man, and muscular. One had brown hair tied back in a leather strip, a couple of strands escaping to hang down just past his square jaw to collar length. At his neck, the hint of a tattoo peeked out. The second appeared slightly older and had black hair that fell in his eyes over two slashes of eyebrows. His arm, when he raised it, had deep scars cut into his skin.
The three of them came our way.
Kane set one big, warm hand on the back of my neck. I stifled a jump.
