The only good thing I could come up with was that he'd been giving me a decent amount of distance. That wasn't to say every time he walked past me or stood by the receptionist desk that he wouldn't send a heated look my way or put his hand somewhere on my body when he was close enough. Whether it was the back of my neck, my hip, or the small of my back, his hand was always there in some way or another.
I didn't do a single thing to move away from him.
My brain said“No!”Yet everything else in me screamed“Yes!”obnoxiously.
Yeah, I was a friggin' mess. A mess that had no hope ofgetting sorted out properly. There was no point in me even trying to fight it or figure it out.
I sighed and got up feeling defeated, to see if Slim and Blue needed anything. I'd been putting off eating something for at least an hour but my stomach had started grumbling so much I figured it was time to quit procrastinating. "I'm going next door before they close, you guys want anything?"
They both shook their heads. Slim had been messing around on his tablet and the last time I'd seen Blue, she was working on a tattoo for her next customer. Even at seven at night, it was way too hot. Definitely too warm for the sweater I'd pulled on before riding to Pins on the back of Dex's bike.
I ordered aMediterranean wrap from the deli and tried my best not to think about what Sonny had told me. Another brother. Well, shit. A little one at that. I didn't even want to consider what other kind of mess my dad was in that he'd be hiding. What had started as a headache didn't need to become a nightmare.
Especially not if whoever he owed money to decided to come after someone who didn't have Sonny to watch out for them. Someone like my new little brother.
God.
I was so entrenched in the idea of actually having another sibling that I didn't see the silhouette of a man leaning against the stonewashed wall until hisheavy black boothit the top of my thighs.
"Doll," that rumbling low voice I'd only heard once before, greeted me.
My body didn't react immediately to it. It took a second for me to accept what the voice meant.
It meant my friggin' death if any of the Widows saw me.
Shit!
The brown bag I'd been holding with my wrap in it slipped out of my hand, and I'm sure my face went pale. "What are you doing here?" I squawked. Yes, squawked of all friggin' things. I didn't even know I was capable of making such an ugly noise but in the face of my potential death, nothing was impossible.
Liam looked at me coolly, like he wasn't on the wrong side of town. "What do you think I'm doing here?" he asked, straightening up off the wall.
God, he was a big guy.
But that wasn't the point or the time to notice how broad he was. "Trying to get us both killed," I hissed at him, taking a step away.
"Nah," he mumbled, eyeing me with way too much interest.
I looked down both sides of the street to see if anyone I recognized was coming along. The only good thing about the Widows was that I'd hopefully be able to hear the loud roar of a bike before I saw it.
I hoped.
To God.
And maybe even a few other deities.
"Look, I'm sorry for going to bother you before but it won't happen again."
Liam ran a hand over the closely cropped hair on his head. "I'm thinking it's okay if you come bother me again, doll."
Oh, whatever. I had to fight back the urge to roll my eyes and cry bullshit. Something in the pit of my stomach said that this man didn't have the same kind of control—or it might have been fondness—that allowed me to talk crap to Dex and get away with it. For the most part at least.
"Umm, yeah, I don't think that's a great idea." My smile was more creepy-awkward than convincing.
Apparently, Liam either didn't pick up on it or didn't care because he kept going. "I'm also thinking that you and me can work something out with your daddy's debt."
Infinite amounts of the wordshitflew through my brain in a long rant.
I'd been stupid for going to the strip club on my own, but standing here, talking to the president of the Reapers MC when I had a temperamental Widow less than thirty feet away, was even dumber. Way dumber.
