Every nerve in my body was prepped for tears and choking emotions but I wrangled them in. I’d always considered myself strong, but on Dex’s lap with his arms around me despite the day I had, I felt invincible. I didn’t need tears. So I told him the truth that had grown roots right into the untilled section of my chest. Clear, concise, precise. “I know. I trust you.”
The movement of his hand faltered on my back. “Iris,” he whispered to my temple, his voice sounding like a croak.
This man. My heart swelled in a way that wasn't natural.
I squeezed my arms around the warmth cage of his ribs and mouthed the words I wouldn't let out of my mouth into his shirt.
Three little words that held all the power in the world.
Chapter Thirty-Four
"You want me to drive?"
I glanced at Dex sitting there, his wrist thrown loosely over the steering wheel. We'd been in Luther's truck for the last six hours and besides three pit stops, the old man—he wasn't amused when I called him that out loud—had been driving straight. He was like a man on a mission, insulting my slow driving skills the first time I'd asked him if he wanted to trade positions. His answer now, like it'd been before was the same. "I'm good."
I could rattle off plenty of things that were more than good about him but him driving for so long wasn't one of them.
The ache between my legs was a friendly reminder of one of them. As was the memory of his colored skin, and those little round studs on hisLittle Dexter, against me.
Ugh. It was all so hot, everything about him. My neck went warm.
"You all right over there?" he asked.
The jerk had a knowing little smile on his face. When he woke me up that morning, nearly spread out over my back, a hairy thigh tangled with mine, he'd been all hooded eyes and smug smiles. He'd ground his stiff erection against mybuttina slow circle.
And what did I do? I let him. So sue me. Even a recently former virgin knew when she was in the presence of a pretty penis. A long, perfectly thick penis.
Hell. What in the world was wrong with me? I'd gone from thinking about sex and having raging hormones right around the time of my period, to being unable to think about anything else besides all things naked-Dex related.
He'd drugged me. That had to be it.
Okay, not really, but still. Thatthingwas practically magical.
Unfortunately, the slow morning had come crashing down too quickly when his cell phone started ringing the moment he'd eased himself over me on his hands and knees. It was Luther. And it was Luther's offer to let us borrow his truck that had Dex and I packing up our stuff to head out.
Which was how we ended up halfway to Dade county with Dex hogging the steering wheel and being an all-knowing jerk.
"I'm fine," I answered, resting my back into the corner of the truck's seat and door.“You're sure you're not too tired to drive?"
He flicked those blue eyes over, his mouth flat. "I'm ready to get outta here."
In ten hours. "Okay," I told him with a shrug.
Dex let out a long deep breath, reaching across the console to grip my thigh. "Wanna get this shit over with, Ritz."
I'd tried my best not to worry about this mess over the course of the last few hours. Going to bed after crying all over Dex had been distracting, and I'd managed to fall asleep pretty quickly but that hadn't meant that I'd been in the clear. I'd woken up at least four times over the night, sweating, nervous, battling nightmare after nightmare of what had happened at the shop. Two out of those times, I'd looked over my shoulder to find Dex wide awake, too.
Whether he'd been asleep or if I'd tossed and turned and made enough noises to wake him up, I didn't know for sure. I didn't ask either. I had slipped my fingers close to his once, and he'd rubbed my back until I fell asleep again the second time. Chances were, he'd probably slept less than me.
And I could only imagine what his own thoughts had been.
Because I knew what I'd been thinking of when I gave myself the chance to. What if...
What if my dad didn't have the money?
We were driving out to Florida to find him, but what then? What would we do if he only had ten bucks to his name?
The reality of it was...I'd make him figure it out. The possibilities were endless, and my ruthlessness was as well. I sure as heck wasn't going back to Austin until this crap was resolved. When I accepted the possibility that he was broke, I thought of Blake passed out and bleeding on Pins' floor. And that's what kept me going. But...
