I blinked and blinked again until I got myself under control.
Looking up, I caught the murderous look on Dex's face. The way his shoulders stiffened. He knew. He knew exactly what I was battling.
I couldn't glance at my father as I spoke. I kept my gaze steady on the tip of Uriel's tentacle peeping out from the black lip of his collar. This wasright.Being there with him, that was fate. That was me taking control of my lifeand paving a new path."I never want to see you again."
It was only the straightening of Dex's back that gave a warning he had processed my words and come to a conclusion.
That conclusion was in the shape of his fist nailing my father in the chin.
Maybein a few years, or heck, maybe even months from then, I might feel guilty about what we did after that.
Then again, maybe I wouldn't feel a thing. Maybe, just maybe, I would never think about that visit to the pizza place or the man we left bleeding there. Who knows.
But what I did know, without a doubt in my heart, was that we did the right thing. The only thing. Maybe not the ethical or the nice thing, but when you're left to fend for yourself and for the ones you love,being proper and good-hearted goes straight out of the window.
We left.
My dad's keys in Dex's pocket, Dex and I walked out hand in hand.
A ruthlessness I didn't think I was capable of reinforced my veins and determination filled me as I spoke for the first time after Dex had stood up for me. "How much do you think we can get for his bike?"
The slow way in which he turned his head, brow up and lips pursed, was a mixture of shock and something else. But the smile that took over his features after that was the most stunning thing I'd ever seen. He reached across the console to palm my cheek. Those tattooed fingers, with the wordsLOYALDREAMetched on them permanently, filled my chest with so much love and assurance I wouldhave gone through the incident moments before all over again a hundred times for the same result.
Dex's nostrils flared as his thumb swiped over the yellowing bruise along my cheekbone. "Not surebut I know somebody who will."
Thirty minutes later, our plan had been hatched, a motel room had been broken into, and a motorcycle had disappeared from the parking lot it'd been parked in.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Linking our fingers together, Dex led me toward the elevators that night. In a matter of hours, we'd committed at least four crimes between the two of us. Battery, assault, breaking and entering, theft and who knows what the heck else.
Who would have ever thought I'd consider myself a criminal? Normally, I sweat going five miles over the speed limit.
I wrapped both my arms around his, resting my forehead on his shoulder while we rode up silently. What was there to say? We'd taken fifteen thousand from the vent my dad had hidden it in—I didn't ask how Dex knew to look there—and taken his bike to Luther's friend, who assured us he could find a buyer for the Harley Davidson Classic. For a fee, of course.
Paperwork? Tax, title, and license?
Don't worry about it,he'd said. So I wasn't going to worry about it.
The only thing I was going to worry about were the remaining thousandsmy dad would still owe him if we got what was expected from the bike. The Reaper money.
"So...isthere something you want to tell me?"
His fingers loosened around mine letting his fingernails scrape my palm. "I tell you everythin', honey."
"Not exactly," I said in a sing-song voice as we walked toward the hotel room. He slid the keycard in. "Dex, did you pay off the Reapers?"
He grunted, holding the door open for me to go through first.
I stopped in the middle of the room and waited for him to come in, setting the deadbolt. Gosh, he was so good-looking. His body was lean and long, his arms lookedfantastic under his white shirt. Well, white with a couple small red dots on the chest. Mysperm donor’sblood. Dex stopped just a few feet away from me, sliding his hands into his front pockets.
"Yeah." So simple. So honest.
"Why?" I cut the distance between us, stopping close enough so that I could slip my fingers beneath the band of his jeans. Warm skin greeted the backs of my fingers.
Dex reached up and pulled the elastic out of my messy bun. "'Cuz." He twisted the hair around his fingers, not watching my eyes. "I didn't wantanybodybotherin' you."
How the heck was I still standing?
