"You think I want that douche-bag comin' around for you when your pa didn't pay up? Fuckin' assholewasn’t even plannin’ on payin’ them back, babe."
I thought it was a little less him not remembering and a little more him just not choosing to remember. Dick head.
Dex's fingers made their way to my temple, the tips sliding down, down, down behind my ears and the column of my throat. "Don't like thinkin' about him wantin' you."
Him as in Liam.
Oh boy.
Everything in me that had been crushed and stomped on by my father's careless words and stupid actions, regenerated itself with Dex's touch and words. Slipping my fingers out of his jeans, I reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it up enough to bare the lower half of his abs.
"I'll pay you back the rest of the money," I promised,slipping my hand up his shirt to palm the space between his pecs."It'll take me a while but—"
Dex's hands cupped the top of my head, stroking me tenderly. "No."
"I'm serious. I promise I'll pay you back—"
"No," he repeated. "You aren't payin' me back a cent."
Discomfort tingled the back of my neck. I owed him for a lot of things, butalmost ten thousandwas too much. The last thing I wanted was for him to think that I wanted to take advantage of him. "I am."
"No. You won't. Ritz, look at me." I tipped my eyes up to meet his blue ones. "I don't give a shit about the money. I'll make more."
A groan vibrated through my throat. "It's too much."
His lips pulled into a grim line, eyes searching mine. He wanted to argue with me, I could tell. But he didn't. That beautiful face was tight. "You wanna pay me back? Enroll in school and take over all the accountin' for the Club and the shop, yeah?"
My mouth drooped. "That's not the same."
"I'm not sayin' for a few months or somethin', baby. I'm sayin' you take it over from now on," he clarified.
From now on.
Oh friggin' hell.
"Take it or leave it," he murmured, his mouth losing that tight vector. "Don't care one way or another."
This man. “It’s too much money. Way too much money, Charlie. I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
“You’re not, babe. I know you and you know me. Either take the offer or leave it, but I’m not takin’ any of your money. You got the rest of your life to pay me back by doin’ shit I don’t like.”
My rib cage clenched all of the organs and muscles within it. It pulsed, full of life and warmth and gummy bears and glitter. This was... I don't know how to explain it—it was like Christmas morning when you were a kid. It was everything I’d wanted since my dad first left, in a way.
And there was nothing better than that.
"It's a deal," I agreed with him in a breathless whisper.
Each of his thumbs curved over the shells of my ears. "That's my girl."
His girl.
After all the crap that I'd gone through today, there couldn't have been three better words to hear.
Well, there were three other words I'd like to hear but I'd take these from him. That didn't mean that he was the only one who knew how to give. He'd given enough. My bones and heart knew that there was nothing for me to fear. I loved him and sometimes there were consequences of it that were scary, but it—the emotion itself—wasn't. I knew that now.
What kind of life was I living if I let my fears steer me? This was a gift I’d forgotten to appreciate lately. For so long I’d been happy to just be alive but now...now I had Dex. I had my entire life ahead of me, and I needed to quit being a wuss and grab life by the balls. In this case, I’d take his nipple piercings.
“What’cha thinkin’, Ritz?”
