His shoulders stiffened beneath the bright white t-shirt he had on. “Rick. Get. The. Fuck. Out.”
“But—“
His hand squeezed my shirt so tightly it made me lean forward as he yelled, “Get the fuck out! Now!”
Holy shit.
Rick took on a shade of white formerly only seen on a sheet of college ruled paper, throwing up both his hands. “Dex—“
Dex let go of my sweater taking a step toward the drunken fart. “You know damn well you don’t come into my shop demandin' shit, callin' my girl a bitch.”
In the words of a rap song my neighbor used to play on his boombox when I was a kid:Hold up, wait a minute.
He closed the distance between them, making me ignore the fact he'd just called me his girl. I swear Dex grew three inches taller as he lifted his hands and pressed them to the drunk guy’s chest. “Get the fuck out before I do something you’re gonna regret,” Dex notified him, shoving the man back so hard I’m surprised he didn’t hit the glass.
The guy stumbled, righting himself slowly after one last withered plea. “Dex.”
All he got in return was silence. Heavy, electric silence.
Rick opened his mouth to say something else before thinking twice and turning around to walk out. As soon as the door swung shut, it was like a rubber band of intensity snapped in the room. My heart was pounding from the sheer volume of the words that were tossed around.
I was so stuck in my own little world that I didn’t sense Dex’s presence inches away from me until his fingertips were on my chin, tilting my face up.
“You okay?” he whispered, so close I could feel his warm breath on my nose.
My hands shook. I swallowed hard and nodded a partial lie. “Yeah.”
Dex’s gaze flickered over my eyes, nose, mouth, and even throat. His expression was soft.He reached up to circle one of my free hands in his, his features tightening as my fingers trembled in his palm.“Your pulse is poundin', babe.”
“I’m fine.” Being freaked out fell into the same category as being fine. As long as I hadn't peed on myself, then I could still be fine.
He didn’t speak as he pulled on the hand he was then holding, leading me toward the hallway. In a daze, I noticed that Blake and Slim looked worried as I passed by them, and I tried my best to give them a smile but it was shaky. It felt like I'd just gotten off a roller coaster.
Dex shook his head on the walk passed his office, passed the private rooms, clasping my hand even tighter as he pulled us into the break room.
“Come here, Ritz,” he ordered, stopping us right next to the kitchen counter. Before I realized what was happening, his hands were on my hips and he was settling me on top of the counter. Dex’spalmsgrazed my knees as he stepped back to the soda vending machine in the corner. “Wait a sec.”
Like I could go anywhere, but I sat there silently, sliding my hands under my thighs so that I wouldn’t feel them twitching anymore. He pulled out a bill from his wallet and put the money into the machine, getting a Coke in return. Holding it in one hand, he moved to the opposite end of the long counter and started fishing through the overhead cabinets. He pulled out a loaf of bread, withdrawing two slices before retying the knot and stashing it back into its hiding spot.
I wasn’t sure what the heck was going on. I couldn’t help watching him tenderly hold the slices in one hand and the Coke can in the other as he walked toward me, stopping so close his hip brushed against the side of my thigh.
“Here.” Dex tried to hand me one of the slices, setting the soda down between us.
“What?” I was looking at the seeds in the bread.
“Eat it, babe.” He held the piece of bread up higher.
I shook my head, darting my eyes back up to his. “I’m not hungry.”
Dex lifted the slice even higher so that it was in line with my mouth. “I don’t care if you’re not hungry. It’ll calm you down.”
The urge to argue with him wasright therebut by the look he gave me, a hard, uncompromising glare, I figured it was useless. That wasn’t the right moment to pick a fight with him. I plucked the bread from his hand and ate it slowly, watching him out of the corner of my eye the entire time. As soon as I finished, he was handing me the second slice. I gave him another look but got the same no-nonsense glarein return.
So I ate it because otherwise, he'd probably shove it down my throat by force.
He watched until I had about a quarter of it left, when he then popped the lid on the soda and handed it to me the minute I swallowed the last bite of nutty bread.
“I should've kicked his fuckin' ass for talkin' to you like that,” he murmured when I was taking my first sip of Coke.
