Those blue eyes swung directly from me to the man. Dex looked at the man even more aggressively than he had me. "I don't remember askin' for your opinion, shit for brains, so shut the fuck up."
If I wasn't so mad and hurt, I'd probably get a kick out of his words, but I was.
The man made a noise in his throat. "D—"
I coughed and took a step back. "I'm going back to the shop," I told them in a quiet voice, watching Dex as he kept his gaze steady on his MC brother.
"Text me when you're headin' home later," he grunted, still not tearing his attention away from the man.
I looked over at Luther to see him watching the two younger men.
Whatever.
I didn't bother saying anything else before turning around and heading toward the door. I jogged down the stairs as fast as I could because all of a sudden, I felt like crying all over again.
Chapter Twenty
The look on Slim's face when I pushed through the door of Pins said way too much.
If hewereprone to biting his fingernails, I think he would have been in the process of doing it. Instead, he smiled apologetically, lines creasing his forehead. "You okay?"
I tilted my head down and looked at him with wide eyes, rounding the reception desk to drop my purse on the floor. By some miracle, I'd managed not to cry.
No sooner had I gotten into the car had I realized that I couldn't exactly burst into tears at how upset and embarrassed I was. It made sense that Dex would be mad. I understood that. I really did. The problem was that he'd ripped me a new one, and the fact that it'd been done in public just made it worse—a heck of a lot worse. It was clear I was an inconvenience, but was it necessary to put things like I was a stupid child?
My chest hurt and I'd started hiccupping like crazy while I drove the two blocks down to Pins.
But screw it, I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to cry for no reason.
All right, there was a reason but that was beside the point. Deep down, I knew what I'd done was beyondfoolish. If anyonehadfound out, I could only imagine what kind of shit storm The Dick wouldhave raised. Hell, Sonny wouldhave probably found out and I truly doubted he had any issues with actually knocking some sense into me.
So I'd be taking that little tidbit to the grave with me from the looks of it.
"I'm fine," I told him but the reality was that my voice seemed higher than normal. Obviously, I wasn't completely fine.
The last thing I wanted was to see any of the Widows anytime soon, especially Dex. Which didn't exactly work since I was staying with the guy. Damn it.
Slim gave me a disbelieving look that just barely overshadowed his apologetic one. "Was he pissed?"
I snorted, making my redheaded friend wince.
"Yeah. Sorry, Iris. You know we don't care if you leave for a while but Dex called right after you left. Then he called again every ten minutes after that, checking to see if you'd made it back." He bared his teeth. "Sorry."
Like I could get mad at Slim for being honest. I shrugged and fished through my purse for a stick of gum, tossinga pieceat him. "It's okay. I shouldn't have been gone that long." That was kind of the truth.
"We were all a little worried." He flashed me a bright smile. "It just means we like you."
If calling someone a dumb shit was a way of showingthemaffection, then I definitely didn't want to have any friends.
~ * ~ *
For the next few hours, I tried my absolute best to not think about what had gone down on the top floor of Mayhem. I was a little sad, a little mad, and a lot frustrated. Frustrated because I wished this crap with the sperm donor wouldn't have happened because then Sonny would be in Austin, and I'd be at his house, and things would just be fine.
It made me feel selfish but oh well.
We closed up the shop a little after midnight, and I sent Dex a text as soon as I'd gotten into the car. With any luck, I'd get back to his place before him and could feign being asleep to avoid any other crap. Now, if he was home already, I was screwed and wanted a minute to mentally prepare myself for him.
So I thought it'd be a good idea to drive by Mayhem and make sure he was still there, otherwise...
