Dallas nodded carefully. “Does anything need the Kings to move on it tonight?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Good.” He sighed and then turned back to King. “Since you’re here, help me get him into bed? I could manage, maybe, on my own, but it would be a hell of a lot easier with you.”
“Sure.”
Dallas gave me a real honest-to-goodness smile and I could see what had captured King. He seemed… well, sweet. I was never, and had never, been that level of… wholesome. “Fucking cops,” I snapped, and Dallas’s eyebrows popped high on his forehead.
“What now?”
“Oh.” I went over to pick up King’s feet, while Dallas shoved back the couch and then got behind King and slipped his hands under his armpits. “Fucking Jayce is already starting with his ‘I can’t be seen with these deplorables,’ or whatever bullshit.”
“He used the word deplorables?” Dallas asked, his bold dark eyebrows all scrunched up.
“No, but he might as well have. He says he can’t be seen associating with King.”
Dallas grunted and we lifted. “He’s got a point,” he said, and then let out a long breath. “Fuck. Aaron, you’ve got to stop eating so much if you expect people to carry you around.”
“He would have told you to leave him, you goody-goody. And goddamn it, not you too,” I snapped.
“No. It’s Jayce, right? He’s an active duty cop. He does have to be careful.”
I kept my mouth shut so I didn’t start fighting with him too. We got King to their bed, and between the two of us we sort of laid him out on it. I took off his boots and Dallas started to work on his belt. King began to grope Dallas’s ass, which was funny until he managed to unbalance him. Dallas reached out and braced a hand against the nightstand beside the bed to stop himself from falling, and then toppled it. King only snorted when the lamp there hit the floor and shattered, leaving the room in semidarkness. Dallas let out a sound—part rage, part sadness.
“Stay on the bed. Broom?” I asked.
“Leaning on the front porch right now.”
On my way past I flipped on the overhead light so we could see any glass shards. About forty minutes later, Dallas and I had the mess all cleaned up and King tucked under his blankets, slumbering away like a drunken baby. Dallas and I stood there looking at him, and he reached down to smooth a hand over his forehead and along his temple.
“Go easy on Jayce,” Dallas said. “It’s hard realizing that people are good people, even when they’re bad people. Sometimes it takes a while to simmer in your brain before you can make peace with it.”
“Great.”
He stood, and the exhaustion on his face made me feel like I was overstaying my welcome. “You’re not a King, River. Maybe… maybe you should keep it that way. Keep it… lighter. For your safety.”
That tingle of ire was back, skating up and down my spine. Adrenaline had my breath speeding faster. “You’re still a cop, aren’t you?”
Dallas shrugged. “In some ways. I mean, I’m all in.” He glanced back toward King and smiled. “But I know what I’m in for, if you understand? The Kings weren’t my first time around that particular rodeo.”
“So what you’re saying is, you like to ride King until he bucks you off?”
He sighed. “I thought you were better than the rest of them.”
“Ha! I’m still a dog.”
He sighed and playfully shoved me toward the small living room—and kept right on going to the front door. “I’ll fill King in on what you told me, but God knows he’ll probably want you over here again tomorrow, and Sapphira might want to talk to you.”
“They both know where my office is.”
Dallas saluted, gave me one last firm nudge until I was on the porch, and then closed the door in my face. I glanced around and sighed, shoulders slumping.Fuck.It had been a long while since I was somewhere alone, and I’d be damned if I hadn’t gotten used to Jayce taking care of me. I took my phone out of my pocket and stared at it. He hadn’t called. He kind of knew me by now, I guessed, and probably figured out I didn’t like to talk until I was ready.
That fight had really pissed me off… but…. I glanced around again, embarrassed. Was I only thinking about calling because I knew he’d come? That he would take care of me? Was that even a bad thing? I hit his number and waited. The line rang and rang… and rang. Carefully I lowered the phone from my ear and looked at it. Fuck, what now?
I hadn’t realized I would be so disappointed, but I really couldn’t handle the way I felt as I tucked my phone away. My chest seized up, and I had trouble dragging in a deep breath for a second. I mean, I’d left him there at the clubhouse. I’d pushed his limits the way I always do. I’d let Undertaker wind him up, just the way I’d allowed King to do it, and I’d never apologized for that, either. Guilt began to worm its way through me.
He’s not supposed to let me win.I closed my eyes and stood still for a few seconds before I walked down off the porch and toward the road. I hadn’t hit the end of the driveway yet when a truck came to a halt a few yards away from me. At first my stomach lurched and I tensed, ready to run if it was someone I didn’t want to meet alone in the dark without a gun, but the door popped open and I was relieved to see Jayce there. He carefully stood.
