I smirked.Not yet.“No, but if I were, why would it be your business?”
“Because she’s leaving with Calvin after this weekend,” he said.
My head snapped up, and then our eyes locked on each other.He cocked a brow at me.He’d expected a reaction from me.
Well, lucky day, brother, you’re about to fucking get one.
“No, she’s not,” I countered.I didn’t give a shit what he thought was going to happen.I’d changed the plans already.
“She is safe.Calvin is taking her to California with him—”
“Like hell he is.She’s staying with me.”
That fucker had had his entire goddamn life to make a move.Claim her.He hadn’t, and now he wasn’t ever getting the chance.
“She is?”Oz asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied me.
“Yeah, she is.I’ve already talked to her about it.”
“Are you in love with her?”
I laughed, but it was forced.Not natural.“No.Love isn’t for me.That’s drama and commitment and shit.We are … she just … I am calmer when she’s near me.Centered.I feel like I can face things.She’s …”
“Your light in the dark world we live,” Oz said.
Narrowing my eyes, I stared at his smug expression.“Yeah, that’s a way to put it.A little too fucking poetic, but yeah.”
He chuckled.“All right, keep her.I’ll talk to Bane and Linc, but you can handle Calvin.Just don’t hurt him.Please, for Mom’s sake.”
I wouldn’t, but he had better not cause problems.I hadn’t promised not to make him shit his pants.I could do that without harming a hair on his head.
“Might want to deal with him sooner than later.If he finds out she’s sleeping in your bed, I’m gonna bet that there will be drama, and like you said, you don’t like that shit,” Oz drawled, still smirking as he went back to typing on the laptop.
I didn’t even try to deny that she was in my bed.At least her sexy little ass had better be, or I would go toss her over my shoulder and haul it in there.A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth.Pickles was a people-pleasing rule follower.She’d be in there.Probably not naked, like I wanted, but she’d be there.I’d get her naked.I enjoyed taking her clothes off anyway.
“I’m going to head up.The last spread on the Lakers game is finished.Final totals are up,” I told him, anxious to get to my room and the woman in it.
He nodded, but didn’t look at me.
Not waiting on him to think of something else I needed to do, I got out of there, taking long, fast strides to the stairs before jogging up them and heading straight to my room.
Opening the door to find Elsie sitting in the center of my bed with a book in her hands, wearing pink satin pajamas, was the most appealing this room had ever been.
“I wasn’t sure which side you slept on, so I didn’t want to lie down yet,” she told me as if she needed to explain anything.
I closed the door behind me and locked it before striding over to the bed.Taking the hem of my T-shirt, I pulled it over my head and tossed it aside, then went to my shorts to shove them down, leaving my briefs on for now.Her gaze followed my every move with complete fascination, which made my already semi-hard dick thicken.
I held out my hand.“Give me the book,” I told her.
She handed it over without closing it.Trying not to grin at her flustered expression, I placed the book on the bedside table, then pulled the covers back and motioned for her to get under them.Licking her lips nervously, she did so, causing the shorts she was wearing to ride further up her thigh.I enjoyed the view of her crawling beneath my sheets.I liked it a little too much, but fuck it.I wasn’t going to worry about that.So, I had a girl in my bed that I wanted to keep there for a while.It wasn’t a death sentence.
Sliding into bed with her, I reached over and pulled her closer to me.
She stared at my chest for a moment before meeting my gaze.“I like your tattoos.”
“I noticed,” I replied, amused.
“Did, um, everything close out okay with the spread?”she asked.
