There didn’t seem to be any harm in it, so Noelle relaxed into the easy embrace as Ace grinned. “One shot of each, princess, and be glad you’re a woman. For men it’s two shots, though we have one sassy lady who ran the full line up and down and did it better than most of the brothers.”
“Lex?” Noelle guessed.
“Rachel,” Amira corrected. “Poor Ace. A woman who can drink him under the table. I think he lost his heart that day.”
Ace huffed. “I think we all did, doll. O’Kane is liquor, and Rachel’s our goddess.”
“Then have a few for me tonight, huh?” Amira looked down at the swell of her belly, barely noticeable until she rubbed her hand across it.
Noelle expected another lewd comment, but Ace untangled himself from their embraces and crouched in front of Amira. Pulling the fabric taut across her belly, he leaned close. “Listen to your Uncle Ace, peanut. You come out gorgeous like your mama instead of ugly like your papa, all right?”
“Hate to interrupt a moment of Ace being adorable,” Rachel said from behind them, her voice full of amusement. “But I’ve got to steal Noelle. Open bar time, honey.”
“I’m always adorable,” Ace retorted, and Noelle laughed as she turned to Rachel. Her gaze drifted over the crowd again, but Jasper still hadn’t appeared.
It hurt. He’d stripped her bare that morning with Ace, not just her body but her soul. Nothing that intense could simply be sex, not when he’d held her and stroked her as she drifted in warm haze long past the point where Ace had finished and put away the needles.
Or maybe that was what Amira had been trying to tell her, that a girl from the city couldn’t possibly understand the difference between casual and more after less than a week.
Wetting her lips, Noelle fell into step next to Rachel. “Ace said Dallas and Jasper were on their way. Should I wait?”
She shook her head. “They got hung up with work. They’ll be along later.”
The gang came first. That was the rule she’d tacitly accepted when she let Ace etch the O’Kane symbols into her skin, which meant facing the gathering group of too many smiling men with a stiff back and a raised chin. She would pretend she was Lex, unperturbed by their lecherous stares and the frank appreciation in their hungry gazes.
Hell, maybe she’d kiss one of them. Or more than one. She was a free woman now. She was an O’Kane. Her body belonged to her, and if Jasper wanted claim over it, he’d have to put his mark around her throat.
Jasper leaned against the wall and stared at the woman in the chair. She stared back, impassive, heedless of the heavy chains that bound her. “Is that necessary?” he asked. “We’re smack in the center of Sector Four now. Where would she go?”
Bren mirrored Jasper’s stance with a grin. “She wouldn’t run. She would, however, bite your face off, given half a chance. Wouldn’t you, sweetheart?”
“Why would I bite his face off when yours is right there?” Six bared her teeth and, judging by the focused fury in her eyes, her rage was for Bren alone.
Bren shrugged. “I don’t know—variety?”
“Fuck variety.” Her gaze slid to Jasper. “Are you here to hold me down while he fucks me? Or is that your job?”
Under the taunt lay a very real fear. Dismissing it would be cruel, but so would taunting her in return. Jasper settled for shaking his head.
His restraint didn’t soothe her. Her hands fisted, and she jerked against the chains for the first time, like his unwillingness to abuse her frightened her more than the threat of violence could. “This is some sick shit. Why the hell are you—?”
“Enough,” Dallas said from behind Jasper. “Lex?”
Lex’s heels clicked on the floor as she walked to the center of the room. “Why bother? She’s not going to believe me. Where she’s from, there are plenty of women who’ll sell each other out for a little security.”
Dallas sighed. “Could you pretend for a fucking second that I’m the boss and try?”
“Words are just words. You can tell someone you’re a saint while you’re stabbing a kitten. Does saying it make it true?”
Six sneered at them, her lips twisted in disgust. “What, you haul some poor bitch in here to yell at you and I’m supposed to believe I’m in a fucking paradise because you don’t beat her face in? Did you write all the lines for her, or does she come up with them on her own?”
“See?” Lex knelt and stared up at the new arrival. “They screwed her up so bad she doesn’t know what to think.”
“I’m not screwed up,” Six snarled, but even Jasper could hear the desperation under the words. Her rough façade was cracking, and with it, her composure. “I’m one of the strong ones. I survived, and I don’t need your pity.”
“Oh, I don’t pity you. I kinda think they shouldn’t have brought you back here. You’re trouble.”
That brought the woman’s teeth together with an audible clack. She studied Lex, as if trying to figure out how the words could be a trap. Next to Jasper, Dallas opened his mouth and then shut it again without saying a word, watching the two women instead.
After a long silence, Six tilted her head. “I can’t tell if you’re all damn good liars or just fucking crazy.”
“See?” Bren straightened off the wall and walked around behind her. “Told you she was smart.” The chain rattled as he unlocked it and then let it clatter to the floor.
Dallas tensed, and Jasper knew it was taking all of his self-control not to haul Lex away from potential danger. Six seemed to notice too. “He’d snap my neck if I laid a finger on you, wouldn’t he?”
“Dallas? Probably.” Lex smiled slowly. “Unless I got to you first.”
Bren laid his hands on Six’s shoulders. “You want to hurt Wilson Trent?”
She carefully untangled herself from the chains. “I want to hurt Wilson Trent. But I’m not going to spill my guts and trust you not to dump me in the river when I’m done.”
Jasper couldn’t fault her for that. “Fair enough. What do you know about the drop tomorrow? We figure Trent’s got plans for us. Ugly ones.”
She studied each of them before turning just enough to stare at Bren’s hand resting on her shoulder. “I’ll tell him.”
Bren nodded slowly. “What do you say, Dallas?”
“We’ll be in the hall,” Dallas replied, inclining his head toward the door. “Talk fast, sweetheart. We’re late to a party.”
Jasper crossed his arms over his chest. “You sure you want to be alone with the face-biter, Bren?”
He made a dismissive noise and stroked the backs of his fingers absently down the length of Six’s hair. “We’re past that. If I piss her off, I think she’ll at least give me a good warning punch first.”
She jerked her head away from him. “Touch me again and I’ll bite your fucking hand off.”
“See? When she figures out I’m not going to maul her, we’ll be fine.”
Lex didn’t move for a long moment, then rose. “Tread lightly, sweetheart. They’re not going to hurt you unless they have to…but I’m not as nice as they are.”
“That’s enough, Lex,” Dallas said, stepping forward to rest a hand on her hip. “You and Jasper go to the party. You shouldn’t miss your girl’s big moment.”
She took a single step back, another, and then relented with an annoyed exhalation. “Yes, sir.”
The door slammed behind her, and Jasper rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Her girl?”
Dallas snorted. “I was talking to both of you. If you plan on making any grand gestures, I suggest you get there before Lex does.”
“She wouldn’t.” Not even someone with Lex’s sexual appetites would try to snatch up Noelle when her attention was so obviously focused elsewhere.