“Five,” he started counting. “Four, three—“
“God. Fuck you guys and fuck this fuckin’ overpriced bullshit!” Pissed Off Guy’s voice had taken a slightly shrieking edge to it.
“Two—“
With all the class in the world, the guy shot us a one-finger salute and got the hell out.
Well.
Long, warm fingers wrapped around the back of my neck as Dex dropped down to his haunches, eye level with me. “You all right, Ritz?” His bright blue eyes were on mine, all traces of annoyance gone from his features.
“Yeah,” I told him. “He was just pretty dumb and rude.”
The smile he gave me in return was so soft it was hard to understand how his mood went from one side of the linear line to the other in seconds. It also reminded me of exactly what I’d told him on the ride back from Houston. The kindest, grumpy ass man in all of Texas.
“Yeah, he was,” he agreed. Dex’s fingers gave my neck a squeeze. The action made my throat close up momentarily. “C’mon, I’ll buy you a Coke.”
Like I was going to tell him no.
“You want a pop?” he asked Blue as he turned around.
She scrunched up her nose and shook her head. “I’m good.”
I followed after him, waiting patiently while he put in the dollar bills to get our drinks. He popped the lid for me, handing over the drink with a frustrated smile.
"I can't stand assholes like that," he grunted. "What I wanna do is go beat his fuckin' ass."
Both my eyebrows went up. "Calm your horses. It's not worth you getting into trouble," I reminded him of what Shane had hinted at back in Houston. “Or messing up your hands, dumb-bum.”
“Dumb-bum?” He blinked.
I shrugged. “Yeah. What would you do if you broke a couple fingers?”
“Babe, you only break fingers if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Blinking slowly, I opened my mouth and closed it. “I know you’re not kidding and yet…”
The corner of Dex's mouth tilted up, but it wasn't a smile of amusement exactly, it was more of a knowing smirk. "Babe."
“I’m being serious. You have to take care of yourself. Keep that rage under control.”
“I’m good.”
The look I gave him was half disbelieving, half resigned. Then the opportunity hit me, and I stopped caring. “You weren’t good this morning.”
He scowled. I hit the battleship!
“What happened?”
“Nothin’ important. Don’t worry about it.”
What was it about that saying that grated on my nerves? I should shut up. I should mind my own business. The only thing was, I didn’t want to. “Did a bird poop on your bedroom window?”
Dex’s cheek ticked up in agitation. “Smart ass.” He blew out a long breath from between his lips. “My pa called my sis askin’ for money to buy new shoes.”
“Okay…”
Then he burst out unexpectedly, “And the dumbass gave it to him!” He squeezed his eyes shut, thumb and index finger pinching the bridge of his nose. “I don’t get what the hell is wrong with ‘em. I can sleep at night knowin’ he’s runnin’ around with holes in his shoes.”
Well, what could I say? Don’t be mad? Please. No way. If he disliked his dad half as much as I disliked mine, then...yeah. That didn’t mean I had to let him wallow in his frustrations even if it seemed to have passed. “There’s nothing you can do about it now though, is there?”
When his cheek ticked up again, I lifted both of my shoulders and wiggled my fingers. “Just let it go, your highness. Just let it all go.”
The look he gave me could have seared the flesh off of my muscles and made me break into hives if I hadn’t recognized that little gleam in his eye that assured me he would never physically hurt me. Yell at me? Sure. Call me names I’d use on my future dog? Yeah. But hurt me? Nah.
“Babe?”
“Yeah?”
“Get your ass back up front.”
Oh.
~ * ~ *
“I like having you around,” Slim told me while we were seated on the couch, waiting for Blue and Dex to finish up whatever they were doing for closing.
“Why?” I asked him carefully, smiling a little.
“Because Dex is hilarious when he’s pissed off.”
I gave him my best bug eyes. “You like seeing him mad like that?”
He nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Trust me, you know Dex a few years like we do, him getting pissed is like an early Christmas present. He never gets riled up enough to lose it at Pins. Mayhem is another story but here? Never.”
I’d thought about that after I’d finished off my soda with him in the back. His mood had switched to laid-back Dex in the blink of an eye. He’d asked me about what my life had been like back in Florida, and if I’d ever dealt with so many insolent people before at any of my other jobs. The answer to that last question had been a blatant “no” that made us both laugh.
Despite the fact that I had no doubts Dex would have kicked that guy’s ass if he hadn’t left and that it was kind of scary that someone could get so angry, I had to say, it was kind of hot.
Pretty hot.
All right, it was plain hot.
But I didn’t know what to do with it and knew I shouldn’t do anything with that thought.
Dex was my boss. My boss who’d been a dick to me in the past, but still was a dick to other people. On the other hand, this was still the same man who had opened up to me about things that were undoubtedly difficult for him. And the same one who knew things I hadn’t told anyone. The caring grump.
“How’s your piercing?” Slim asked.
Not wanting to pull up my shirt while I was sitting—my pants were really tight and that was the excuse I’d use for the little roll hanging over the waist band— I stood as I told him. “Good, I think.”
I pulled up my shirt, just over the belly button. “It’s only sore if I touch it, but that’s normal, right?”
Slim nodded, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees to look at the green gem in the middle. “Yeah, that’s normal. It looks good.”
I pushed the ring up and down like he’d told me to, to keep the skin from healing around the metal. “I like it.”
The alarm beeped from the hallway, followed by the sound of motorcycle boots on the tile floor as Slim reached up to poke at my rib cage with his index finger. “One day, you have to let me do something here. I think it’d look pretty wicked, Ris.”
I snorted at the same time that familiar figure came into my peripheral vision. “Let me think about it.”
Dex stopped and eyed our placement critically through narrowed eyes before I yanked my shirt back down and shot him an innocent smile.
“Ready?” I asked.
He nodded his reply.
I called out a goodbye to Blue and Slim when we were out of the shop. All of us except Dex were used to walking toward the lot together each night. Dex always parked in front of the shop. Every single time. It was like the universe and all of its inhabitants knew that spot in front of Pins was his and only his.
Dex had barely gotten on his bike, having passed me the helmet when he said, “I got somewhere to go tonight. I'm taking you to your car, and you can drive back to my place from there.”
I pretty much knew how to get to his house, and while I wasn’t crazy about the idea of staying there alone when he lived in the middle of nowhere, I couldn’t really argue or be a baby about it. “Okay,” came out of my mouth but it was reluctant.
He parked in front of the driveway again when we stopped at Sonny’s place. It was eerie how quiet the house seemed. Usually by the time I came home from work, Sonny had already turned on the porch light, and another light inside of the house would be on as a welcoming beacon for me. But there were no lights anymore, his SUV was gone, and his bike, along with Trip’s, were under the carport. It hit me how mad the sight of it made me.