Resist Me(53)

“Listen here, smartass. Love doesn’t make you weak. You’re stronger as a couple than you are apart. If he’s the right man, he’ll know how to bring out your strengths. He’ll make you a better person. If you lose yourself, then you weren’t strong to begin with. Man the fuck up and take a chance for once. Prove you got a set of balls on you like you always claim.”

Mike was challenging me and being all philosophical and shit. I turned toward Joe, hoping he’d have something better to say. “And you?” I challenged.

“What he said,” Joe replied with a smile and a wink.

I looked over at Anthony, who was staring at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact with me. “Anth, I know you have something to say. Tell them they’re wrong.”

Slowly, he brought his eyes to mine and shrugged. “You know I think relationships are bullshit, Iz, but I think James is a great guy.”

“When did everyone jump off team Izzy and hop on the James train?” I asked, ready to pull my hair out.

Before anyone could answer, Terri walked back into the work area. “Sorry,” he coughed, plopping his ass back in the chair.

“No worries, Ter. You rescued me,” I said as I picked up the gun and got back to work.

Terri was a big-ass biker around fifty, and he had an old lady at home. He’d been coming to the shop for a couple of years and I knew some things about him, but we didn’t spend much time chatting like two old friends.

“Ter, let me ask you something before you disappear into your Led Zeppelin haze.”

He placed the headphones around his neck and leaned forward, displaying his back. “Sure thing, kid. Shoot.”

“You’re married, right?”

“Twenty years.”

“You happy?”

“Well, yeah, or I wouldn’t be married anymore.”

“She a pushover?”

“What?”

“You like your woman weak?”

He shook his head, turning slightly to look over his shoulder at me with his unibrow arched inward. “Babe, I don’t do weak.”

“Is your wife a ‘yes, sir’ kind of woman?”

“She’s the toughest woman I know.”

“You seem like a badass dude, yet you’re with a tough chick. Why?”

“I said that I don’t do weak. I wanted a partner. If I just wanted someone who would fill my bed, I would’ve stuck with club whores, kid.”

“I thought tough guys liked weak,” I said, placing the needle against his skin and starting on the heart I’d woven with the skull.

“Weak pricks like weak chicks. I want someone to keep me on my toes. You have some fucked-up thoughts on men, babe.”

I thought about his words, letting them sink in before I spoke. “I have four brothers who act like the missing link between modern-day man and cavemen,” I said, laughing to myself as I pictured them beating on their chests.

“They’re men and not pussies like boys are today. Video games, manscaping, and metrosexuals have fucked up society. We’re raising a generation of pansy-ass motherfuckers. Your brothers are solid dudes. I’d want them at my back when shit went down.”

“Huh,” I said, knowing that his words were true. My brothers always had my back and were there when I needed them. I’d never feared shit because of them.

“We done?” he asked, holding his headphones in his hand.

“Yep,” I answered, not looking at my brothers as I continued to work. I knew they were all smiles with shitty “I told you so” looks on their faces.

Opinions were like assholes—everybody had one.





Chapter 14 - Playing Dirty





Four hours had passed since I’d sent Izzy the message asking her what she didn’t like. She could’ve been writing a goddamn novel to describe everything that drove her ass crazy. Just when I was about to lose my shit, my phone beeped.

Sexy Fugitive: Sorry. I had an early client and it took for fucking ever… HUGE piece of work covering his entire back.

At least I knew her quietness hadn’t been intentional.

Me: I thought you were giving me the brush-off… again.

Sexy Fugitive: I don’t even know where to start, James.

Me: Anywhere you want, beautiful. Tell me one thing you didn’t like.

I was possibly inviting disaster.

Sexy Fugitive: You’re bossy.

I laughed as I read her words. Izzy was a bossy little thing too. She wasn’t a patsy for anyone, especially someone with a dick between their legs.

Me: Only when I need to be.

Sexy Fugitive: So all the time basically you feel the need.

She was a ball buster. Her brothers had raised her right and hadn’t sheltered her.

Me: When I feel the need to protect something important, then yes.