Talon (Uncompromising #1)(57)
With a gesture I’d never seen him make, his eyes set on mine, the corner of his mouth twitched up. “I want to fuck her.”
I burst out laughing. “Goddamn, you are human.”
“Only my dick.”
I laughed harder. “Did you just make a joke?”
“Yes.” All trace of his earlier lapse of impenetrable expression disappeared. “Finish this thing with the MC and get the girl out.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face and sobered. “She doesn’t want my help.”
“When has that stopped you?”
“This isn’t a fuckin’ Hajji sand trap battleground. I can’t go in, guns blazin’. Some battles ain’t mine to fight.”
“You want her?”
My gut clenched and I forced myself not to think about it. “Don’t matter one way or another.”
“Get the girl out,” he repeated.
André bounded up the stairs. “What’d I miss?”
“Nothing.” Neil leaned back.
Still pissed he’d said I was selfish, I threw him under the bus. “Neil’s fuckin’ Ariel.” Going to fuck, fucking, fucked, didn’t matter, the intent was there.
His hand on the back of a chair, about to pull it out, André paused. It was only for half a second but it was long enough for me to see it. He didn’t say shit, he just sat down.
I looked between Neil and André. “What’s a matter, Patrol, cat got your tongue on this one?”
André frowned and Neil crossed his arms.
I egged André on. “If you wanted her, why didn’t you nail that shit down before Viking did?”
“Shut the fuck up, Talerco.”
“Hell no. Y’all been talkin’ shit ’bout my sex life for years. The first sign of trouble that ain’t mine and you expect me not to roll in it? Not happenin’.” I nodded at Neil. “Did you know Patrol was pining away for that shit before you fucked her? ’Cause damn, that’s cold-blooded, even for you.”
“I’m not fucking pining for her!” André yelled.
Right. “Then whatdaya call what you’re doin’ now? Scratchin’ your head, wonderin’ why it ain’t your dick?”
“Drop it,” Neil finally spoke. “Not your concern.”
Neil didn’t give a damn about relationships with women, especially with the Russian models he fucked. He took what he wanted and moved on and he cared even less what people thought of him. “Patrol’s pissed and that’s your answer?”
Neil glared at me and André looked away.
“If y’all are gonna have my back with Maldonado’s crew and the Lone Coasters, then I don’t want this shit interferin’.”
“There is no interference,” Neil said formally. “André would prefer I did not date her. He needs to get over it.”
“You’re not dating her, you’re using her,” André snapped.
Fucking, using, I couldn’t disagree. Neil wasn’t going to be any chick’s happily ever after.
“I justify my actions to no one.”
André slammed his hand on the table. “She has a kid!”
Neil didn’t even flinch. “So do I.”
“Myles isn’t your kid, he’s your fucking nephew and he’s an adult!”
Neil tilted his head. “You think I do not know what it takes to raise a child?”
The hair on the back of my neck rose to attention. “Shit, Patrol,” I muttered. “Insult him again and you’re on your own.”
André didn’t listen. He lowered his voice to a deadly threat, his nostrils flared and he leaned toward Neil. “You tie women down and beat them.”
Every muscle went still in surprise. I stared at Neil. I shouldn’t have been shocked. Neil was a controlling motherfucker, but still, I never guessed kink. Then little bits of information started clicking into place. I saw him once at a club with a chick standing just behind him and to his side, not touching him, but wearing a necklace that looked like a collar. He was tight-lipped about any aspect of his life outside of business, and the diagonal knife wound across his chest he’d gotten a few months ago that I’d had to stitch up, he refused to talk about. I thought of Siren and suddenly I was right there with André. “This shit fuckin’ consensual?”
Neil swung his steel glare to me. “Do I question you? Ever?”
I exhaled and looked at André. As much as I hated to take sides, Neil had a point. “Whatever he’s into, it’s mutual and it ain’t our business.” Neil was a scary motherfucker and he’d just called me a selfish prick but deep down, I knew he wasn’t a sick fuck who’d force himself on a woman. He didn’t need to. Besides, who the fuck was I to judge what the hell he did in the sack?