Under Locke(118)

His eyes flashed in brief anger. "No?" he scoffed, incredulous. "You're telling me no?"



Well, there was no graceful way out of this. "My dad doesn't give a crap about any of his kids." I watched him carefully, seeing that he wasn't taking that as enough of an excuse. There was only one thing left to do: lie. Desperate times call for desperate measures, dang it. "Either way I don't think you'd want sloppy seconds."



"What?"



I needed to end this conversation three minutes ago. "I'm with Dex." That was better than saying I'm Dex's, wasn't it? That sounded too possessive. Too permanent and the situation I was in was neither.



The carefully controlled mask that had graced Liam's face morphed into one that barely contained the irritation lurking behind his eyes. He was pissed. "Locke?"



I nodded.



Liam wasn't just pissed, he was incredibly pissed. He straightened to his full height and visibly ground his teeth. "You're right. I'm not a fan of Widows' seconds." He raked his gaze over me one more time. "Didn't know you messed around with trash like Locke, doll."



Trash? He thought Dex was trash?



If there was a word to describe the facial expression that came over me it had to be described as a sneer. I knew in my gut that I shouldn't say anything back to him. He'd been fine and relatively decent before but did that mean he was harmless? No way.



Trying to diffuse the situation I gave me a shaky smile. "Thank you for the offer. I hope you get your money back soon."



The words had barely gotten out of my mouth before grabbing my bag off the floor like a lifeline and darting into Pins. I may have burst through the door a little too loudly, catching Slim's confused expression over his shoulder while he worked.



"You all right?" he asked before focusing back on the tablet below him.



I looked around to make sure Dex wasn't nearby and let out a deep breath. "I'm fine." I wasn't. At least not completely.



What I needed to do was catch my breath and decide whether or not to tell someone that Liam had been outside propositioning me. I didn't want to. My gut said it was a bad idea but wouldn't it be a worse idea for me to keep my mouth shut? Of that I wasn't positive.



Craaaaap!



I hustled down the hallway toward the break room, briefly glancing into the office to see Dex on the phone. That was okay. That was better than okay. It gave me time to keep thinking through what I was going to do, if I did anything.



Keep your mouth shut, Ris, my logical brain said.



Tell him, Ris, the other half—the emotional half—egged on.



Double friggin' crap.



I forced my wrap down though I'd magically lost my appetite for once. It took me longer than it would have if I'd still been starving but I didn't care. With my trash in the garbage I walked out of the kitchen slowly, still debating whether or not to say something to Dex. As I came to the office doorway, I found him sitting at his desk, drawing.



I wasn't going to lie anymore, I'd told myself months ago. I’d failed that, so at least I’d keep it to a minimum.



Oh lord. My fingers shook a little as I knocked on the door faintly.



"Hey."



Those dark blue eyes flicked up in my direction, Dex ducking his head just a bit. "Come in, babe."



The two steps in felt like I was going to the gallows. I started wringing my hands as I stood awkwardly to the side of the chairs in front of his desk. He'd looked back down at what he was drawing, which was the only way I managed to start talking.



"Liam was just outside," I rushed out. "He offered to give my dad an extension if I went with him."



At the mention of the biker's name, Dex's pencil stopped its movement in midair. His entire body tightened, strained, and shifted in ripples of muscle and stress. It was the fact he kept his face down that worried me.



"I told him no. I told him I was with you," I blabbed out.



Oh boy.



The way he slowly looked up at me could have been creepy, but for some reason it just fell short. Instead, he pushed his chair back roughly, smacking the wall with the back of it. In a growl, he rounded the desk and pointed at the chair I stood in front of. "Wait," he said and stormed out the door.



Fudgsicle sticks.



I should have listened to him and waited, but I didn't. I was out the door and going after him a split second later. If Liam was dumb enough to still be outside in front of Dex's shop, on Widowmaker territory, he was a dead man. Or at least a bloody one.



But it wasn't his being that I cared about.



It was the moron running after him that I didn't want to get in trouble.



I could only imagine what Dex had to look like as he ran out of the shop that had the employees and the clients captivated. The door was barely swinging shut when I jogged up to it.