He smiled. “Love you think that.”

“It’s true.”

“Love you think that.”

Her eyelids went half-mast and did a fluttery thing, not flirty, more semi-annoyed, semi-perplexed.

“Axl, you are,” she stressed.

“Okay, baby,” he replied, still smiling, but unfortunately having to slide his fingers out of her soft hair seeing as he could probably keep them there for a fuckuva long time, but it’d be hard to eat if he did.

“Do you not think you’re awesome?” she asked hesitantly.

“Do you want a guy who thinks he’s awesome?” he asked in return.

She tipped her head a little, her curls sliding over her bare shoulders when she did in a way he felt in his dick almost more than the dress, then she turned more fully to him, which meant her breast was now pressed full into his arm.

Jesus.

Dinner was going to be agony and ecstasy, he already knew that.

But he didn’t know just how deep that would go.

“I see your point,” she relented.

“So I’m awesome and you’re the most beautiful woman in this room,” he remarked,

She lifted up and gave him a smile that was absolutely flirty, as well as cock-hardeningly playful, and said, “I totally am.”

He burst out laughing.

And then their cocktails came.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

B

AXL

So, how’d it go?”

It was late the next morning and Axl and Auggie were in one of the company Hummers.

It was rare any member of the team went out in one because—shiny, black, and kitted way the fuck out—they were known by a certain element of Denver and the crew tended to operate in most cases in stealth mode.

But where they were going, they were making a statement.

Axl was driving, Auggie in the passenger seat, and they’d reached their destination, so Axl was scanning for a parking spot.

He also answered Auggie’s question about his date with Hattie.

“Torture.”

“It didn’t go well?” Auggie sounded flipped out.

This was understandable, partly because Aug knew how hard Axl had worked to get last night, and partly because Auggie was next up with Pepper.

If he ever pulled his finger out.

Axl found a spot on the street and started maneuvering into it, saying, “When she’s not shy, she babbles. It’s not annoying or nervous and incomprehensible. It’s her and it’s cute. She reads. She’s got interesting takes on movies that are deeper than the norm. She’s curious about me and doesn’t hide it. She’s into me and doesn’t hide that either.”

“That doesn’t sound like torture,” Aug noted when Axl quit speaking.

He shut down the Hummer and turned to his friend. “And she was wearing an off-the-shoulder dress that was very short, her heels were very high, her hair was down, and at the end of the date, I took her to my place where she changed to go to work. Then after work, I picked her up and took her back to my place, where she slept in my bed and I slept on the couch. And right now, seeing as she left work after two in the morning, I suspect she’s still in my bed.”

Aug grinned. “Gotcha.”

“Yeah,” Axl agreed, not grinning.

They turned to their respective doors and got out.

They then moved in unison across the street toward their destination: an apartment complex.

Aug did it talking.

“So essentially, it was a great date.”

Axl stopped dead on the sidewalk and leveled his eyes at his bud.

“I think you can now take it as proven Lottie knew what she was doing. Her picks for us weren’t random, brother.”

Aug looked toward the door of the apartment complex.

In other words: We’re not talking about this.

“We got shit to do,” Axl continued. “We don’t got time to stand and chat on a sidewalk. Just …you hear what I’m sayin’?”

Auggie looked back at him. “It’s not me, it’s her.”

“Yeah, and it wasn’t me, it was Hattie.”

“You’ve had one date,” Auggie pointed out.

“Right, then wait it out. Lottie’s picks turn to three matches, three wins, you need to get the lead out.”

“It’s not just Pepper, Axe. If it was just her, we’d be there already. She’s got a kid.”

Axl’s brows shot up in surprise. “You got a problem with her kid?”

Aug started to look pissed. “You know it’s not that. Again, it isn’t me, it’s her. She’s being protective.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, find out.”

Auggie’s head ticked, which Axl knew stated plain he was just ticked.

And he didn’t hesitate to share that verbally as well.

“All right, I see you ridin’ the high of one great date, but it was one great date. That’s it. You aren’t the poster child for relationship bliss. Get off my ass.”

As they all did in their crew when shit was important, Axl did not get off his ass.

“And Mag and Evie are engaged. Boone and Ryn are moving in and going into business together. Aren’t those poster children?”

“We gonna get this done?” Aug asked tersely, jerking his head to the complex, bringing them back to business.

Yeah.

They needed to get this done.

Axl answered his question by moving.

They walked into the apartment building and immediately were assaulted with a variety of smells. The sweet scent of pot was the high note, mingled with the unpleasant scent of cigarettes with underlying nuances of filth and possibly vomit.

They both ignored it and jogged up two flights of stairs, walked down the hall and stopped at the door they needed.

“I’d give you the honors due to your frustration, but you just pissed me off, so I get to do it,” Auggie announced.

Axl jutted his chin in assent and Aug immediately lifted his boot, landed it with no small amount of pressure right by the handle, and the door flew open.

Instantly, there was a flood of the dregs of humanity brushing past them.

A door bursts open, they assume police.

Oh yeah.

Brandi was home.

With the mass exodus, it was clear her minions had let her down with loyalty. Walking through the fetid apartment, it was also clear they let her down with cleaning.