Page 20 of Entangled in Them

Getting to see her in her underwear wasn’t exactly a big deal. It wasn’t as though I’d asked her to strip naked and spread her legs for me, though I had to admit it was tempting. Whatever Kodee thought of me, it had been months since I’d last had a little pussy, and something about the vulnerability and the way she oozed sex appeal made me want her.

She’d gone into Kodee’s bedroom and shut the door behind her again. I assumed that was her down for the night. Kodee had made it obvious he thought it was time for bed, though I assumed it was his way of dividing her from me, like I was some kind of fucking animal.

Okay, maybe I could be a bit of an animal, but I still didn’t see what that had to do with Kodee.

We had an agreement between us—rules: No commitment. No saying I love you. No acting like this was forever.

We worked together, we lived together, and sometimes we fucked. Internally, I shrugged. Maybe it was more than sometimes, but we still weren’t exclusive.

I reached out to pick up a couple of plates from the table.

Kodee’s hand on my arm stopped me. “Just leave them, Dillon. I’ll do it.”

“You cooked,” I pointed out.

“And since when have you given any thought to being domesticated?”

He had a point, but I could tell he was still pissed at me for working with the Capello brothers and getting us into this situation. Rue was back in the bedroom, the door closed, so I felt as though we could discuss what we were going to do with her more openly.

I huffed an exasperated puff of air out of my nose. “What can I do to make this up to you? I’ll go and talk to the Capellos and tell them they need to take her somewhere else. They can keep their payment. I don’t need it badly enough to risk upsetting things here, and it’s not like they’re going to get me any money, anyway.”

Kodee shook his head. “There’s no point. Once the Capellos make up their mind about something, they’re not going to be convinced to change their minds by some two-bit crook.”

“I think he should speak to them.”

We both turned at Ryan’s voice.

“You do?” I asked.

“Yeah. You got us into this mess. You get us out of it.”

Kodee frowned. “It could be dangerous for Dillon to go back to them.”

“It’s dangerous for us to have her here,” Ryan continued. “Are we supposed to carry on with her here? What if she gets into our business, and reports back to the Capello brothers, or whoever else she’d gotten herself mixed up in? She might even be here to spy on us.”

“We’re forgers, not assassins or gun runners,” Kodee said. “What kind of thing do you think she’d even be able to report?”

Ryan’s blue eyes narrowed. “Who knows? There might be something else going on we don’t even know about. I just want her out of here. We all should.”

I hissed air over my teeth. “She’s not doing any harm. You’re overreacting. We just need to put her up for a few days, that’s all. You don’t need to get all butt-hurt about it.”

Ryan shook his head in disgust and got to his feet. “I’m going to bed.”

“I’ll join you,” Kodee said.

“I assume I’m not welcome.” I made sure there was a joking tone to my voice.

“No,” they said in unison.

“Fuck you, too,” I replied, though I didn’t mean it. I’d brought this upon myself when I’d accepted the job from the Capello brothers. My heart had been in the right place when I’d done it, but I didn’t want to tell either of them that. I wasn’t going to make either of them feel shit about it.

Ryan stormed toward his bedroom, though I didn’t miss how the lurch in his step had grown worse over the evening. He never complained, even though what he’d gone through would be enough to put most people into a serious bout of depression. He was headstrong and resolute, accepting his fate in a way that made me proud of him, even if I never told him. Perhaps I should. But I’d been hoping to help him in a different way instead. Trouble was, I seemed to have done the exact opposite.

A bang echoed around the apartment as Ryan slammed the bedroom door behind him. Kodee was going to be sharing with him tonight, since Rue had taken his room, and for once I didn’t even care if I was being left out. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be around Ryan when he was in this kind of mood, anyway.

Kodee shook his head, clearly disappointed in me. “You should go to bed, too.”

I pursed my lips and folded my arms across my chest. “I don’t need you telling me what to do. I’m not a child.”

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