Page 12 of Protected

“Can’t argue with that.” I looked up and down the street. “But you can go keep things interesting inside. Not looking for a wingman.”

“What is it about this chick?” Tiger asked. “I get that she is hot, but so are a lot of other chicks.”

I pulled out a cigarette and stuck it in the corner of my mouth. Tiger tossed me his lighter, and I lit the end of the cigarette.

“She’s different, Tiger. I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but there is just something about her that I can’t let go.”

Tiger shrugged. “Can’t say I understand what it is you’re saying, but I guess I get it. If you’re gonna take an ol’ lady, then she should be different than all of the other pussy running around.”

I tossed the lighter back to him and shook my head. “That’s your one free pass of calling her pussy, Tiger.”

He held up his hands. “Sorry, boss. Gonna have to give me a second to get used to you having an ol’ lady.”

She wasn’t mine yet, but it was only a matter of time before she was.

I knew that Mary Jay felt the same thing I did.

It was a feeling you couldn’t put into words and could only understand when you found it.

Mary Jay was it for me.

“This mean you’re going to live above the bar?” Tiger asked. “You think you’ll get free drinks?”

“Go inside, Tiger,” I laughed. “You can put your drinks on my tab.”

“Fuck yeah,” Tiger cheered. “If you’re going to be this generous because you’ve got an ol’ lady now, then I am all in favor.”

“Get out of here,” I chuckled.

Tiger jumped up and strutted through the front door of the bar with a holler, “Drinks are on Hail!”

“Fucking hell,” I muttered.

I pulled out my phone and sent off a quick text to Jersey, who was inside, to put a kibosh on Tiger spending all of my money.

“Hey.”

My head snapped up, and Mary Jay stood in front of me.

“Damn, babe, I didn’t even hear you walk up.”

She chuckled and nodded to my phone. “You seemed pretty into your phone.”

I hit send on my message and shoved my phone in my pocket. I took one last drag of my cigarette and tossed it on the ground. I snuffed it with my boot and reached for Mary Jay.

“We’re not going to be awkward with each other after last night?” she giggled. “I was fully prepared to say um fifteen times and struggle to find anything to say.”

“Nah, I was hoping we could just skip right over that and pick up where we left off last night,” I suggested. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close. I pressed a kiss to her lips, and she melted into me.

I had been slightly worried Mary Jay would spend our time apart talking herself out of whatever it was we were doing, but she obviously hadn’t.

“I have a long list of questions I need to ask you,” she whispered.

Or maybe she had talked herself out of this. “A long list, huh?”

She tipped her head back, and her eyes connected with mine. “Uh, yeah. Not like I need to ask them all tonight, but maybe we can hammer through a few.”

That didn’t sound too bad. “You wanna grab a drink?” If we could work through some of her questions, then we could really pick up where we left off last night.

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