Page 311 of Dark Love

Without a word, Bone Crusher reaches out with his free hand and lifts the ‘champagne’ glass to his lips.

Why did he do that? Did he forget to get a drink?

He sets down the glass, and his eyes move back to mine. There’s an edge in them that I don’t want to even try to understand. “Who let you into my club? My bouncers know better than to let trouble inside.”

Trouble!?! Is everyone inside this place crazy? “I am not trouble. I’ll have you know I’ve never gotten so much as a speeding ticket or detention in school. My parents never needed to ground me once.” My brother, on the other hand, got grounded every other week and suspended several times from school. “I’ve never cheated on a test or paid my taxes late. Trouble isn’t even in my vocabulary.”

Bone crusher shakes his head again. “Who let you in?”

I fold my arms across my chest. There’s no way I want him glaring at someone else. Tac seems like he can protect himself, but Bone Crusher… he’s on a completely different playing field. “I have just as much right as anyone else to be in here. After the week I’ve had, I deserve to have some fun.” Not that I’d consider any of this fun.

“What kind of week did you have?” His eyes develop a dangerous glimmer.

“It was my first week at a new job. Well, not my first week since I had to go in for training before this, but it was my first week actually work working, you know what I mean? I want my coworkers to like me, but this is a hard job with lots of burnout and people seem a little bit wacky. Nice.” I don’t want to give him the wrong impression. “But completely nutty. A few girls from work asked me to join them for drinks after work, and I thought it would be the perfect way to get to know them. But I was wrong. I should have gone with Adonis’ group to eat dinner. Dinner was safer. It doesn’t involve drunk creeps or sexy guys that can crush bones with their bare hands, but think I’m trouble, which I’m not.”

His frown turns into a small smile.

“Do you think this is funny? Because let me assure you, it isn’t.” Why did I say that to a scary— except he doesn’t feel scary to be around—guy?

“Definitely trouble.” He nods like that makes his words facts. “Who is Adonis?”

“My boss. That’s his name, Adonis.” I tip my head to the side.

“Don’t have dinner with him.” Bone Crusher lifts up a finger in the direction of the bar.

“Why not? How else am I going to get to know my coworkers?”

“Because dating your boss is a dumb idea. Those things never work out. If you like the job, avoid the boss.”

“Dating my boss? He didn’t ask me out on a date. He asked me to go with the work group to eat dinner.”

“It’s a precursor to asking you out. He’s seeing if you’re worth the effort first.”

“Excuse me? First, you tell me that I’m trouble. Then, you drink my drink. Now, you’re telling me that my hot boss wants to ask me out.”

He nods.

“My boss isn’t interested in me at all.”

Bone Crusher shakes his head. “You’re wrong.”

“Am not.” Now I feel like a five-year-old fighting with my brother.

“Fifty bucks says he asks you out within a month.”

“I don’t gamble.”

“You don’t gamble, and you don’t drink.” His eyes move to the champagne glass. “What do you do?”

Um… I can’t tell him the truth…but a lie just won’t come out of my mouth.

A man in a suit sets down a drink in front of Bone Crusher and walks away.

Bone Crusher takes a long swallow of the amber liquid. “You should leave.”

His words hurt. It’s not like we were going to end up being friends, but he didn’t need to be so blunt about it. “Fine, I’ll go, but you need to answer one question first.”

“What?” he barks out.

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