Page 490 of Dark Love

Me: I love you.

Vex: Send me the address. I’ll play nice.

Everything is going to be just fine.

Dinner And A Surprise

Vex

Why did I promise to be nice to her boss?

That was stupid. Punching him would have been the perfect way to get her fired.

This is all Payne’s fault. I stalk over to his office to give him a piece of my mind.

And maybe punch him.

“Why didn’t you tell me about her job?”

Payne looks up from his computer. “So she told you finally.”

“This isn’t a joke, Payne. Her job isn’t safe.”

“What does she do?”

Imogene is in my club? I spin around to find her lounging across Payne’s couch with a magazine in hand. “She’s a 911 operator.”

“How is that dangerous? Are you afraid she’ll fall off her chair?”

Take a breath. You’re a calm, reasonable man who doesn’t yell at women.

Often. “She’s dealing with all the crazy, drug-addicted criminal elements in Urbium.”

“She’s answering the phone. Not out there in the trenches wading in with the criminal element like two men I know.” Imogene looks between us. “Are you both so overprotective that you want a sweet little fifties housewife who never leaves the house?”

I shrug. “That sounds good to me.”

Imogene glares at Payne.

“What?” He grins at her.

“Barefoot and pregnant while chained to a stove isn’t a thing anymore.”

“I don’t know, half of that sounds pretty good to me.”

WHAT? Payne’s thinking about having kids with her already! It’s too fast. Dahlia and I haven’t even…

Don’t think about what can’t be. Dahlia would never want to have kids with you.

“Someone needs to teach the two of you Neanderthals about modern-day women.”

We know all too much about modern women. Dahlia is the perfect blend of a modern woman with traditional values.

This line of conversation isn’t helping. “How do I get her to quit?” Mostly I ask Imogene since Payne hasn’t helped.

Imogene laughs. “Does she enjoy her job?”

“Yes.” It kills me to say that.

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