Page 23 of Strip Search

“Yeah, yeah kid. Tell your mommy to stop being mean to me,” I mumble and hand her more food.

Lucky for me, Zoey drops theCole needs to settle downtalk over dinner, and instead we catch up on how Jax is doing and what they’ve been up to this week.

When we’re all finished eating, Zoey takes Gabby for a bath and tells Smitty she’s turning in for the night. As soon as she’s out of earshot, Smitty asks about Molly and Dallas.

“Let’s just say it’s all fucked up man. I’m still processing it.” Unfortunately, no matter how much I trust Smitty, I can’t disclose any information about what we found out today.

“You still going to let her strip?”

“Fuck that noise. You know better,” I grunt. “She’s got this crazy idea that we’re not friends anymore either and can’t do friendly things. That’s not happening either.”

“Cole, a bit of advice.” Smitty shakes his head. “I believe you may have told me this same thing once but pull your head out of your ass or give up on her completely. You’ve got feelings for the girl. Act on them.”

“I sort of like being on this side of the dirt, thank you very much,” I tell him, knowing that Paddy would have my ass on a silver platter if I crossed that line. “You and Cody, both keep pushing. I don’t see this ending well.”

“Oh, you’re going to get your ass handed to you either way. She talked to Zoey the other day. You’re breaking her heart man. I think if it was me, I’d want to die knowing I had my wicked way with her first. That seems like a better alternative to me.”

“And when she can’t handle me? I let her walk away?” I already hate myself for the venerable words coming out of my mouth.

“Dude, if Zoey can put up with my bullshit, I know Molly can handle yours. Shit, she spends most of her awake hours with you at work and hasn’t killed you, or ran off, yet.”

Fuck this bastard for always being right.

Chapter Eleven

Molly

I’m not at work morethan ten minutes this morning when Cole comes strutting in with two cups of coffee in his hands. He stops at my desk and slides one over to me with a smirk. I know exactly what he’s doing. The asshole is trying to butter me up for the note that I found on my desk, telling me that my car had been towed to a repair shop on his dime.

A little tidbit Cody forgot to mention when he brought me into work this morning.

“Got a minute?” he asks.

“Nope. I don’t actually. I have some calls to make before Cody and I head to the gym to work on some hand to hand combat,” I look up at him over the rim of the coffee cup before I take a long sip, savoring my favorite blend. Cole’s playing hardball and bribing me. With coffee. I’m not ashamed to admit, it’s working. This cup is exactly the way I like it.

“Too bad. My office. Now,” Cole barks and walks away from me.

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