Page 572 of Rage

He turned towards me. I waved my hand. “Not everyone aspires to be globetrotting girl bosses,” I replied.

“You left a decent job a few years ago.”

“Too much stress,mother. I’m not cut out for that sh—stuff,” I said.

Declan laughed as he placed his hand on my thigh again. I smiled again and pushed it off again. My father and mother started to argue back and forth about wedding plans with my brother. I turned to Declan. “Stop touching me,” I whispered.

“Fine. I thought you might still have that crush on me.”

I shook my head. “Nope. I don’t deal with criminals.”

Declan grinned. “Oh, so you are the only non-idiot here, aren’t you?”

“That’s my family you’re talking about.”

He leaned in closer and whispered, “I know. They like to see the nice things in life, don’t they? Everything is always so nice and cheery for them. But there’s a darkness in you. Or you’ve seen the dark.”

I pursed my lips, but before I could argue with him again, our food came to the table. We muttered our thank you’s. I pulled my phone out and checked for any messages. I had a message from my date tomorrow and I tried to respond when Declan grabbed my hand. He pulled my phone from my hand and opened my phone book app.

“I want you to remember if you needanything—and I mean anything—you need to call me.”

“Oh, whoop de doo. I don’t think there is anything that could ever happen that would make me do that,” I snapped.

“Just wait. The dark will come to get you again,” he said with confidence.

“Are you threatening me?”

“Absolutely not. Now enjoy your meal,” he said. “Let’s stop these petty quibbles.”

“Petty for you. Your trouble. Always have been,” I replied as I shoved a bite of pasta in my mouth.

“Didn’t you date that Dillion at one point? He sold drugs. Bad boy type.”

“I didn’t know at the time.”

“But he was a ‘bad boy’, as you girls like to say,” Declan argued. “I’m just your type.”

“Stop it,” I hissed. “Be pleasant.”

Declan chuckled. “I can be very pleasant. You just have to spread your legs for it,” he whispered. The fiery touch of his breath traced down my neck and straight to my pussy.

I shook my head and grabbed my cup again to distract myself from my feelings. This night was going awful and my family kept getting wrapped up with my brother’s wedding plans instead of talking to me, which meant Declan could flirt with me all he wanted. “I would never.”

“Never say never. Life has a way of finding a way.”

“Oh, are you quoting Jurassic Park?” I snapped.

“It’s a good movie. Better than their wedding planning. What do you want yours to look like?”

“Not like Dawna’s, that’s for sure.”

“Well?”

“She wants a princess style fairytale wedding. I don’t, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not getting married anytime soon.”

“What if…” He glanced at my phone sitting between us as the notifications lit up once more. He tapped the screen and grinned. “Harry here is the one?”

“He’s not the one. But he’ll be fun to be with for a while. Plus, it’s only the first date. Can’t be all weird and plan a wedding after a first date.”

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