Page 149 of Wild Card
“Oh, cool!” Bailey said.
“Congrats, man,” Gray said. “I guess there won’t be any more dognappings, huh?”
“There better not be,” Holden grumbled.
Axel laughed. “Well, to be fair, I didn’t start it…”
“Did I hear someone say dognapping?” someone piped up from the bar.
Speak of the devil. Of all people, Rusty Waters hopped off his barstool to approach the table. “You must be talking about my dog, huh?”
“Yeah. Banshee’s doing really well,” Axel said tightly, “not that you asked.”
Rusty shrugged. “Knew she would be after Dalton ponied up all that cash.”
“What?” Axel said, seeming thrown.
I sliced my hand across my throat, gesturing for Rusty to shut up, but he didn’t notice. Of course he didn’t. The man was rarely totally sober.
“He paid me for her.” He snickered. “I hadn’t even found a buyer yet.”
Axel’s eyes went wide. “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” Rusty said. “Thanks for stealing her, man. It was my easiest payday ever!”
He walked away, laughing his ass off.
Axel looked horrified. “Tell me you didn’t give that man five thousand dollars!”
“No.” I chuckled nervously. “He just wanted easy money. I talked him down to 1K, and believe me, you and Banshee were more than worth it.”
“I can’t believe you did that,” Axel said, tone softening. “Dalton, we barely knew each other back then. That’s a lot of money.”
“Well…” My face heated. “You were so worried about her, and, um, Rusty wasn’t going to do right by her. You know that.”
“Yeah, but…” He trailed off.
Fuck. Had I ruined everything? Would he think our whole relationship was built on this one act of me buying a favor for him?
Axel threw his arms around me, hugging me tight. In my ear, he whispered, “Love you so much. Damn. You shouldn’t have. It’s too much.”
“Nothing is too much for you,” I murmured.
“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Emory said.
I pulled back, cheeks hot with embarrassment. I really never intended for Axel to find out, much less all his brothers.
“I did try to talk sense into him first, but the law was on his side. He owned her. I could have tried to charge him withdumping her, but it was hearsay. There was no evidence one way or another, so…” I shrugged. “I did what was best for Banshee.”
“Sure, it had nothing to do with you having the hots for Axel,” Gray said with a laugh.
I grinned sheepishly. “Maybe a tiny bit.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Axel asked. “That’s a big gesture.”
“I didn’t want you to think I was buying your affection or something. I just wanted to do right by you and Banshee.”
Holden cleared his throat. “So, uh, I feel a little weird about taking Banshee now,” he said. “I didn’t know she was a romantic gesture.”
