Page 63 of Needing Your Love
If anyone had insider info into what was going through the Chief’s head, it was the woman he spent almost every single day with over at the station.
“Grab hold of that pissiness you better believe Dex caused on purpose, and go claim your man, Jimmy Riley.”
Liquid courage…a blessing or a curse, time would tell.
I pushed up onto shaky legs, and Babs nodded with encouragement.
If Sutton turned down my last attempt at trying to talk him into me, I would be leaving Pippen Creek in my rearview soon anyway.
The truth did little to comfort my lack of high hopes, but I was stubborn if nothing else. I would hold my chin up and walk away with tears streaming down my face and a barely beating heart inside my chest.
My lips never having tasted the one man who’d made me feel any semblance of peace.
Chapter 25
Sutton
Dex was handsy as fuck, snagging my focus and suspicion as he led me toward the bar with a firm steering of his arm over my shoulders.
A quick scan to the left revealed Christian Cole at the bar’s far end, which clued me in on what my best friend did.
Shaking my head, I sat on the stool Dex had led me to. “What the hell is up with you two?” I asked after Iris poured us both a beer.
“He’s an arrogant know-it-all. Cocky shit who needs taken down a peg.”
That wasn’t anything Dex hadn’t already told me. “Sounds like someone I’m well acquainted with,” I said, a smile in my voice.
Dex muttered a curse my way before sipping his beer.
“Just fuck him already and get it out of your system,” I suggested what I’d said dozens of times already, picking up my beer.
He clunked his glass back on the bar, lips downturned. “He’s the last man I’d stick my dick into.”
I almost snorted my mouthful of beer across the bar top. “All you do when he’s around is stare at his ass.”
Dexter had nothing to say on that matter because I didn’t lie.
“He’s refusing to drop his bid for the job I deserve,” Dex grumbled. “Trying to wear my ancient ass out and force me to quit. Says I’m getting old.”
“You’ve got what? Eight years on him? Not much of an age difference if you ask me.” A hell of a lot less than the years between me and Jimmy.
Dex glanced at the mirror behind the bar, and a grin split his face. He rubbed my sagging shoulder with a weird, lingering touch.
“The fuck?” I muttered, jerking away from him. “Haven’t you figured out manipulation isn’t going to land you into Christian’s bed?”
A throat cleared behind me.
“Hey, kid,” Dex said to the mirror as I turned, a shot of adrenaline racing through me at the sight of scowling blue eyes filled with murderous rage.
“Not a fuckingkid,” Jimmy muttered at my best friend.
Dex held his hands up in mock surrender, making it abundantly clear what he’d been playing at since we’d walked into Frenchie’s.
He’d seen Jimmy upon entry when I hadn’t because the way he’d steered me after I stepped in behind him.
Bastard.
I finger tapped the bar in annoyance as my clenched jaw began to ache.
