Page 46 of City of Salvation

“I’m too fucking old for this,” Dex said. I looked up at him so I could remind him he hadn’t even hit thirty yet, but I forgot how to speak when I caught him doing a weird thingwith his tongue and the salt along the rim that was far too distracting. He winked when he caught me looking at his mouth, and I could feel the heat racing up my face. I turned away, hoping it would stop all the inappropriate thoughts I was having about myfriend.

A friend you want to play tonsil hockey with.

Cassandra looked between the two of us. The expression on her face made me nervous. “So,” she started in, “why have you been around so much lately, Dex?” Her words sounded casual, but her eyes were still bouncing between the two of us. “Seen you a lot in the last few weeks. And Crys says you went in their dressing room and pulled this one out before she beat someone’s ass…” she said, signaling to me with a sly smile.

“Um.” Dex locked eyes with me.

I hoped when he looked at my face, what he saw in my expression was me saying,“I fucking told you we needed to know what to tell people. Mr. No One Ever Asks Me Shit.”

“Oh, they’re dating,” Robert said matter-of-factly. Our heads whipped to the left, where Robert was weaving a story like he was a damn playwright. “Yeah. They wanted to give Brujita ysu güeritosome time together before they decided to bump uglies, too. You know?”

A choking noise came from Dex. “Bump uglies?Idon’t even say weird shit like that.”

“The fuck you don’t, Dex. Where the fuck do you think I got that from?” Robert asked, looking offended and completely unfazed that he’d just announced Dex and I were a thing.

Because something I knew for fucking sure, the rumor was already making its rounds. That’s how it worked at this club.

I could see Cassandra texting behind the bar as Dex and Robert argued. Which meant Crystal now knew, and so didall ofthe girls. There was no way for me to say it wasn’t true because they would see us together all the time since he had to watch over me, and the truth wasn’t an option because we knew there was still a rat or two somewhere.

“So, y’all are a thing then?” Cassandra asked, bringing the conversation back to a subject I really would have liked us to move past. Dex’s hands snaked around my midsection, lifting me in the air and setting me on one of his splayed thighs. The position left me no choice but to lean back into him. He kept one arm around my body to keep me from falling off to the side, but that meant his massive hand came to rest on top of my thigh.

My very bare thigh.

“Yup. It’s fairly new and shit.” There was a ruffling of my hair, and I swore he kissed the top of my head, but it was so brief I couldn’t be sure. Dex’s next words were said in my ear for only me to hear.

“Spitfire, I’m going to you need to give me permission to touch you. We’re going to have to sell this fucking story Robert just started. Too many questions if we don’t.”

I knew he was right. It would’ve been nice to have a heads-up before Beto opened his big ass mouth, but really, it was the perfect cover. I interlaced our fingers and gave him two firm squeezes before turning my head to look at him.

For being a total goofball, he was intense when he wanted to be.

I pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Yes, you can touch me,” I whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

“Y’all are fucking cute. Always knew you’d end up together. Broken people find one another and fill in the cracks, ya know?” she said before walking away.

Robert stood and gave a shit-eating smile. “Alright, mom and dad, let’s go find me a horny bridesmaid for our double date.”

This was an awful idea. The threadbare strings holding up my walls weren’t going to survive being Dex’s “girlfriend”.

CHAPTER 21

DEX

THERE’S A “BELT LOOP GRAB” TO “PUSSY FLUTTER” PIPELINE. IT’S SCIENCE

How ironic thatmy first girlfriend wasn’t even real.

Well, she wasreal. There was no doubt I was gripping onto her very real hips right now as she tried to send me into an early grave with the way she was grinding against me.

When Lotería had renovated, they’d added an area for patrons to dance, and Nikki had dragged me out onto it claiming she’d never gotten the chance to break it in.

Ugh. Please stop.

That wasn’t what I really wanted, but it was really fucking hard to be respectful when the sexiest woman around was moving against me in the way she was.

Thirty minutes prior, I’d had to start force-feeding her water and some of the snacks she’d made fun of me and Robert for bringing in. The woman was a lightweight when it came to booze apparently, a fact I hadn’t expected since she worked at a club. Tomorrow was going to be a bitch for her.

I should make her breakfast.

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