Eves was suddenly there as well. “Brooks was being pushy with Lila. She said no. He wouldn’t listen.”
That’s all Bull needed to hear. He grabbed Brooks by the shirt before I could and towed him to the door, tossing him out of the bar, then scowling as he walked back. “You good?” he said to Lila.
She stared up at him, eyes wide. “Y-yes.”
Satisfied, Bull headed back to the bar and I closed the space between me and Lila. “Bambi…”
Her gaze lifted to me and her face crumpled, then she spun away, shoving her way through the crowd, and ran for the back of the bar. I went after her.
Quinn opened the door for her, letting her out to the staff-only area, and stepped in front of me before I could follow. “Nope. No way.”
“Jesus, Quinn, let me go talk to her,” I ground out.
“Not a shit show in hell,” she said.
“I’m not going to say anything to upset her, I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
She scowled up at me. “Are you really that stupid? Or are you playing dumb?”
I was not going to yell at Quinn. Not only did I like her but her huge bear-sized husband was watching us and he looked ready to come over. I did not need him dragging me out by the scruff of my neck as well.
So I took a deep breath, trying to calm down, not easy when I was confused and still close to vibrating with rage. “I’m gonna need you to spell it out, Quinnie, ’cause I have no fucking idea what you’re on about.”
She hissed, actually hissed at me. “She liked you, Riff, really freaking liked you, and you dumped her…and I mean, that’s fine, I guess, whatever. You weren’t feeling it. But that doesn’t change the fact that she wanted to be with you, that she feels things deeply. Lila has that big, tender heart, and I know she says she’s over you, but she’s not. She didn’t really even like Brooks, not really, so when you bring your new woman home with you, then make out with her on the dance floor three freaking feet away from Lila, that shit cuts.” She planted her hands on her hips. “Move on, do your thing, Grifter, but not in front of her. You want to whisper sweet nothings in your girlfriend’s ear, do it at another goddamn bar from now on.”
I blinked down at the much smaller woman spitting fire at me and frowned. They thought what? I assumed Trix would have filled them in, but then thinking about it, I hadn’t actually told her who Sofia was to me. I’d kind of assumed Soph had told Trix while they were together. Come to think of it, Trixie hadn’t been overly friendly with me since I started working at Rocktown Ink. Shit.
“Sofia’s not my woman, she’s my sister-in-law,” I said, heart pounding.
It was Quinn’s turn to blink up at me. “What?”
“You got it wrong, Quinn.”
She winced. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. Now will you let me talk to her? I obviously need to clear a few things up.”
“But you two looked so close…”
“We are, but not like that. She’s going through some shit, that’s all. Now will you let me through?”
She bit her lip, then finally stepped aside.
I rushed through the door and out the back. I found Lila in the break room, sitting on the couch, and she seemed to shrink in on herself when I walked in.
“Not now, Grifter.”
She wouldn’t look at me. “Jesse. You call me Jesse.”
That worked, her gaze shot to mine. “Why won’t you just leave me alone?”
Her eyes glistened, round and sad, and I cracked, right down the middle. “Because I can’t,” I said roughly. “Because you’re all I can fucking think about, all I see when I close my eyes.”
“You have a girlfriend, you shouldn’t be…”
“No. I don’t.”
“I saw you with her. I literally just saw you with her.” Her lips quivered, and my gut tightened painfully. “God, Grifter, the morning after you sent me all those texts, saying I was important to you, that you still wanted me in your life, I called you. She answered your phone, she told me to leave you alone. I’m not an idiot.”
What the fuck?
Then I remembered how insecure Soph had been, how scared.
Goddamn it, Sofia. “Jesse,” I said correcting her again. “You called me?”
Lila scowled at me, looking pissed. I preferred that to sad.
“Did she tell you we were together?”
“She said…” Lila frowned.
“What did she say?”
“I guess she didn’t say it in so many words, but it was implied.”
“Sofia’s my brother’s old lady, or was. She’s a sister to me, nothing else. She came back with me because my brother is the kind of low-life piece of shit who lays hands on his woman. I finally convinced her to leave, to come back with me. Her sister lives in Black Stone. She’s staying there, but she’s having trouble adjusting. She still hangs around the club, because that’s what she’s used to. I was staying close to her tonight because she wasn’t in the right headspace to be drinking. I didn’t want her to make a stupid mistake that she’d end up regretting.”
Her body went rock solid. “She’s your sister-in-law?”
I bit back a curse. “That’s why you’ve been avoiding me? You thought I’d hooked up with someone?”
She colored, eyes bright, lips puffy from biting at them. She’d been crying…over me.
I growled and closed the space between us. I’d tried to do the right thing. Tried to let her go. Fuck knew I’d tried. But I didn’t want to stay away from her anymore. I wanted Lila. I was fucking useless without her.
She stared up at me, those gorgeous eyes wide.
“You want to know why I ended it? You really want to know?” I said roughly.
She nodded and stood, bringing her hot little body, that beautiful face, closer.
“Because you can do a hell of a lot better than me. I’ve never been in a real relationship, and I wanted that with you, and that…shit, it scared the hell out of me… You scared the hell out of me. The idea of messing up and hurting you? I couldn’t handle it.” I cupped her face. “Now finally being back in the same town as you but not being able to get close to you, it’s been torture, Bambi.”
Her lips trembled. “Jesse.”
Yep, that did it.
I slammed my mouth down on hers, sucked the plump lower one into my mouth, then slid my tongue inside her slick heat. Fuck, I’d missed this. Her hands went to my sides, and she fisted my shirt, kissing me back just as fiercely.
I wanted to bend her over the break room table and fuck her until we both passed out. But this was Lila. If I wanted her, if I wanted this to grow into more, I’d have to do something I’d never done before.
Take things slow. Find some self-control.
I sucked her lower lip one last time and lifted my head. “You’re mine now, Lila,” I said, searching her face. I was done staying away from her. So fucking done. “You understand me? No more Brooks. No one else. I didn’t like seeing him touch you. I don’t like anyone touching you. No more running from me, okay?”
“Grifter…”
“Jesse.”