Omar got to his feet, clutching his bloody arm.
The man turned with his movements, keeping his body in between us, acting as a shield as Omar left the alley and turned back to the club.
“I appreciate what you did, but I had it under control—”
“Under control?” He turned around and faced me, with brown eyes, a stern jaw, and that shadow along his chin and part of his cheeks.
My eyes widened. “Dax? What are you doing here?”
He ignored my question. “You could have gotten yourself killed. What the hell are you thinking?”
“I’m doing my job.” I flicked the knife down so the blood droplets would leave the blade. Then I tucked it back into the sheath at the front of my dress. “Sometimes, things don’t go according to the plan, but I’m prepared.”
His hands moved to his hips, and he stepped closer to me, his eyes shifting back and forth in a rageful stare, like he didn’t know how to process what just happened. “Getting killed is not part of your job.”
“But getting information is, and people don’t always want to talk.”
“Then you leave it alone,” he barked. “An article is not worth getting killed over.”
“I disagree.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
Now he stared at me incredulously.
“I knew what I signed up for when I took this job. I don’t need a lecture.”
“I think you do.” He raised his voice, growing louder with every passing second. “What if he had a gun?”
“He did, but he didn’t use it. See? I know shit.”
He gripped his skull and released an angry sigh before he forced himself to calm down. “What if I hadn’t been here?”
“You’re being dramatic. There are people like fifteen feet away. I could have screamed, and they would have run over here. I promise you, I had it handled.”
“He was about to choke you.”
“And I was about to stab him right between the ribs. Seriously, I had it covered.”
He sighed and dropped his shoulders, clearly irritated with me. “You’re alright?”
“Not a scratch.” I moved closer to him, dropping my arms to embrace him. My hands moved under his jacket and around his waist, and I leaned in close to kiss him.
His kiss wasn’t affectionate right away, a little cold. But once my mouth massaged warmth into his, he got into it, slipped his fingers into my hair, and deepened the kiss.
“I’ve never seen you in a suit.” My hands moved up his chest, playing with his tie. “Sexy.”
He smiled slightly at the compliment, his eyes on my lips and then the rest of my body. “Red is your color.”
I nodded to the dumpster farther down. “You wanna?” I played with his tie, my eyes on his sexy mouth, wanting to get frisky now that the adrenaline had passed.
“I don’t have a condom.”
“What?” I stuck my hands into his pockets to check. “Why?”
“Why would I bring condoms to a club if the woman I’m sleeping with isn’t there?”
“Hmm…good point.” My fingers stroked his tie.
He stared down into my face, watching me touch him.
“I mean…I guess we could skip it.” I lifted my gaze and looked at him again, wanting him now that he was in my grasp, seduced by that kiss, the way he intervened even though I didn’t need help. The whole thing was sexy, and damn, his shoulders were nice in that suit.
He stared at me for a while, his arms around my waist while his hand squeezed my ass. He pulled me closer and hugged me a little bit, like that was what he wanted more than anything. But his words contradicted that. “Let’s go back to your place.”
“Really?” I asked. “Did you just turn down sex?”
“No. We’re having sex. Just not in an alleyway.” He grabbed my hand and walked with me out of the alleyway and to the sidewalk. “And with a condom, because that’s what you said you wanted before you were high on adrenaline and whatever else you’re on right now.” He walked past the club and the line of people and kept walking.
“So, what were you doing here? Why are you in a suit?”
He stared straight ahead for a long time, as if he didn’t hear a word I said.
“Dax?”
“I went out with some colleagues.”
“So, you wear a suit to work?” Because one time, he went to work in jeans.
“Sometimes.” His mood was noticeably down, like he was angry all over again.
“Why are you—”
“When you shake down your sources like that, do you ever get anything accomplished?”
“Sometimes.”
“Have you ever gotten hurt?”
“I mean, a black eye here and there but nothing serious.”
“Does Charlie go through this?”
“No. He does different kinds of articles, more low-key.”
“By choice?” he asked.
“No. He wants to work up to a higher position, but it takes time.” Charlie and I were friends but also colleagues. Whenever I moved up higher than him, he never seemed upset about it. He was always happy for me and never behaved otherwise. By nature, he wasn’t a competitive person.
“Does it bother him that you got promoted before he did?”
“No. He never says so, at least.”
“That’s pretty big for him.”
“Yeah, he’s a great guy.”
We walked a few blocks and then entered my building. We reached the apartment and stepped inside.
Charlie was on the couch, eating cereal even though it was nine in the evening. “You were supposed to go to the store today.”
“I know. I had to chase down a lead.”
Charlie looked me up and down. “Dressed like that?”
“It was in a club.”
“And you brought Dax with you?” he asked in surprise.
“No.” Dax turned serious. “She got into a fight with a guy in the alleyway, and I pulled him off her.”
Charlie didn’t look surprised by the news at all. He’d heard all my stories. He took another bite.
Dax raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t concern you?”
“She’s a crazy-ass bitch, man. You have no idea.” He scooped his spoon into the bowl and placed it in his mouth, his eyes on the TV.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I grabbed Dax’s hand and pulled him down the hallway. We went into my bedroom, and I pushed his jacket off his shoulders, watching it slide to the floor. My hands worked his tie then the buttons of his shirt.
He watched me get him naked, his eyes on me, but his usual look of desire absent.
“What?” I undid all the buttons then pushed that off his shoulders. I pulled the tie from around his neck.
He continued to stare, continued to hold his silence.
He usually spoke his mind, and when he didn’t, I realized he was difficult to read. I ran the tie through my fingers. “This looks secure, right?”
His eyes immediately went to my fingers.
“Tie me to the headboard.” My hand went to his slacks, and I got his belt undone, his button open. Then I pushed everything down, revealing a cock that was hard and ready to go. I returned the tie to around his neck, and I pulled him to the bed, seeing his eyes darken, the excitement tightening his features.