Violet jabbed her collarbone. “I am full of myself. Finally. I put in my time slopping around in the mud checking water temps and slinging Gator Chow. I pitch in where I’m needed and do the books for the farm. But I’m a grown-up, and that means I get to make my own decisions.”
“Mistakes, you mean,” Jessup grumbled.
“Remember how you thought I was being silly contacting foreign designers? You stopped minding that our skins were being made into girly stuff when our biggest checks started to come from them. Now I want to do the things I want to do.”
“And you want to do him?” Jessup shifted his gaze to Kade, which made her look his way, too. “A Deuce?”
Her Dragon stirred. And purred!
Pretending! Big fat illusion, you dumb beast. He’s not even Dragon.
Of course, each time they kissed, and that time he’d had his hands on her, she’d totally ignited. The memory now heated her blood and made her want things she shouldn’t. In the midst of all this craziness, she had no business believing the charade she and Kade were putting on
“Vee,” Jessup pressed. “Do you want him?”
“Yes,” she said, the word hoarse and scratchy. “Damn it, I get grief if I date a Fringer. I get grief if I date an outsider. Mundanes are out. There’s nothing else!” Frustration stretched her words taut. No pretending there.
Jessup shook his head in his I can’t believe this way. He approached Kade, whose body tightened in response, even if he couldn’t see him. Jessup pointed his finger at him. “You pull anything or do anything to hurt my sister or my family, and I’ll string you up here and cut off your appendages one by one. And I’ll enjoy it.”
He gestured for Ryan to go with him. She followed them, hating their disgust at her. She’d spent her life trying to live up to them, and after her dad had died, they’d stepped into the father figure role. Once they were out of Kade’s earshot, she halted them.
“It’s temporary, I swear, so stop looking at me like I’ve just wrecked the family name.” Or their trust in her.
“Do you know what hell we’ll suffer if word gets out that you’ve taken up with a Vega? And a Deuce, to boot?” Ryan asked. “We’re not supposed to even like Deuces, much less date them.”
“I’m not taking up with him.” She glanced at the “him” in question, then forced her gaze back to her brothers. “We started talking, we laughed, and our eyes sort of locked onto each other’s. Have you ever felt a zing with someone?”
“What’s a zing?” Jessup asked.
She put herself back in that moment at Guard headquarters. “A sudden and surprising shock that feels really good. Your chest tightens and your throat goes dry and your body tingles. That’s what we felt. I called him after Arlo’s death, and he’s helping me figure out what’s going on. I know it’ll never work but right now it’s…nice,” she finished on a soft breath. Too nice.
“You’ll kick him to the curb eventually?” Jessup asked, his expression skeptical.
“Have I gotten involved long term with anyone?”
“Well, no.”
“So there. And turn this music off.”
She watched them wander off, both shaking their heads, and waited until they disappeared into the darkness. Then she returned to the specimen on the wall. Annoyingly, her stomach tightened. Her body tingled. Damn it, she was supposed to be mad at him.
“You.” She had to keep her voice down because she could feel her brothers’ presence hovering just out of sight. Instinctively, they knew something wasn’t right. She knew how to get rid of them. She grabbed a thick wooden block and set it in front of Kade, then stepped up on it so they were face-to-face.
“That you, Vee?” he asked. He inhaled, his mouth curving into a smile.
“Yes, babe,” she said, a bite in her voice. “My brothers are still watching,” she whispered. To let him know that they still had to play the charade. She was inches from what she called a superhero chin, square with a deep cleft in it. She had the weirdest urge to run her finger down the groove. He smelled of sweat, aftershave, and mud, an alluring combination. Her Dragon was really purring now, which made her even madder.
She leaned close to his ear, which made his mussed hair tickle her cheek. “Why did you come back to my house? You were supposed to wait for me at Ernie’s.”
He seemed oddly calm, considering the circumstances. “There were Fringers loitering in the parking lot who might recognize me. I hid my car and walked through the woods. I thought it’d be the best option.”
She trailed her finger down his chest, forcing a smile for her brothers. Just in case. “You had no right to go into my workshop.”
He kept his head upright, shoulders taut, his Vega pride still intact despite the indignity of the situation. “You’re right.” He had a way of agreeing that wasn’t quite genuine. “But again, I thought that might be better than going inside your home.”
“And you got caught by my brothers,” she hissed. “Putting me in a very bad situation.”
His upper lip twitched. “I wasn’t too thrilled about it myself. I thought you’d be displeased if I maimed them. Or told them how we really met,” he added in a low voice.
